Patent Publication Number: US-4546545-A

Title: Pineapple cutter

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a pineapple cutter which punches the peel of a pineapple and its interior so as to separate easily after cutting upper and lower end portions of said pineapple respectively. 
     Heretofore, as a pineapple cutter, a large shape of cutter for business use which is used in a processing work, a selling shop and the like, has been chiefly manufactured and such one is heavy in weight and inconvenient in treatment for the use of a general household. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention is performed, in view of said conditions described above to provide a handy type pineapple cutter which can be used easily even in a general household. Particularly, it is to provide a pineapple cutter which enables to take out easily the interior after cutting. 
     In other words, the pineapple cutter according to this invention consists of a cylindrical body having cutter edges at the lower circumference end portion thereof, a pair of handles continuously connected to the outer surface of said cylindrical body, a pressing sheet secured to the inner portions of said cylinder slidably toward an upper and lower direction, and a pressing member attached to the upper portion of the cylinder being connected with said pressed sheet. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a partially sectional view which shows an embodiment of this invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, and 
     FIG. 3 to FIG. 5 are perspective views which represent the order of the treatment. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The preferred embodiment of the present invention will be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a cylinder 1 arranged at the central portion is a cylindrical body into which the interior of a pineapple is inserted at the time of cutting, the upper end portion of said cylindrical body being supported with an orbicular lid 2 and the edge circumference of the lower end portion thereof being provided with a cutter edge 1a. A diameter and a length of said cylindrical body 1 are designed to a standard diameter and a standard length fit for a pineapple having a standard size respectively. However, said diameter and said length may be changed properly without being defined thereto. At the central portion of said cylinder 1, a small cylinder 3 having a small diameter by which the core of pineapple is taken out, is secured being supported by said lid 2. Around the edge portion of the lower end, there is provided with edge 3a for taking out the core, whereby the core, an uneatable portion of the pineapple, is separated from its interior portion at the same time of pineapple cutting. 
     On the outer surface of said cylindrical body 1, a pair of supporting sheets (4, 4) having an approximately U-type in plane are secured, and each upper portion of said supporting sheets (4, 4) are secured and on the upper portion of each supporting sheet 4, a pair of handles (5, 5) are transversely secured with bolts (6, 6) respectively. Therefore, when handles (5, 5) are pressed downward with hands respectively, said cutter edge 1a and a core removing edge 3a encroach into the pineapple to cut it. 
     Further, at the inner portion of said cylindrical body 1, a pressing sheet is slidably carried in the inner cylinder wall in the vertical direction. In the illustrated example, said pressing sheet comprises an annular pressing sheet 7a having a large diameter like a circular doughnut and a pressing sheet 7b having a small diameter secured inside the core removing cylinder 3. Connecting rods 8,8 . . . are mounted on the upper surface of each of pressing sheets 7a and 7b, on the upper portion of said connecting rods 8,8 . . . , a pressing member 9 being connected thereon. The pressing member 9 consists of a bended sheet body like a U-type at the side thereof, bended pieces, 9a and 9a, from the ceiling portion 9c of said pressing member 9 being positioned at the outside of said cylindrical body 1. Pressing pieces, 9b and 9b, are formed by bending the lower edges of the bending pieces, 9a and 9a, toward the outside directions of the cylindrical body 1 respectively. After the cut of the pineapple, said pressing sheets, 7a and 7b, are allowed to slide downward by pressing the pressing pieces, 9b and 9b, or the ceiling portion 9c by way of the connecting rods 8,8 . . . , thereby being able to take out the interior part and the core of the pineapple inserted into the cylindrical body 1 or the core removing cylinder 3 from the lower portion thereof. 
     In FIG. 1, the numerals, 10, 10 . . . , are peeling edges mounted on the lower surface of said supporting sheets, 4, 4 . . . , respectively, thereby being able to cut the pineapple peel into 4 parts. 
     In order to cut the pineapple according to the example described above, after cutting down the upper and the lower ends of the pineapple in transverse directions with a knife previously, the cylindrical body 1 is adapted to press into the pineapple from the upper surface of the pineapple A grasping said handles, 5 and 5, with both hands as shown in FIG. 3, whereby together with separation and falling off of the exterior of the pineapple due to the cutting of the peel into 4 parts, the interior to be eatable is inserted into the cylindrical body 1. Further, when the interior is inserted therein, said pressing sheets, 7a and 7b carried in the inside the cylindrical body 1 slides towards the upper direction and the pushing member 9, connected with the upper portions of the pressing sheets, 7a and 7b, also slides towards the upper direction and moves within cylindrical body 1 to an upper portion thereof. Accordingly, when the pressing pieces, 9b and 9b, of the pushing member 9 is pressed toward the lower direction with fingers grasping the handles, 5 and 5, with hands as shown in FIG. 5, in this state, the pressing sheets, 7a and 7b, slide toward the lower direction, and the interior is separated from the core, thereby being able to remove the core. After that, it is possible to eat the interior if only said doughnut-like interior is sliced at an appropriate thickness. 
     Accordingly, according to this invention, the pineapple cutting is possible with very simple operation and ease. In addition, since the construction is simple, light and small in size, it is possible to use it not only in the houshold, but also working factories and selling shops, and is widely usable for various porposes. Furthermore, for taking out the interior after the cut, it is only to slide the pressing sheet toward the lower direction. Therefore, it is very simple and hygienic. 
     Although, the pushing member in the above example is formed to be a U-type at the side thereof, it is not defined to this shape and may be a disk or a rectangular shape. Further, it may be not provided with the pressing sheets. Also, the core removing cylinder inside the cylindrical body may be removed when the presence of the core is no problem in the pineapple working. In this case, the pineapple is cut in a cylindrical shape and both the core removing edges and the pressing sheets having small diameter can be removed, whereby the construction becomes simple. Further, the cylindrical body may be a hexagon or an octagon column or the like to change the shape of the pineapple. In this invention, the peel removing edges which divides the peel into 4 sections may be remove because the removal of the interior, in this invention, is very easy. In this case, the pineapple cutting is easy and the removal of the interior of the pineapple is also easy. 
     As described above in details, it is possible to provide a pineapple cutter which is simple in construction, easy in cutting operation and possible to remove the interior of the pineapple.