Abstract:
A slicer device for slicing and removing a fleshy part of a watermelon surrounded by a rind. The slicer devices comprises a cutter piece having an outer surface and an inner surface; and a series of cutters of a thickness attached to the inner surface of the cutter piece spaced apart, connected to each other and arranged to form a pattern with openings, the openings defined by the cutter sand the inner surface of the cutter piece for receiving and slicing the fleshy part of the watermelon from the rind.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The invention pertains to the field of food slicers. More particularly, the invention pertains to a watermelon slicer. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    Slicers of vegetables and fruit have been used in the past to ease the removal of the edible portion of the vegetable or fruit for consumption by a user. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,545, entitled, “Pineapple Cutter” by Hirano discloses a pineapple cutter with a cylindrical body having a cutting edge at the surface end of the lower portion, a pair of handles connected to the outer surface of the cylindrical body, a pressing sheet mounted on the inner portion of the cylindrical body slidable in the vertical direction and a pushing member secured to the upper portion of the cylindrical body connected with the pressing sheet. A second pressing sheet with a smaller diameter than the pressing sheet is located within the pressing sheet to core the pineapple. When used to cut the pineapple, the rind is removed at the same time the core of the pineapple is removed. The exposed cutting edges of U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,545 cause user safety risk. U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,545 could even be seen as an ejector assembly to deal with the obvious difficulty of removing pineapple from the cutter device of Hirano&#39;s U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,912. 
         [0005]    U.S. Pat. No. 1,744,422, entitled “Fruit and Vegetable Cutter” by Taylor discloses a handle with detachable cutting head. The detachable cutting head is attached to the handle and a funnel type cylindrical portion with through threads. This cutter dices the entire vegetable or fruit including the outside skin. This cutter could not be used for a watermelon for example, because to push the cutter inside of the watermelon flesh, the screw thread connection would be too thick and additionally the holder around the funnel portion of the cutter would also not be able to be pushed through the watermelon flesh. Furthermore, the cutter can only accommodate items which fit entirely within the cutting circle. 
         [0006]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,912, entitled “Pineapple Cutter” by Hirano discloses a pineapple cutter with handles attached to a cylinder which has a cutter portion. The cylinder of the pineapple cutter is adapted to punch the outer peel and the interior of the pineapple to separate the peel from the interior of the pineapple. The pineapple cutter cuts into the outer peel of the pineapple in order to separate it from the interior of the pineapple. Furthermore, based on the design and the need to “punch” the pineapple cutter through the pineapple in order to slice it, softer flesh, such as the interior of a watermelon would be significantly damaged in the process of removing the flesh from the cutter assembly as described in this patent. 
         [0007]    Therefore, there is a need for a watermelon slicer that can remove the fleshy interior or meat of the watermelon without cutting into the rind. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The watermelon slicer of the present invention allows a seedless watermelon to be quickly and efficiently sliced into pieces, for example ‘log’ shaped pieces or other shaped pieces with minimal time and effort. The device will cut watermelon meat into slices with a single motion, with no outside supports or guides, or other moving parts. The device slices the meat of the melon and does not slice or cut into the rind. After pushing the cutter through the meat or fleshy interior of the watermelon, a portion of the meat of the watermelon is cut into pieces by the fixed blades in the slicer device. This device requires no outside alignment, guides or supports. It only slices the fleshy interior or meat of the watermelon. 
         [0009]    The slicer device has a cutter piece with an outer surface and an inner surface, cutter blades or wires fastened to the inner surface of the cutter piece, arranged to form a pattern with openings, the openings defined by the cutters and the inner surface of the cutter piece for receiving and slicing the fleshy part of the watermelon from the piece, at least one push bar connected to the cutter piece and/or the cutting blades, and an optional cross handle connected to the at least one push bar for easy handling of the device. 
         [0010]    Optionally, a separate push plate, external to the slider device, may be aligned with the cutter piece and includes grooves that can receive the cutter blades to ease clearing the inner meat portion of the watermelon from the cutter blades, if necessary. 
