Abstract:
A spice crusher comprising a main body, a handle pivotally mounted on the main body, a crushing plate, a gear driving mechanism and a fineness control mechanism. The crushing plate, gear driving mechanism and fineness control mechanism are arranged within the main body so that the gear driving mechanism and the fineness control mechanism co-operate with the crushing plate. The driving gear mechanism enables the spice crusher to be operated easily by one hand. The fineness control mechanism controls the fineness of the crushed spices. The spice crusher may be used to crush peppercorns.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
         [0001]    This application claims priority of Chinese Application No. 01233473.1 filed Aug. 16, 2001.  
         STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
         [0002]    Not Applicable  
         REFERENCE TO A “MICROFICHE APPENDIX” 
         [0003]    Not applicable  
         FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    The invention relates to a spice crusher, particularly to a spice crusher that is able to crush spices, such as peppercorns. Such a spice crusher is often called a peppercorn crusher and more commonly known as a pepper mill.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    Conventional spice/peppercorn crushers are long cylinders that consist of a cylindrical body and a top cover. These spice/peppercorn crushers require a user to hold the cylindrical body with one hand and apply pressure whilst turning the cover 360° with another hand in order to crush spices or peppercorns contained within the cylindrical body by a crushing plate positioned under the top cover. Such devices require the use of both hands at the same time and significant strength is needed to press and twist the top cover. As a result conventional spice/peppercorn crushers are difficult to use, require much effort and are unsuitable for injured or disabled people. The fineness of the crushed spices/peppercorns is determined by the pressure that is exerted on the top cover by the user&#39;s hand. Such a great pressure is required to crush the spices/peppercorns very finely it is difficult to obtain. Also, constant pressure is difficult to maintain and so the fineness of crushed spices/peppercorn is often uneven in the same operation.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a spice crusher, comprising a main body, a handle pivotally mounted on the main body, a crushing plate, a gear driving mechanism and a fineness control mechanism, wherein the crushing plate, gear driving mechanism and fineness control mechanism are arranged within the main body such that the gear driving mechanism and the fineness control mechanism co-operate with the crushing plate.  
           [0007]    Preferably, the gear driving mechanism comprises a driving gear, a pinion and a large gear, whereby the driving gear is connected to the handle, the pinion and large gear are mounted coaxially and mutually engaged and the large gear works in co-operation with the crushing plate.  
           [0008]    Even more preferably, the driving gear is sector-shaped and connected to a cylindrical shaft of the handle.  
           [0009]    Preferably, a hollow cylinder is provided within a centre of an upper part of the main body, the pinion and large gear are successively mounted on a cylindrical shaft inserted within a hollow portion of the cylinder and the pinion presses against a spring that forms a sleeve around a periphery of the cylinder.  
           [0010]    Additionally, one end face of the pinion may be provided with a plurality of protruding teeth and one end face of the large gear is provided with protruding teeth. The pinion and large gear are arranged so that the protruding teeth of the pinion engage with the protruding teeth of the large gear such that the pinion and large gear rotate together in one direction only.  
           [0011]    Likewise, a back of the crushing plate may be provided with a protrusion, the fineness control mechanism comprises a control plate and a knob, one end of the control plate includes an elliptically-shaped hole and an other end includes a protruding portion that engages with the protrusion on the back of the crushing plate, the knob includes a head, a cam-like hard plastic plate, a cylindrical body that is inserted into the elliptically-shaped hole of the control plate and a shaft offset to the cylindrical body that is mounted in a predetermined position on the main body.  
           [0012]    Preferably, the handle is provided with a spring bow and a curved piece to return the handle to its initial position after being moved towards the main body.  
           [0013]    Additionally, a hard plastic plate with a semi-circular wall may be provided within the main body and arranged so that the spring bow presses against the semi-circular wall.  
           [0014]    Even more preferably, a bottom of the hard plastic plate is provided with a plurality of protruding portions that are inserted into corresponding accommodating holes in the main body.  
