Source: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8146490.html
Timestamp: 2020-04-06 15:08:50
Document Index: 759843730

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 114', 'art 114', 'art 114', 'art 114', 'art 114', 'art 114', 'art 210']

Juice extractor with adapted pusher - Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
United States Patent 8146490
A juice extractor (100), in particular for fruit and vegetable, comprising a rotatable grating disk (106), a filter sieve (108) surrounding the grating disk (106), a feed tube (114a, 114b) arranged above the grating disk (106), and a food pusher (116) insertable into the feed tube (114a, 114b) to press food, in particular fruit and vegetable, onto the grating disk (106), wherein the food pusher (116) is hollow with an opening on its side and the feed tube (114a, 114b) has an corresponding opening, such that pulp generated during grating food may enter the food pusher (116). Separate containers for collecting pulp become thus obsolete. This allows for a more compact design of juice extractors (100).
Murbacher, Werner (Velden, AT)
12/514453
99/511, 99/513, 241/92, 241/273.2, 241/273.3, 241/282.2
A23N1/00; B02C4/06; B02C15/00; B02C17/02; B02C19/20
99/510, 99/511, 99/513, 241/37.5, 241/92, 241/83, 241/84, 241/273, 241/273.1, 241/273.2, 241/273.3, 241/282.1, 241/282.2
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6813997 Fruit and vegetable processor 2004-11-09 Lin 99/511
6543340 Food processing appliance 2003-04-08 Fouquet 99/511
4572445 Household appliance for treating fruit and vegetables 1986-02-25 Cristante
4544103 Enlarged food pusher with clean-out windows in a feedtube protector 1985-10-01 Breeden 241/37.5
4117980 Implement, in particular a household implement, for chopping cuttable material, in particular meat, onions or the like 1978-10-03 Hartmann 241/37.5
WO2005099531A1 2005-10-27 JUICER FEED TUBE
1. A juice extractor comprising a rotatable grating disk, a filter sieve surrounding the grating disk, a feed tube arranged above the grating disk, and a food pusher insertable into the feed tube to press food onto the grating disk; the food pusher being hollow and having a first opening in a side thereof; the feed tube having a second opening in communication with the first opening for enabling pulp produced during the grating of food to enter the food pusher and having a scraper element, said feed tube being arranged to be rotated between a first position for introducing food and grating it and a second position where the scraper element is urged against an inner side of the filter sieve for scraping pulp for entry into the food pusher.
6. A juice extractor comprising a rotatable grating disk, a filter sieve surrounding the grating disk, a feed tube arranged above the grating disk, and a food pusher insertable into the feed tube to press food onto the grating disk; said food pusher being hollow and having an opening in a side thereof; said juice extractor further including a slidable sleeve encompassing the food pusher and being slidable between a first position closing the opening and a second position leaving the opening in the side of the food pusher open.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the juice extractor further comprises a cover element covering the filter sieve and the part of the feed tube with the opening, the cover element having a deflecting element to deflect pulp during grating through the openings into the food pusher. In other preferred embodiments, the feed tube has a deflecting element to deflect pulp during grating through the openings into the food pusher. The one or more deflecting elements have a function comparable to a wall for a ball. The pulp sputtered around by centrifugal forces splashes against the deflecting element and “rebounds” from the deflecting element into another direction. The deflecting element is oriented to deviate the pulp in direction of the side openings of the feed tube and the food pusher.
FIGS. 3a,b show the juice extractor of FIGS. 1a,b in a partially cut view in a cleaning position with and without food pusher;
FIGS. 4a,b show the juice extractor of FIGS. 1a,b in a partially cut view in a juicing position with and without food pusher; and
The present invention will be explained more in detail with respect to two different juicers. A first juicer 100 is shown in an exploded view in FIG. 1a. The juicer 100 comprises a housing 102 that contains a motor (not shown) for rotatably driving the grating disk 106. The housing 102 has furthermore the function to receive the juice of fruits or vegetables that have been grated by the grating disk 106 and centrifuged and filtered by the filter sieve 108. The fresh juice is than poured into e.g. a drinking glass through the spout 104. The housing 102 comprises a switch for switching the juicer 100 on or off and change the velocity of the grating disk 106.
