AU709358B3 - Improvements in the provision of skewered foods - Google Patents

Description

P00012 Regulation 3.2 Revised 2/98

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act, 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION PETTY PATENT TO BE COMPLETED BY THE APPLICANT NAME OF APPLICANT: ACTUAL INVENTORS: ADDRESS FOR SERVICE: INVENTION TITLE: DETAILS OF ASSOCIATED PROVISIONAL APPLICATION NO(S): JASON MELLICK and ANTONIO DOMENICO PELOSI JASON MELLICK and ANTONIO DOMENICO PELOSI Peter Maxwell Associates Level 6 Pitt Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROVISION OF SKEWERED FOODS

NIL

The following statement is a full description of this invention including the best method of performing it known to me:-

I

The present invention relates to improvements in the provision of skewered foods and, in particular, to a skewer in which the fingers on the hand of the person holding the skewer are protected from falling pieces of food held by the skewer.

Conventional skewers have remained unchanged for many centuries and are usually nothing more than a long pin of wood or metal which is passed through meat and other food items so that the food items may, as required, be cooked and/or eaten. Such skewers, if made of metal, may also have a circular grip portion at one end thereof.

Skewers have become a preferred utensil for cooking and eating small pieces of meat, especially in Asian countries and in those other countries whose cuisine has been influenced by contact with people from Asian countries. For instance, the shish kebab and souvlaki provide an easy to prepare and convenient single hand held meal for people who wish to eat meat without conventional cutlery.

However, the potential for using skewers to hold other foods, especially food snacks, has been little realized, despite the likelihood that it might lead to a popular novelty food for markets, fairs and other social gatherings.

It has been found by the present inventors that to be useful for holding a wider range of food than meat, skewers will require some modification in their construction, so as to address the problems posed by skewering soft foods, foods prone to melting, or other foods likely to have pieces fall off whilst held by the skewer.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a skewer capable of holding a wide range of food and which, at all times, protects 6/4/99 the fingers on the hand of the person holding the skewer from falling pieces of the food.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a skewer for holding chocolate coated strawberries or the like, in which melted chocolate is prevented from dripping onto the person holding the skewer whilst it is held upright.

According to the invention there is provided a skewer comprising a pin adapted to be passed through and to stably hold a plurality of food items along the pin, a cup means adapted to collect within the cup means any falling pieces of the food items when the pin is held substantially upright, and a tubular member formed integrally with the cup means and adapted to fit tightly and removably to the pin for securing the cup means to the pin.

Preferably, the cup means is circularly disposed around an end portion of the pin, adjacent to which a person using the skewer may hold it, and the pin passes through a central aperture of the cup means.

In order that the invention may be readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig 1 is an isometric view of an upright positioned skewer according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Fig 2 is an isometric view of a preferred cup and integrally connected cup securing member that is used in the skewer of Fig 1, and Fig 3 is an elevational view of the upright positioned skewer of Fig 1 holding chocolate coated strawberries.

31/5/99 The skewer 10 of Fig 1 consists of a pin 12, a cup 14 and a member 16 for securing the cup 14 to the pin 12. The cup 14 and securing member 16 are, in this embodiment, integrally connected, as shown in Fig 2.

The pin 1 2 may be fabricated of any material suitable for supporting stably and safely a wide variety of food items. Such material may include wood, metal or a hard plastic that will not contaminate or otherwise interfere with the food items held by the skewer. The surface of the pin 12 may be contoured in such a way as to improve its food holding characteristics and resistance against lateral distortion. For instance, a ribbed pin surface will decrease the capacity of food items to slip off the pin and limit the pin bending significantly away from its longitudinal axis.

Such a ribbed surface may also be advantageous for securing the cup to the pin.

The integrally connected cup 14 and securing member 16 is in the form of a funnel 17 as shown in Fig 2, the cup 14 being cone-shaped, and the securing member 16 being a tube extending from the apex of the coneshaped cup 14, whereby the tube 16 has an aperture or opening at the apex of the cup 14. The pin 12 passes through and is tightly but removably secured to the tube 16. The cup 14 and tube 16 may be made of a plastic or hard paper/fibre based material.

The cup 14 and its integrally connected tube 16 are disposed around one end portion of the pin 12 so that a user of the skewer 16 may hold it adjacent to that end portion whereby the cup 14 is between the user's hand and any food items held on the skewer.

6/4/99 As shown in Fig 3, any chocolate or strawberry pieces falling from the chocolate coated strawberries 20 held by the pin 12 will collect on the cup 14 when the pin 12 is held substantially upright, rather than fall onto the user's hand.

The cup 14 also has an annularly outward extending skirt portion 18 to provide additional protection against such falling pieces of the skewered food items.

Various other modifications may be made in details of design and construction without departing from the scope or ambit of the invention.

6/4/99

Claims (2)

1. A skewer comprising a pin adapted to be passed through and to stably hold a plurality of food items along the pin, a cup means adapted to collect within the cup means any falling pieces of the food items when the pin is held substantially upright, and a tubular member formed integrally with the cup means and adapted to fit tightly and removably to the pin for securing the cup means to the pin.

2. The skewer of claim 1 wherein the cup means is circularly disposed around an end portion of the pin, adjacent to which a person using the skewer may hold it, and the pin passes through a central aperture of the cup means. Dated this 31st day of May 1999. JASON MELLICK and ANTONIO DOMENICO PELOSI By their Patent Attorneys PETER MAXWELL ASSOCIATES I