Patent Publication Number: US-7210643-B2

Title: Multiple chamber condiment grinder

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/606,280, filed Jun. 25, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,926,214, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 10/345,054, filed Jan. 15, 2003, now abandoned, which is a continuation of 09/656,498, filed Sep. 7, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,672,524. These applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   This invention relates to hand-held condiment grinders that include multiple chambers and a grinding actuating mechanism that will selectively actuate a grinder mechanism for each chamber. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   Hand-held condiment grinders are known. These grinders usually have a single chamber for holding only one condiment at a time, such as, peppercorns, salt, seeds or the like. One grinder of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,697,749 and 4,573,244. Some grinders have more than one chamber to hold more than one condiment at the same time but these multiple chamber grinders require more complicated, separately actuated grinding mechanisms, each fully separate from the other so that two different grinding mechanisms and actuating mechanisms for those grinding mechanisms are required. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention is a multiple chamber condiment grinder, preferably having two separate chambers, but in which a common grinding actuating mechanism is used by being selectively positioned over each chamber. In one embodiment, the grinding actuating mechanism is rotatably mounted to be rotated selectively over one or the other of the separate chambers. In another embodiment, a cam is moved to be selectively positioned over one or the other of the separate chambers. Other variations of the selective actuation of the grinding mechanism may also be employed. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the grinder. 
       FIG. 2  is a bottom view with parts broken away for clarity. 
       FIG. 3  is a longitudinal section taken along the line  3 — 3  of  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 4  is a top view of the housing with the handles and internal parts removed for clarity. 
       FIG. 5  is a bottom view of the grinder. 
       FIG. 6  is a longitudinal section taken along the line  6 — 6  of  FIG. 5 . 
       FIG. 7A  is a front view of the rasp  18  forming part of the grinder.  FIG. 7B  is a side elevation thereof.  FIG. 7C  is a top view of the rasp.  FIG. 7D  is an exploded view of a return spring for actuation of the rasp. 
       FIG. 8A  is a front view of the rasp  16  forming part of the invention.  FIG. 8B  is a side elevation thereof.  FIG. 8C  is a top view of the rasp. 
       FIG. 9A  is a front view of a rasp retaining sleeve forming part of the invention.  FIG. 9B  is an exploded side elevation thereof.  FIG. 9C  is an exploded top view thereof. 
       FIG. 10  is a fragmentary view of another embodiment of the invention. 
       FIG. 11  is a fragmentary detail of the embodiment of  FIG. 10 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   As best shown in  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  6 , the grinder includes a housing  10  formed from two joined halves  10   a  and  10   b  and having at least two chambers  12 ,  14 . For the purpose of this invention it will be understood that two chambers will be used, however, more than two chambers are also possible. A first chamber  12  ( FIG. 6 ) may hold one condiment, such as, salt. A second chamber  14  may hold a second condiment, such as, peppercorns. Each chamber has a lower wall  13  and an upper wall  15 . A first rasp  16  is positioned in the first chamber  12  and a second rasp  18  is positioned in the second chamber  14 . Each rasp  16 ,  18  has teeth or spaced grinding edges  20  ( FIGS. 7A and 8A ) that are spaced from a shear block  23  and  23   a  mounted in the bottom wall of chambers  12  and  14 , respectively. 
   Each of the shear blocks  23 ,  23   a  has a ramp  22  and a shearing edge  24 , although other forms of a shearing surface are also contemplated. The shearing blocks can both be adjustably spaced from the teeth  20  of the rasp to control the size of the ground particles. The space between each of the rasps  16 ,  18  and the associated shearing edge  24  defines a discharge gap  29  for discharging ground condiment. In the alternative, the shearing blocks  23 ,  23   a  for each chamber  12 ,  14  can be fixed to not adjust the size of the ground condiment. In the embodiment shown in the drawing, particularly  FIGS. 5 and 6 , one of the shear blocks  23   a  is made adjustable by an eccentric pin  26  that can be rotated by a knob  28 . Rotation of the knob  28  will cause the shear block  23   a  to move toward or away from the rasp  18  to change the width of gap  29  between the block  23   a  and the rasp  18  and thus control the size of the ground condiment. This is particularly desirable for peppercorns as users often have different preferences for the size of the ground pepper. 
   The rasps  16  and  18  extend up through the top wall  15  of the chambers  12 ,  14  and are spaced from one another, as shown in  FIG. 6 . One rasp  18  has a fork with arms  19  ( FIGS. 7B and 7C ) forming a space therebetween and extending out toward the other rasp  16 . The other rasp  16  has a tongue  21  ( FIGS. 8A and 8C ) extending out therefrom and positioned in the space between the arms  19  of the fork. Both the arms  19  and the tongue  21  lie over a spring chamber. As best seen in  FIGS. 6 and 7D , a spring  36  is positioned on a pin  38  having a flat enlarged cap  40 . The bottom of the spring rests on a boss  39 . As can be readily seen, if rasp  18  with the fork is moved downwardly, the spring  36  can be depressed without effecting the rasp  16  with the tongue  21  and vice versa. Thus, the rasps  16 ,  18  can be selectively actuated to grind the condiment in one chamber  12 ,  14  or the other. 
