Abstract:
A household electric can opener operable by vertical movements of a control button. The can opener has an easily removable assembly that includes all of the exposed operating parts, including a cutting blade, a can drive wheel, the control button, and a lid magnet assembly. The entire removable cutter assembly is water immersible or machine washable for improved sanitation.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/080,344, filed on Apr. 1, 1998. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to electric motor driven can openers for household use. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The drive wheels and cutting blades of can openers are difficult to clean. Therefore, some can openers have removable assemblies which include parts of the can opener which can be removed and safely immersed in water or cleaned in a dish washer without involving any electrical components. 
     Another problem with many can openers of today is that they are made for use by right-handed persons and are difficult for left-handed persons to operate efficiently. Left-handed persons must either learn how to operate these appliances as a right-handed person or buy a left-handed appliance which may not exist or may be quite expensive. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention provides a can opener that has a removable assembly which includes all of the exposed operating parts of the can opener. 
     This invention also provides a can opener controlled by a central operating button which is easily usable by both right and left handed individuals. Furthermore, the operating button moves only vertically and is therefore easy for essentially anyone to operate. 
     Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description and the drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a can opener in accordance with this invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 but showing the removable assembly exploded away from the opener housing. 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the removable assembly. 
     FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary front elevational view of the upper portion of the can opener. 
     FIG. 5 is cross-sectional view of the can opener taken along section line  5 — 5  of FIG.  4 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, this invention is shown embodied in a can opener  10 , comprising a motor housing  12  formed from a front housing section  14  and a rear housing section  16 , which may be connected together by connecting screws or the like (not shown). In addition, the can opener  10  includes a removable support assembly  18  that supports operating parts of the can opener  10  as will be further described below. 
     With reference also to FIGS. 3 and 5, in the preferred embodiment of this invention, the upper end of the front housing section  14  has a cavity  20  that receives part of the support assembly  18 . The support assembly  18  has a front support member  22  and a rear support member  24  which may be connected together by several self-tapping screws  26  or the like. The support assembly  18  is suspended from the motor housing  12  by means of downwardly-facing channel  28  formed along the upper rear portion of the rear support member  24  that engages over the top of a vertical mounting plate  30  connected to the front housing section  14  and located within the cavity  20 . A rotatable clamp piece  32  connected to a mounting shaft  34  rotatably supported by the front housing section  14  is engageable with a forwardly-facing surface  36  formed on the support assembly  18  to hold the lower end of the support assembly  18  within the bottom of the cavity  20 . A user engageable release knob  38  extends out of the front face of the housing  12  and may be manually rotated to pivot the clamp piece  32  to an out-of-the-way position to permit the lower end of the support assembly  18  to be moved away from the housing  12  so that the support assembly  18  and the operating parts mounted thereon may be lifted off the mounting plate  30  and removed in one piece for cleaning or other purposes. Suitable spring means, such as the coil spring  40  partly illustrated in FIG. 5, are preferably provided to bias the clamp piece  32  into its vertical orientation illustrated in the drawings. 
     With reference also to FIGS. 3,  4  and  5 , the can opener  10  includes a can drive wheel  50  rotatable with respect to the motor housing  12  about an axis extending through the motor housing  12 . An electric drive motor  52  and a suitable gear drive train  54  are mounted in the motor housing  12  and drivingly connected to the can drive wheel  50 . To this end, the gear drive train  54  is drivingly connected to a drive shaft  56 , a clutch  58 , and a driven shaft  60  on which the can drive wheel  50  is mounted. The clutch  58  includes a toothed, drive clutch member  62  affixed to the forward end of the drive shaft  56  and a toothed, driven clutch member  64  affixed to the rearward end of the driven shaft  60 . The clutch members  62  and  64  intermesh with one another when the removable assembly  18  is clamped to the housing  10  but are readily separated when the removable assembly  18  is removed. 
     Operation of the drive motor  52  is controlled by a drive motor-control switch  66  having a switch-operating member  68 . The electrical circuitry used to control the operation of the drive motor  52  may be entirely conventional and forms no part of the present invention. 
     Referring to FIGS. 3,  4  and  5 , a can-opening blade  70  is mounted on a blade-mounting shaft  72  that extends through a bearing  74  formed as part of the front support member  22  for pivotal movement or rotation about an axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the can drive wheel  50 . As can be seen in FIG. 3, the blade mounting shaft  72  has a non-circular section  76  that mates with a non-circular aperture  78  in the blade  70  so that rotation of the blade  70  is imparted to its mounting shaft  72 , and vice versa. This permits a pivotal movement of the blade  70  from a first, retracted, position in which the blade  70  is remote from a can (not shown) having a rim supported by the drive wheel  50  to a second, extended, position in which the blade  70  pierces the lid of a can supported by the drive wheel  50 . A blade spring  80  coiled about a tubular boss  81  on the front face of the first support member  22  biases the blade  70  to its retracted position away from engagement with a can (not shown) supported by the drive wheel  50 . A rivet  83  that projects through an arcuate slot  85  in the blade  70  maintains the vertical orientation of the blade  70 . 
