Patent Publication Number: US-2005133649-A1

Title: Cover for food processing appliance with enlarged ingress area

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to food processing appliances. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cover for food processing appliances.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Appliances for performing preparing/processing food are well known. A food processing appliance, for example, is commonly used to prepare food by mixing, grinding, chopping, slicing, grating, shredding, or by a variety of other processing operations. Typically, these appliances include a container that cooperates with a variety of different food processing tools via an operating and/or control base to perform a corresponding variety of different food processing operations required by an operator of the appliance.  
      A removable cover is typically used to cover or seal the container during operation of the appliance. These covers frequently have an opening for introducing foodstuff to be processed through the cover into the container. An accessory is often used to push foodstuff to be processed through the opening into engagement with a processing tool.  
      It is also known to provide these appliances with various safety features that operate to prevent the appliance from operating until the various components of the appliance are properly assembled and/or connected. Numerous safety features have been shown to perform in accordance with regulations set forth by various world-wide safety and testing organizations. For example, in the case of the opening for introducing foodstuff to be processed through the cover into the container, the opening often has a limited cross-sectional area. This has meant that a larger piece of foodstuff must be pre-cut into smaller pieces so that the foodstuff may be introduced through the cover into the container. Consequently, the flexibility of use associated with such appliances is somewhat inhibited. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a cover for a food processing appliance that maximizes an ingress area while still preserving safety and thereby provide greater flexibility in use.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      It is an object of the present invention to provide a cover for use with a food processing appliance that provides the food processing appliance with greater flexibility in use.  
      It is another object of the present invention to provide a cover for a food processing appliance that maximizes the foodstuff ingress area thereof.  
      It is still another object of the present invention to provide a cover for a food processing appliance that makes better use of the inherent physics exhibited by a rapidly spinning or rotating processing tool.  
      It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cover for a food processing appliance that improves foodstuff processing efficiency by taking advantage of the processing tool geometry at a periphery of the processing tool diameter.  
      It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a cover for a food processing appliance with an accessory that can be selectively positioned in relation to the ingress area to facilitate a variety of different operations.  
      It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a cover for a food processing appliance that increases the amount of foodstuff effectively processed at the processing tool periphery.  
      It is another object of the present invention to provide a cover assembly for a food processing appliance that includes a cover and accessory tool operatively connected to a safety system.  
      These and other objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved by a cover assembly for a food processing appliance having a cover that cooperates with a working bowl or container, which in turn cooperates with an operating and/or control base. The cover has a relatively enlarged ingress area and the operating base has a rotatable processing tool with a peripheral impact region. The cover assembly may also have an accessory for cooperating with the ingress area. The accessory and cover may be operatively connected to a safety system associated with the food processing appliance. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      Other and further objects, advantages and features of the present invention will be understood by reference to the following specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters denote like elements of structure.  
       FIG. 1  is a top plan view of a cover for a food processing appliance as known in the prior art.  
       FIG. 2  is an exploded side view of a food processing appliance having a cover assembly in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a side section view of the food processing appliance and cover assembly of  FIG. 2 ;  
       FIG. 4  is a top plan view of a cover in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and  
       FIG. 5  is a top plan view of a cover in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      Referring to the drawings and in particular to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a cover for a food processing appliance  1  as known in the art. As shown, a conventional cover  2 , in use, is secured to a container  3  so as to be directly above a processing tool  4  operatively connected to an operating base  5 . Although not shown, the food processing appliance may have a safety system associated therewith. For example, it is common to use a vertically movable rod (not shown) that is positioned in a channel (not shown) on a side of container  3 , and that is spring-biased toward an upper end of the channel. When container  3  is properly positioned and/or secured to safely cooperate with operating base  5 , the rod is aligned with an actuator (not shown) such that when cover  2  is properly positioned and/or secured to container  3 , the actuator is depressed against the force of the spring-bias to operate an interlock switch (not shown).  
      Referring to  FIG. 2 , an illustrative embodiment of a food processing appliance  10  is shown in association with an improved cover assembly generally represented by reference numeral  20 . The cover assembly  20  essentially has a cover  22  for cooperating with a container  24 , which in turn cooperates with a control and/or operational base  26 . Cover  22  has an ingress area  28 , and operating base  26  has a rotatable processing tool  30  with one or more peripheral impact regions  32 .  
      Cover assembly  20  may also have an accessory  34  for cooperating with ingress area  28 . For example, if cover  22  has an enlarged ingress area  28 , as is the case in the present invention, accessory  34  may be suitably sized to completely cover ingress area  28  and may operatively connect to a safety system (not shown) associated with cover  22  and/or appliance  10  so that appliance  10  cannot be operated unless accessory  34  is properly secured into position covering ingress area  28 . For example, in operation, accessory  34  may cooperate with an interlock activating rod (not shown) possibly positioned in cover  22 , such as in a channel (not shown) in the cover, to either directly or indirectly activate an interlock switch (not shown) and thereby enable appliance  10  to be operated.  
      It is noted that the safety system may also be provided with a disengaging assembly that cooperates with the cover and accessory to selectively deactivate or disengage the safety system so that the cover and the accessory can be simultaneously separated and removed from the food processing appliance  10  or adjusted relative to each other and/or the food processing appliance.  
      Referring now to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , cover  22  may preferably be separably connected to container  24  in any of a variety of ways. For example, cover  22  and container  24  may be threadably engaged and disengaged. Alternatively, as shown, cover  22  may be removably secured to container  24  by one or more connectors  36 . Cover  22  can have any of a variety of forms, shapes, sizes and/or configurations. For instance, in a preferred aspect of the present invention, cover  22  may have a first, lower side  23  preferably having a first cross-sectional area suitable for cooperating with container  24  and a second, upper side  25  with ingress area  28  having a second cross-sectional area therein. In one aspect of the present invention, the cross-sectional area of ingress area  28  of upper side  25  is substantially equal to about half the cross-sectional area of lower side  23  of cover  22 .  
      Container  24  is preferably of sufficient size and/or shape to accommodate a wide variety of different types of foodstuff or substances in a variety of shapes, sizes or forms. Container  24  can have a handle  38 . Container  24  preferably cooperates with base  26  so that processing tool  30 , which is preferably operatively connected to a drive motor  40  via a drive shaft  42 , may influence or impact any of a variety of different foodstuffs while such foodstuff is held in container  24 . Thus, processing tool  30  preferably cooperates with drive motor  40  through both container  24  and base  26 . It will be noted that the speed at which processing tool  30  is operated may preferably be controlled or manipulated by the safety system and/or a control panel  44  operatively connected to drive motor  40 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 4 , in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, processing tool  30  preferably has a center of rotation  46  and one or more impact regions  32 . For example, as shown, processing tool  30  may have a hub  48  with one or more blades  50  operatively connectable to drive motor  40  via drive shaft  42 . Each blade  50  may preferably have a proximal end  52  connected to hub  48  and/or proximate center of rotation  46 , and a distal end  54  spaced a predefined distance from hub  48  and/or center of rotation  46 . Each blade  50  may preferably have at least one impact point, area or region  32  at which such blade directly interacts with or impacts foodstuff to accomplish a desired processing effect (e.g., cut, chop, slice, dice, etc.).  
      In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the inherent physics exhibited by a rapidly spinning or rotating processing tool  30  preferably oriented perpendicular in relation to foodstuff to be processed may preferably be utilized. That is, the present invention preferably takes advantage of the relationship between linear velocity and a magnitude force that is tangential to a vector. This vector relationship may be represented as follows: 
 
