Abstract:
A cheese slicer having a flat base and a blade holder releasably pivotally secured to the base for moving from a locked upright cheese slicing position to a lowered storing position. A unique wide, flat blade slidably carried in the blade holder and having an upper end with a large handle and a lower end. The lower end having a downwardly and rearwardly sloping separating surface terminating in a downwardly protruding blunt slicing edge.

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/307,876, filed Sep. 16, 1994, now abandoned. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention relates generally to slicers for slicing soft food products, such as cheese, butter, paté and the like. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     There is a need for a cheese slicer of the type capable of cutting smoothly a slice of cheese from a block of cheese. Heretofore cheese cutters have used knife blades or wires. An example of a wire cheese slicer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,024. An example of a cutting blade is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,570,671. 
     These cheese slicers, however, have been somewhat awkward to handle or create storage problems. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of this invention to provide an improved cheese slicer having a wide, flat blade and a blade holder which can be pivoted from an upright slicing position to a folded collapsible position for storage. 
     It is another object of this invention to provide a cheese slicer where the slicing blade is easily removed for cleaning. 
     Still another object of this invention is to provide a cheese slicing blade having a wide, flat body with a lower end which smoothly separates the slice of cheese from the block of cheese. 
     Basically, these objects are achieved by having a flat base with a pivotally mounted cheese slicing blade holder on the base. The blade holder is provided with opposed slots which receive a large flat, wide slicing blade. Detents hold the blade holder in its upright slicing position. The blade has an upper end with a large flat handle and a lower end with a downwardly and rearwardly sloping separating surface. The separating surface terminates downwardly along a plane parallel to the flat, wide slicing blade and terminates into a blunt edge of a shape roughly equivalent to a cheese slicing wire. 
     With this invention, the slicing of cheese is done very quickly with smooth separation of the slices from the block of cheese. For storage, the blade holder folds down to a compact position taking much less space that in its upright position. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an isometric of the cheese slicer with the blade holder in an upright position. 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration showing the blade separating a slice of cheese from a block of cheese. 
     FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the cheese slicer. 
     FIG. 4 is a fragmentary front elevation of the cheese slicer with parts broken away for clarity. 
     FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the cheese slicer. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     As best shown in FIG. 1, the cheese slicer has a flat base  10 , an upright blade holder  12 , a wide, flat blade  14  slidably secured in the blade holder. 
     The flat base  10  is a rigid plastic member having support legs  16 . Rubber cushioning pads  18  are connected to each of the four support legs. The blade holder  12  is pivotally mounted to the forward end of the base by pivot pins  20 . Thus, the blade holder can move from the upright position shown in FIG. 3 to the phantom line storage position shown in FIG.  3 . 
     The blade holder is held in its upright position by spring biased detent pins  22  which are received in recesses  24 . As best shown in FIG. 5 the pins are pushed into the recesses by a spring  26  having finger grips  28 . The lower ends of the blade holder are also provided with ramps  30  which slide over the detent pins compressing them until the pins are beyond the ramps and are pushed outwardly into the recesses  24  by the spring  26  Thus, the blade holder is automatically locked into its upright position when it is raised. To release the pins, the finger grips  28  are compressed toward one another which withdraws the detent pins from the recesses allowing the blade holder to be moved to the storage folded position. 
     As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the slicing blade  14  is a large wide, thin flat body having an upper end  31  and a lower end  32  and forward and rear sides. The upper end has a large flat smooth handle  34  attached thereto so that the palm of the hand can be used for pushing the slicing blade through the cheese C. 
     The lower end of the slicing blade is joined to a rearwardly offset slicing surface with a rearwardly, downwardly sloped separating surface  34  that terminates in a lower slicing terminal edge  36 . The thickness of the blade at the slicing edge is about 0.80 mm and is blunt like a cheese slicing wire rather than provided with a sharp edge. The height “h” is kept to a minimum and is approximately {fraction (3/16)} of an inch. This reduces the friction against the cheese during cutting making movement of the slicing blade through the cheese easier. The sloping surface allows the front upper edge of the sloping surface where it bends into the cutting blade to gently push a slice of cheese away, allowing for easy separation of the cheese and again minimizing friction between the cutting blade and the block of cheese. 
     The slicing blade has opposed guide areas that are guided in the blade holder in a pair of opposed grooves  40 . The upper end of the blade holder has a cross bar  42  on the forward side of the holder only. The blade is provided with a central spring biased pawl  46  that can be flexed rearwardly. The pawl has an upper ledge  48  which will engage the support bar  42  when the handle is raised to slice another slice of cheese. To remove the blade for cleaning, however, the pawl can be pushed rearwardly until the ledge  48  is clear of the support bar  42  and the blade can be slid free of the blade holder. 
     In operation the blade holder is swung up to its upright position with the detent pins automatically being compressed by the ramps and then falling into the recesses for holding the blade holder securely in the upright position. The blade is raised and the block of cheese placed on the base and slid forward one slice thickness. The operator then places a hand on the handle pushing the blade through the forward end of the block of cheese with the separating edge slicing the cheese and separating it from the block of cheese. The lower cutting edge  36  of the cheese jogs down from the separating surface and is approximately parallel to the plane of the slicing blade and provides only a minimum height for low friction engagement with the block of cheese making the slicing of the cheese very easy for the operator. If the operator wishes to wash the blade, it is only necessary to depress the pawl  46  and lift the blade free of the blade holder. Furthermore, for storage, it is only necessary to compress the spring  26  by placing the finger and thumb in the finger grips  28  and retracting the detent pins from their recesses. This allows the blade holder to pivot downwardly and rest smoothly against the base for a minimum storage dimension. 
     As is apparent, the invention is capable of modification and those skilled in the art will understand the principles from the disclosure herein. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiment illustrated in the drawings.