FOOD SLICER

Abstract

The food slicer comprises a first support module for supporting at least one slicing blade, a second support module for supporting at least one piece of food and a drive mechanism means for transforming a relative movement of the first and second support modules into a movement of the slicing blade in the first support module, said relative movement involving a change in the height (h) between the first and second support modules. The slicing blade has a protruding portion protruding from at least one surface of the slicing blade in accordance with at least one ramp oriented to facilitate separation of the sliced piece of food from the rest of the piece of food without damaging it.

Claims

1. A food slicer comprising: a first support module for supporting at least one slicing blade, a second support module for supporting at least one piece of food; and a drive mechanism for transforming a relative movement of the first and second support modules into a movement of the slicing blade in the first support module, said relative movement involving a variation of the height between the first and second support modules, wherein the slicing blade has a protruding portion protruding from at least one surface of the slicing blade according to at least one ramp oriented to facilitate the separation of a sliced piece of food from a rest of the piece of food without damaging it.

2. The food slicer according to claim 1, wherein the protruding portion is integral with the slicing blade.

3. The food slicer according to claim 1, wherein the food slicer additionally comprises a slicing end of run stop adjustable to set a thickness of sliced pieces of food.

4. The food slicer according to claim 3, wherein the at least one of the first support module, the second support module, or the slicing end of run stop is independent and detachable from the slicer.

5. The food slicer according to claim 1, wherein he food slicer additionally comprises a hinged lever associated with the drive mechanism for causing relative movement of the first and second support modules.

6. The food slicer according to claim 1, wherein the food slicer additionally comprises a motor device for causing relative movement of the first and second support modules.

7. The food slicer according to claim 1, wherein the drive mechanism is configured for driving the slicing blade as the first support module is moved towards the second support module, and not driving the slicing blade as the first support module is moved away from the second support module.

8. The food slicer according to claim 1, wherein the food slicer additionally comprises a biasing member arranged to oppose the movement of displacement of the first support module in a direction towards the second support module.

9. The food slicer according to claim 1, wherein the food slicer additionally comprises a pushing member for pushing the piece of food against the slicing blade.

10. The food slicer according to claim 9, wherein the food slicer additionally comprises a guide member associated with the second support module for guiding the movement of the pushing member.

11. The food slicer according to claim 9, wherein the pushing member includes a strap configured to hold the piece of food pressed against a slicing end of run stop.

12. The food slicer according to claim 9, wherein the food slicer additionally comprises a mechanism for automatically driving the pushing member for advancing the pushing member a distance equivalent to the thickness of the sliced piece of food.

13. The food slicer according to claim 1, wherein the slicing blade is configured as a disc having a diameter ranging from 60 to 150 millimetres.

14. The food slicer according to claim 1, wherein the food slicer additionally comprises a lower collecting tray configured for collecting sliced pieces of food.

15. The food slicer according to claim 14, wherein the lower collecting tray is movable away from the first support module a predetermined distance each time the slicing blade is moved relative to the second support module so that the sliced pieces of food are deposited on each other in said lower collecting tray offset from each other by said corresponding distance.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0050] A particular example will now be described of the present food slicer by way of a non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0051] In the drawings:

[0052] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one example of the present food slicer from a front part, shown in an initial rest position, with the hinged lever raised;

[0053] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the example of the food slicer in FIG. 1, from a rear part;

[0054] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the example of the food slicer of FIGS. 1 and 2, from a bottom rear part;

[0055] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a slicing blade used in the present food slicer;

[0056] FIG. 5 is an elevational sectional view of the slicing blade of FIG. 4 taken along line AA in FIG. 6;

[0057] FIG. 6 is a plan view of the slicing blade of FIGS. 4 and 5;

[0058] FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the slicing blade in

[0059] FIG. 5, with the blade being shown slicing a food into a slice; and

[0060] FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic view of the blade in the position of FIG. 7 slicing a food, with parameters defining the geometry of the slicing blade being shown

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EXAMPLE

[0061] A non-limiting example of a food slicer, which has been designated as a whole by reference numeral 100 in FIGS. 1-8 of the drawings is described below. In the drawings, the piece of food to be sliced by the present slicer 100 has been designated by 110, while the sliced piece of food, such as a slice or sheet, has been designated by 115. The piece of food to be sliced 110 by the present slicer 100 may be ham, such as, for example, Iberian ham, or any other food having physical and structural characteristics similar or different in terms of homogeneity, unctuousness, fibrillary structure, hardness, melting temperature, etc.

