Abstract:
A food preparation device having a mandolin slicer with safety features including an adjustable plate that can shield a person&#39;s hand from the cutting surface when the device is not in active use and a stability base and handle that prevent the device from sliding or falling over during operation.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the invention 
         [0002]    This invention relates generally to the field of food preparation devices including mandolin slicers and choppers. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Many products have been created to prepare foods by slicing or grating them. One such device, known as a mandolin or mandolin slicer generally is formed from a rectangular frame typically set at an angle with respect to a work surface into which is set a food deck. The food deck typically has an upper portion (further from the surface) and a lower portion (closer to the surface) separated by a blade which is in substantially the same plane as the lower food deck. With this configuration when a food item is pushed across the upper portion of the food deck towards the lower portion, the blade will contact the food and slice a piece off while the remainder of the food slides onto the lower portion of the food deck. Such devices are useful to make thin slices of vegetables, such as cucumbers, carrots or potatoes. Some of these devices combine a slicing blade with a julienne blade, which allows sticks, rather than slices, of food to be prepared. For example french fries are made by slicing and cutting potatoes in two directions to form substantially uniform stick shapes. 
         [0005]    Some mandolin slicers include a separate device or attached part known as a food carrier which is designed to hold the unsliced portion of the food to reduce the risk of injury to the user&#39;s hands which can occur when a user holds the unsliced food directly as the food is passed over the blade. This risk of injury increases as the remaining amount of unsliced food becomes smaller thereby bringing the user&#39;s hand closer to the blade. However, these food carriers do not protect against injury when the mandolin slicer is not actively being used to slice food. For instance, if a user is not careful when removing a mandolin slicer from storage, moving a mandolin slicer to a new work surface, or washing the mandolin slicer, the user can easily cut or slice his/her hand on the blade, causing a painful and potentially severe injury. 
         [0006]    Furthermore, conventional mandolin slicers are prone to slipping on the work surface during use. This further increases the risk of cutting one&#39;s hand on the blade as well as the risk of spilling the sliced or unsliced food out of a collection bowl which can create a mess and/or lead to spoiled food if the surface is unsanitary. 
         [0007]    Accordingly, a mandolin slicer should desirably have a way to protect the user from accidentally getting cut or otherwise injured by the mandolin&#39;s blade when the device is not actively being used, and also prevent the device from moving around on the work surface while being used to prepare food. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    An object of the present invention is to provide a food preparation device with safety mechanisms to protect an individual from injury when a slicer on the device is not being actively used. 
         [0009]    An additional object of the present invention is to provide mechanisms for stabilizing a food preparation device, such as a mandolin slicer or a food chopper, during use. These stabilization mechanisms: (1) help to prevent injury; (2) help to reduce spoilage from accidental spilling of food onto an unclean surface during preparation; and (3) afford the user better control of the device, for example,by freeing one of the user&#39;s hands from having to hold the device to prevent the device from moving during use. 
         [0010]    To these and other ends, the present invention broadly contemplates a mandolin slicer having a frame supporting a food deck divided into upper and lower portions separated by a small gap in which: (1) a cutting surface, such as a blade, is located; (2) at least a portion of the upper food deck proximate to the cutting surface may be adjusted vertically relative to the cutting surface so that food which is pushed from the upper food deck to the lower food deck will encounter the blade which will in turn remove a slice of the food and allow the slice to drop into a space below the surface of the food deck while the remainder of the food passes across to the lower food deck; and (3) the portion of the upper food deck proximate to the cutting surface can be raised vertically relative to the cutting surface such that the upper food deck is higher than the cutting surface. When the upper food deck is higher than the cutting blade, the user&#39;s fingers will be shielded from encountering the cutting surface when slid across the upper food deck and onto the lower food deck. 
