Patent Description:
A first representative embodiment of the disclosure is provided. The embodiment includes a rotating blade slicer comprising a housing that rotatably supports a knife that is configured to rotate in operation of the slicer and a carriage assembly that is slidably movable along the housing between a first position where the carriage assembly is forward of the knife and a second position where the carriage assembly is disposed over the knife;a gauge plate that is adjustably mounted to the housing, a position of the gauge plate adjustable between a position where the gauge plate is aligned with a plane through the knife and a plurality of positions where the gauge plate is positioned parallel to the plane through the knife with a distance between a second plane through the gauge plate and the plane through the knife; the carriage assembly movably supports a weighted plate that is slidably mounted upon the carriage assembly and is configured to be disposed upon an upper surface of a food product intended to be sliced by the knife; the weighted plate is supported by an arm that is slidably mounted to the carriage assembly, wherein the weighted plate is removably attached to the arm such that the weighted plate can be removed from and connected to the arm without any external tools; a handle that is rotatably connected to the weighted plate, wherein the handle supports a shaft, the shaft includes a distal end portion that extends out of the handle and a proximal end portion that is disposed within the handle, wherein the distal end portion includes a slot with a first slot portion that extends from a distal end face substantially along a longitudinal axis of the shaft, and a second slot portion that extends at an angle with respect to the first slot portion, wherein the first and second slot portions are connected. The embodiments described herein address this need/ problem of providing a weighted plate that can readily be mounted, securely operated, and readily removed (e.g., for storage or cleaning) without use of external tools and providing structure that can readily be cleaned in keeping with food safety standards.

Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the invention will be, or will become, apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be within the scope of the invention, if encompassed by the following claims.

Turning now to <FIG> a product slicer <NUM> is provided. The slicer <NUM> has a housing <NUM> that acts as external shell of the product slicer and supports and/or encloses the various commonly known mechanical components of a reciprocating slicer (either automatic or manual) as well as enclosing various electrical components, such as a motor, controller and other components known to be used in conventional manual or automatic slicers <NUM>.

In addition to the housing <NUM>, the product slicer <NUM> has a circular knife <NUM> mounted to the housing <NUM> which rotates about a knife axis located in the center of the knife <NUM>. Additionally, the knife <NUM> has a knife cutting edge <NUM> that is located around the knife's perimeter which defines a knife cutting plane. The knife <NUM> may be covered by a knife cover <NUM>, during use in order to prevent injury to the end user.

The product slicer <NUM> has a carriage assembly <NUM> is configured for reciprocating motion with respect to the knife cutting edge <NUM> and is slidably attached by a carriage assembly arm <NUM> to the housing <NUM>. The carriage assembly <NUM> may include a carriage assembly handle <NUM> which provides a hold point for the end user, as seen in <FIG>. During use, the carriage assembly <NUM> supports the product being sliced while reciprocating motion is provided manually by a user, or automatically by, for example, an electric motor, pneumatic motion system, or electromagnetic motion system.

The variability of the thickness of the sliced product is obtained through the use of an adjustable gauge plate <NUM> and the relative position of the gauge plate <NUM> with respect to a plane through the cutting knife <NUM> may be controlled by a depth adjustment mechanism <NUM>. The gauge plate <NUM> may be adjusted between a position where the gauge plate <NUM> is aligned along a plane through the knife <NUM> to a position where the gauge plate <NUM> is disposed parallel to, but behind, the knife <NUM>, where such adjustment may be done by rotating the knob <NUM>. As is well known in the art, during use, an object to be sliced, normally reciprocatingly sliced, is disposed upon the carriage assembly <NUM> such that the object contacts and slides along the gauge plate <NUM> toward and away from the knife <NUM> as the carriage assembly <NUM> is moved toward and away from the knife <NUM>, with the thickness of the cut of the object established by the parallel distance between the gauge plate <NUM> and the knife <NUM>. In some embodiments the carriage assembly may receive various types of foods to be sliced into multiple relatively thin slices, such as deli meat, cheese, fish, potatoes, vegetables, and the like.

