Patent ID: 6202529
Filing Date: 2001-03-20
Classification: B26B,B26D,Y10S,Y10T

Abstract:
A slicing apparatus for approximately bisecting roundly shaped bread products comprising:a base unit containing a U shaped chamber, with an opening at the top which is sized to receive a range of said roundly shaped bread products, having a vertical slot bisecting the narrower side walls of said chamber, starting at the top of said chamber and terminating a set distance below the bottom of said chamber, having also a portion of said shorter side walls as well as a portion of the longer side walls of said chamber angle inwards, when measured from said top to said bottom of said chamber,wherein the improvement comprises a means of centering the bottom of bagels as well as a broad array of said roundly shaped bread products with respect to said vertical slot, comprising said walls that extend generally vertically downward from said opening for a set distance and then turn and angle inwards for a set distance and terminate in a horizontal section, when viewed in cross section from both the side and front of said base unit;a means of restricting the motion of said bread products during the vertical slicing operation, comprising a separate top block which is a somewhat smaller than said opening of said chamber, to be placed on top of the upper edge of one of said roundly shaped bread products which has been placed in said chamber,a means of allowing the free back and forth movement of a common bread knife under said top block comprising a vertical slot on the underside of said top block which is large enough to receive said common bread knife, positioned such that said vertical slot would coincide with said vertical slot in said chamber when said top block is placed on top of one of said bread products which has been placed in said chamber;a means of centering the top of said bread products with respect to said vertical slot in said top block, comprising walls that, when viewed in cross section from the side, extend at an angle upward from the bottom front and back edges of said top block for a set distance and terminate in a horizontal section,whereby a broad array of said roundly shaped bread products, ranging from large and irregularly shaped bagels, kaiser rolls, and portuguese sweet rolls to typical english muffins, may be sliced into two approximately equal sections, without causing damage and deformation to said bread products.