In FIG. 1b, the assembly of the cover 112 and the feed tube 114 is shown more in detail. The feed tube consists of two main parts, an upper part 114a protruding to the exterior of the juicer and a lower part 114b protruding to the interior of the juicer. The lower part 114b contains the opening 124 through which pulp can enter inside the food pusher. Adjacent to the opening 124 are the deflecting element 120 and the scraper element 122. The deflecting element 120 works similarly to a reflector for the pulp accelerated against it during juice extraction and deviates the pulp in direction of the opening 124. During juice extraction, the scraper element 122 assists the deflecting element 120 in deviation pulp in direction of the opening 124. During cleaning, the scraper element 122 is run along the inner side of the filter sieve to scrape off pulp that has accumulated there and clogs the filter sieve.
The means for rotating the feed tube into the cleaning or the juice extracting position are provided on the upper part 114a of the feed tube. A peripheral protrusion 130 cooperates with the abutment 144, the abutment 144 being part of the cover 112, to define a maximum angle of rotation. In the present example, the feed tube 114a,b may be rotated by approximately 80° around its middle axis to be either in the cleaning position or in the juicing position (see also FIGS. 3a,b, 4a,b). The default position is the juicing position. To provide an automatic switch back into the default position from the cleaning position, the upper part 114a of the feed tube and the cover 112 are coupled with each other by a spring 126. One end of the spring 126 is fixed on the upper part 114a of the feed tube in the protruding groove 132, the other end of the spring 126 is fixed to the cover 112 (see also FIGS. 3a,b, 4a,b). The spring 126 is oriented in such a way that the rotation of the feed tube 114a,b is in the direction against the spring force. As soon as the user releases the feed tube 114a,b, the spring force moves it back into the juicing position.
The food pusher 116 is shown more in detail in FIGS. 2a-d. FIGS. 2a,b show the food pusher 116 during assembly form different perspectives, FIGS. 2c,d show the assembled food pusher 116 from different perspectives.
The food pusher 116 has an opening 134 on its side to collect pulp inside the food pusher 116. To avoid spilling the pulp contained inside the food pusher 116 when taking it out of the juicer, e.g. for emptying it, the food pusher is surrounded by a sleeve 136. The sleeve 136 can be arranged in two different positions. The first and default positions is the one shown in FIGS. 2c,d, where the sleeve 136 covers the opening 134 of the food pusher 116. In the other position, the sleeve 136 is moved to the other end of the food pusher 116, thus freeing the opening 134. By providing the spring 118 around the food pusher 116, the sleeve 136 has to be moved against the spring force from the first into the second position, and as soon as the user releases the sleeve 136, it moves back into the first position due to the force of spring 118. The sleeve 136 is preferably made from metal to make it very thin. The food pusher 116 as well as the feed tube 114 is preferably made from plastic material that is easily cleaned and low cost.
Both, the sleeve 136 and the food pusher 116 have a longitudinal groove 138, 140 that cooperates with the longitudinal protrusion 128 of the feed tube 114a,b shown in FIG. 1b. During juicing, when fruits or vegetables are pressed against the grating disk with the bottom 142 of the food pusher 116, and during cleaning it is thus always ensured that the opening 134 of the food pusher 116 and the opening 124 of the feed tube 114a,b (see FIG. 1b) stay aligned for optimal collecting of pulp.
FIGS. 3a,b show the juicer 100 in the cleaning position without food pusher (FIG. 3a) and with food pusher 116 (FIG. 3b). To change the position of the feed tube 114a,b from the juicing position into the cleaning position, it has to be turned in direction of the arrows and to be held there. Otherwise, the spring 126 would force the food tube 114a,b back into the juicing position. Thanks to the stopping elements longitudinal protrusion 128 in the feed tube 114a,b and corresponding groove in the food pusher 116, the feed tube 114a,b and the food pusher 116 do not get askew to each other during the change of position from juicing position and cleaning position, and the openings of the feed tube 114a,b and of the food pusher 116 stay aligned.