The carriage assembly may further support a weighted plate (i.e. an end weight) <NUM> that is configured to contact a top surface of an object (as discussed above, normally a food product) that rests upon the carrier <NUM>. The weighted plate <NUM> is provided to dispose a compressive force upon the food product, which maintains the food product stationary as the food product is reciprocatingly brought into contact with and engages the cutting edge <NUM> of the knife <NUM>. In some embodiments, the weighted plate <NUM> may include a plurality of engagement features <NUM> which are disposed to increase the force applied to the food product in contact therewith, to further minimize any potential motion of the food product as it engages the rotating knife edge <NUM>. In some embodiments, the features <NUM> may be protuberances, or spikes, or a roughened surface, or other features that facilitate engagement with the food product, either by increasing the friction of the contact, providing increased localized forces (e.g. with small protuberances that contact the food product) or the like. The features <NUM> are disposed upon a first surface 60a of the weighted plate <NUM>, i.e. the surface that faces and contacts the food product. A generally horizontal platform <NUM> may be provided to receive sliced materials from the carrier during operation.

The weighted plate <NUM> may be supported by an arm <NUM>, which in some embodiments connects the weighted plate to the carriage assembly <NUM> via a shaft <NUM> that is supported by the carriage assembly <NUM>. As understood with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>, the position of the arm <NUM> upon the shaft <NUM> controls the position of the weighted plate <NUM>. The arm <NUM> is free to slide along the shaft, which allows the weighted plate <NUM> to move downwardly along the carrier as the width of the food product decreases, due to sliced material being removed from the food product with continued slices via reciprocating operation of the slicer.

The arm <NUM> may include a first hole <NUM> that allows the shaft <NUM> to pass therethrough and a second hole <NUM> (<FIG>) that allows a second shaft <NUM> to pass through, as discussed below. The shaft <NUM> is rotatable with respect to the arm <NUM> and connects the arm <NUM> to the plate <NUM>.

The weighted plate <NUM> may be attached to and removed from the arm <NUM> by the user without the use of any external tools. <FIG> depicts a cross-sectional view of the components of the weighted plate, such that reference to <FIG> along with <FIG> will aid a reader in understanding the disclosed system.

The weighted plate <NUM> is fixed with respect to the arm <NUM> with the following components, which will be discussed in further detail below. Specifically, the shaft <NUM> extends from a handle <NUM>, which may include a flared/ larger-diameter portion <NUM>. The shaft <NUM> extends through the second hole <NUM> in the arm <NUM> and extends into a collar <NUM> that protrudes from the second surface 60b of the weighted plate <NUM>.

The collar <NUM> extends from the rear surface 60b of the weighted plate <NUM> and includes an aperture 64a that extends blindly therein. The collar <NUM> supports a pin <NUM> that extends within the aperture 64a in a direction that is substantially parallel to a plane <NUM> through the width of the weighted plate <NUM>, as depicted in <FIG> (the pin <NUM> is depicted extending into and out of the page of <FIG>). The term substantially parallel is specifically defined herein to mean exactly parallel as well as a range of angles from parallel plus or minus <NUM> degrees. In other embodiments, the pin <NUM> may extend at another angle with respect to the plane <NUM>, such as <NUM> or <NUM> degrees, as long as the pin <NUM> extends such that it can extend and engage within the slots <NUM>, <NUM> upon the distal end portion <NUM> of the shaft <NUM> as discussed herein.

In some embodiments, the collar <NUM> receives an insert <NUM> (<FIG>, <FIG>) that supports the pin within the collar <NUM>. The insert may include one or more flats <NUM> and the collar <NUM> may be formed with a corresponding number and size of flats (not shown, but readily understandable as similar and complementary to the flats upon the insert in the figures), such that the engagement of the corresponding/ complementary flats between the insert <NUM> and the collar <NUM> prevent relative motion therebetween. As shown in <FIG>, in some embodiments, the pin <NUM> may extend within a hollow cavity (72a) within the insert <NUM> (to interact with the distal end portion <NUM> of the shaft <NUM> as discussed below) and the pin <NUM> may further extend out of the insert <NUM>. In this embodiment, the extending portion 72b may be received within the collar <NUM>, such as the collar <NUM> over molded around the pin <NUM> to increase the strength of the connection between these two components. In other embodiments, the insert <NUM> is not provided and the collar <NUM> supports the pin <NUM> in the same manner as discussed herein. In embodiments, where the insert <NUM> is disposed within the collar <NUM>, the collar <NUM> supports the pin <NUM> by virtue of its engagement with the insert <NUM>.