[0062] In the non-limiting example illustrated in said FIGS. 1-8 of the drawings, the food slicer 100 comprises a base structure 105 or fixed frame where a series of modular elements, interchangeable and removable from each other and from the base structure or fixed frame 105 are directly or indirectly mounted. The modular nature of the food slicer 100 described herein allows the slicer 100 to be configured in a very flexible manner so as to accommodate a wide variety of applications and uses. The modular elements can be interchanged with modular elements of other machines, which allows to expand the slicer and make modifications, improvements, updates or specific developments of the slicer 100 throughout its useful life for different requirements.

[0063] Among the modular elements forming the food slicer 100 a first support module 120, a second support module 130 and drive mechanism, not shown, are provided.

[0064] The first support module 120 of the food slicer 100 comprises a plate-like support body 125 that is configured to support a slicing blade 140. An upper groove 126 is formed in the support body 125, suitable for housing a hinged lever 170, which will be described in detail further below, and lateral guides 127 for guiding the movement of the first support module 120, as it will be described in detail further below.

[0065] The slicing blade 140 is a circular disc that is rotatably mounted on the support body 125 of the first support module 120. The slicing blade 140 has a diameter in the range from 60 to 150 millimetres, for example 86 millimetres, which has been found to be the most suitable for slicing foods such as Iberian ham. Further dimensions for the slicing blade 140 are possible.

[0066] Referring now to FIGS. 4-8 of the drawings, the slicing blade 140 has a sharp edge 142 and a protruding portion 160 formed near said sharp edge 142 and protruding from the outer surface 145 of the slicing blade 140 forming a protruding ring projecting out of the slicer 100 in the direction to the outlet of the sliced piece of food 115.

[0067] The protruding portion 160 of the slicing blade 140 is shown enlarged in detail in FIG. 7 of the drawings. In the example shown in FIG. 7, said protruding portion 160 is shown as a separate part from the slicing blade 140, but it could be an integral part with the slicing blade 140. In any case, said protruding portion 160 is formed by two inclined planes or ramps which are suitably facing towards the outlet of the sliced piece of food 115. More specifically, in the example shown in the figures, the protruding portion 160 is formed by one ramp that is arranged in a lower part and another ramp that is arranged in an upper part of the slicer 100. Both ramps converge in a pushing edge 162 facing away from the slicer 100 and whose function is to push the sliced piece of food 115 towards the exterior of the slicer 100 during the slicing operation.

[0068] It should be noted that although the ramps that define the protruding portion 160 are illustrated in the exemplary figures formed by flat surfaces, the geometry of said ramp surfaces may be different. In general, the definition of ramp as a body formed by an inclined or sloping plane includes herein any kind of flat and/or curved inclined surface, whether it is concave and/or convex, corrugated, irregular, etc., or combinations thereof. On the other hand, the pushing edge 162 may be slightly curved. These possible configurations of the protruding portion 160 allow an appropriate configuration to be selected to obtain an optimal detachment the sliced piece of food 115.

[0069] The ramps, in the example shown, have a different slope, so that the ramp of the lower part has a slope that is less than that of the ramp provided at the upper part. Said ramps or inclined planes of the protruding portion 160 of the slicing blade 140 define an empty space 165. Such empty space 165 is suitable to prevent the sliced piece of food 115, that is, the slice or sheet, from being adhered to the outer surface 145 of the slicing blade 140.

