Food masher

A food masher includes a support frame having an opening, a hopper having a perforated floor, received detachably by the support frame within the opening, a handle extending from the support frame, a lever extending pivotally from the support frame, and a plunger attached to the lever and extending into the hopper.

The present invention relates to a food masher or pulpifier.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

More particularly, although not exclusively, the invention relates to a handheld device which can be used to mash vegetables such as potatoes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and butternuts.

It is known to provide handheld vegetable mashers comprising a cup-shaped receptacle having a perforated floor and a lever-activated plunger for pushing the soft vegetables against the floor to force extrusion of pulped vegetable material through the perforations.

Such devices are limited to having perforations of a fixed size which may not be suitable for a wide range of vegetables, and are difficult to clean thoroughly.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate the above disadvantages and/or more generally to provide an improved food masher.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, there is provided a food masher comprising:a support frame having an opening;a hopper having a perforated floor, received detachably by the support frame within the opening;a handle extending from the support frame;a lever extending pivotally from the support frame; anda plunger attached to the lever and extending into the hopper.

Preferably, the support frame comprises a slot at the opening and the hopper has an external tab received by the slot.

More preferably, the slot is L-shaped so as to cooperate with the tab in bayonet fashion as the hopper is inserted into the support frame.

It is preferred that the food masher further comprises a locking mechanism upon the support frame which prevents rotation of the hopper within the opening.

Preferably, the locking mechanism comprises a sliding latch and a spring biasing the latch into the opening for engagement with the hopper, and an activation button extending from the latch through an opening of the handle.

In a specific construction, the hopper comprises a wall to which the floor is threadedly attached.

Preferably, the wall comprises external thread, and further comprising a retaining ring having internal thread engaging the external thread.

More preferably, the retaining ring comprises an internal flange that bears upon the perforated floor to retain the perforated floor against the wall.

It is preferred that the plunger is attached pivotally to the lever.

In a specific construction that the food masher further comprises a leg extending from the support frame diametrically opposite the handle, so that both the leg and handle can be placed upon an opening of the cooking hopper to support the masher thereon.

Preferably, the leg comprises a lip and a spring-loaded tongue bearing toward the lip so that the tongue and lip clamp to the cooking hopper alongside its opening.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a vegetable masher10which would typically comprise metal and/or moulded plastics parts. The masher10includes a support frame11having a handle12extending therefrom. Attached pivotally to the support frame11is a lever13to which a plunger14is pivotally attached.

The support frame11comprises a circular opening9into which a hopper26is received. The hopper26has a cylindrical hopper wall56, from which a pair of diametrically opposed tabs16extend. The opposed tabs16are received by L-shaped slots15inside the opening9at the frame11.

The hopper26has external thread36at the bottom of its wall56to which there is engaged a retaining ring17having internal thread38and an annular flange18that retains a perforated floor19against the bottom of the wall56.

Opposite the handle12, there is provided a support leg29, which together with the handle12serves to support the masher10upon an upper rim of a cooking hopper or bowl for example. The leg29comprises a lip20at its distal end. Within the leg29, there is provided a tongue21that is forced toward the lip20by a spring25. The tongue21and lip20act as the clamp by which the leg29can be attached securely to the upper rim of the cooking hopper or bowl.

As can be seen from the figures, the L-shaped nature of the slots15allows for bayonet-type inter-engagement of the hopper26with the support frame11.

A locking mechanism46is employed to prevent the hopper26from being inadvertently rotated and thereby removed from the support frame11. The locking mechanism46comprises a sliding latch22that is mounted within the handle12to slide diametrically. The latch22is spring-biased by a coil spring24toward the hopper26. The latch22is retained in position by a retaining plate28that is screw-fixed to the handle12. A pushbutton23extends upwardly from the latch22through an aperture27. The aperture27is sized to enable sliding movement of the pushbutton23together with the latch22in a direction away from the hopper26for unlocking purposes.

In the locked position, the latch22prevents movement of the tab16as shown inFIG. 6.

In use, the perforated floor19is attached to the bottom of the hopper26using the retaining ring17and soft vegetable (or other food) material is inserted into the hopper26. The hopper26is then bayonet-fixed within the support frame11so that the plunger14can be inserted into the hopper26and depressed upon activation of lever13toward handle12. During bayonet-fixing, the latch22clicks past the tab16. The masher10can be clamped upon the cooking hopper or bowl by simply pressing the tongue21against its upper rim so that the lip20clicks over the upper rim after which the spring25presses the tongue21toward the lip20to clamp the masher10in place.

After use, the pushbutton23is pulled back by thumb-force away from the hopper26so that the latch22clears the path for tab16to enable rotation of the hopper26for lifting out of the support frame11.

It should be appreciated that modifications and alterations obvious to those skilled in the art are not to be considered as beyond the scope of the present invention. For example, rather than the L-shaped bayonet slots15, the hopper26might simply slot downwardly into vertical slots15in the locking mechanism46might comprise a latch22that extends into a recess upon the outer surface of being hopper26.