Work holders – Work-underlying support – Movable roller
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-01
2004-03-09
Wilson, Lee D. (Department: 3723)
Work holders
Work-underlying support
Movable roller
C269S302100, C269S286000, C269S285000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06702273
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wooden cutting board commonly used in the preparation of food, and more specifically, to a wooden cutting board utilizing a plurality of insertable non-skid traction plates that sufficiently raise the cutting board above a countertop surface and provide spaced, frictional surface projections to insure non-slip traction during the cutting process, even on wet surfaces.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cutting boards are well known in the art and are primarily designed to provide a separate rigid surface on which to cut food while protecting the countertop surface from being marred by a knife. The use of wood for the cutting board has been traditional. Wood is a viable material as a cutting board because it is rigid but softer than the knife blade material preventing damage to the sharpness of the knife blade. Wood is also decorative.
Cutting food stuffs on a kitchen countertop can be a potentially dangerous task, i.e. using a sharp knife or cleaver in one hand with pressure against often times frozen, hard, slippery or cumbersome items held in the other hand, often in a wet environment created from liquids seeping from items during the cutting process and invariably without use of any safety or protective equipment or gear. The household kitchen countertop is the most frequent surface on which the cutting board is placed. A flat wooden cutting board mounted against a dry or wet formica countertop can be hazardous and prone to movement of the cutting board during the act of cutting. On dry or wet surface, small area traction feet mounted on a cutting board are ineffective. It is Applicant's position that there is not enough traction surface area with three or four small feet on one side of a cutting board, to make much of a difference. It is also important that in dealing with a wet surface area for mounting the board, there should be sufficient space under the board for liquid to escape away from the traction surfaces into adjacent areas.
The present invention overcomes these problems by providing a wooden cutting board with a plurality of improved traction forming plates, each strategically mounted on the bottom of the board for stability and traction. Each traction plate has an array of non-skid projections that are spaced apart, allowing liquids compressed by each projection to escape around the projection so as to not interfere with the traction process. The non-skid projections have flat end surface areas or an array of edges to engage the counter top surface, directly resulting in a large cumulative contact
on-skid surface area to prevent movement of the cutting board, even on wet countertops.
Parameters to be reviewed for providing maximum traction for the cutting board on a dry or wet surface would include the surface area of each traction projection, total area of all traction projections, geometric spatial orientation of each projection, the quantity and spacing between the traction projections and the overall surface area provided for by all traction projections and the surface non traction open area adjacent the traction projections that allow liquids to escape.
The cutting boards shown in the prior art fail to address this hazard. U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,294 issued to Bodomolny discloses a cutting board with a replaceable cutting surface and small traction elements in the form of rubber feet individually attached along the bottom surface of the board. Very little traction is provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,759 to Potter discloses a cutting board with a spiked platform to engage and retain food to be cut, a knife blade guide, a plurality of channeled depressions on the top surface for the temporary retention of juices and food related debris as opposed to the present invention's raised bottom surface for traction and to prevent slippage created by the planing effect of accumulated fluid in direct contact with the cutting board. Although Potter addresses a retaining element, the device only applies to the item to be cut as opposed to restricting movement of the cutting board apparatus on the countertop.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,022 to Gibson discloses a rectangular cutting board with a leveling member composed of small flexible friction material such as rubber feet, located at the four corners of the board. The present invention enhances traction by increasing the number of surface area contacts with a plurality of flexible projections which extend from multiple plates positioned for stability on the underside of the cutting board, also significantly elevating the cutting board assembly above the countertop so as to accommodate the distribution of liquid underneath the cutting board while maintaining stability and non-slippage of the cutting board.
The need arises not only for a cutting board which diminishes the potential for slippage of the board and thus reduces potential for physical injury but also uses a traction member which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture having a plurality of friction contacts to enhance surface area traction in an elevated fashion thereby diminishing the planing effect which occurs when the entire planar baseboard of the cutting board is exposed to the physical presence of liquid. There is further need for a cutting board which is portable, stable, lightweight, structurally simple, economical to manufacture and for consumer to purchase, durable, easy to use, clean and store, and requires no assembly or other equipment.
In these respects, the elevated non-slip wooden cutting board according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of enhancing safety by providing a plurality of surface area traction contacts to retard slippage of the board during the cutting process.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
A wooden cutting board, for inhibiting movement or slippage on the countertop surface, which is elevated from the surface upon which it rests by the use of a plurality of friction enhancing projections which grip the underlying countertop surface and which are attached to plates which are attached to the bottom of the cutting board.
The cutting board is preferably rectangular in shape (other shapes are feasible) and formed by a cutting board body and in the preferred embodiment four rigid plastic traction plates. The board body is preferably formed from wood (although other suitable materials such as plastic, acrylic, polyethlene, polypropylene, vinyls or other durable, inexpensive, lightweight materials should be considered within the scope of the invention).
Each traction plate is a thin rigid molded plastic plate having on one side three elongated legs, each leg having a plurality of somewhat flexible, circular disks mounted thereto, each perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the leg, each of the disks being sufficiently small in diameter and flexible to fit snugly into pre-drilled cylindrical holes mounted on one side of the cutting board body, adjacent to each corner. The purpose of the elongated legs and disks are to attach firmly (preferably without glue) the traction plate to the cutting board at each corner. Each traction plate is held in place against the board by the frictional engagement of the three elongated legs and the flexible and resilient disks mounted at the end of each leg in each cylindrical hole in the board body. The attachment legs extend from the upper surface of the plate.
A rubber, rubber-like, or thermo-plastic elastomer (TPE) friction pad is co-molded or over-molded to the bottom surface of the plate. The friction pad includes multiple projections, each having a pre-determined geometrical shape and a flat surface area to contact the counter surface. The bottom surfaces of the projections comprise flat, rubber-like frictional surfaces forming a pattern of friction surface areas that are spaced apart a pre-determined amount to allow liquid to flow in between. In one pattern, the projections could b
Malin Haley & DiMaggio, P.A.
Wilson Lee D.
LandOfFree
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