           [0015]    Preferably, a lid is disposed on the top of the main body, the lid has a tail end with a protruding section and swings open when pressure is applied to the protruding section.  
           [0016]    In a second aspect of the invention there is provided a peppercorn crusher comprising a main body, a handle pivotally mounted on the main body, a hard plastic plate with a semi-circular wall, a crushing plate, a gear driving mechanism and a fineness control mechanism whereby a lid is disposed on the top of the main body, the handle includes a spring bow and a curved piece, the hard plastic plate is arranged within the main body such that the spring bow presses on the semi-circular wall and the crushing plate, the gear driving mechanism and the fineness control mechanism are arranged within the main body so that the gear driving mechanism co-operates with the crushing plate and the fineness control mechanism links with the crushing plate.  
           [0017]    The crushing process of the spice crusher is driven by a gear-driving mechanism. The spice crusher can be operated with only one hand and requires very little strength. A fineness control mechanism is provided so as easily to control the fineness of the crushed spices/peppercorns. The spice crusher of the present invention saves time and labour. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]    An embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, by way of example only, in which:  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a peppercorn crusher of present invention;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the peppercorn crusher as shown in FIG. 1 with a handle pulled towards a main body;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a pinion and a large gear of the peppercorn crusher as shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a knob to adjust a control plate of the peppercorn crusher as shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a handle and a hard plastic plate of the peppercorn crusher as shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 6 is an exploded schematic view of a crushing plate, fineness control mechanism and a knob of the peppercorn crusher as shown in FIG. 1. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0025]    [0025]FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings depicts all the requisite parts of a peppercorn crusher  1  according to an embodiment of the present invention. The peppercorn crusher  1  comprises a main body  2  and a handle  3  pivotally mounted on said main body  2 . The main body  2  conveniently consists of two identical halves, which are fixed together by means of fasteners such as screws. The peppercorn crusher  1  includes mounting points  2   a  for installation of the fasteners. The handle  3  has a cylindrical pin  4  passing through its upper end, and two ends of said cylindrical pin  4  are accommodated in a predetermined position in the main body  2  (not shown in the figure), so that the handle  3  is pivotally fixed on the main body  2 . In addition, a spring bow  5  is provided on the handle  3 , in order to restore the handle  3  back to its initial position after being pulled towards the main body  2 .  
         [0026]    A lid  6  is provided on the top of main body  2  with a swing mechanism. The lid  6  swings upwards to provide an opening in the main body when pressure is applied to the protruding section of a tail end of the lid  6 . When the lid  6  is up, an inner chamber  2 . 1  of the main body  2  may be filled with peppercorns. At a centre of an upper half-part of main body  2  is provided a hollow cylinder  7 . A spring  5  acts with a sleeve  11  (hard plastic plate in FIG. 5) around a periphery of the cylinder  7  (not shown) and interacts with handle  3  such that as handle  9  is squeezed to operate the large gear  10 , spring  8 . 1  is tensioned so as to cause handle  9  to return to its regular rest position when released. A cylindrical shaft  8  is inserted into a hollow portion of the cylinder  7 . A pinion  9  and large gear  10  are mounted on a cylindrical shaft  8 . Two ends of said cylindrical shaft  8  are accommodated in a predetermined position (not shown) in the main body  2 .  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 3 depicts the pinion  9  and large gear  10  in more detail. The pinion  9  has two end faces, one of which is flat and smooth whilst the other face has a plurality of protruding teeth (FIGS. 1 and 2) with side surfaces inclined substantially at 45°. The pinion  9  may have four protruding teeth. During the assembly of the peppercorn crusher  1  the cylindrical shaft  8  passes through a central hole of the pinion  9 . The pinion  9  is arranged so that the face with the protruding teeth is set upwards, while the smooth face abuts the spring that surrounds the periphery of the hollow cylinder  7 . As a result the pinion  9  is pressed against the spring  8 . 1 .  