The shaft is best shown in <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG>. The shaft <NUM> extends from a distal end portion 81a to a proximal end portion 81b. The proximal end portion 81b is received within a hole <NUM> in the handle <NUM> (shown schematically in <FIG> between the dashed lines within the handle <NUM>). As depicted in <FIG>, in some embodiments, the proximal end portion 81b of the shaft <NUM> may include a plurality of flats, 82z, which may be received with respect to corresponding flats (not shown but similar to flats 82z) of the shaft <NUM> to prevent relative motion between the handle <NUM> and the shaft <NUM>. In some embodiments, the shaft <NUM> and the handle <NUM> may be formed as a single component (rather than an assembled component of shaft <NUM> and handle <NUM>). In other embodiments, the shaft <NUM> and the weighted plate <NUM> may be formed as a single component, where the pin and slot assembly described herein with reference to collar <NUM> are instead disposed in the handle <NUM> such that those of skill in the art readily will understand that the ends of the shaft <NUM> are reversed relative to the drawings with the pin-slot engagement being with the handle <NUM> rather than the plate <NUM>. In such an alternative embodiment, the skilled artisan will readily understand the construction with reference to the drawing figures and descriptions provided herein, with the pin/slot engagement ends being reversed between the handle and the plate (e.g., the structure shown in <FIG> may be on the handle end or on the plate end of the shaft, with the structure shown in <FIG> being part of a receiving structure within the handle or being part of the plate structure). Having those structures associated with different components is readily comprehensible to those of skill in the art as informed by the present disclosure.

The shaft includes a distal end portion 81a that extends to a tip <NUM>, which is configured to be inserted into the collar <NUM> and insert <NUM> (when provided) to connect the weight block <NUM> to the handle <NUM> and ultimately to the carrier <NUM>. In embodiments where no insert <NUM> is provided, the tip <NUM> extends directly into the collar <NUM> and the collar <NUM> is sized to matingly receive the tip <NUM>.

The tip <NUM> includes a diameter that is just smaller than an inner diameter of the hole within the insert <NUM> (or collar <NUM> if an insert is not provided). The tip <NUM> may include a first slot <NUM> and a second slot <NUM>, which are connected together. The first slot <NUM> extends through the end face 82a of the tip <NUM> along a specific distance along the tip, and in some embodiments may extend parallel to a longitudinal axis <NUM> through the shaft <NUM> (<FIG>). The second slot <NUM> is connected to an end of the first slot (away from the end face 82a) and extends in a direction that is not parallel to the longitudinal axis <NUM>. In some embodiments, the second slot <NUM> may extend in a direction that is perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis <NUM> of the shaft <NUM>, while in other embodiments, the second slot <NUM> may extend at an oblique angle with respect to the longitudinal axis <NUM>, such as within a range of <NUM> to <NUM> degrees, inclusive of all angles within in this range, for example <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> degrees from the longitudinal axis <NUM>. In some embodiments, the second slot may extend between about <NUM> and about <NUM> degrees inclusive of all values within this range. In some embodiments, the second slot <NUM> may extend in a constant direction, while in other embodiments the second slot <NUM> may be curved along its length (i.e. have a different angle with the longitudinal axis <NUM> along its length).

The second slot <NUM> may have a first portion that intersects with an end portion of the first slot <NUM>, such that a pin <NUM> that travels along the first slot <NUM> and reaches the end of the first slot enters into the second slot <NUM>. The first and second slots <NUM>, <NUM> may both be just wider than a diameter of the pin <NUM> to constrain the motion of the pin <NUM> with respect to the distal end portion <NUM> of the shaft <NUM> (and therefore the collar <NUM> (or insert <NUM>) with respect to the shaft <NUM>). As can be best understood with reference to <FIG>, when assembling the weighted plate <NUM> onto the arm <NUM> (and shaft <NUM>) the weighted plate <NUM> is positioned such that the hole in the collar <NUM> and/or insert <NUM> is disposed in alignment with the tip <NUM> of the distal end portion 81b of the shaft <NUM>, such that axes of these two components are aligned. The weighted plate <NUM> is disposed in a rotational position where the pin <NUM> supported by the insert <NUM> is aligned with the opening into the first slot <NUM>. In some embodiments, the shaft <NUM> (or handle <NUM>) and the collar <NUM> or weighted plate <NUM> may have alignment markings to assist the user at positioning the two components into a position where they are in alignment.