     A user may initiate operation of the can opener  10  by depressing a knob-like control button  82  that has a vertical stem  84  (FIG. 5) substantially confined for movement along a vertical path by adjacent surfaces of the support assembly  18 . The upper end of a master member  86  is fixedly connected to the button stem  84 , as by a screw  88 , and therefore moves in the same vertical directions as the control button  82 . The master member  86  is also substantially confined for movement along a vertical path by ribs (not shown) that project rearwardly from the rear surface of the front support member  22 . As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the master member  86  has a horizontally-extending switch operating arm  90  engageable with the switch-operating member  68 . Thus, when a user depresses the control button  82 , the drive motor  52  is energized to initiate rotation of the drive wheel  50 . 
     The master member  86  is connected to the blade mounting shaft  72  by a connecting link  92  having a non-circular bore  94  that mates with a non-circular surface  96  at the rearward end of the blade mounting shaft  72  so that the pivotal motion of the connecting link  92  is imparted to the blade mounting shaft  72  and vice versa. (The non-circular parts of the shaft  72  can be of the common “double D” configuration.) 
     The opposite end of the connecting link  92  has an elongate slot  98  that receives a drive pin  100  projecting rearwardly from the rear face of the master member  86 . Accordingly, vertical movements of the master member  86  cause pivotal movements of the connecting link  92 , and vice versa. As is evident, when the control button  82  is depressed by a user, the master member  86  moves downwardly and causes the connecting link  92 , the blade mounting shaft  72 , and the blade  70  to rotate in a clockwise direction as viewed in the drawings, to cause the blade  70  to engage the lid of a can supported by the drive wheel  50 . As well known in the art, the essentially coincident energization of the drive motor  52  imparts a force exerted in a clockwise direction against the blade  70 , causing the blade  70  to pierce the can lid. The force exerted by the can lid is maintained until the lid is cut free from the body of the can, at which time the force exerted on the blade  70  by the rotating can ceases. At such time, the blade spring  80  causes the blade  70  to reversely rotate, in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in the drawings, with consequent raising of the master member  86 , at which time the switch operating arm  90  moves upwardly by a distance sufficient to open the drive motor control switch  66 . 
     So that one may initiate a cutting operation without having to hold onto a can, the can is supported with its rim confined between the drive wheel  50 , from which it derives support, and the blade  70 . Further in accordance with this invention, the blade  70  will not raise so far after a can lid is completely cut away from a can body to release the grip on the can rim by the blade  70  and the drive wheel  50 . Instead, the upward return, i.e., counterclockwise, motion of the blade  70  is limited by the engagement of the top surface of a first, vertically-movable, horizontal ledge  110  projecting forwardly from the front face of the master member  86  with a bottom surface of a second horizontal, stop ledge  112  (FIG. 5) projecting rearwardly from the rear surface of the front support member  22 . In FIG. 5, which shows the parts when the can opener  10  is not operating, the moving first horizontal ledge  110  on the master member  86  is located above the second, stop ledge  112  on the front support member  22 . There it will noted that the confronting surfaces of the two ledges  110  and  112  are correspondingly sloped so that, when the control button  82  is depressed, the first ledge  110  readily cams around and under the second ledge  112 . The camming of the first ledge  110  rearwardly is made possible because the master member  86  which is made from a suitable plastic material, such as ABS, can flex along its length sufficiently to permit the rearward movement of the first ledge  110 . After the cutting of a can lid is completed, it will be evident that the flat upper surface of the first, moving ledge  110  will be positively stopped by the flat lower surface of the second, stop ledge  112 . In order to release a can from the grip of the blade  70  and the drive wheel  50 , a user may grasp the can in one hand and push rearwardly on the control button  82  with the other hand to push the top of the master member  86  rearwardly so that its ledge  110  is removed from engagement with the stop ledge  112 , thereby enabling the blade spring  80  to drive the blade  70  counterclockwise to its fully retracted position. As a consequence, the control button  82  is returned to its uppermost position in readiness to be depressed to open another can. 
     Another feature of the can opener  10  of this invention is that a lid magnet assembly  120  is mounted on the removable support assembly  18 . The lid magnet assembly  120  comprises a magnet housing  122  and a pair of magnet support arms  124  extending arcuately from said magnet housing  122 . The space between the arms  124  is substantially open to enable a user to directly view the cutter blade and drive wheel area by looking between said magnet support arms  124 . With reference to FIG. 3, the front support member  22  has oppositely facing channels  126  that cooperate with forwardly projecting fingers  128  on the rear support member  24  to form sockets that confine cylindrical bosses  130  at the free ends of the magnet support arms  124  to permit the magnet housing  122  to be raised and lowered by pivotal movements about the axis extending centrally through the bosses  130 . The removable assembly  18  also supports a can guide pin  132  which may be press fit within a bore  134  in the front support member  22 . 
     The motor housing  12  and many other parts of the can opener  10  may be made from suitable plastic materials. The front and rear support members  22  and  24  may be made from a glass-filled nylon material. The master member  86  and the control button  82  may be made from ABS. The connecting link  92  may be made from nylon. 
     Although the presently preferred embodiments of this invention have been described, it will be understood that within the purview of the invention various changes may be made within the scope of the following claims.