         [0028]    As with the pinion  9 , one end face of the large gear  10  is flat and smooth whilst the end face of gear  10  is provided with a cylindrical portion, on which is arranged a plurality of protruding teeth. The protruding teeth have, though are not limited to, a substantially inclined side surface of 45°. During assembly, the large gear  10  is mounted on the cylindrical shaft  8  and the cylindrical portion is arranged so that the protruding teeth of the large gear  10  engage with the protruding teeth of the pinion  9 .  
         [0029]    Due to the particular mating structure of the cylindrical portion of large gear  10  and protruding teeth of pinion  9 , the two protruding teeth of the pinion  9  and large gear  10  can only be engaged in one direction. That is to say, when pinion  9  rotates clockwise the protruding teeth of cylindrical portion of large gear  10  and protruding teeth of pinion  9  engage with each other so that pinion  9  drives the large gear  10  to rotate clockwise. But when pinion  9  rotates counter-clockwise, the protruding teeth of pinion  9  slip over the inclined sides of the protruding teeth of the cylindrical portion of large gear  10 , and no longer engage. Thus the large gear  10  does not rotate with the counter-clockwise rotation of the pinion and remains stationary.  
         [0030]    After the installation of pinion  9 , a hard plastic plate  11  with a semi-circular wall is installed. The hard plastic plate  11  may be formed from such as Bakelite®. A plurality of protruding portions are formed on a bottom of the hard plastic plate  11  in order to attach the hard plastic plate  11  to the main body  2 . The plurality of protruding portions are inserted into corresponding accommodating holes (not shown) in the main body  2 . The hard plastic plate  11  may have three protruding portions. The spring  5  of the handle  3  presses against the semi-circular wall of the hard plastic plate  11 . When the handle  3  is pulled towards the main body  2  by the user the outward pushing force of the spring bow  5  causes the handle  3  to return to its original position. In order to prevent the handle  3  from being pushed beyond its original position the handle  3  is provided with a curved piece  12  which abuts the outer wall of the main body  2 .  
         [0031]    A sector-shaped driving gear  13  is provided at the cylindrical pin  4  end of the handle  3 . The sector-shaped driving gear  13  engages the pinion  9 . When the user pulls the handle  3  towards the main body, the sector gear  13  swings counter-clockwise. The pinion  9  in turn drives the large gear  10  so that it rotates clockwise. Hence these three gears constitute a gear-driving mechanism. As a result, the user can crush the peppercorns without applying much effort or requiring significant strength.  
         [0032]    The main body  2  is also provided with an arc-shaped crushing plate  14  with serrations and a fineness control mechanism. FIG. 6 shows that the fineness control mechanism comprises a fineness control plate  15  to control the fineness of crushed peppercorns and a knob  16  to adjust the control plate  15 . Two cylindrical pins  14   a  are formed integrally at one end of the crushing plate  14 . The cylindrical pins  14   a  are accommodated in predetermined holes in the main body  2  so that the crushing plate  14  can be pivotally fixed. Moreover, a semi-circular protrusion  14   b  is provided on a back of the crushing plate  14 . Serrations are formed on a front face of the crushing plate  14  to press on the large gear  10  in order to crush the peppercorns.  
         [0033]    The fineness control plate  15  is generally V-shaped (FIG. 6). An upper end of the control plate  15  is provided with an elliptically shaped hole  15   a  and a lower end has a protruding portion  15   b  inclined substantially as at 45°. The protruding portion  15   b  engages with the semi-circular protrusion  14   b  formed at the back of the crushing plate  14 .  
         [0034]    [0034]FIGS. 4 and 6 depict a configuration of knob  16  in detail. The knob includes a head, a cam-like hard plastic disc  16   a , a cylindrical body  16   b  and an eccentric shaft  16   c . The main body  2  is provided with a recess  17  that accommodates the head of the knob  16  so the user may turn it. The hard plastic disc  16   a  may be formed from Bakelite®. The hard plastic disc  16   a  limits the rotation of knob by user to a range of such as 5-180° by abutting the inner wall of main body  2 . Consequently, excessive turning of the knob is prevented. The cylindrical body  16   b  is smaller than the elliptical shaped hole  15   a  in control plate  15 . The eccentric shaft  16   c  is arranged in an offset position to cylindrical body  16   b . The cylindrical body  16   b  is inserted into elliptically shaped hole  15   a , and eccentric shaft  16   c  is installed at a predetermined position in main body  2 .  
