Patent ID: 8578844

Claim:
A hand-held system configured to facilitate processing of a food item, the system comprising: a cup and a lid removably mounted with respect to the cup, wherein the cup and lid define at least a portion of a chamber configured to receive the food item; an actuator selectively coupled to a drive shaft, the drive shaft extending in the chamber along a first axis, the actuator including at least one protrusion from the bottom surface of the actuator; a food processing arm removably and drivingly engaged to the drive shaft, rotation of the drive shaft rotating the food processing arm; a drive wheel coupled to the drive shaft and having a plurality of circumferentially driven teeth; and a ratchet wheel positioned between the actuator and the drive wheel, the ratchet wheel being moveable along the first axis between an engaged position and a disengaged position, and having a first surface and a second surface, opposed to the first surface, the first surface having a variable contour extending continuously between a first end defined by a first stop member and a second end defined by a second stop member, the first and second stop members each protruding from the variable contours towards the actuator, the second surface having a plurality of circumferentially spaced teeth, wherein the ratchet wheel is positioned such that, in both the engaged and disengaged positions, the first surface faced the bottom surface of the actuator, the second surface faces the plurality of circumferentially driven teeth of the drive wheel, and the bottom surface of the protrusion contacts the variable contour, and wherein the ratchet wheel is positioned such that, in the disengaged position the protrusion is positioned toward the first end of the variable contour and the ratchet wheel is spaced from the drive wheel, and, in the engaged position, the protrusion abuts the second stop member at the second end of the variable contour and the plurality of spaced teeth of the ratchet wheel engage the plurality of driven teeth of the drive wheel, respectively, to rotate the drive wheel and drive shaft.