Abstract:
A method and apparatus for cutting tofu and other soft foods into uniform pieces. A receptacle is fit onto a standard sized tofu package which cuts open the tofu package covering. The cover material is removed and discarded to expose the tofu. A cutting piece is fit into the top of the receptacle and firmly pressed into the tofu until the cutters reach the bottom of the tofu container. The cutter and receptacle is removed from the tofu container and the uniformly cut tofu pieces are now ready for use.

Description:
BACKGROUND  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention is related to a method and apparatus for opening packages of tofu and other soft foods, and cutting it into uniform shapes and sizes.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     Tofu, also known as soybean curd, is a soft, cheese-like food made by curdling fresh hot soyamilk with a coagulant. Traditionally, the curdling agent used to make tofu is nigari, a compound found in natural ocean water, or calcium sulfate, a naturally occurring mineral. Curds also can be produced by acidic foods like lemon juice or vinegar. The curds then are generally pressed into a solid block.  
         [0005]     Three main types of tofu are commonly available. Firm tofu is dense and solid. Soft tofu is a good choice for recipes that call for blended tofu, or in Oriental soups. Silken tofu is made by a slightly different process than the other 2 types and is a soft, custard-like product.  
         [0006]     Tofu, by its nature, has a short shelf life and is easily spoiled if not handled or kept properly. To increase the time it can be safely sold to consumers, tofu is commonly sold in vacuum-packed containers. These standardized containers are almost invariably comprised of a plastic tray that holds water in which a block of tofu sits in, which is sealed with a plastic film on top.  
         [0007]     To open the package, the food preparer commonly has to use a sharp knife to cut the film, which can be dangerous because she can easily cut through the package and injure herself. She can also easily spill the water the tofu is packed in if she cut through the package on the side or the bottom.  
         [0008]     Since tofu is commonly sold as a block, it becomes necessary to cut it down to size for use in food dishes. A food preparer can use a simple knife to cut the tofu, but even the most skilled of chefs will find it extremely difficult and/or time-consuming to get perfectly shaped edges and uniformly sized blocks. Further, the tofu may have to be physically handled by the food preparer, which may result in contamination of the food.  
         [0009]     When cooking with tofu, it is desirable to cut the tofu into uniform shapes and sizes for two main reasons. First, having the pieces in uniform shape and size is very important when cooking the tofu, because different sized pieces will cook at different rates and result in over- and under-cooked pieces. Secondly, poorly cut tofu shows a lack of skill on the part of the chef, which is undesirable.  
         [0010]     Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus for allowing people to easily open a package of tofu, cut the tofu contained within into uniform visually pleasing shapes, without the need to remove the tofu from the package first. It is desirable for this to be accomplished with a small, cheap, and simple device. It is desirable that this device be effortless, fast, and safe. It is also desirable that this device can take advantage of the commonly available standardized tofu packages as it is sold to the public. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]      FIG. 1  depicts a perspective view of the top portion of an embodiment of the device disclosed herein.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the bottom portion of an embodiment the device.  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is a side view one particular embodiment of the cutting blades that are a part of the top portion of the device.  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  depicts a side view of an alternate embodiment of the top portion of the device that makes use of wires as a cutting surface.  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  is a side view of a standard sized tofu container.  
         [0016]      FIG. 6  is a top down view of one embodiment of the top portion that makes use of wire blades and a movable wire blade.  
         [0017]      FIG. 7  is a side view of the movable wire blade structure shown in  FIG. 6 .  
         [0018]      FIG. 8  is a side view of the elastic tension mechanisms that pull the top portion out of the food once it has been cut and downward pressure on the top portion has been removed. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0019]      FIG. 1  is one particular embodiment of the top portion  100  of the cutting device. The top portion  100  of the cutting device is responsible for cutting the tofu into uniform pieces. The top portion  100  of the device consists of a casing  101 , which is of a size and of a shape that allows the top portion to slidably fit into the bottom portion  200  of the device shown in  FIG. 2 .  
         [0020]     The cutting blades  102  can be secured to the casing  101  using any convenient and/or known method. By way of example, the blades can be buried, deposited, enclosed, fastened, fixed, infixed, ingrained, inlayed, inserted, installed, lodged, implanted, or made integral with the casing during or after construction. The blades  102  can be composed of any convenient and/or known material suitable for kitchenware and can be constructed using any convenient and/or known method of construction. By way of example, the blades can be composed of metal, plastic, hard rubber, ceramics, or wood.  