         [0035]    Since the eccentric shaft  16   c  is offset to one side, when the knob  16  is turned, cylindrical body  16   b  inserted in the elliptically-shaped hole  15   a  of control plate  15  is driven to rotate along an elliptical path. As a result the cylindrical body  16   b  moves closer to either of an upper or a lower end of the elliptically shaped hole  15   a  so that the control plate  15  is made to ascend or descend. When the knob  16  is turned upward, the cylindrical body  16   b  inserted in the elliptically shaped hole  15   a  of control plate  15  moves the control plate  15  upward towards the upper end of elliptically shaped hole  15   a . When the control plate  15  is moved upward the protruding portion  15   b  at lower end of control plate  15  presses against the semi-circular protrusion  14   b  positioned at the back of the crushing plate  14 . The crushing plate is pushed towards the large gear  10  and a gap between crushing plate  14  and large gear  10  becomes smaller so the peppercorn is crushed more finely. Conversely, when knob  16  is turned in a reverse (downwards) direction, the cylindrical body  16   b  moves the control plate  15  downwards towards the lower end of elliptically shaped hole  15   a . By pushing the control plate  15  downwards the protruding portion  15   b  no longer presses against the semi-circular protrusion  14   b  at back of crushing plate  14  and so the gap between crushing plate  14  and large gear  10  becomes larger. The pressure acting on the peppercorn lessens and it is crushed more coarsely.  
         [0036]    The working principle of the peppercorn crusher shall now be described as follows:  
         [0037]    Whilst holding the peppercorn crusher with one hand, the user presses on the protruding part of the tail end of the lid  6  with his thumb in order to swing the lid upwards. The inner chamber of the crusher can now be filled with peppercorns. The peppercorns fall into the gap between crushing plate  14  and large gear  10  through opening  18 . The fineness of crushed peppercorn is selected by turning the knob  16 . When the user pulls the handle  3  toward main body  2 , as shown in FIG. 2, the clockwise pivotal rotation of handle  3  rotates the sector-shaped driving gear  13  counter-clockwise. Thereupon, the sector-shaped driving gear  13  rotates the pinion  9  in a clockwise direction. Since the protruding teeth on pinion  9  are engaged with the protruding teeth on the cylindrical part of the large gear  10 , the pinion  9  drives the large gear  10  in a clockwise direction. As a result, the peppercorn within the gap is crushed and falls out through the passage  19 . Once the user releases the handle  3 , it is restored to its original position through the action of the spring bow  5  and curved piece  12  and at the same time the sector-shaped gear  13  returns in a clockwise direction to its original position. As a consequence, the pinion  9  returns in a counter-clockwise motion to its original position. However, as the pinion  9  returns to its original position it no longer remains engaged with the large gear  10 . As the pinion  9  rotates in a counter-clockwise direction the protruding teeth of the pinion  9  slip on the inclined sides of protruding teeth of large gear  10 . Hence, the large gear  10  does not rotate with counter-clockwise rotation of pinion  9 , but remains stationary so that continuity and a degree of pressure are guaranteed.  
         [0038]    It should be appreciated that the above-described peppercorn crusher represents a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Various modifications may be made to this embodiment without departing from the scope of the present invention.  
         [0039]    The preferred features of the invention are applicable to all aspects of the invention and may be used in any possible combination.  
         [0040]    Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the words “comprise” and “contain” and variations of the words, for example “comprising” and “comprises”, mean “including but not limited to”, and are not intended to (and do not) exclude other components, integers, moieties, additives or steps.