GB2097243A

GB2097243A - Food cutting apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2097243A
Application number: GB8122594A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: MALORDEAN Ltd
Current assignee: MALORDEAN Ltd
Priority date: 1981-03-31
Filing date: 1981-07-22
Publication date: 1982-11-03

Abstract

Apparatus for cutting a vegetable or other foodstuff to produce a shaped piece of the foodstuff includes cutting means (17), which may be in the form of a single elongate blade (3), the shape and dimensions of which are such that a cut is produced which is regular but non-linear and the distance (2A) in a direction longitudinally of the cutting means between two adjacent corresponding points on the cutting means is less than about four times the maximum depth of a cut (B) perpendicular to said direction and to the direction of cut through the foodstuff. The maximum depth of cut perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cutting means and to the direction of cut may be more than 2 mm. The apparatus may be adapted to produce a plurality of chips in a single cutting operation and may be provided with guide means (29) allowing correct alignment of the cutting means to ensure production of the desired size and/or shape of slice or chip. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Food cutting apparatus The present invention relates to apparatus for cutting food into sticks or slices or other pieces of various shapes. Reference will be made hereinafter to the cutting of potatoes but it should be understood that the apparatus of the present invention may be applied to other foodstuffs especially vegetables.

Hitherto methods for cutting chips from potatoes have included manually cutting the potato into slices with a knife or similar cutting blade and subsaquently cutting the slices into the desired size of chips. The so-called "crinkly" chips are also prepared by this method using a corrugated knife blade. Common alternatives to the manual cutting method include forcing a potato through a grid of cutting blades or inserting the potato into a mechanical chip cutter which comprises one or more rotating blades arranged so as to cut the potato first into slices and then into chips. However, these mechanical alternatives may damage the potato by the application of excessive pressure to the potato and are often too expensive for use in household kitchens.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for cutting a vegetable or other foodstuff to produce a shaped piece of the foodstuff said apparatus comprising cutting means shaped to produce a cut which, in plan, is regular but non-linear and such that the distance in a direction longitudinally of the cutting means between two adjacent corresponding points on the cutting means is less than about four times the maximum depth of cut perpendicular to said direction and to the direction of the cut through the vegetable or other foodstuff.

The term "chip" as used herein should be understood to mean any generally elongate stick of vegetable or other foodstuff, said stick having a substantially umiform cross-section.

An example is the well known potato chip.

The maximum depth of cut refers to the maximum distance between points on the cutting means in a direction perpendicular both to the longitudinal axis of the cutting means, and to the direction of movement of the cutting means relative to the vegetable or other foodstuff being cut.

Typically, the plan view of cutting means of apparatus in accordance with the present invention resembles a continuous regular waveform. In such a case, the distance between two adjacent corresponding points on the cutting means is one wavelength, and the maximum depth of cut perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cutting means and the direction of cut is the peak to peak amplitude of the waveform.

Preferably said cutting means comprise an elongate blade. More preferably said cutting means comprise a single elongate blade.

Preferably the distance between two adjacent corresponding points on the cutting means is less than three times the maximum depth of cut transverse to the cutting means Preferably the distance between two adjacent corresponding points on the cutting means is in a range of from 1 3 mm to 1 7 mm inclusive.

Preferably the maximum depth of cut transverse to the cutting means is in a range of from 10 mm to 14 mm inclusive.

Typically the distance between two adjacent corresponding points on the cutting means is 1 5 mm and the depth of cut is 6 mm.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for cutting a vegetable or other foodstuff to produce a shaped piece of the foodstuff slice, said apparatus comprising cutting means having a maximum depth of cut perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cutting means and to the direction of cut of more than 2 mm.

Preferably said maximum depth of cut is in a range of from 5 mm to 20 mm inclusive.

More preferably it is in a range of from 10 mm to 14 mm inclusive.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for cutting a vegetable or other foodstuff to produce a chip, said apparatus comprising cutting means shaped to produce a cut which, in plan, is regular but non-linear, and being adapted so as to produce said chip in a single cutting operation.

A cutter according to any aspect of the present invention may be used to cut in one operation from, for instance, a potato, a chip of any cross-sectional shape depending on the blade used in the cutter, in contrast to known cutters which require two operations to produce, for instance, substantially linear chips from a potato.

Furthermore, the apparatus may be used in two or more cutting operations to produce a piece of foodstuff of a great variety of different shapes.

The mode of operation of apparatus in accordance with the present invention, when used to cut chips in a single operation, is that firstly the cutting means slices through the object to be cut, for instance, a potato, thus cutting a slice from the potato. The cutting means is then moved relatively transversely along the potato and at the same time longitudinally across the potato so that points along the cutting means are aligned with complementary points on the cut face of the potato, and such that when the cutting means is pressed downwardly through the potato, one or more chips of the desired shape are separated from the potato.

