GB2281505A - Electric carving knife attachment - Google Patents

Abstract

The attachment comprises a support member (10), gripping means (15, 16) for releasably attaching the support member to an electric carving knife, and a guide member (21) mounted on the support member for making contact with a side of an article of food to be cut. The guide member (21) is movable relative to the support member in a direction transverse to the in use cutting plane of the knife in order to vary the thickness of food slices cut by the knife. <IMAGE>

Description

AN ATTACHMENT FOR AN ELECTRIC CARVING KNIFE This invention relates to an attachment for an electric carving knife.

Electric carving knives are now in common use but they are not provided with means for regulating the thickness of the slices of food cut. The present invention seeks to provide a convenient form of regulating means.

According to the invention, there is provided an attachment for an electric carving knife, comprising a support member, means for releasably attaching the support member to an electric carving knife, and a guide member mounted on the support member for making contact with a side of an article of food to be cut, the guide member being movable relative to the support member in a direction transverse to the in use cutting plane of the knife in order to vary the thickness of food slices cut by the knife.

In one preferred embodiment, means are provided for releasably retaining the guide member in a selected position relative to the support member and the guide member is freely slidable relative to the support member when the releasable retaining means are released.

Preferably, the retaining means is provided by interengaging screw-threaded pin and nut, which pin is associated with either one of the support and guide members and passes through a slot associated with the other of the support and guide members, whereby tightening of the engagement between the pin and the nut results in retaining of the guide member in the selected position relative to the support member.

In another preferred embodiment, the guide member is movable relative to the support member by an actuator comprising a rotatable threaded shaft and a nut cooperable with the shaft and movable therealong as the shaft is rotated. In this case, preferably, the nut engages with an inner end of the guide member in both opposite axial directions of the shaft. More preferably, the inner end of the guide member is hollow and holds in captive therein the nut.

In a preferred construction, there is a manually operable member for rotating the shaft. This manually operable member may be connected to the shaft by a gear train.

Advantageously, the guide member is pivotable relative to the support member against the urging force of spring means and about an axis transverse to the in use cutting plane of the knife.

Preferably, the support member comprises two spaced apart arms and a bridging piece connected between the arms. In this case, the releasable attaching means may comprise a gripping member on each of the two arms. In this construction, preferably, one of the gripping members is movable away from the other gripping member against the urging force of spring means.

Conveniently, the attachment further comprises indicating means movable with the guide member along a graduated scale.

The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side view of one embodiment of an attachment according to the invention; Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 but partly in section and showing the attachment in position relative to an electric carving knife; Figure 3 is a plan view of the attachment shown in Figure 1 with part shown in section; Figure 4 is a front view of the attachment of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a side view of another embodiment of an attachment according to the invention, shown in position relative to an electric carving knife; Figure 6 is a plan view of the attachment of Figure 5; Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 6 but showing part of the support member in section; Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 5 but showing part of the support member in section;; Figure 9 is a plan view of the support member of the attachment shown in Figures 5 to 8, with a part shown in section; and Figure 10 is a side view of part of the attachment shown in Figures 5 to 8, with part broken away and part shown in section.

Referring firstly to Figures 1 to 4, the attachment shown therein comprises a support member 10 and a guide member 11 mounted on the support member 10 for making contact with a side of an article of food to be cut.

The support member 10 comprises two spaced apart, parallel arms 12 and 13 and a bridging piece 14 connected between the arms. The arms 12 and 13 are provided with gripping members 15 and 16, respectively, adjacent to their free ends for gripping a housing 17 of an electric carving knife. The gripping member 15 is fixed relative to the arm 12. The gripping member 16 comprises a stem 18 which extends through an opening in the arm 13, a gripping part 19 connected to the inner end of the stem 18, a knob 20 connected to the outer end of the stem 18 and a compression spring 21 urging the gripping part 19 towards the gripping member 15.

The gripping member 15 and the part 19 of the gripping member 16 are of non-circular and preferably generally square section and fit into correspondingly shaped depressions in the housing 17 of the electric carving knife in order to releasably connect the attachment to the carving knife. This is achieved simply by pulling the knob 20 outwards, placing the support member 10 over the housing 17 so that the gripping member 15 and the part 19 are aligned with the depressions in the housing 17 and releasing the knob 20.

The guide member 11 comprises an elongate contact member 21 for making contact with a side of an article of food to be cut and a slider 22 connected to the inner end of the contact member 21 and slidably movable relative to the bridging piece 14 of the support member 10 in a direction perpendicular to the cutting plane of a blade 23 of the knife between opposite extreme positions as shown in broken lines in Figure 3.

The slider 22 has an elongate slot 24 through which a threaded spindle 25 extends. The spindle 25 also extends through an aperture in the bridging piece 14. The spindle 25 cooperates at its lower end with a nut 26 and has a knob 27 fixed to its upper end.

The slider 22 can be clamped in a selected position relative to the bridging piece 14 by rotating the knob 27 in one direction and can be released in order that the position of the contact member 21 relative to the knife blade 23 can be altered by rotating the knob 27 in an opposite direction.

It will be noted that when the attachment is connected to the housing 17 of the knife, the bridging piece 14 extends across the top of the blade 23 and the contact member 21 is inclined in a slightly downwards direction from the bridging piece 14 so that the lowermost portion of the free end of the contact member 21 is aligned (see Figure 2) with the cutting edge of the blade 23.