[0070] FIG. 8 schematically shows the slicing blade 140 when a piece of food 110 is being sliced by the slicer 100. Some parameters defining the geometry of the slicing blade 140 are shown in said FIG. 8. Reference numeral 115 in FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrates the arc defined by the sliced piece of food 115. In order to obtain such output inclination of the sliced piece of food 115 with an effective slicing preventing the sliced piece of food 115 from adhering to the slicing blade 140, it is preferred to set certain angles , and relative to the vertical, wherein:

[0071] is the angle of attack of the slicing blade 140, and therefore the output starting angle of the food;

[0072] is the angle of the imaginary line between the sharp edge 142 and the pushing edge 162 defining the output path for the sliced piece of food 115; and

[0073] is the angle defining the ramp of the protruding portion 160, from the slicing blade 140 to the pushing edge 162.

[0074] Given these parameters, it is appropriate that the following relationships are met:

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so that the sliced piece of food 115 defines a natural output arch taking advantage of the angle of attack of the slicing blade 140 but preventing the sliced piece of food 115, through the small air gap formed by the empty space 165, from being adhered upon slicing. Vertical slicing is advantageous since it helps to detach foods such as Iberian ham sliced into slim sheets from the slicing blade 140 since slicing is performed with the fibres of the food arranged in a vertical position.

[0075] Turning to FIGS. 1 to 3 of the drawings, the second support module 130 comprises a housing of box 200 and an upper surface 135. The upper surface 135 is configured to slidably support a pushing member 180, which will be described in detail further below, intended to hold and advance the piece of food to be sliced 110 towards the slicing blade 140 to perform slicing and to cause the sliced piece of food 115 to pass through an outlet 210, which is located in correspondence with the slicing blade 140, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, which is described further below.

[0076] The outlet opening 210 is an empty portion of the first support module 120 that may contain the slicing end of run stop 150 so as to set the thickness of food slices 115, as indicated in FIG. 7 by reference d. In said outlet 210 a protrusion 215 is provided in the illustrated example that is suitable to facilitate the exit of the sliced food 115 out of the slicer 100.

[0077] The first support module 120 can be moved vertically along the base structure 105 of the slicer 100, along the above mentioned side guides 127 of the support body 125 to move towards and away from the second support module 130 during operation of the slicer 100.

[0078] In the non-limiting example herein described, the relative movement of the support modules 120, 130 is performed manually by the above-mentioned hinged lever 170, which will be now described in detail.

[0079] The hinged lever 170 is a bar that is detachably mounted on the first support module 120 so that it can be rotated relative thereto laterally in a substantially vertical plane coincident with the plane of the slicing blade 140, about a substantially horizontal axis. Other configurations and shapes of the hinged lever 170 are possible.

[0080] The manual operation of the hinged lever 170 downwards causes the first support module 120 to move towards the second support module 130 and, at the same time, rotation of the slicing blade 140 in the first support module 120.

[0081] To perform simultaneous movement of displacement of the first support module 120 towards the second support module 130 and the rotational movement of the slicing blade 140, the above mentioned drive mechanism, not shown in the figures, are used. The drive mechanism comprises gears which are configured and arranged to transform the manual rotation of the hinged lever 170 into a combined driving of displacement of the first support module 120 downwards towards the second bearing module 130 and simultaneous rotation of the slicing blade 140 at a rotational speed as a function of the characteristics of the piece of food to be sliced 110. The hinged lever 170 is associated at one end thereof with an input gear of the drive mechanism, so that, when the hinged lever 170 is rotated by the user downwardly against the action of the spring, not shown, the first support module 120 is moved downwardly toward the second support module 130 while the slicing blade 140 is rotated, slicing the food 110 properly into slices 115 passing through the outlet opening 210.

[0082] As shown in FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings, the food slicer 100 operates vertically. That is, the first support module 120 is disposed vertically on second support module 130 and, in operation, the first support module 120 is vertically movable relative to the second support module 130 resulting in that the vertical height h between them, illustrated in FIG. 1, is changed.

[0083] As it can be seen in said FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings, the slicer 100 includes a slicing end of run stop 150. The slicing end of run stop 150 is also modular in nature, that is, it comprises a removable vertical plate that can be interchanged by others. Said vertical plate is sized to separate the food to be sliced 110 from the slicing blade 140 a predetermined distance so as to act as a stop setting a thickness d of the sliced pieces of food 115, shown in FIG. 7 of the drawings. The vertical plate of the slicing end of run stop 150 is movable so as to adjust the separation distance between the food to be sliced 110 and the slicing blade 140 and thus to set the desired thickness d of the sliced pieces of food 115.

