Abstract:
An electric pepper mill is provided that is equipped with two terminal legs that normally do not touch each other, and a pressing block. When the pepper mill is in an upright position, the pressing block rests on the terminal legs to connect the terminal legs. circuit including a motor and batteries and when the motor is powered the pepper mill operates to grind pepper. When the pepper mill is in an upside-down position, the circuit including the motor and the batteries will be in the opened position, and the pepper mill will not operate.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to an electric pepper mill, more particularly one, which is equipped with such a conducting element that the electric circuit thereof will be opened when the pepper mill is placed in an upside down position; thus, the pepper mill will not be powered to work in an upside down position. 
   2. Brief Description of the Prior Art 
   Electric pepper mills are very popular because they can save the users a lot of labor. Referring to  FIGS. 10 and 11 , a conventional pepper mill includes a main body  40 , a pepper holding member  50 , a power unit  60 , and a grinding unit  70 . 
   The main body  40  includes an upper cover  401 , a cylindrical element  402 , a transparent element  403 , and a manual turning plate  405 ; the upper cover  401  is joined to an upper end of the cylindrical element  402  with three hooks  4011  thereof engaging corresponding trenches  4021  of the cylindrical element  402 ; the transparent element  403  is fitted around the cylindrical element  402 ; the cylindrical element  402  has a slot  4022 , a protrusion  4023  sticking up form the lower end of the slot  4022 ; a switch  404  is up and down movably fitted to the slot  4022  with a mortise  4041  thereof being fitted over the protrusion  4023 ; the switch  404  is normally biased to an off position, and can be pushed down to an on position; the cylindrical element  402  is detachably joined to the manual turning plate  405  with engaging protrusions  4024  of the lower end thereof being fitted into engaging trenches of the turning plate  405 , which are formed adjacent to pushed block  4051  of the turning plate  405 ; the cylindrical element  402  can be detached from the manual turning plate  405  when the pushed block  4051  are pushed. 
   A fixing chamber  406  is provided in the cylindrical element  402  while the power unit  60  has a motor holder  602  fixedly disposed in the fixing chamber  406 , and a motor  601  held in the motor holder  602 . 
   The grinding unit  70  includes a transmission shaft  701 , which is connected to a central gear  702  of a gear combination joined to the shaft of the motor  601  at an upper end; the transmission shaft  701  is further screwed into an adjustment knob  703  arranged above the upper cover  401  so that fineness of ground pepper can be adjusted by means of the knob  703 . 
   The manual turning plate  405  is joined to the upper end of the pepper holding member  50 ; the manual turning plate  405  is formed with stopping parts  4052 , which are engaged with sloping stop protrusions  501  of the pepper holding member  50  to prevent the holding member  50  from turning together with the transmission shaft  701 . 
   The pepper mill is not very convenient to use because the user has to keep on pressing the switch  404  in order for the pepper mill to work. If the pepper mill is equipped with such a switch instead of the one  404  that the pepper mill can continue working after the switch has been moved to the on position, the switch has to be moved back to the off position when the user wants to stop using the mill. Therefore, the pepper mill is still not very convenient to use with such switch. 
   To overcome the above-mentioned problem, the inventor of the present invention taught an improvement on an electric pepper mill in U.S. Pat. No. 6,830,205 filed on 11 th  Feb. 2003, and in European Community Patent application no. 0300367 filed on 18 th  Feb. 2003, which is equipped with such a conducting element that the pepper mill will start working to grind pepper when it is in an upright position, and such that the pepper mill will stop working as soon as it is moved to an upside-down position. 
   SUMMARY 
   It is a main object of the present invention to provide another electric pepper mill, which will be powered to work in an upright position, and won&#39;t be powered in an upside-down position. 
   The electric pepper mill of the present invention is equipped with two terminal legs, and a pressing block. The terminal legs normally don&#39;t touch each other. When the pepper mill is turned to an upright position, the pressing block will rest on the terminal legs to connect the terminal legs, and a circuit will be closed, which consists of a motor and batteries of the pepper mill, and in turn the motor is powered, and the pepper mill works to grind pepper. When the pepper mill is in upside-down position, the pressing block won&#39;t rest on the terminal legs, and in turn the circuit will be in the opened position, and the motor won&#39;t be powered. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of the electric pepper mill according to the present invention, 
       FIG. 2  is a vertical sectional view of the electric pepper mill according to the present invention, 
       FIG. 3  is a partial horizontal sectional view of the electric pepper mill of the present invention, 
       FIG. 4  is a bottom view of the conducting element and other parts of the power unit according to the present invention, 
       FIG. 5  is a circuit diagram of the present invention, 
       FIG. 6  is another partial cross-sectional view of the electric pepper mill of the present invention, 
       FIG. 7  is a partial cross-sectional view of the pepper mill of the invention with the upper cover being turned to another position, 
       FIG. 8  is a view showing the way of using the electric pepper mill of the present invention, 
       FIG. 9  is a partial cross-sectional view of the electric pepper mill of the present invention in the upside-down position, 
       FIG. 10  is an exploded perspective view of the conventional pepper mill as described in the Background, and 
       FIG. 11  is a cross-sectional view of the conventional pepper mill. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 ,  2 , and  3 , an electric pepper mill of the present invention includes a main body  1 , a motor  2 , a battery holder  3 , a conducting element  4 , a pepper holding element  5 , a transmission shaft  6 , and a grinding unit  7 . 