         [0021]     The cutting blades  102  as depicted in  FIG. 1  are fixed into place but in other embodiments it is possible for the cutting blades  102  to be adjustable along the X-Axis  103  and the Y-Axis  104 , so as to achieve different shaped cuts of food. It is also possible, in an alternate embodiment, to have the ability to add or remove cutting blades. The addition or removal of cutting blades  102  to the casing  101  would result in larger or smaller pieces of tofu.  
         [0022]     In the embodiment depicted in  FIG. 1 , the cutting blades  102  are solid and square shaped. One alternate embodiment of the cutting blade structure  300  is demonstrated in  FIG. 3 . This cutting blade structure  300  has an outer blade edge  301  and the inner portion of the blade  302  has been removed. Another type of cutting blade  102  structure can be seen in  FIG. 4 , which uses the same casing  101  and locking tabs  105  as the top structure  100  of  FIG. 1 , yet uses cutting blades  401  made out of wire as a cutting surface. Further possible embodiments of the cutting blades  102  structure could be curved, wavy, or any other structure that would give rise to different pleasing shapes of cut tofu.  
         [0023]     To open a package of tofu, the bottom portion  200  of the device is attached to the tofu container  500 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . This is accomplished by pressing the bottom portion  200  down on top of the tofu container  500 . When this happens the outer lip  205  of the bottom portion  200  receives the outer lip  501  of the tofu container  500 . In this particular embodiment the outer lip  205  is fixed but in alternate embodiments an adjustable lip may be used.  
         [0024]     In this particular embodiment the inner lip  206  of the bottom portion  200  is integral with a serrated cutting surface  207 . The cutting surface  207  acts to cut through all four sides of the top film  503  of the package as the bottom portion  200  is pressed down and secured onto the tofu container  500 . The film, separated from the package, can then be removed through the opening on the front side of the bottom portion  208  and discarded.  
         [0025]     Alternate embodiments of the bottom portion  200  can have straight edged cutting surfaces on the inner lip, a movable cutting surface, or no cutting surface at all. The cutting surface can be secured to the bottom portion using any convenient and/or known method. By way of example, the cutting surface can be buried, deposited, enclosed, fastened, fixed, infixed, ingrained, inlayed, inserted, installed, lodged, implanted, or made integral with the bottom portion during or after construction. The cutting surface  207  can be composed of any convenient and/or known material suitable for kitchenware and can be constructed using any convenient and/or known method of construction. By way of example, the cutting surface can be composed of metal, plastic, hard rubber, ceramics, or wood.  
         [0026]     Once the bottom portion  200  is secured on top of the package of tofu  500 , and the top film  503  is cut and discarded, the top portion  100  is lowered onto the bottom portion  200 . See  FIG. 5 . The fit and orientation between the top portion  100  and the bottom portion  200  is governed by the placement of guide tabs  105  and the corresponding guide grooves  201 . In the embodiment of the bottom portion  200  shown in  FIG. 2 , the guide grooves  201  correspond to the guide tabs  105  of the top portion  100  of  FIG. 1 . Alternate embodiments of locking tabs  105  and guide grooves  201  are possible with more tabs and grooves or varied locations on the bottom portion  200  and top portion  100 .  
         [0027]     By lining up the guide tabs  105  of the top portion  100  with the guide groves  201  of the bottom portion, the top portion is able to smoothly slide along the y-axis  202  from the top opening of the guide grooves  203  along the guide grooves  201  until the top portion  100  is stopped by the guiding tabs  105  reaching the bottom  204  of the guide grooves  201 .  
         [0028]     In the embodiment of the device shown in  FIG. 2 , the bottom portion  200  has elastic tension mechanisms  207  positioned below the top opening of the guide grooves  203 . This mechanism can be seen more clearly in  FIG. 8 . When the top portion  100  is placed into the bottom portion  200  the locking tabs  105  fit into top portion  203  of the guide grooves  201 . The locking tabs  105  then encounter the catch piece  801 . As the top portion  100  is pressed down into the tofu container  500  being held by the bottom portion  200  the catch piece  801  puts dynamic tension onto the top piece  100  thru the locking tabs  105  so that the top portion with the cutting blades is retracted out of the tofu once the downward pressure on the top piece  100  is relieved. The dynamic tension is supplied to the catch piece by the tension mechanisms  802 . In this particular embodiment the tension mechanisms  802  are rubber bands. However, any mechanical source of force will do.  