[0084] In order to push the part of food to be sliced 110 against the slicing blade 140 a pushing member 180 is provided. The pushing member 180 is also modular and detachable from the slicer 100, so that different types of pushing members 180 can be mounted for different types and/or formats of foods to be sliced 110. In the example shown, the pushing member 180 comprises a vertical plate adapted to move horizontally in the second support module 130, that is, in a plane substantially perpendicular to the slicing operation and to cause a forward movement of the food to be sliced 110 towards the slicing blade 140. Suitably sized guides 190 are provided on the upper surface 135 of the second support module 130 to guide the movement of the pushing member 190 toward or away from the slicing blade 140.

[0085] The guides 190 do not only serve the purpose of better centring the sliced pieces of food 115 according to their thickness. In particular, when pieces of Iberian ham are desired to be sliced, especially in very thin sheets 115, they tend to bend as they turn by gravity, and even to split into two or more portions if it is a very sensitive or veined product, as in the case of the Iberian ham and others. In order to avoid this problem, the part of food to be sliced 110 has to be placed with its fibres oriented vertically, so that the output of the sliced pieces of food 115 can be suitably carried out.

[0086] In a further example, the pushing member 180 could run on a tunnel-like structure, defined by the surface 135 of the second support module 130 and an upper surface, not shown, parallel thereto, which would also be provided with own guides, in addition to guides 190 of said surface 135 of the second support module 130.

[0087] As discussed above, a lower collecting tray 220 is provided in the second support module 130. The lower collecting tray 220 is configured to collect sliced pieces of food 115, such as slices or sheets. Through an appropriate mechanism, not shown, the lower collecting tray 220 can be moved away from the slicing blade 140 a predetermined distance each time the first support module 120 moves towards the second support module 130, that is, each time a slicing operation is performed. Thus, as the piece of food 110 is sliced, the sliced pieces of food 115 are deposited on top of each other in the lower collecting tray 220 and offset from one another by said predetermined distance. The lower collecting tray 220 may be removable from the second support module 130.

[0088] The mode of use of the food slicer 100 will be described herein below. The user first places a food such as, for example, a piece of ham 110, on the upper surface 135 of the second support module 130. Once the piece of ham 110 is placed, the user pushes horizontally with one hand the plate of the pushing member 180 so that the piece of ham 110 is moved horizontally toward the slicing blade 140. Once the piece of ham 110 is disposed under the slicing blade 140, the user with the other hand rotates the hinged lever 170 downwardly against the force of an elastic member, not shown. Rotation of the hinged lever 170 causes the first support module 120 to move, together with the slicing blade 140, vertically downwards, toward the second support module 130 and simultaneously rotation of the slicing blade 140, causing the piece of ham 110 to be sliced into a slice 115.

[0089] Once the piece of ham 110 has been sliced, the first support module 120 is pushed upwardly by the biasing member, along with the slicing blade 140, away from the second support module 130 to the initial rest position shown in FIGS. 1-3 of the drawings. In the described example, the slicing blade 140 is disconnected from the drive mechanism during said return operation of the first support module 120 to the initial rest position. That is, during vertical upward displacement of the first support module 120, away from the second support module 130, the slicing blade 140 is not driven in rotation.

[0090] This slicing operation can be repeated several times to obtain the slices 115 which are deposited on said lower collecting tray 220, illustrated by way of an example in FIG. 2, superimposed and displaced away from one another, being ready for storage, distribution, or otherwise directly for consumption, perfectly presented. The collecting tray 220 may be arranged at the bottom of the lower housing 200, for example.

[0091] Although only a number of particular examples have been disclosed herein, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that other alternative examples and/or uses and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof are possible.

[0092] The present disclosure covers all possible combinations of the particular examples described. The scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to such examples but should be determined only by a fair reading of the claims that follow.

[0093] Reference signs related to drawings and placed in parentheses in a claim, are solely for attempting to increase the intelligibility of the claim, and shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claim.