Abstract:
A cutting device holds an article to be cut stationary while a blade is traversed along a curved guide to peel or slice away material from the article. The article may be rotated using an indexing mechanism to realign the article with respect to the blade. The cutting device is especially configured to cut complex shapes, such as a seven-sided tourné. Portions of the cutting device may be separated for storage or travel, and a storage container may be provided to protect the device as well as to keep the separated pieces together.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates generally to the art of slicing, and more particularly to the art of cutting food items into desired shapes.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     Slicing shapes in vegetables is generally well known in the culinary art. In particular, the tourn{acute over (e )} shape is highly regarded for its uniqueness. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the tourné  10  is roughly flat on two opposing ends  12  and has, extending between those opposing ends  12 , seven sides  14  of approximately the same size and at approximately equal angles to each other. The seven sides  14  are tapered at the ends of the vegetable or root, so that the tourné is widest at its midsection and narrowest at the two ends  12 .  
         [0005]     The tourné shape is unique because it has an uneven number of curved or arced sides. Such shape is desired for food items, such as vegetables and roots, particularly potatoes. However, the unusual shape is difficult to accurately produce by manual cutting. Thus, recreating the tourné shape typically requires a great deal of effort, time, and skill. It would be very desirable to form the tourné shape quickly and efficiently using a device that is simple, portable, and easy to clean.  
         [0006]     U.S. Design Pat. No. 397,921 to Joergensen shows a manual potato peeler with a handle and blade. Such peelers and blades are well known in the art, but require great skill to create complex designs.  
         [0007]     Peeling apparatuses that hold an article during peeling are generally well known in the culinary art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,006,621; 2,130,980; 2,521,987; 4,738,195; 4,765,234; 5,950,528; 5,957,045 and 6,408,520 teach various peeling, slicing and coring machines. However, these devices are incapable of shaping an article into a tourné, i.e., a three-dimensional shape with seven arced sides.  
         [0008]     U.S. Pat. 5,582,096 to Marton illustrates a more complex vegetable peeling and shaping machine. A potato is held in a chute or tube as blades are fed into and out of slots through the tube or chute to cut portions of the potato away. Similarly, Japanese publication JP 06141991 A illustrates a vegetable cutter, comparable to Marton, that utilizes cutting edges that travel through guides  3  to form curved surfaces. These devices permit the creation of complex shapes, such as the symmetrical “Chateau” shape. However, these devices are complex, relatively expensive, difficult to clean, and relatively difficult to move about or use in a typically crowded kitchen.  
         [0009]     Commercial and home chefs still seek a device for forming complex cut shapes, such as a tourné, that is simple, portable, handheld, and easy to clean.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010]     In a first aspect of the invention, a cutting device is provided that holds an article stationary while a blade is traversed along a curved track or blade guide to peel or slice away material from the article. The article may be rotated using an indexing mechanism to re-align the article with respect to the blade and form a shaped article, such as a seven sided tourné. The article to be cut may be a root or vegetable, such as a potato. Additionally, portions of the cutting device may be separated for storage or travel, and may have a container to protect the device as well as to keep the separated pieces together.  