If shaped pieces other than substantially linear chips are required, then the apparatus according to the present invention may be used first to slice the foodstuff, and then different or the same apparatus may be used to cut the slice into the desired shape. This can be done in many ways, such as, for instance, cutting the slice using a cutter with the longitudinal axis of the cutter lying parallel to the indentations in the slice produced by the cutting of the slice from the foodstuff, or by cutting the slice into pieces by using a cutter with the longitudinal axis of the cutter lying perpendicular to the indentations. Alternatively, the cutter can be used with its longitudinal axis lying at any angle relative to the indentations between those mentioned above.

All of these different alignments produce pieces of widely varying shapes. Depending on the shape of the cutting means, it is possible to cut pieces in the shape of, for instance, letters corresponding to the initials of the establishment in which the food is served.

Instead of using several different sets of apparatus in accordance with the present invention, the cutting means is preferably removable from the apparatus allowing a differently shaped cutting means to be used.

Preferably said apparatus includes a handle for manual operation of the apparatus. More preferably said handle is disposed above said cutting means. Most preferably said handle is in the same plane as the cutting means and aligned perpendicular to said cutting means.

Preferably said apparatus includes guide means adapted to engage with a cut face of a vegetable or other food stuff so as to align correctly said cutting means and said cut face in order that a subsequent cutting operation produces the desired size and/or shape of slice or chip. However, in the alternative there is no guide means and the operator aligns the cutting means by hand, using skill and judgement.

Preferably when seen in plan said cutting means resemble a triangular or saw-tooth wave form or are shaped so as to produce polygonal chips. More preferably said cutting means is shaped so as to produce hexagonal chips.

Embodiments df the present invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a front elevation of apparatus in accordance with the present invention Figure 2 is a plan view of the cutting means of the apparatus of Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a second embodiment of apparatus in accordance with the present invention; and Figure 4 is a plan view of the cutting means and guide means of the apparatus of Fig. 3.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings, apparatus for cutting vegetables or other food stuffs indicated generally by 1 comprises cutting means 3 which, as best seen in Fig. 2, form in plan view a triangular wave form. In this embodiment the cutting means 3 are formed from a flat sheet of stainless steel which has been pressed to the desired configuration.

The vertical edges 9 and 11 of the cutting means 3 are folded around the downwardly extending prongs 5 and 7 of a handle 1 3.

The apparatus 1 may be used, for example, to cut chips from a potato by firstly cutting from the potato near the edge thereof a slice by pushing the cutting means 3 vertically through the potato thus separating the slice from the remainder of the potato and producing a shaped face on the potato corresponding to the cross-section view of the cutting means 3. Chips are then produced by moving the cutting means 3 along the potato corresponding to a distance B typically 6 mm shown in Fig. 2 and also moving the cutting means 3 across the potato a distance A typically 7 < mm also shown in Fig. 2. Such movement allows a point Y on the cutting means 3 to be aligned with a point on the cut face of the potato produced by either point X or point Z on the blade in the previous cut.A square sectioned chip is therefore produced by pushing the cutting means 3 vertically through the potato by means of the handle 1 3.

This procedure may be followed until the potato is completely cut into chips.

If, instead of chips, slices are required, then longitudinal movement of the cutting means 3 across the potato is not necessary, and therefore a point Y on the blade is aligned with a point on the cut face of the potato produced by the point Y during the previous cut. Hybrids of slices and chips may be produced by displacing the cutting means 3 longitudinally across the potato by less than a distance A and many interesting effects may be produced by this method. Alternatively, if the apparatus is used to cut slices from the potato, and then the same or a differently shaped cutting means is used to cut the slices into smaller pieces, particular shapes, which are generally non-linear, are produced.

Instead of aligning the cutting means of the apparatus in accordance with the present invention by eye, the apparatus may include guiding means for correctly aligning the cutting means with respect to the article to be cut. Such apparatus is shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.

The apparatus of this embodiment of the present invention comprises a basic cutter as described in the previous embodiment but with the addition of guiding means.

The apparatus indicated generally by 1 5 comprises a cutting blade 1 7 to which at the ends thereof are attached downwardly extending prongs 19 and 21 of a handle 27.

