Abstract:
Disclosed herein is a device for slicing food into a plurality of pieces. The device comprises a upper portion having a pushing head and a lower portion having a slicing head for receiving and subsequently slicing an item of food.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The invention is directed to a device for automatically slicing food, such as fruits or vegetables, into a plurality of pieces. More specifically, the invention is directed to a slicer for slicing circular or oblong food, such as grapes, grape tomatoes, and/or cherry tomatoes, into a plurality of pieces. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Many types of small fruit, such as grapes, are used by parents as snacks for children because of their health benefits and their relative ease of procurement year round. However, such small fruit may vary in size and potentially pose a choking hazard to small children and/or adults. In particular, grapes may pose a choking hazard to small children because the child may not have a fully developed set of teeth for properly chewing the grape prior to swallowing. 
         [0003]    One solution to this problem is to cut the fruit using a knife prior to feeding them to children. However, this process may be tedious, messy, time consuming, complicated, complex, and dangerous because a person may slice a finger during cutting. Therefore, a need clearly exists for a quick and efficient device for slicing small fruit. Such a device could also aid in slicing fruit quickly in the preparation of a fruit salad, for example. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The present invention provides a food slicer comprising an upper portion having at least one pushing head with at least one pusher, wherein the pushing head is located at a distal end of the upper portion; a lower portion having at least one slicing head with at least one blade and one opening, wherein the slicing head is located at a distal end of the lower portion; and a connection portion coupled to a proximal end of the upper portion and a proximal end of the distal portion. The at least one pusher extends past the blade and through the opening of the slicing head when the food slicer is moved from an open position to a closed position. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  depicts a top perspective view of the food slicer in an open position; 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  depicts an alternate perspective view of the food slicer of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0007]      FIG. 3  depicts a side view of the food slicer of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0008]      FIG. 4  depicts a bottom perspective view of the food slicer of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0009]      FIG. 5  depicts an alternate side view of the food slicer of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0010]      FIG. 6  depicts an enhanced view of the cutting head of the food slicer of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0011]      FIG. 7  depicts a top perspective view of the food slicer of  FIG. 1  in a closed position; 
           [0012]      FIG. 8  depicts a bottom perspective view of the food slicer of  FIG. 1  in a closed position; 
           [0013]      FIG. 9  depicts an alternate perspective view of the food slicer of  FIG. 1  in a closed position; 
           [0014]      FIG. 10  depicts a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the food slicer in an open position; 
           [0015]      FIG. 11  depicts an enhanced view of the cutting head of the food slicer of  FIG. 10 ; and 
           [0016]      FIG. 12  depicts an enhanced view of the cutting head of the food slicer of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0017]    The following detailed description is of the best mode or modes of the invention presently contemplated. Such description is not intended to be understood in a limiting sense, but to be an example of the invention presented solely for illustration thereof, and by reference to which in connection with the following description and the accompanying drawings one skilled in the art may be advised of the advantages and construction of the invention. In the various views of the drawings, like reference characters designate like or similar parts. 
         [0018]    Reference is now made to  FIGS. 1-5  which depict food slicer  100  in an open configuration. As shown, food slicer  100  comprises upper portion  102  and lower portion  104  which are connected to connection portion  106  by screws  108  or other securing means. Preferably, connection portion  106  is formed from a flexible metal or plastic which provides resistive force to return upper portion  102  and lower portion  104  to the configuration shown in  FIGS. 1-5  after they have been pressed together as shown in  FIGS. 7-9 . Any other spring-type means can also be used. In some embodiments, upper portion  102 , lower portion  104 , and connection portion  106  may be formed from a single piece of plastic or metal, similar to a pair of tongs. In other embodiments, upper portion  102  and lower portion  104  may contain a textured surface to allow food slicer  100  to easily be gripped by a user. 
