Patent ID: 8069766
Filing Date: 2011-12-06
Classification: A47J,B26D,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A manual food dicer comprising: a frame having a cut vegetable slot, a cutting blade cross-mounted opposite the cut vegetable slot, and two parallel lateral columns including two guiding rails; a carriage movable in two-way translation along the guiding rails, the carriage including a guide chamber; and a longitudinal cutting knife including a set of blades located opposite the cross-mounted cutting blade, in line with the cut vegetable slot and substantially perpendicular to the cross-mounted cutting blade, wherein the two-way translation of the carriage along the guiding rails is divided into a series of active phases during which vegetables are cut by the blades and of ineffective carriage return phases, and wherein the longitudinal cutting knife cooperates with a positioning mechanism enabling the longitudinal cutting knife to be elastically mounted on either side of the frame between firstly a working position in which the blades of the longitudinal cutting knife jut out over an upper surface of the frame to enable the vegetables to be cut into sticks or cubes during the active phases and towards which the longitudinal cutting knife is automatically returned in the absence of any external stress thereon, and secondly a retracted position in which the blades of the longitudinal cutting knife are retracted into the cut vegetable slot, the translation of the carriage during the return phases automatically causing the longitudinal cutting knife to move into the retracted position, wherein the positioning mechanism includes a slide mechanism and a cam mechanism, the slide mechanism is mounted movably in translation along the lateral columns, substantially perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the lateral columns, and the cam mechanism is mounted movably in rotation on the lateral columns, engages the slide mechanism, and cooperates with the carriage to enable the longitudinal cutting knife to move between the working position and the retracted position during the two-way translation of the carriage.