         [0011]    The slicer device may also be incorporated into a larger mechanical device in order to permit faster and/or easier use for production type application. Furthermore, the slicer device may be incorporated into a machine for semi- or automatic operation. 
         [0012]    The cutter blades may be made out of stainless steel or other strong, easily cleanable material and may be secured in a multitude of alignment patterns. 
         [0013]    The slicer device of the present invention can slice the inner, meatier part of the watermelon without the slicer device cutting into the rind. It should be noted that the melon slicer is not a long continuous cylinder, as this would cause the watermelon to be trapped in the cutting device. Instead, only narrow blades or wires are used to slice the melon still within the rind. The design of the supporting bars of the slicer device allows the slicer to ‘reach’ into the meat of the watermelon being cut, with the issues associated with continuous long slicing knives or shapes, which would trap the meat and make removal of the meat from the slicer device difficult. 
         [0014]    To use the slicer device of the present invention, the top and bottom crown of the melon are sliced off, resulting in a flat top portion and a flat bottom portion. The watermelon is placed upright to rest on the flat top portion or the flat bottom portion. A user then aligns the cutting piece with the fleshy part or meat of the watermelon. Pushing down on the supporting bar(s) or the handle forces the fleshy part or meat of the watermelon through the cutter piece. If the slicer device has blades or wires within the cutter piece, the openings between the blades or wires, defined the shape of the cut watermelon. The shaped pieces are dependent upon the pattern of wires or blades attached to the inner surface of the cutter piece. It should be noted that the device cannot be rotated once inside of the watermelon, since the cutter blades would otherwise destroy or mush the watermelon meat. 
         [0015]    After the slicer device has been pushed through the fleshy part or meat of the watermelon, there may be times in which the meat of the watermelon may be slightly lodged within the slicer device. To easily remove the meat of the watermelon lodged within the slicer device, the blades or cutter piece of the slicer device are aligned with the grooves of the push plate and as the slicer device is pushed down onto the plate, such that the cutters are received by the grooves of the push plate. The downward movement of the slicer device relative to the push plate causes the raised portions to push the fleshy part of the melon out of the openings between the blades and the cutter piece. The raised portions defining the grooves push the meat of the watermelon out of the openings between the cutters and the cutter piece easily and efficiently, without having a user place their fingers near the cutting edges of the slicer device. The optional push plate may or may not be used depending on the construction of the slicer device and the density characteristics of the particular melon being sliced. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  shows a slicer device in an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  shows an isometric bottom view of a device in an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  shows an angled view of the push plate. 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  shows a top view of the push plate. 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  shows the blades being received by the grooves of the push plate. 
           [0021]      FIG. 6  shows a close up view of the blades of the slicer device being received by the grooves of the push plate. 
           [0022]      FIGS. 7   a  and  7   b  show views a scraper in an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 8   a  shows a schematic of a watermelon before the top and bottom crown is removed and the resulting watermelon after the top and bottom crowns have been removed. 
           [0024]      FIG. 8   b  shows a bottom view of the watermelon after the bottom crown has been removed. 
           [0025]      FIG. 8   c  shows a schematic of aligning the slicer device with the watermelon. 
           [0026]      FIG. 8   d  shows a schematic of the slicer device moving through the meat of the watermelon. 
           [0027]      FIG. 8   e  shows a schematic of the bottom of the slicer device after being pushed through the meat of the watermelon. 
           [0028]      FIG. 8   f  shows a schematic of the watermelon after the slicer device has been used on the meat of the watermelon, and the slicer has been removed. 
           [0029]      FIG. 9  shows a scraper being used to remove the fleshy part of the watermelon from the rind after the slicer device has been used if there is any remaining melon to harvest. 
           [0030]      FIG. 10  shows another view of the bottom of the slicer device in a first embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0031]      FIG. 11  shows an alternate pattern of cutters attached to the cutter piece. 
