Abstract:
A food grater is adapted to reduce formation of ribs and striations in foodstuffs during grating. A grating element includes a rigid base that defines an operative surface from which projections are raised, each projection having an aperture and a cutting edge surrounding the aperture. The projections are distributed as in a pseudorandom pattern such that any straight path extending along the operative surface in any direction through the projections is obstructed by at least one cutting edge.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The invention relates generally to food graters, and more specifically, to preventing formation of pronounced striations and ribs in a foodstuff that can impair grating action.  
       DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART  
       [0002]     The invention has particular though not exclusive application to cheese graters. It is a common practice to grate a hard cheese, such as parmesan, on a steel grater that has a planar surface from which domed projections are stamped. Each projection is stamped with a central aperture to define the cutting edges required for grating. The projections are normally arranged in rows with common spacing between adjacent projections. Alternate rows are staggered relative to immediately adjacent rows by one-half of the spacing between adjacent projections. As a result, the projections form staggered columns spaced from one another by one-half of the common spacing between projections in each row.  
         [0003]     With the grater oriented vertical, a user simply scrapes a foodstuff in an up-and-down motion against the projections. A hard foodstuff, such as parmesan cheese, tends to develop ribs and striations that conform to the vertical grooves between columns of projections. The ribs tend to space the body of the foodstuff from the projections which can severely impair grating action. This problem is illustrated and discussed in greater detail below.  
         [0004]     Various graters have been proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,520,436; 6,412,717; 6,409,107; 6,318,652; 6,315,224; 6,244,529; 6,135,375; 6,082,645; 5,803,378; 5,711,491; 5,702,061; 5,660,341; 5,562,256; 5,379,954; 5,312,054. Most of these patents describe an arrangement of grating plates, graters with exchangeable plates, or more complex mechanisms involving grating plates. U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,224 deals with the grating process itself and discloses a non-standard design for grating apertures. These patents do not, however, address the problem of formation of ribs and striations that impair grating.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     In one aspect, in a food grater, the invention provides a grating element adapted to reduce formation of ribs and striations in foodstuffs contacted with and displaced relative to the grating element. The grating element comprises a rigid base preferably formed of metal that defines a planar surface portion, and a multiplicity of projections raised from the planar surface portion. Each projection has an aperture and a cutting edge surrounding its aperture. The projections are preferably distributed such that any straight path extending along the planar surface portion and through the projections in any direction is obstructed by at least one cutting edge, avoiding formation of ribs and striations. The grater may be manually operated in which case the grating element will typically be held stationary while foodstuffs are displaced by hand, or the grater may be motor operated in which case foodstuffs will typically remain stationary while the grating element is displaced.  
         [0006]     Other aspects of the invention will be apparent from a description below of a preferred embodiment and will be more specifically defined in the appended claims. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]     The invention will be better understood with reference to drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment, in which:  
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is an elevational view of a prior art grater;  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a block of hard cheese applied to the grater, showing ribs and striations that typically form during grating;  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  is an elevational view of a cheese grater embodying the invention. 
     
    
       [0011]     Grating projections shown in the drawings are conventional. The size of the grating projections has been exaggerated, and the shape of their openings and the shape of their cutting edges have been selected solely to facilitate illustration.  
       DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0012]     Reference is made to  FIG. 1  which illustrates a prior art hand-held grater  10  which might commonly used to grate a hard parmesan cheese (such as the block of cheese  12  illustrated in  FIG. 2 ) or other foodstuffs. The grater  10  has a base  14  stamped from thin steel sheet, and a conventional handle  16  fastened to the base  14 . The base  14  has a generally planar surface or face  18  from which a multiplicity of identical domed projections (collectively indicated with reference numeral  20 ) are raised. A typical projection  22  is stamped with a central aperture  24  surrounding by a cutting edge  26 .  
