Cutlery – Core-pit removers – Combined
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-22
2001-03-13
Payer, Hwei-Siu (Department: 3724)
Cutlery
Core-pit removers
Combined
C030S113100, C030S279200, C099S594000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06199283
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an implement for use in the preparation of vegetables and fruits for cooking and eating and, in particular, to an implement which can be used to both hold a vegetable or fruit while the vegetable or fruit is being peeled, sliced, etc. or to core a vegetable or fruit.
During the preparation of vegetables and fruits, such as but not limited to potatoes, carrots or other tubers and apples, peaches or other fruit, either at home or in a restaurant for cooking or eating, frequently the vegetables or fruits are peeled, sliced and/or cored with a kitchen knife or other sharp cutting instrument. When the vegetables or fruits are directly held by hand during the peeling, slicing and/or coring of the vegetables or fruits, the hand of the person holding the vegetable or fruit can easily be accidentally cut with the cutting instrument. In addition, to minimize such accidents, the person is likely to proceed at a slower pace than otherwise possible if the person were not trying to avoid injury.
As shown by the following patents, various implements have been used in connection with the preparation of vegetables and fruits. U.S. Pat. No. 1,787,683, discloses a fork for holding a pineapple or other fruit while the fruit is being prepared. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,300,311, 2,312,283, and 2,313,714, disclose forks for holding citrus fruits which include circular arrangements of tines for penetrating the fruit. U.S. Pat. No. 2,881,816, discloses an implement with a handle, a flat bar twisted by barely half a turn, and prongs for holding tubers.
While these holding implements are useful in the preparation of vegetables and fruit for cooking or eating, there has remained a need for a holding implement which: securely retains a vegetable or fruit in place on the holding implement; protects the user from cuts or other injuries from a knife or other cutting instrument used in the preparation of the vegetable or fruit; protects the sharp metal edge of a knife or other cutting instrument from being unduly dulled by being drawn across or otherwise coming into contact with the holding implement; and can be used to core a fruit or vegetable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The implement of the present invention for holding and/or coring vegetables and fruit, during the preparation of the vegetables and fruit, provides an inexpensive solution to all of the above discussed problems. The implement of the present invention includes: a shaft for impaling a vegetable or fruit while the vegetable or fruit is peeled, sliced, etc.; and a handle for holding the implement and coring a fruit or vegetable. The shaft has an external surface with projecting rib(s), a continuous thread or a series of annular spaced apart ribs, extending for the entire length or for substantially the entire length of the shaft to retain an impaled vegetable or fruit on the shaft while the fruit or vegetable is being prepared, e.g. peeled and/or sliced. The projecting rib(s) extend at an angle of 45° or less to a plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal centerline of the implement so that the ribs better retain a vegetable or fruit on the shaft. The external surface of the shaft is made of a polymeric material that is not as hard as the stainless steel cutting blades of the standard knives and other cutting instruments normally used in kitchens and restaurants. The formation of the shaft surface from such a polymeric material helps to keep the blades of the cutting instruments from being unduly dulled by contact with the shaft during preparation of a vegetable or fruit, especially when the vegetable or fruit is being sliced while held on the shaft.
The handle of the implement of the present invention has projections on either side of the shaft, spaced radially outward from the shaft, and extending from a base of the handle in the same general direction as the shaft for penetrating a vegetable or fruit to keep the vegetable or fruit from rotating when being held on the shaft. The handle includes a pair of blades for coring a vegetable or fruit which extend in a direction opposite to the projection of the shaft from the handle base. The blades are diametrically opposed and spaced from each other to define a space therebetween for containing a core when the handle is being used to core a fruit or vegetable, e.g. a seeded fruit or vegetable.
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Lister John D.
Payer Hwei-Siu
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