   The main body  1  has, as shown in  FIG. 3 , a through hole  11  at the center, three connecting holes  12  spaced out on the edge, several L-shaped fixing trenches  13  on an inner side of an upper end, ribs  14 ,  15  formed on each L-shaped fixing trench  13 , and engaging trenches  17  between the L-shaped fixing trenches  13 , and is joined to an upper cover  16  at the upper end thereof; the upper cover  16  has spaced hooks  161  sticking down from the edge thereof; to join the upper cover  16  to the main body  1 , the hooks  161  are first fitted to bigger portions of respective fixing trenches  13 , and then the upper cover  16  is turned for the hooks  161  to be fitted between the ribs  14  and  15  formed on respective fixing trenches  13 . The upper cover  16  further has two curved conducting portions  162  opposite each other on the lower side. 
   The motor  2  is disposed in the main body  1  with a shaft  21  thereof being passed through the hole  11  of the main body  1 ; the shaft  21  is further connected to a transmission sleeve  22 , which is positioned under the main body  1 , and which has two projections  221  on a lower side. 
   The battery holder  3  has a central chamber  31  on a middle of a lower end thereof, four battery holding portions  33 , an engaging protrusion  35  on each of the battery holding portions  33 , and two opposing terminals  32 ,  32 ′ beside the central chamber  31 ; four batteries  341  of a battery set  34  are held in respective holding portions  33 ; the battery holder  3  is fixedly disposed above the motor  2  in the main body  1  with the engaging protrusion  35  thereof engaging respective ones of the engaging trenches  17 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 4 , which is a bottom view of the battery holder  3 , and  FIG. 5 , the conducting element  4  is held in the central chamber  31  of the battery holder  3 , and has two terminal legs  41 ,  41 . The terminal legs  41 ,  41  are connected to the terminals  32 ,  32 ′ respectively, and a free end of one of the terminal legs  41 ,  41  is right above, and apart from a free end of the other one of the terminal legs  41 ,  41 . Furthermore, a pressing block  42  is held in the central chamber  31  of the battery holder  3 . 
   The pepper holding element  5  has three spaced L-shaped engaging plates  51  on the edge of the upper end, and is secured to the lower end of the main body  1  with the engaging plates  51  engaging respective connecting holes  12  as shown in  FIG. 6 . A fixing ring  52  is positioned in the holding element  5 , and fixedly joined to the same with screws  53 ; a disk  54  is fixedly positioned on top of the fixing ring  52 , which has a polygonal hole  541 ; the fixing ring  52  has elastic engaging hooks  521  spaced on the edge, and gaps (not numbered) above the hooks  521 . A bottom disk  55  is fixedly joined to the lower end of the pepper holding element  5 . 
   The transmission shaft  6  has a cross-section in the shape of the polygonal hole  541  of the disk  54 , and is passed through the polygonal hole  541  and the fixing ring  52 . A co-moving bar  61  is joined to the upper end of the transmission shaft  6 , and engages the transmission sleeve  22  with two ends thereof being positioned between the projections  221  of the bottom of the transmission sleeve  22 ; thus, rotation of the shaft  21  of the motor  2  can be passed on to the transmission shaft  6 . 
   The grinding unit  7  includes an inner grinding part  72 , and an outer grinding part  71  positioned around the inner part  72 . The inner part  72  has teeth  721  on the outer side, and a polygonal hole  722 ; the transmission shaft  6  is fitted into the polygonal hole  722  at a lower portion, and is passed into a central round hole of a locating element  62  at a round lower end. The outer part  71  has teeth  711  on the inner side thereof, and protrusions  712  spaced on the inner side. The outer part  71  is disposed in the fixing ring  52  with the protrusions  712  engaging the elastic hooks  521  as well as the gaps of the fixing ring  52  so that the outer part  71  can&#39;t move or rotate relative to the fixing ring  52 . Thus, the inner part  72  can rotate relative to the outer part  71  for grinding pepper when the motor  2  is powered. 
   To separate the main body  1  from the holding element  5  for allowing peppercorns to be added into the holding element  5 , the main body  1  is first turned relative to the holding element  5  for a short angle to disengage the engaging plates  51  from the fixing trenches  13 . To use the pepper mill to grind pepper, first, the upper cover  16  is first turned relative to the main body  1  until the hooks  161  pass the ribs  15 , as shown in  FIG. 7 , so that the curved conducting portions  162  of the upper cover  16  come into contact with the batteries  341  for the batteries  341  to be connected together. Then, the pepper mill is turned to an upright position where the main body  1  is above the holding element  5 ; thus, the pressing block  42  rests on the terminal legs  41 ,  41 , and makes the terminal legs is  41 ,  41  get into contact with each other, and in turns, the circuit is closed, and the motor  2  is powered by the batteries  341 . 
   To stop the pepper mill, referring to  FIG. 9 , the pepper mill is turned to the upside-down position so that the pressing block  42  is apart from the terminal legs  41 ,  41 , and in turns, the circuit of the pepper mill is opened, and the motor  2  is no longer powered. 
   From the above description, it can be easily understood that the pepper mill of the present invention is relatively convenient to use because after the upper cover  16  has been turned for the curved conducting portions  162  to come into contact with the batteries  341  to connect the batteries  341  together, the user can make the pepper mill work to grind pepper by means of turning it to the upright position, and make it stop working by means of turning it upside down. When the curved conducting portions  162  are made to no longer contact the batteries  341  by means of turning the upper cover  16 , the motor  2  won&#39;t be powered with the batteries  341  no matter which positions the pepper mill is moved to.