         [0011]    In one embodiment of the present invention, a food preparation device is used in conjunction with a bowl and a support base. The bowl, which collects the prepared food, removably attaches to the support base which can be attached to a work surface. The support base can have one or more suction cups for such attachment and further can have a handle for the user to grasp to stabilize the bowl of the food preparation device during operation. While the following detailed specification generally refers to a mandolin slicer, the mechanisms and processes described also provide benefits to other food processing devices and are to be understood as being part of this invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a mandolin slicer according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a bottom view of the lid for a bowl formed with a mandolin slicer according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional partial side view of the mandolin slicer configured to slice food according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional partial side view of a mandolin slicer configured to protect a user from injury according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of a bowl attached to a support base according to one embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a top view of a support base upon which the bowl of the mandolin slicer may be mounted according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0018]    A mandolin slicer according to one embodiment of the present invention will be discussed with reference to  FIGS. 1 ,  2 ,  3  and  4 . The mandolin slicer  10  includes an adjustable upper food deck  12 , a lower food deck  14 , and a blade  16  with a cutting edge  18 . The decks  12 ,  14  and blade  16  are mounted to a frame having supporting sides  20  and  22 . The sides  20  and  22  are attached to a lid  24  which in turn may be fitted on top of a bowl  26 . This configuration is advantageous as the food slices  34  will be conveniently collected within the bowl  26 . Nevertheless, the sides  20  and  22  could alternatively be legs or other support, or the mandolin slicer  10  could be simply laid across a bowl or other collection device. 
         [0019]    To use the mandolin slicer  10  to slice food, a user places the food  28  against the upper food deck  12  proximate the food deck&#39;s distal end  30  and slides the food  28  down the upper food deck  12  past the proximal edge  32 . When the food  28  crosses the gap  19  the leading edge of the food encounters the cutting edge  18  of the blade  16  which slices off a portion of the food  28 . The slice  34  formed by this cut slides below the lower food deck  14  and therefore will fall under the mandolin slicer  10  into a collection device such as the bowl  26  while the remainder of the food  28  slides onto the lower food deck  14 . This process is repeated until the desired number of slices  34  are formed or the initial food  28  is too small to slice further. 
         [0020]    In one embodiment, the mandolin slicer  10  includes julienne blades  36  which are used to cut the food  28  transverse to the cutting blade  16  as the food slides down the food deck  12  before the gap  19 . In this way, food sticks are formed instead of slices  34 . This configuration allows a user to cut and slice the food  28  in one motion which is useful in the preparation of foods such as carrot sticks or french fries. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 2 , the julienne blades  36  are connected to a shaft  38  which is connected to a wheel or dial  40 . By rotating the wheel  40 , the julienne blades  36  can be positioned to stick up through a series of slits  37  to be perpendicular to the food deck  12  as shown in  FIG. 1 . By further rotation or reverse rotation the julienne blades can be turned parallel to the food deck  12 , as shown in  FIG. 2 , to be positioned below the food deck  12  and out of the path of the food  28  so that slices  34 , rather than sticks are formed. In one embodiment, the shaft  38  can have a second set of julienne blades  36 ′ positioned across from the first set of julienne blades  36  in which the spacing between individual blades is different than that of the first set of julienne blades  36 . This configuration is advantageous because the user of the mandolin slicer  10  has the option to create food sticks of two different widths while simultaneously offering a way to safely store the julienne blades  36 ,  36 ′ below the food deck when not being used in food preparation or when the mandolin slicer  10  is in storage or being cleaned. 
         [0021]    The mandolin slicer  10  can also be adjusted to create slices  34  of different thicknesses. The thickness of a slice  34  is determined by the vertical distance between the proximate edge  32  of upper food deck  12  and the cutting edge  18  of the blade  16 . By decreasing this distance, for instance by raising the proximate edge  32  of the food deck  12  relative to the cutting edge  18 , thinner slices are created, whereas thicker slices are obtained by lowering the proximate edge  32  relative to the cutting edge  18  of the blade  16 , thereby increasing the vertical distance between these two components. 
         [0022]    In one embodiment, the proximate edge  32  of the upper food deck  12  rests upon an elevator formed as a shaft  42  which is rigidly connected to a wheel or dial  44 . The shaft  42  is configured such that its axis of rotation  45  is offset from the central axis  46 . Accordingly, as the shaft  42  rotates about the axis of rotation  45 , the proximate edge  32  of the upper food deck  12  will move up and down relative to the cutting edge  18 . A user can therefore adjust the vertical distance between the proximate edge  32  and the cutting edge  18  by rotating the dial  44 , and therefore the shaft  42 , until the desired separation is achieved. 