           [0032]      FIG. 12  shows another pattern of cutters attached to the cutter piece. 
           [0033]      FIG. 13-14  shows a scraper of an alternative embodiment. 
           [0034]      FIG. 15  shows an alternative embodiment of the scraper of  FIGS. 7   a  and  7   b.    
           [0035]      FIG. 16  shows a slicer device an embodiment of the present invention which only has one support bar. 
           [0036]      FIG. 17  shows another view of a slicer device of the present invention which only has one support bar. 
           [0037]      FIG. 18  shows a slicer device of an embodiment of the present invention which uses the cutter piece to remove the meat of the watermelon. 
           [0038]      FIG. 19  shows another view of a slicer device of an embodiment of the present invention which uses the cutter piece to remove the meat of the watermelon. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0039]      FIGS. 1-2  and  10  show a slicer device  10  in an embodiment of the present invention. The slicer device  10  has a cutter piece  16  with an outer surface  18  and an inner surface  20 . The cutter piece  16  has a height H. Attached to the inner surface  20  of the cutter piece  16  is a series of cutter blades  22 . In an alternate embodiment, the cutter blades  22  may be replaced with wires attached to the inner surface  20  of the cutter piece  16 . 
         [0040]    The series of cutter blades  22  are placed relative to each other within the inner surface  20  of the cutter piece to define openings  24  between the individual cutter blades  22 . The cutter blades  22  are connected to each other and the inner surface of the cutter piece  16 . The pattern of openings  24  and cutter blades  22  is not limited to the patterns shown. Examples of alternate patterns are shown in  FIGS. 11 and 12 . It should be noted that the shape of the openings  24  defines the shape into which the watermelon meat or flesh will be sliced. In addition to geometric shape symbols, decorative shapes (e.g. animals, logos, or figures) could be formed. The cutter blades  22  have a cutting edge  26  and a height h that is equal to the height H of the cutter piece  16 . It should be noted that the cutter piece may  16  also have a cutting edge  17 . The cutter blades  22  also have a thickness. 
         [0041]    In one embodiment, at least one of the cutter blades  22  is attached to support bar(s)  14  that extend axially from the cutter piece  16 . In another embodiment, the support bar(s)  14  are attached to the inner surface  20  of the cutter piece  16  and at least one of the cutter blades  22 . The support bar(s)  14  have a thickness that is the same or less than the thickness of the cutter blades  22  or the cutter piece  16  itself. At least one cross handle  12  may attach to the support bars  14  to provide an increased surface area in which to push the slicer device  10  through the meat of the watermelon and ease the overall use of the slicer device. An example of the slicer device  102  with one support bar  14  attached to a cross handle  12  is shown in  FIGS. 16-17 . 
         [0042]    In another embodiment, the cutter piece  16  does not have any cutter blades attached to the inner surface  20  and only the edge  17  of the cutter piece  16  itself cuts the meat of the watermelon as shown in  FIGS. 18-19 . As shown in  FIGS. 18-19  of an alternative slicer device  104 , the support bar  114  is formed integrally with the cutter piece  16  and a handle  112 . The edge  17  of the cutter piece  16  cuts the meat  7  of the watermelon  2 . 
         [0043]    In an alternate embodiment, an additional, larger cutter piece in diameter or width than cutter piece  16  may be removably attached to the cutter piece  16  for removing meat  7  of larger diameter watermelons. The larger cutter piece may include additional cutter blades. 
         [0044]      FIGS. 3-4  show a separate push plate  30 , external to the slicer device  10 ,  102  that may be aligned for receiving the cutter blades  22  of the slicer device after the slicer device has been pushed through the fleshy part of the watermelon. The push plate  30  has a base portion  36  with an outer surface that is larger, smaller or equal to the outer surface of the cutter piece  16 . A series of grooves  32  and raised portions  34  axially extend out from the base portion  36 . The raised portions  34  have a height H 2 . The raised portions  34  aid in clearing the fleshy interior or the meat of the watermelon from the cutter piece  16  and cutter blades  22 . The pattern of openings  24  and placement of the cutter blades  22  of the cutter piece of the slicer correspond to the pattern of grooves  32  and raised portions  34  of the push plate  30 . 