         [0011]     In a second aspect of the invention, a cutting method includes the steps of fixing an article to be cut to a base portion of a cutting device and to a cutting portion of the cutting device, where the cutting portion includes a blade guide or track. After fixing the article, a blade is moved along the blade guide from a start position to slice through a portion of the article with a first pass of the blade along the blade guide. The article is indexed to a new cutting position, such as by rotating, and the blade is returned to its start position within the blade guide in preparation for a second cutting pass along the blade guide. Preferably, indexing the article is by disengaging an engagement mechanism that fixes the position of the article relative to the cutting portion and rotating the article to a new position. Preferably, the engagement mechanism has seven indexed positions to permit cutting portions from the article to form a seven-sided tourné. The base portion may be handheld when carrying out the cutting method. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     Novel features and advantages of the present invention in addition to those mentioned above will become apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art from a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts and in which:  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  illustrates a side elevational view of an apparatus used to slice an article, such as a potato, into a tourné shape;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a front elevational view of the apparatus of  FIG. 1   
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a top plan view of the apparatus of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a bottom plan view of the apparatus of  FIG. 1 :  
         [0017]      FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional plan view taken along line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0018]      FIG. 6  is a side elevational view of a finished tourné shaped cut article, such as a potato;  
         [0019]      FIG. 7  is a side elevational view of the apparatus of  FIG. 1  with its guide and base nested together in a container shown in cross-section; and  
         [0020]      FIG. 8  is an end elevational view of the apparatus with the nested guide and base in a container of  FIG. 7 , wherein the container lid is shown in open position.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0021]      FIGS. 1-5  illustrate a tourné cutting device according to one embodiment of the present invention that comprises a cutting portion  16  and a base portion  18 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the cutting portion  16  and base portion  18  of the tourné cutting device engage an article  20 , such as a potato, root, vegetable or other item, which is desired to be sliced into a tourné shape.  
         [0022]     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the cutting portion  16  of the tourné cutting device has a blade guide  22  that is designed to accept any slicing means  24 , such as a blade, wire or knife. Slicing means  24  is shown as a knife in  FIGS. 1-5  to illustrate operation of the device, but is not meant to limit the invention. Guide  22  is shaped so as to guide knife  24  along a path that will cut the tourné profile into one side of the article  20 . Support arm  21  supports guide  22  and may include a holder  30  for holding article  20  relative to the cutting portion  16 . Any part of the cutting portion  16  may comprise metal, plastic, wood or other suitable material.  
         [0023]     Article  20  can be fixed relative to cutting portion  16  and base portion  18 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . For example, article  20  can be fixed to the base portion  18  by a first holder  26 , such as a needle or double needle (double needle shown in  FIG. 1 ), which may be inserted prior to joining the cutting portion  16  with base portion  18 . Holder  26  may be inserted into article  20  by pressing the article  20  onto the holder  26 . Cutting portion  16  may then be connected to base portion  18  by any conventional connecting means, such as friction pins  27 , in which the connecting means may comprise metal, plastic, wood or other suitable material.  
         [0024]     A second holder  30 , which may be a needle or double needle (a single needle is shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ), may then be inserted by pressing the head  28  of holder  30  toward article  20 . Second holder  30  holds article  20  relative to the cutting portion  16 . Although the  FIGS. 1 and 2  illustrate needle shaped holders, any holding utensils may be used, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,522 to Byth. Furthermore, article  20  may be initially fixed to cutting portion  16  by inserting holder  30  into article  20  and then fixing the article to holder  26  at the same time that cutting portion  16  is joined with base portion  18 .  
         [0025]     The blade guide  22  may be aligned relative to article  20  for cutting a first side of a tourné shape  10  simply by virtue of the fact that article  20  is fixed relative to the joined cutting portion  16  and base portion  18 . Preferably, blade guide  22  permits blade  24  to travel along the guide without binding or other interruption to slice a side of article  20  into a predetermined shape, such as an arc in the case of the tourné shape. As shown in  FIGS. 3 and 5 , the cross-section of each side of guide  22  may contact blade  24  only at point  23  to reduce friction of blade  24  along the path of travel and to reduce scratching, dulling or other damage to blade  24 .  
         [0026]     As shown in  FIGS. 1, 3 , and  5 , an indexing mechanism allows the repositioning of article  20  for creating multiple arced slices. As particularly shown in  FIG. 3 , indexing mechanism may comprise indexing plate  32 , which may have a multiplicity of indexing positions  33 , such as slots or holes, for receiving indexing pin  34 . In the case of a tourné cutting device, indexing plate  32  may have, for example, seven engagement positions  33  to permit the formation of seven slices. Indexing pin  34  can be disengaged by pulling it outward from the indexing plate  32  into a disengaged position, such as shown in phantom by reference numeral  34 A in  FIG. 1 . Indexing pin  34  may be maintained in an engaged position by spring  36  and spring stop  35 , which is attached to indexing pin  34 . Thus, pulling indexing pin  34  moves spring stop away from the indexing plate and compresses spring  36 . Energy stored in the spring returns pin  34  to its original engaged position.  