         [0023]    In another embodiment, the shaft rotates about its central axis, but is asymmetrically shaped or carries one or more cams to contact the upper food deck  12 . Alternatively, the shaft  42  may have a non-circular shape in cross section, such as an irregular hexagon, to provide discrete distances between the proximate end  32  of the food deck  12  and the cutting edge  18 . In other embodiments, the position of the lower food deck  14 , rather than the position of the upper food deck  12 , could be adjusted by like means to alter the vertical distance between the proximate end  32  of the upper food deck  12  and the cutting edge  18  of the blade  16 . 
         [0024]    As shown in  FIG. 4 , to protect the user from injury while the mandolin slicer  10  is not actively being used, the shaft  42  is configured to push the proximate edge  32  of food deck  12  to a position higher than cutting edge  18 . When the mandolin slicer  10  is in this safety position, the cutting surface  18  of the blade  16  will not contact items slid across the upper food deck  12  since the proximate edge  32  of the upper food deck  12  shields the item, such as a user&#39;s fingers, from the cutting blade  16 . This configuration is particularly advantageous when the mandolin slicer  10  is not in active use such as for cleaning and when storing or retrieving the mandolin slicer from storage since in grasping the mandolin slicer, a user can accidentally cut his/her fingers on the blade  16 . 
         [0025]    In addition, in one embodiment, the mandolin slicer  10  includes a guard  49  made of a transparent material, see  FIG. 2 , which encloses the julienne blades  36 ,  36 ′ when positioned beneath the upper food deck  12 . To allow access to the julienne blades  36 ,  36 ′ for cleaning, the guard  49  can be pivotally mounted to, or be removably attached to, the guard support base  48 . 
         [0026]    To increase the safety of the mandolin slicer  10  during use, a bowl  26  may be removably attached to a support base  50  which includes one or more suction cups  52  for removably connecting the support base to a work area. In one embodiment, see  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the bowl  26  has a protrusion which forms a slot  51  on the underside of the bowl. The support base  50  includes a complementary tab  55  which fits into slot  51 . By inserting the bowl  26  into a hollow channel  53  of the support base  50  and rotating the bowl, the slot  51  can be moved into engagement with the tab  55 . The bowl  26  is thus rigidly, but removably, attached to base  50 . 
         [0027]    To further stabilize the mandolin slicer  10  and decrease the chance that suction cups  52  will break free of the work surface during use, the support base  50  is provided with a handle  54  that can be held with the user&#39;s free hand during operation of the mandolin slicer. The added stability provided by the handle  54  and the suction cups  52  is particularly advantageous in preventing the mandolin slicer  10  from sliding away from the user during use. A sliding mandolin slicer  10  increases the risk of spilling the slices  34  onto an unsanitary surface or of an injury to the user&#39;s hand from contact with the cutting edge  18  of the blade  16  as the user tries to stabilize the mandolin slicer  10 . 
         [0028]    Another use of the suctions cups  52  in conjunction with the handle  54  is to increase the angle of the blade  16  with respect to a work surface. To achieve this increased angle, only one or two of the suctions cups  52  on one side of the support base  50  are connected to the work surface while the user grasps the handle  54  and lifts the other side of the support base  50  away from the work surface. This tilting of the support base  50  increases the angle of the blade  16  with respect to work surface while the one or more connected suction cups  52  keep the mandolin slicer  10  from sliding. The user can then use his/her other hand to slice the food with a more vertical (up and down) motion than the more horizontal motion (side to side) permitted when the support base  50  completely rests on a horizontal work surface. 
         [0029]    The bowl  26  may also be used in conjunction with other food preparation devices in lieu of a mandolin slicer. For instance, the lid  24  may be removed and replaced with an alternate lid that operates a food chopper, a salad spinning unit, or a spinning blade food processor mounted within the bowl, all of which are well known in the art. When used in such configurations, the bowl  26  can still be attached to the base  50  to provide additional stability. 
         [0030]    It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the features and embodiments hereinabove specifically set forth, but may be carried out in other ways without departure from its spirit.