         [0045]      FIGS. 5-6  show the slicer device  10  aligned with the separate push plate  30 . When the cutter piece  16  is aligned with the slicer device  10 , the series of grooves  32  of the push plate  30  receive the cutter blades  22  and the raised portions  34  of the push plate  30  are received by the openings  24  formed by the cutter blades  22 . It should be noted that the height H 2  of the raised portions  34  of the push plate  30  are preferably less than the height H of the cutter piece  16  or the height h of the cutter blades  22 . Alternatively, the height of the raised portions  34  of the push plate may have a height H 2  equal to the height H of the cutter piece  16  and the height h of the cutter blades  22 . 
         [0046]    The grooves  32  and the raised portions  34  of the push plate  30  may be arranged in patterns other than the pattern shown in the drawings within the scope of the invention. 
         [0047]      FIGS. 8   a - 8   f  shows steps of using the slicer device  10  to remove the fleshy interior or meat  7  of the watermelon  2  from the rind or outer portion  8  of the watermelon  2 . In a first step, a user removes a top and bottom crown  3 ,  4 , of the watermelon  2 , resulting in a flat top portion  5 , and a flat bottom portion  6  as shown in  FIG. 8   a . A bottom view of the watermelon is shown in  FIG. 8   b.    
         [0048]    The watermelon  2  is placed upright to rest on the flat top portion  5  or the flat bottom portion  6  as shown in  FIG. 8   c . A user then aligns the cutting piece  16  of the slicer device  10  with the fleshy part or meat  7  of the watermelon  2  and pushes, shown in  FIG. 8   d , using the supporting bar(s)  14  or the handle(s)  12  to push the fleshy part or meat  7  of the watermelon  2  through the openings  24  between the cutter blades  22  or wires, or the opening defined by the inner surface  20  of the cutter piece  16  itself, cutting the fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  into shaped pieces shown in  FIG. 8   e . The shaped pieces are dependent upon the pattern of wires or blades attached to the inner surface of the cutter piece. It should be noted that the pushing of the slicer device through the meat  7  of the watermelon is a straight, linear action without simultaneous rotation of the slicer device  10 . The watermelon that is left behind is a hollowed out ring of rind  8  with a small amount of fleshy part or meat  7  attached to the rind  8  as shown in  FIG. 8   f . The rind  8  is never cut into by the slicer device  10 . 
         [0049]    A similar method may be used to remove the fleshy interior or meat  7  of the watermelon  2  from the rind or outer portion  8  of the watermelon using the slicer devices  102 ,  104  of alternative embodiments shown in  FIGS. 16-19 . 
         [0050]    Should the user desire to consume the fleshy interior  7  of the watermelon  2  at another time, alternatively, the user removes a top crown  3  of the watermelon  2 , resulting in a flat top portion  5  and the user aligns the cutting piece  16  of the slicer device  10 ,  102 ,  104  with the fleshy part or meat  7  of the watermelon  2  and pushes, using the supporting bar(s)  14 ,  114  or the handle(s)  12 ,  112  to push the fleshy part or meat  7  of the watermelon  2  through the openings  24  between the cutter blades  22  or wires, or the opening defined by the inner surface  20  of the cutter piece  16  itself, cutting the fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  from the rind  8 . It should be noted that the pushing of the slicer device through the meat  7  of the watermelon is a straight, linear action without simultaneous rotation of the slicer device  10 . Then, the user would pull back and remove the slicer  10 ,  102 ,  104  from the watermelon  2  only. When the user is ready to consume the watermelon  2 , the user removes the bottom crown  4  of the watermelon  2 , releasing the sliced interior flesh  7 . 