Disposed to one side of the cutting blade 1 7 is guide 29 of similar configuration as the cutting means 1 7 as best seen in Fig. 4. In this case, both the cutting blade 1 7 and the guide 29 present in plan view a triangular wave form which may be used to produce for instance square sectioned chips. The ends of the guide means 29 are supported by vertically extending struts of substantially inverted Y-shaped member 31. The body of Y-shaped member 31 is attached to the handle 27 by means of retaining pins 35 disposed vertically above one another on the handle 27 and which pass through substantially oval holes in the body of the Y-shaped member 31, the holes being aligned with their major axis pointing along the axis of symmetry of the member 31.The member 31 and hence the guide means 29 are thereby allowed some vertical movement with respect to the cutting means 17.

In use the guide means 29 are positioned directly above a cut face of, for instance, a potato and cutting means 1 7 are forced downwardly through the potato by means of the handle 27. The guide means 29 is allowed relative movement to the remainder of the apparatus 1 5 and so is not forced through the potato but rests on top thereof. This cutting action produces substantially square sectioned chips from the potato.

The position of the guide with respect to the cutter may be adjustable to allow potato slices to be cut of varying thickness, for example, either by movement of the guide longitudinally and/or laterally to the cutting means, to alter the shape and size of the slice, or by replace ment of the guide by one allowing a differently sized or shaped slice to be cut.

In alternative embodiments the cutting means and the guide means may be of a different configuration, for instance, such as to produce polygonal rather than square sectioned chips. In alternative embodiments where guide means are provided, the guide means may be resiliently mounted for movement relative to the cutting means and/or movement may be parallel to the cutting means or pivotally away from the cutting means. It is desirable that there be some form of movement of the guide means relative to the cutting means so that chips or slices sticking to the surface of the cutting means may be easily removed.

It should be appreciated that the length and/or configuration of the guide means need not be identical to that of the cutting means.

For example, particularly where the cutting means resembles, in plan view, a continuous waveform, the guide means may comprise only a substantially U-shaped member of, for instance, metal wire. The ends of the arms of the U-shaped member are positioned level with, but spaced transversely from, adjacent "peaks" or "troughs" in the cutting means waveform. The spacing of the guide means defines the size or thickness of the chip or slice. The positioning of the arms of the guide means adjacent to "peaks" in the cutting means leads to the cutting of chips, whilst positioning adjacent to "troughs" allows slices to be cut.

Furthermore, in alternative embodiments the handle may be disposed, for example, parallel to the cutting means rather than perpendicularly to it.

All components of apparatus in accordance with the present invention may be composed of any suitable material, but in the abovedescribed specific embodiments the blades are of stainless steel, the handles are of wood or plastics material and the guide means are of metal.

In alternative embodiments, the apparatus may comprise part of a commercial or household food processor, used for cutting foodstuffs into particular shapes, rather than being a hand-held implement.

Claims

1. Apparatus for cutting a vegetable or other foodstuff to produce a shaped piece of foodstuff, said apparatus comprising cutting means shaped to produce a cut which, in plan, is regular but non-linear and such that the distance in a direction longitudinally of the cutting means between two adjacent corresponding points on the cutting means is less than about four times the maximum depth of cut perpendicular to said direction and to the direction of the cut through the vegetable or other foodstuff.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cutting means comprise an elongate blade.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the distance between two adjacent corresponding points on the cutting means is less than three times the maximum depth of cut transverse to the cutting means.

4. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the distance between two adjacent points on the cutting means is in the range of from 1 3 mm to 17 mm.

5. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the maximum depth of cut transverse to the cutting means is in the range of from 10 mm to 14 mm.

6. Apparatus for cutting a vegetable or other foodstuff to produce a shaped piece of the foodstuff, said apparatus comprising cutting means having a maximum depth of cut perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cutting means and to the direction of the cut of more than 2 mm.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said maximum depth of cut is in the range of from 5 mm to 20 mm.

8. Apparatus according to claim 6 or claim 7 wherein the maximum depth of cut is in the range of from 10 mm to 14 mm.

9. Apparatus for cutting a vegetable or other foodstuff to produce a chip, said appara tus comprising cutting means shaped to produce a cut which, in plan, is regular but nonlinear, and being adapted so as to produce said chip in a single cutting operation.

10. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the cutting means is removable from the apparatus thereby allowing a differently shaped cutting means to be used.

11. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the apparatus includes a handle for manual operation of the apparatus.

1 2. Apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the handle is mounted above the cutting means.

1 3. Apparatus according to claim 11 or claim 1 2 wherein the handle is in the same plane as the cutting means and is aligned perpendicular to the cutting means.

14. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the apparatus includes guide means adapted to engage with a cut face of a vegetable or other foodstuff so as to align correctly said cutting means and said cut face in order that a cutting operation produces the desired size and/or shape of slice or chip.