V L =ωr 
 
 where V L  represents a linear velocity at a given point, ω represents an angular velocity of a processing blade, and r represents the radius of the processing blade impact point or the distance from the center of rotation  46  to a particular impact region  32 . It can be seen from this basic relationship that as the value of r increases, that is, as one moves outwardly, away from hub  48  and/or center of rotation  46 , there is a linear change in the velocity. It follows then, from the following relationship: 
 
F t =mV L   2 =mωr 
 
 where F t  represents a tangential impact force in pounds per linear foot (lbf), for example, and m represents the mass of a particular processing tool  30  (lbf), that certain processing operations (e.g., slicing) may be enhanced or improved by capitalizing on the impact force on foodstuff during processing, and preferably at the early stages of processing. That is, processing efficiency may be improved by taking advantage of the geometry of processing tool  30 , and more particularly, the geometry of processing tool  30  at an impact region near a periphery  56  of the processing tool diameter or at distal end  54  thereof, which, in operation, may closely proximate an inner diameter  58  of container  24 . 
 
      Referring still to  FIG. 4 , in a preferred aspect of the present invention, ingress area  28  may preferably be sized and/or shaped to overly one or more impact regions  32  without overlapping center of rotation  46 . For example, in one embodiment, ingress area  28  may have a substantially “D” shape as shown in  FIG. 4 . In another embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 5 , ingress area  28  may have an overall “C” shape. Irrespective of the particular shape of ingress area  28 , when cover  22  is operatively connected to container  24  and container  24  operatively connected to base  26 , ingress area  28  preferably overlies one or more impact regions  32 . More preferably, ingress area  28  overlies the impact region  32  at periphery  56  of processing tool  30 , or in the case of blades  50 , the outermost impact region  32  at each distal end  54  thereof.  
      Referring to  FIG. 3 , in addition to the foregoing, it is noted that accessory  34  can have any of a variety of different shapes, sizes and/or configurations suitable for complimenting and/or facilitating a variety of different preliminary processing operations. Accessory  34  may also be provided with an actuator (not shown) for either directly or indirectly satisfying the safety system, which in turn may actuate a control switch (not shown) operatively connected to control panel  44  and/or drive motor  40 .  
      Thus, food processing appliance  10 , in at least one aspect of the present invention, will preferably remain inoperative until accessory  34  properly engages ingress area  28  of cover  22  thereby preventing entry of a hand or an undesirable foreign object through the cover  22  and into the container  24 . Once accessory  34  is properly engaged with ingress area  28 , the safety system is preferably satisfied and the food processing appliance  10  may be operated. Ordinarily, when accessory  34  is removed and/or separated from ingress area  28 , the safety system is preferably disengaged or deactivated, and the food processing appliance  10  becomes inoperative once again.  
      The present invention having been thus described with particular reference to the preferred forms thereof, it will be obvious that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined herein. In addition, it is believed that the many advantages of this invention and the manner in which it fulfills the stated objectives will be understood by those skilled in the art.