Cutlery – Cutting tools – Scrapers
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-27
2001-07-24
Rachuba, M. (Department: 3724)
Cutlery
Cutting tools
Scrapers
C030S491000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06263578
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED INVENTIONS
Not Applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ergonomically-advantaged tool for cleaning griddle cooking surfaces, particularly where frequent and regular build-up of debris is encountered, minimizing repetitive motion injuries which frequently result from high frequency, extended duration use of the cleaning tools of the prior art.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the US Department of Labor, substantial sound scientific evidence links musculoskeletal disorders to work. The scientific literature demonstrates that workers who face high biomechanical stress—such as heavy lifting and repetitive motion—have high rates of work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSDs) such as back injuries, tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Most people face their main exposures to physical stress on their jobs. The National Academy of Sciences has found “compelling evidence” that reducing biomechanical stress on the job reduces the risk of injuries. Literature reviews and studies provide extensive scientific verification that musculoskeletal disorders are linked to work, and that workplace interventions can reduce the risk of injury of workers.
Fast-food preparation utilizing griddles requires frequent and regular removal of cooking residue to keep the cooking surface clear. Traditionally, a putty knife style scraping tool is repetitively moved across the cooking surface as often as 50 times per hour, depending upon the quantity of items in preparation. Over a period of time, this can become a contributing factor to repetitive motion injuries, sometimes requiring surgery and/or rehabilitation therapy.
The physical stress experienced by the scraper operator is attributable to friction and is directly related to the amount of force required to be applied by the operator to maintain the leading edge of the scraper tool in touching relationship to the griddle as the scraper is urged forward to overcome static friction, and thereafter encountering sliding friction, glide the tool along the cooking surface to the end of its forward travel, pushing aside cooking residue in its path as it travels.
Friction is the universal force between surfaces that opposes sliding motion. When surfaces of two bodies are in contact, the interactive force at the surface may have components both perpendicular and tangent to the surface. The perpendicular component is called the normal force, and the tangential component is called the friction force. If there is relative sliding at the surface, the friction force always acts in the opposite direction of this motion.
Most dry surfaces behave approximately according to Coulomb's friction law, which states that, approximately and within limits, (1) the friction between two surfaces is slightly greater just before motion begins than when the surfaces are in steady relative motion, that is, the force required to overcome static friction is usually greater than the force needed to sustain uniform sliding motion; and (2) when the surfaces slide relative to one another, the friction force is proportional to the normal force and is independent of both the contact area and the speed of sliding. The ratio of the tangential force to the normal force during sliding is called the coefficient of friction and depends on the nature of the two surfaces. In order to initiate sliding against friction, it is necessary to apply a tangential force at least as great as the product of the coefficient of friction and the normal force. Before the onset of motion, the force is resisted by the equal and opposite force of static friction.
It is a requirement for efficient scraping that prior art griddle scrapers be held at an angle to the surface to be scraped, with the scraping edge in contact therewith, and simultaneously be urged in a direction parallel to the surface. The design of most prior art scrapers requires the simultaneous application of the required forces, a significant factor contributing to repetitive motion injuries. Past efforts to address this problem have resulted in griddle scrapers which were too large, heavy, clumsy and difficult to use in a space-restricted work station.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,140 shows a scraper adapted to be held in the hand of a user with a downwardly curved blade section facilitating the application of force longitudinally of a surface to be scraped with the hand of the user remaining spaced from that surface, while the material to be scraped is deflected substantially from the hand of the user. Affording no means adapted for sequential application of differential normal and tangential forces, the design of this device provides little, if any, relief from repetitive motion injury resulting from high frequency, extended duration repetitive motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,811 shows a hand tool for scraping across a work surface. While the scraping blade has a plurality of scraping edges, this is a conventional, single handle scraping tool and the design thereof, being similarly deficient, contributes nothing to alleviating the problem solved by the applicant's invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,351 and companion U.S. Design Pat. No. 312,520 disclose griddle scrapers with a single handgrip and forwardly and downwardly projecting blades. A guard is spaced from the underside of the handgrip to afford protection to the operator's fingers and serves as a stable base. An upwardly extending protective shield is mounted on the blade. Again, the single handle means affords no relief from repetitive motion injury, nor is the need for an economic approach recognized.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,981 addresses the need to minimize arm fatigue and cramping due to scraping motion. Support of the user's forearm in conjunction with a cylindrical handle that extends substantially perpendicular to the scraper blade allegedly extends the period of time that the tool can be used without fatiguing the operator's arm. This structure falls short of measures required to minimize repetitive motion injury incurred as the result of high frequency, extended duration, repetitive motion because it too affords no means adapted for sequential application of differential normal and tangential propulsion forces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,983 relates to an Ergonomically Correct and Economically Efficient Handhold Scraper. However, being designed for ice removal, other than providing an ergonomically-advantaged gripping means, the design has little relevance to scraping means adapted to remove cooking residue from a griddle surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,579 relates to a combination griddle and griddle scraper which contemplates a continuous two-handed application of force to the device through a grasping handle and placement of the user's second hand upon an intermediate portion of the scraper which terminates in a blade, brush or abrasive stone. However, the structure of the device, the multiplicity of applications, and the necessarily resultant complexity and size precludes realization of compactness, lightness in weight and maneuverability, mandatory attributes for a tool to be used in tight work stations, features found in the present invention. Nor is attention directed to economic factors minimizing repetitive motion injury resulting from high frequency, extended duration scraping efforts by affording means for sequential application of differential normal and tangential forces, a feature of the present invention.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 362,937 discloses a scraper handle having a hand-grasping portion which encircles a user's hand and a knob, each mounted on a common plane with a blade. While aesthetically pleasing, the structure appears to require an awkward, two-handed inclination of the blade to the surface to be scraped, and a continuous, fatiguing, two-handed application of force throughout the scraping cy
Frantz Howard Jay
Lojacono Christopher Paul
Ansell Edward O.
In-N-Out Burgers
Rachuba M.
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