Once the weighted plate <NUM> is aligned with the shaft <NUM>, the tip <NUM> is pushed into the insert <NUM> such that the pin <NUM> extends selectably into, up to through, the first slot <NUM>. With sufficient motion, the pin <NUM> reaches the end of the first slot <NUM> and therefore the tip <NUM> cannot be pushed further into the insert <NUM> (at least with only motion in the direction of the longitudinal axis <NUM>). In some embodiments, the shaft <NUM> includes a disk <NUM>, which contacts a bottom end of the collar <NUM> when the pin reaches the end of the first slot <NUM> as depicted in <FIG>. After the pin <NUM> reaches the end of the first slot <NUM> (felt by the user by the disk <NUM> contacting the collar <NUM> or when not provided due the resistance to further movement by the pin <NUM> engaging against the bottom end wall of the first slot <NUM>) the weighted plate <NUM> may be rotated in a first direction X (clockwise from top view perspective in <FIG>) to allow the pin <NUM> to travel along the second slot <NUM>. The second slot extends around an outer portion of an outer circumference of the tip <NUM> of the shaft <NUM>. The weighted plate <NUM> may be continued to rotate in the first direction X until it reaches the end of the second slot. This establishes a connection between the weighted plate <NUM> and the shaft <NUM>, handle <NUM>, and arm <NUM>.

In some embodiments, the second slot <NUM> may have an arc length such that the pin can travel through the second slot <NUM> with about <NUM> degrees of rotation, while in other embodiments, the second slot <NUM> may allow for about <NUM> degrees of rotation, while in still other embodiments, second slot <NUM> may have an arc length between these two values, inclusive of all values therewithin. The term "about" is specifically defined herein to include the reference value as well as plus or minus <NUM> degrees from the reference value.

In some embodiments, the shaft <NUM> may be positioned such that the pin <NUM> when at the end of the extended end of the second slot <NUM> (i.e. the end opposite the end that meets the first slot <NUM>) the weight of the weighted plate <NUM> due to gravity urges the pin <NUM> into the extended end of the second slot <NUM>, which tends to maintain the weighted plate <NUM> in the desired orientation (i.e. the orientation with the pin <NUM> at the extended end). When the user desires to remove the weighted plate <NUM> from the shaft <NUM> and arm <NUM>, the user rotates the weighted plate <NUM> in the direction Y (opposite from the direction X) which moves the pin <NUM> through the second slot <NUM> and toward the first slot <NUM>, while applying some outward force. When the pin <NUM> reaches the first slot <NUM>, the outward force will move the pin <NUM> through the first slot <NUM> until it is released, which allows the tip <NUM> of the shaft <NUM> to be withdrawn from the collar <NUM>.

Claim 1:
A rotating blade slicer (<NUM>), comprising:
a housing (<NUM>) that rotatably supports a knife (<NUM>) that is configured to rotate in operation of the slicer;
a carriage assembly (<NUM>) that is slidably movable along the housing between a first position where the carriage assembly is forward of the knife and a second position where the carriage assembly is disposed over the knife;
a gauge plate (<NUM>) that is adjustably mounted to the housing, a position of the gauge plate adjustable between a position where the gauge plate is aligned with a plane through the knife and a plurality of positions where the gauge plate is positioned parallel to the plane through the knife with a distance between a second plane through the gauge plate and the plane through the knife;
the carriage assembly movably supports a weighted plate (<NUM>) that is slidably mounted upon the carriage assembly and is configured to be disposed upon an upper surface of a food product intended to be sliced by the knife;
the weighted plate supported by an arm (<NUM>) that is slidably mounted to the carriage assembly, wherein the weighted plate is removably attached to the arm such that the weighted plate can be removed from and connected to the arm without any external tools;
a handle (<NUM>) that is rotatably connected to the weighted plate, characterized in that the handle supports a shaft (<NUM>), the shaft includes a distal end portion (<NUM>) that extends out of the handle and a proximal end portion that is disposed within the handle, wherein the distal end portion includes a slot with a first slot portion (<NUM>) that extends from a distal end face substantially along a longitudinal axis of the shaft, and a second slot portion (<NUM>) that extends at an angle with respect to the first slot portion, wherein the first and second slot portions are connected.