In use, the position of the contact member 22 is set to give a desired slice thickness.

Referring now to Figures 5 to 10 of the drawings, the attachment shown therein comprises a support member 50 and a guide member 51 supported by the support member 50 for making contact with a side of an article of food to be cut.

The support member 50 comprises two spaced apart, parallel, hollow arms 52 and 53 and a hollow bridging piece 54 connected between the arms The arms 52 and 53 are provided with gripping members 55 and 56, respectively, adjacent to their free ends. The gripping member 55 is fixed and is similar to the gripping member 15. The gripping member 56 is spring loaded and is similar to the gripping member 16 A threaded shaft 57 is mounted for rotation in the hollow bridging piece 54 about an axis perpendicular to the in use cutting plane of the knife 23. A manually operable knob 61 is mounted on the arm 53 and is connected to the shaft 57 by a gear train comprising three pinion gears 58, 59 and 60, the gear 58 being connected to the knob 61, the gear 59 being an idler gear and the gear 60 being connected to the shaft 57.

The guide member 51 comprises an elongate contact member 62 which extends through an elongate opening 67 in the front of the bridging piece 54 and a slider 64 integral with the inner end of the contact member 62. The slider 64 is cylindrical and hollow and has a pair of opposed central apertures through which the shaft 57 extends to support the slider 14 for angular movement thereabout. The slider 64 holds in captive co-axially therein a threaded nut 63 which is disposed on the shaft 57. The nut 63 cooperates with the shaft 57 and travels along the shaft 57 within the hollow bridging piece 54 when the shaft 57 is rotated, thereby moving the slider 64 and thus the contact member 62 laterally in either direction perpendicular to the cutting plane of the carving knife blade 23.An indicator 65 is fixed to an integral rearwardly-extending radial projection 69 of the nut 63 and extends through an elongate slot 66 in the top of the bridging piece 54, said projection 69 extending through an aperture 71 formed in the cylindrical wall of the slider 64. The indicator 65 has a pointed end which moves along a graduated scale (not shown) on the outer surface of the bridging piece 54 as the nut 63 and slider 64 travel along the shaft 57.

The projection 69 engages within an internal corner 70 of the bridging piece 54 (see Figure 8) so as to prevent the nut 63 from angular displacement when the shaft 57 is rotated.

When the attachment is connected to the housing 17 of the knife, the bridging piece 54 extends across the top of the blade 23 and in this embodiment the contact member 62 extends to a level below the cutting edge of the blade 23 (see Figures 5 and 8). The contact member 62 is urged into this angular position by a tension spring 68 connected between the slider 64 and the nut 63 but is pivotable against the urging force of the spring 64 to a position above the cutting edge of the knife blade when it makes contact with whatever the food it is resting on.

This embodiment is preferred to that shown in Figures 1 to 4, but is more expensive to manufacture. It has a more refined adjustment mechanism for setting the position of the contact member 62 and hence the thickness of slices of food to be cut. Also because the contact member 62 extends below the cutting edge of the knife blade, the contact member 62 can be placed against the side of the article of food before penetration of the blade 23 into the food.

The above embodiments are given by way of example only and various modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of invention defined by the appended claims.

Claims (15)

1. An attachment for an electric carving knife, comprising a support member, means for releasably attaching the support member to an electric carving knife, and a guide member mounted on the support member for making contact with a side of an article of food to be cut, the guide member being movable relative to the support member in a direction transverse to the in use cutting plane of the knife in order to vary the thickness of food slices cut by the knife.

2. An attachment as claimed in claim 1, wherein retaining means are provided for releasably retaining the guide member in a selected position relative to the support member and wherein the guide member is freely slidable relative to the support member when the releasable retaining means are released.

3. An attachment as claimed in claim 2, wherein the retaining means is provided by inter-engåging screwthreaded pin and nut, which pin is associated with either one of the support and guide members and passes through a slot associated with the other of the support and guide members, whereby tightening of the engagement between the pin and the nut results in retaining of the guide member in the selected position relative to the support member.

4. An attachment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the guide member is movable relative to the support member by an actuator comprising a rotatable threaded shaft and a nut cooperable with the shaft and movable therealong as the shaft is rotated.

5. An attachment as claimed in claim 4, wherein the nut engages with an inner end of the guide member in both opposite axial directions of the shaft.

6. An attachment as claimed in claim 5, wherein the inner end of the guide member is hollow and holds in captive therein the nut.

7. An attachment as claimed in claim any one of claims 4 to 6, further comprising a manually operable member for rotating the shaft.

8. An attachment as claimed in claim 7, wherein the manually operable member is connected to the shaft by a gear train.

9. An attachment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the guide member is pivotable relative to the support member against the urging force of spring means and about an axis transverse to the in use cutting plane of the knife.

10. An attachment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the support member comprises two spaced apart arms and a bridging piece connected between the arms.

11. An attachment as claimed in claim 10, wherein the releasable attaching means comprises a gripping member on each of the two arms.

12. An attachment as claimed in claim 11, wherein one of the gripping members is movable away from the other gripping member against the urging force of spring means.

13. An attachment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising indicating means movable with the guide member along a graduated scale.

14. An attachment for an electric carving knife, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 or Figures 5 to 10 of the accompanying drawings.

15. An electric carving knife in combination with an attachment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.