         [0019]    The distal end of upper portion  102  terminates at pushing head  110  which has a substantially circular shape. The interior of pushing head  110  comprises a plurality of pushers  112 . As shown in  FIGS. 1-5 , pushing head  110  has four pushers  112 . However, it should be obvious to one of skill in the art that any number of pushers  112  may be provided on pushing head  110 . Further, the ends of pushers  112  may be formed such that their ends are open, as shown in  FIG. 1 , or closed. The ends of pushers  112  may also be “cup shaped,” as depicted in  FIG. 5 , to better engage the top curved portion of food  122 . 
         [0020]    The distal end of lower portion  104  terminates at slicing head  114  having a substantially similar shape to pushing head  110 . As shown in  FIG. 6 , slicing head  114  comprises openings  116  which are shaped to accommodate pushers  112 . Slicing head  114  further comprises blades  118  located between openings  116 . Blades  118  may be either serrated or straight-edged depending upon the type of food to be sliced by food slicer  100 . In a preferred embodiment, blades  118  are formed from a corrosive resistant material such as stainless steel or plastic. 
         [0021]    Each opening  116  comprises one or more deflectable elements  120 . The deflectable elements are arranged such that their tips support a food  122 , such as a grape, above the blades  118  when the food slicer  100  is in an open position as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . Deflectable elements  120  are preferably formed from a resilient flexible metal or plastic material. 
         [0022]    To slice food  122 , a user advances pushing head  110  toward slicing head  114  by squeezing upper portion  102  and lower portion  104  toward each other using one hand or two hands. The resulting configuration of food slicer  100  is shown in  FIGS. 7-9 . As this occurs, pushers  112  engage the top surface of food  122  and push food  122  past blades  118  which slice food  122  as the pushers  112  advance through openings  116 . Concurrently, pushers  112  cause deflectable elements  120  to deflect as shown in  FIG. 9 , thus allowing food  122  to be sliced by blades  118  into four portions (corresponding to the four openings  116 ) as shown in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0023]    However, the number of portions that food  122  is sliced into can be varied by changing the number of opening  116  and blades  118  in slicing head  114 . For examples,  FIGS. 10 and 11  depict an alternate version of food slicer  100  having a different slicing head  114  than that depicted in  FIGS. 1-9 . As shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 , slicing head  114  contains two openings  116  which are divided by a single blade  118 . This allows food  122  to be halved instead of being divided into four portions as shown in  FIG. 7 . In some embodiments, the number and arrangement of pushers  112  in pushing head  110  may need to varied based upon the arrangement of openings  116  and blades  118  in slicing head  114 . Further, pushers  112  in pushing head  110  and blades  118  in slicing head  114  can be replaceable. For example, as shown in  FIG. 12 , the blades  118  can have snap beads  1202  formed theron to allow blades  118  to be removably attached to slicing head  114 . Alternately, blades  118  can be permanently fixed to slicing head  114 . 
         [0024]    After food  122  has been sliced, a user then releases their grip on upper portion  102  and lower portion  104 , allowing the food slicer  100  to return to its original configuration shown in  FIGS. 1-5 . Another food  122  can then be placed in food slicer  100  and the slicing process can be repeated. 
         [0025]    In some embodiments, food slicer  100  may contain multiple pushing heads  110  branching off of the distal end of upper portion  102  which align with multiple slicing heads  114  branching off of the distal end of lower portion  104 . Using this configuration, food slicer  100  can slice more than one item of food  122  at a time. In another embodiment, the size of pushing head  110  and slicing head  114  can be enlarged so that multiple items of food  122  can be placed in slicing head  114  to be simultaneously sliced. 
         [0026]    While the present invention has been described at some length and with some particularity with respect to the several described embodiments, it is not intended that it should be limited to any such particulars or embodiments or any particular embodiment, but it is to be construed to provide the broadest possible interpretation of such claims in view of the prior art and, therefore, to effectively encompass the intended scope of the invention. Furthermore, the foregoing describes the invention in terms of embodiments foreseen by the inventor for which an enabling description was available, notwithstanding that insubstantial modifications of the invention, not presently foreseen, may nonetheless represent equivalents thereto.