         [0027]     As shown in  FIG. 4 , knob  52  may be provided on the outside of lower control plate  40 . Knob  52  is connected to indexing plate  32  so that rotating knob  52  also rotates indexing plate  32 . If this rotation is commenced while pin  34  is disengaged, the pin will press and slide against the side of indexing plate  32  until an indexing position  33  is aligned with the indexing pin  34 . Thus, by disengaging pin  34  and rotating knob  52  a user may rotate article  20  to position each of seven sides for slicing to form the tourné shape  10  as shown in  FIG. 6 . The side of indexing plate  32  may be curved inwardly or ratcheted, to encourage the pin  34  into engagement position  33 . The indexing mechanism may comprise metal, plastic, wood or other suitable material.  
         [0028]     To prevent debris, fingers, or other foreign objects from entering the indexing mechanism, an upper mounting plate  38  and lower control plate  40  may be joined to at least partially enclose the indexing mechanism. In the embodiment of  FIGS. 1-5 , upper mounting plate  38  and lower control plate  40  may be connected in any conventional manner including using friction pins or by screwing the upper mounting plate  38  and lower control plate  40  together with screws  42  as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4 . Screws  42  may be connected to or integral with foot portion  44 . Alternatively, the screws could be inserted through a surface, such as a tabletop (not shown) to fix the device permanently or semi-permanently to a particular workspace. Lower control plate  40  may also be connected to a removable retainer plate  46  by, for example, screws  48  to allow access to and cleaning of the indexing mechanism.  
         [0029]     Article  20  may be elevated from the upper mounting plate  38  by platform  50  to reduce friction while advancing article  20  through the rotating and slicing process. Upper mounting plate  38 , lower control plate  40 , screws  42 , feet  44 , and any portion of base  18  may comprise metal, plastic, wood or other suitable material.  
         [0030]     The cutting device may be handheld, and its component parts may be separated for cleaning, transportation, or storage. As shown in  FIG. 7 , the cutting portion  16  may be separated from base portion  18 . The cutting portion  16  may further be stacked on top of base portion  18 . Preferably, the cutting portion  16  and base portion  18  can be nested so that the arced portion of blade guide  22  may extend as high as or higher than holders  26 , thus serving to shield holders  26 , which may be sharp.  
         [0031]     This stacked arrangement may also be inserted into a container  60  that may have a lid  64  with a flap  62  or other fastening or securing means (see  FIG. 8 ). The lid  64  may be attached to container  60  by hinge  66 . Container  60  may be plastic, metal, paper, wood, or other like material. The container may comprise any conventional arrangement, the illustrated container in  FIGS. 7 and 8  being only one example. As shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 , the nested cutting portion  16  and base  18  may be held relatively stationary within container  60  by contacting the sides of container  60  with guides  22 , pins  27 , upper mounting plate  38 , lower control plate  40 , feet  44  or any combination thereof. Base  18  additionally may be held stationary by virtue of the nested relationship with cutting portion  16 .  
         [0032]     The foregoing description of the invention illustrates and describes the present invention. Additionally, the disclosure shows and describes only the preferred embodiments of the invention, but it is to be understood that the invention is capable of use in various other combinations, modifications, and environments and is capable of changes or modifications within the scope of the inventive concept as expressed herein, commensurate with the above teachings, and/or the skill or knowledge in the art of article shaping, particularly the shaping and cutting of items.  
         [0033]     The embodiments described hereinabove are further intended to explain the best modes known of practicing the invention and to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention in such, or other, embodiments and with the various modifications required by the particular applications or uses of the invention. Accordingly, the description is not intended to limit the invention to the form disclosed herein. Also, it is intended that the appended claims be construed to include alternative embodiments.