         [0013]     It will be noted that the projections  20  cover a generally rectangular portion of the operative surface  18 , and are arranged in horizontal rows (such as exemplary rows  28 ,  30 ,  32 ) with a common horizontal spacing between adjacent projections in any row. Alternate rows (such as row  30 ) are staggered horizontally relative to immediately adjacent rows (such as rows  28 ,  32  above and below row  30 ) by one-half of the common spacing between adjacent projections in each row. This arrangement causes the projections  20  to be substantially equidistant from immediately adjacent projections, the projection  34  and four immediately adjacent projections  36  being typical. The cutting edges of the projections  20  consequently align in vertical columns as indicated with lead lines  38 ,  40 . The lead lines  38 ,  40  also indicate the general direction of up-and-down grating motion normally used. The adjacent columns  38 , 40  are spaced by one-half of the spacing between adjacent projections in the rows. Another prior art arrangement is to confine the projections  20  to a generally trapezoidal surface area, narrow adjacent the handle or top of the grater and expanding laterally to a broad base. The manner of distributing the projections remains essentially the same and suffers the same shortcoming.  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  illustrates the effect of using such a prior art grater  10  to grate a block  12  of parmesan cheese. The surface of the block  12  that contacts the grater  10  develops a set of parallel striations  44  that alternate with a set of parallel ribs  46 . These striations  44  result from the block  12  of cheese riding the peaks or cutting edges of projections  20 , for example, the peaks in columns  38 ,  40 . Eventually the ribs  46  contact lower portions of the projections  20 , and tend to lodge and travel in the grooves between columns as the block  12  is moved manually with up-and-down strokes. The ribs  46  then limit engagement of the rest of the block  12  with the cutting edges of the projections  20 , impairing grating action. In many instances, only sparse amounts of grated cheese can be produced with each stroke.  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  illustrates a new manual grater  50  embodying the invention. The grater  50  has a grating element which consists of a generally rigid planar base  52  stamped from sheet metal. The stamping raises a multiplicity of domed grating projections (collectively indicated with reference numeral  54 ) from one face  56  of the base  52 . The projections  54  are identical to the projections  20  characteristic of the prior art grater  10 , each stamped with a central aperture and a cutting edge surrounding the aperture to provide cutting edge. The exact shape of the aperture is not critical but using a cutting edge that surrounds the aperture ensures grating action regardless of the direction from which the projection is approached. Lateral edges of the base  52  may be bent (not shown) as in the prior art to impart desired rigidity. A conventional handle  58  facilitates handling of the grater  50 .  
         [0016]     The projections  54  may be distributed so as to occupy a rectangular surface area (as shown but not numbered). Peripheral surfaces of that area may not comprise sufficient projections, especially horizontally, to guarantee the absence of ribs and striations with vertical and horizontal strokes, but this is not critical to the invention. What is significant is that a central operative surface portion where grating is performed, such as the rectangular area indicated in phantom outline and identified with the reference numeral  60 , does have projections in sufficient density and properly positioned. The operative surface area  60  has an opposing pair of upper and lower sides  62 ,  64  and another pair of opposing lateral sides  66 ,  68  transverse to the first pair  62 ,  64 . The center of the operative surface area  60  has been indicated at  70 .  
         [0017]     In  FIG. 3 , four exemplary grating paths are identified with phantom lines. Each of the paths extends along the operative surface area  60  and, in this instance, centrally through the projections  54 . A vertical path  72  that extends between opposing upper and lower sides  62 ,  64  of the operative surface area  60  is obstructed by cutting edges, for example, at  74 . An exemplary horizontal path  76  between lateral sides  66 ,  68  of the operative surface area  60  is obstructed by cutting edges, for example, at  78 . Two inclined paths  80 ,  82  between the lateral sides  66 ,  68  are obstructed, respectively, at  84 ,  86 . More generally, any straight line path extending through the center  70  of the operative operative surface area  60  in any direction is obstructed by at least one cutting edge. As well, any straight line path between the opposing upper and lower sides  62 ,  64  and any straight line path between the opposing lateral sides  66 ,  68  are similarly obstructed. The operative surface area  60  may be trapezoidal, as in the prior art, with projections distributed as described above to achieve similar grating characteristics along paths through the center of the area and between opposing sides. The exact shape of the operative surface is not critical to broader aspects of the invention.  
         [0018]     The new grater  50  of  FIG. 3  is used in the same manner as the prior art grater  10  of  FIG. 1 . A hard foodstuff, such as the block of parmesan cheese  12 , may be manually contacted with the operative face  56  and simultaneously displaced in an up-and-down fashion or in other directions. The new grater  50  does not produce the pronounced striations  44  and ribs  46  shown in  FIG. 2  and associated with prior art graters. The surface of a foodstuff exposed to the grating projections  54  remains substantially flat which ensures that grating action is not impaired. A similar benefit is obtained if the foodstuff and  
         [0019]     It will be appreciated that a particular embodiment of the invention has been described and that modifications may be made therein without necessarily departing from the scope of the appended claims.