After cleaning of the filter sieve and release of the feed tube 116 by the user, the feed tube 116 returns along the direction of the arrows into the juicing position as is shown in FIGS. 4a,b, with inserted food pusher 116 in FIG. 4b and without food pusher in FIG. 4a. In the juicing position, the filter sieve 108 can be utilized on its whole circumference for filtering. The scraper element 122 assists the deflecting element 120 in deviating the pulp in direction of the openings of the feed tube 114a,b and the food pusher 116. The deflecting effect can be optimized for the respective juicer by adapting in particular the curvature and the angle of the deflecting element 120 with respect to the opening of the feed tube 114a,b.
In the cleaning position (see FIGS. 3a,b), the scraper element abuts with the inner side of the filter sieve 108. As the grating disk 106 together with the filter sieve 108 continues to rotate, the scraper element 122 removes the pulp along the whole inner circumference of the filter sieve 108. The removed pulp is partly deflected immediately in direction of the openings of the feed tube 114a,b and the food pusher 116 and is collected inside the food pusher (see FIG. 3b). Partly it falls down on to the grating disk 106 and is grated and centrifuged once more. This considerably improves the efficiency of extracting juice from the provided fruits or vegetables. If the user moves the feed tube 114a,b into the cleaning position while having removed the food pusher 116, all the pulp will be grated and centrifuged again (see FIG. 3a).
In juicers like shown in the present example with a cylindrical filter sieve 108, the juicing efficiency is inherently high, because the residence time of the pulp in the receptacle formed by the grating disk 106 and the filter sieve 108 is high. A drawback is, that the pulp accumulates on the inner side of the filter sieve and clogs the filter sieve. The filter sieve 108 of the juicer 100 shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 must be cleaned form pulp on the average after two to three refills with e.g. apples or carrots. The user does not need to interrupt the juice making to disassemble the juicer 100 for cleaning the filter sieve 108 as with former juicers. The users just needs to rotate the feed tube 114a,b for some seconds into the cleaning position to free the inner side of the filter sieve 108 from clogging pulp. This can be done with the food pusher 116 still inside the feed tube 114a,b to collect pulp and dispose of it, when removing the food pusher 116 to add more fruits or vegetables into the juicer 100. Thanks to the slidable sleeve around the food pusher 116 mentioned before, no pulp will be spilled during removal of the food pusher 116. This can also be done with the food pusher 116 already removed and e.g. while filling new fruits and vegetables into the feed tube 114a,b.
FIGS. 5a,b show a further example of a juicer 200 with pulp collecting pusher. The juicer 200 has not a cylindrical, but a frusto-conical filter sieve 208. Frusto-conical filter sieves have the advantage that they do not clog as fast as cylindrical filter sieves, but the juice extraction efficiency is less high because of shorter residence times of the pulp.
The juicer 200 comprises a motor block 202 for driving the grating disk 230 and the filter sieve 208 connected to the grating disk 230. The juice filtered through the filter sieve 208 is collected in the receptacle 204 and poured into a glass or a bottle or else through the spout 206. On the filter sieve 208 and the grating disk that are inserted in the receptacle 204 is place an assembly of a cover 222 with a feed tube 210 that is shown more in detail in FIG. 5a. The feed tube 210 as well as the food pusher 212 has openings 214, 216 for collecting the pulp inside the food pusher 212. In the present example, several openings are provided to collect pulp coming from all sides. During centrifuging, the filter sieve 208 hurls the pulp upwards. The pulp then falls on the peripheral deflecting element 218 of the lower part 210b of the feed tube, from where it slides into the food pusher 212. The pulp can also first be thrown against the inner side of the cover 222 or against the scraper elements 220, from where the pulp falls into the food pusher 212 or first onto the deflecting element 218.
114a,b feed tube
210a,b feed tube
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