Abstract
An herb grinder intended to be driven by the thumb in one hand to shave an herb with a plurality of blades. The grinder is a rectangular body comprised of a thumb piece, upper cover, pressurized plate, sliding body, central chamber, and bottom chamber. The top thumb piece is serrated for improved grip. The upper cover allows for the insertion of the herbs, spices, or other foodstuffs. The pressurized plate performs a tamping operation of the food product into the sliding body forcing a downward bias against the blades. The sliding body travels along linear indentations of the central chamber during operation to allow the blades to shear the food, which is evacuated from the central chamber into the bottom chamber.
Claims
1. A herb grinder with a rectangular cross-section comprising: a bottom chamber, the bottom chamber acting as a cavity to collect the ground herb; a central chamber with a plurality of blades and apertures, the central chamber connected to said bottom chamber allowing ground herb to exit to said bottom chamber; an upper cover with an opening to allow placement of herbs, the upper cover connected to said central chamber; a sliding body of a hollow box with open top and bottom faces sized smaller than said central chamber width, the sliding body containing the herb during grinding and positioned inside of said central chamber; a pressured plate positioned within said sliding body with a bias against the blades of said central chamber; and a top portion positioned above said upper cover, the top portion connected to said pressured plate.
2. The herb grinder of claim 1 wherein said central chamber contains linear indentations along the long side of the rectangular shape.
3. The herb grinder of claim 1 wherein said sliding body contains outward protrusions matching the linear indentations of said central chamber.
4. The herb grinder of claim 1 wherein said herb grinder is sized to be held in one hand.
5. The herb grinder of claim 1 wherein said top portion is driven by the thumb.
6. The herb grinder of claim 1 wherein said upper member consists of a slot opening along the length of the rectangular shape.
7. The herb grinder of claim 6 wherein said pressured plate is connected through said slot of the top portion with a spring-mechanism.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] FIG. 1 is a side view of the entire assembled grinder in the closed position.
[0025] FIG. 2 is a front view of the entire assembled grinder in the closed position.
[0026] FIG. 3 is a top view of the entire assembled grinder in the closed position.
[0027] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the entire assembled grinder in the closed position.
[0028] FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the entire grinder in the closed position.
[0029] FIG. 6 is a cross section of the side view of the entire grinder in the closed position.
[0030] FIG. 6A is a close-up view of the cross section of a single blade from the plurality.
[0031] FIG. 7 is a cross section of the front view of the entire grinder in the closed position.
[0032] FIG. 7A is a close-up view of the cross section of the protrusion on the sliding body, and the indentations along the central body.
[0033] FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the entire assembled grinder in the open position.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0034] FIG. 5 shows a representation of the grinder according to the invention comprising of a bottom chamber 6, mated with a central chamber 5, wherein a sliding body 4 is able to travel laterally. A pressurized plate 3 creates a bias against the food placed within the sliding body 4. An upper cover 2 is mated with the central chamber 5 along a common axis of pins 9 that allow the upper body to be rotatable. The pressurized plate 3 extends past the opening in the upper cover 11 and connects to the top element 1. The top element 1 is serrated along its top face to improve grip and travels laterally driving the movement of the sliding body 4.
[0035] Referring to FIG. 8 there is shown a representation of the grinder according to the invention in the opened state. The upper cover 2 is mated with the central chamber 5 and rotated into an opened position to allow food to be placed in the sliding body 4. The sliding body 4 travels along the central chamber 5 using the linear indentations on the central body 8. The top portion 1 contains annular snap fit protrusions allowing it to mate with the upper cover 2. The top portion 1 and pressurized plate 3 are mated allowing for linear movement through the opening of the upper cover 11. Once food has been placed within the sliding body 4, rotating the upper cover 2 to close the grinder causes the pressurized plate 3 to create a downward force creating a bias against the blades within the central chamber 5. With this downward bias, driving the linear movement of the connected top portion 1, pressurized plate 3, and sliding body 4 along the linear indentations 8 creates the shearing force that causes the food to grind along the blades of the central chamber 5. The ground food evacuates from the central chamber through openings between the blades into the bottom chamber 6. The bottom chamber 6 may be fitted with a mesh screen to filter out ground food to a specific fineness.
[0036] The upper cover 2 contains an indentation 12 allowing for a cantilever snap fit connection to the central chamber 5 once closed. The purpose of this snap fit connection is to prevent the upper cover 2 from opening during operation.
[0037] Referring to FIG. 6 and FIG. 6A there is shown a cross-section of the side view of the grinder. The blades 7 highlighted in FIG. 6A contain an angled edge to improve the shearing ability of the blade. The plurality of blades 7 is evenly spaced within the central chamber 5 to control the fineness of food grinding during operation. As the sliding body 4 travels along the central chamber 5 the food is sheared between the bottom of the sliding body 4 and the plurality of blades 7. The space between the blades allows ground food to evacuate into the bottom chamber 6.
[0038] Referring to FIG. 7 and FIG. 7A there is shown a cross-section of the front view of the grinder to give closer detail to the linear indentations 8 along the central chamber 5. The sliding body 4 contains an offset protrusion matching the linear indentation 8, allowing it to travel laterally while preventing upward or downward movement.
[0039] The invention has been explained with reference to specific embodiments. Other embodiments will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore it is not intended that the invention be limited, except as indicated by the appended claims.