         [0029]     An alternative to the type of cutting blade  102  structure seen in  FIG. 4  can be seen in  FIG. 6 . This alternate embodiment makes use of the same casing  101  and locking tabs  105 . It also uses cutting blades  401  made out of wire from  FIG. 4 . This embodiment has 2 cross rails  601  that support a movable wire blade apparatus  602 . The movable wire blade apparatus  602  slides along the cross rails  601  and can be more clearly seen in  FIG. 7 .  
         [0030]     The movable wire blade apparatus  602  has a handle  701  which allows the user to grip and slide the movable cutting blade apparatus  602  along the cross rails  601  along the Y-Axis  603  of cutting blade  102  structure seen in  FIG. 6 . The handle  701  is attached to the 2 cross rails  601  via connecter struts  702 . The connecter struts  702  join the handle  701  to the movable wire blade apparatus  602 . A cutting wire blade  703  is a part of the movable wire blade apparatus  602  and is used to create a horizontal cut along the y-axis. By translating the wire blade  703  across the length of the tofu, the vertically-cut pieces created by the cutting blades  401  will be sliced at a pre-determined point on their vertical axis, resulting in twice the number of cut blocks. This process can be repeated to obtain three times, four times, or more number of blocks by repeating the horizontal cuts at different depths.  
       Operation  
       [0031]     First, the bottom portion  200  of the device is firmly pressed down on top of the tofu package  500 . The outer lip  205  of the bottom portion fits over the outside of the outer lip  501  of the tofu container  500 . At the same time the cutting surface inner lip  207  of the bottom portion  200  is forced through the protective top film  503  of the tofu container  500  and into contact with the inner lip  502  of the tofu container  500 .  
         [0032]     This serves to cut through the sides of the protective top film  503  of the tofu container  500  and bring the inner lip  206  of the bottom portion  200  into contact with the inner lip  502  of the tofu container  500 . The protective top film  503  that has been cut is removed through the opening on the front side of the bottom portion  208 .  
         [0033]     The top portion  100  is then placed on top of the bottom portion  200 , which is mated to the tofu container  500 . The joining of these the top portion  100  and the bottom portion  200  pieces are governed by the fit between the guiding tabs  105  and the guide grooves  201 . Once the proper orientation dictated by the guiding tabs  105  and guide grooves  201  is achieved the top portion  100  will slide into the bottom portion.  
         [0034]     A minimum amount of force is then applied to the top of the top portion  100 . This pushes the cutting blades  102  of the top portion  100  down into the tofu present in the tofu container  300 , until the bottom of the tofu container  300  is reached by the blades. At this point, the single block of tofu is cut into smaller blocks, each with the desired uniform size and straight edge. When pressure is relieved on the top portion, the spring mechanism returns the top portion  100  to the top, thereby retracting the blades  102  from the tofu.  
         [0035]     With the embodiment of the device with the movable wire blade apparatus  602 , the user grips the handle  701  and slides the movable cutting blade apparatus  602  along the along the Y-Axis, thereby translating the horizontal cutting wire blade  703  along the length of the tofu. The tofu, already vertically cut, is sliced horizontally, resulting in twice the number of cut blocks. This process can be repeated for further horizontal cuts, which would result in blocks of smaller size.  
         [0036]     The food preparer then holds the bottom of the tofu package with one hand, and press down with the other hand on the device to securely hold it to the package. The device and package combination is then brought over to a food container and inverted, with the blocks of tofu falling through the openings  106  in the casing  101  of the top portion  100  and into the food container.  
         [0037]     Alternatively, the top portion and bottom portion, now mated, can be simply lifted from the package. The tofu container is now filled with tofu pieces of the desired uniform shape and size.  
         [0038]     Although the above discussion uses tofu as an example of a food that can be used with the device, it is to be understood that other foods may be used. By way of example, pudding, jello, breads, cakes, ice cream, and fruits may also be used with the device.  
         [0039]     Although the device has been described in detail for the purpose of illustration, it is to be understood and appreciated that such detail is solely and purely for the purpose of example, and that many other variations, modifications and applications of the invention can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.