         [0051]      FIGS. 7   a ,  7   b  and  9  show a scraper  50  of a first embodiment that may be used after the slicer device  10 ,  102 ,  104  has been pushed through the fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  and the pieces removed from the slicer device  10 ,  102 ,  104 , for example from the watermelon  2  shown in  FIG. 8   d . The scraper  50  has a handle  51  which is integrally formed with a bent scraping portion  52 . The bent scraping portion  52  has a bottom surface  54 , a top surface  58  with an edge  53 , and opposing wall surfaces  56 ,  57 . In an alternate embodiment, the handle  51  may be bent  59  at an angle relative to the bent scraping portion  52  to permit the user to more easily follow the contour of the watermelon  2  while scraping the fleshy interior  7  of the watermelon  2  as shown in  FIG. 15 . 
         [0052]    To remove the remaining fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  after the slicer device  10 ,  102 ,  104  has been used, a user aligns an edge  53  of the bent scraping portion  52  with the fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  and pulls the scraper  50 , such that the edge  53  cuts through the fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  from the rind  8  as shown in  FIG. 9 . The fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  that is cut or scraped off, slides across the top surface  58  of the bent scraping portion  52  and is cut into shaped pieces based on the placement of the opposing wall surfaces  56 ,  57  relative to the top surface  52  of the bent scraping portion  52 . 
         [0053]      FIG. 13  shows a scraper  60  of an alternative embodiment. The scraper  60  may be used after the slicer device  10  has been pushed through the fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  and the slicer  10 ,  102 ,  104  with melon pieces has been removed from the melon, for example from the watermelon  2  shown in  FIG. 8   d . The scraper  60  has a handle  62  which is coupled to a scraper head  64  through a connecting portion  72 . The scraper head  64  has a scraping portion  66  with a top surface  69 , a bottom surface  63  and opposing wall surfaces  68 ,  70 . The scraping portion  66  has an edge  67 . The scraper head  64  may be attached to the handle  62  or the handle  62  may be bent at an angle to permit the user to more easily follow the contour of the watermelon  2  while scraping the fleshy interior  7  of the watermelon  2 . 
         [0054]    To remove the remaining fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  after the slicer device  10 ,  102 ,  104  has been used, a user aligns the edge  67  of the scraper head  64  with the fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  and pulls the scraper  60 , such that the edge  67  cuts through the fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  from the rind  8  in a manner similar to  FIG. 9 . The fleshy part  7  of the watermelon  2  that is cut or scraped off, slides across the top surface  69  of the scraper head  64  and is cut into shaped pieces based on the placement of the opposing wall surfaces  68 ,  70  and the connecting portion  72  relative to the top surface  69  of the scraper head  64 . The bend in the handle  62  allows the user to move easily follow the contour of the rind  8  to remove what fleshy interior  7  of the melon  2  is desired. 
         [0055]    After the slicer device  10  has been pushed through the fleshy part or meat  7  of the watermelon  2 , the meat  7  of the watermelon  2  may be lodged within the slicer device  10 . To easily remove the meat  7  of the watermelon lodged within the slicer device  10 , the blades  22  or cutter piece  16  of the slicer device  10  are aligned with the grooves  32  of the push plate  30  and as the slicer device is pushed down onto the plate  30 , such that the cutters  22  are received by the grooves  32  of the push plate. The downward movement of the slicer device  10  relative to the push plate causes the raised portions  34  to push the fleshy part of the melon out of the openings  24  between the blades  22  and the cutter piece  16 . The raised portions  34  defining the grooves  32  push the meat  7  of the watermelon out of the openings  24  between the cutters  22  and the cutter piece  16  without having a user place their fingers near the cutting edges of the slicer device. 
         [0056]    The scraper  50  and the slicer device  10  are preferably made of stainless steel, although other materials may also be used. The push plate is preferably made of plastic, stainless steel, or other non-porous metals. 
         [0057]    Accordingly, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention herein described are merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Reference herein to details of the illustrated embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of the claims, which themselves recite those features regarded as essential to the invention.