Patent ID: 7162941

Claim:
A slicer, comprising: a housing; a round blade mounted for rotation with respect to the housing; a positioning plate supported by the housing and having a bearing surface for contacting an item for slicing, the positioning plate having an edge adjacent the round blade, an end disposed opposite the edge, and opposing sides extending between the edge and the end; a threaded slicing-width adjustment mechanism for adjusting the positioning plate with respect to the round blade; and a tensioner including two compression springs prestressing the positioning plate against the slicing-width adjustment mechanism by biasing the positioning plate in a direction substantially perpendicular to the bearing surface to reduce the amount of free play with the slicing-width adjustment mechanism, wherein the bearing surface comprises a remaining bearing surface forming a majority portion of the bearing surface, and the bearing surface further comprises a raised portion disposed along the edge and protruding outwardly in relation to the remaining bearing surface such that the raised portion and the remaining bearing surface are not co-planar with one another.