   The tops of the rasps  16 ,  18  extend up through the top wall  15  of the chambers  12 ,  14  and are engageable by a cam  50 . The cam  50  may be formed on the end of an arm  48  formed on a movable handle  46 . In this embodiment a second handle  47  is provided. The handles have a circular flange  60  ( FIG. 3 ) that rides in a circular groove  62  formed in a collar  63  attached to the top walls of the chambers. In a preferred embodiment, the collar  63  is made of Delrin®, a hard and low friction form of plastic, or other plastic or metal. In the illustrated embodiment, the handles are rotated 180 degrees to selectively position the cam  48  over either the rasp  16  or the rasp  18 . Thus, if the cam  50  is positioned over the rasp  16 , for example, movement of the movable handle  46  toward the opposite handle  47  will move the cam  50  downwardly, thus pushing the rasp  16  only downwardly to grind the condiment in that chamber  12 . The rasp  18  of the other chamber  14  will not be moved. By rotating the handles  46 ,  47  in the circular groove  62  to the opposite position, the cam  50  will actuate only the rasp  18 . 
   In a preferred embodiment, detents  66  ( FIG. 4 ), spaced 180 degrees from each other, are formed on the top flange  67  of the collar  63 . Mating indents  68  are formed 180 degrees apart in a groove  69  in the handles. As the handles are turned about the longitudinal axis of the housing, their indents move from one detent position, engaging detents  66 , to the other detent position, again engaging detents  66 , after 180 degrees of rotation. The indents  68  and mating detents  66  releasably hold the handles in one of their two operating positions while the grinder is being used. 
   As best seen in  FIGS. 1 ,  3  and  6 , a transparent window  110  is provided in a bottom region of handle  47 . As best seen in  FIGS. 3 and 6 , collar  63  is provided with a protrusion  111  extending upward from an upper region of collar  63 . In a preferred embodiment, the name  112  of a first condiment is provided on one side of the protrusion, and the name of a second condiment (not shown) is provided on the opposite side of the protrusion, such that the two names are circumferentially spaced on the protrusion by 180 degrees. The protrusion  111  is aligned with the window  110  of the handle, such that the name of the condiment is visible through the window  110 , and corresponds to the condiment that will be ground given the position of the handle. When the handles are rotated 180 degrees to the alternative operating position, the window  112  is then aligned with the name of the second condiment, corresponding to the condiment in the second chamber. In this manner, a user may simply look at the window  110  to determine the position of the handle and hence which condiment will be ground when the handle  46  is actuated. It will be understood that the names of any two condiments may be provided on the protrusion  111  of collar  63 , although in a preferred embodiment, the collar  63  is marked with the words “salt” and “pepper.” If desired, a second window (not shown) may be provided on the handle  47  opposite window  110  to continuously display a desired element, for example, a company logo. 
   Each rasp is guided in the housing by flanges  90  and  91  ( FIG. 3 ). The tops of the rasps are guided by a rectangular sleeve  99  ( FIG. 6 ), and shown in exploded view in  FIGS. 9A–9C . The sleeve is formed of two parts  102  having guide walls  103  for slidably retaining the rasps when the sleeve is attached within the housing. Alternatively, the sleeve  99  may be formed as an integral piece. Receptacles  105  in the housings for pins  104  position the sleeve in fixed position in the housing  10 . 
   In another embodiment, as shown in  FIGS. 10 and 11 , a cam  70  is attached to a square pin  72  that rides in a slot  74  of a movable handle  76 . An adjustment rod  78  passes into the handle and is attached to the pin  72 . The pin  72  is conventional of two pieces with a spring pushing them apart in a conventional manner as a detent. The ends of the pin  72  are rounded to fit into two detents or dimple positions  77  at opposite ends of the slot  74  to selectively provide for positioning the cam over one or the other of the rasps  16  or  18 . Thus, the rod  78  can be moved in one direction to position the cam  70  over the rasp in one of the chambers. In the alternative, the rod can be moved in the opposite direction to position the cam over the other rasp in the other chamber. In the same manner as described above, when one of the rasps is moved downwardly by the movement of the moveable handle, the other rasp is unaffected. 
   As shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,749, the details of the disclosure of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto, each chamber will be provided with an access door  80  for filling the condiment in that chamber. Also the two halves are aligned by pins on one half with mating holes in the other half and then fused together by sonic welding or any other well known method. 
   More than one embodiment of the invention is shown and described it being understood that other equivalent embodiments not shown will be apparent to one skilled in the art. Thus, the invention is not to be limited to the embodiments shown in the drawings.