Pepper mill

Details Pepper mill Pepper mill

2001-02-27

2002-09-03

Rosenbaum, Mark (Department: 3725)

Solid material comminution or disintegration

Apparatus

Hand support comminutor

Reexamination Certificate

active

06443377

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a pepper mill that can be adjusted to have different sizes of pepper particles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A conventional pepper mill
5
is shown in
FIG. 7
which shows a bottom
51
of the pepper mill
5
and includes a board
52
on which marks
521
are printed for the user to rotate a plate
53
to choose the desired size of pepper particles. However, the plate
53
is so small that the users has to use their finger tips or even use their finger nails to rotate the plate
53
. This is inconvenient and could hurt users finger nails. Besides, to touch the bottom
51
of the pepper mill
5
involve hygienic considerations.
FIGS. 8 and 9
show another conventional pepper mill known to applicant and the pepper mill includes a bottle
6
with a serrated teeth
61
on a top edge thereof. A cap
64
is mounted to the top of the bottle
6
and has protrusions engaged with the serrated teeth
61
. A cover
65
is connected to the cap
64
and a rod
62
extends from a bottom of the bottle
6
. The rod
62
is fixedly connected to the cover
65
by engaging a rectangular flange
621
on the rod
62
with a rectangular recess
651
in an underside of the cover
65
. A grinding device
63
is connected to the rod
62
and is engaged with a bottom of the bottle
6
. When rotating the cover
65
, the pepper in the bottle
6
is ground by the grinding device
63
and drops from the bottom of the bottle
6
. There has no proper seal member in the bottom of the bottle
6
so that even the pepper mill is not in use, pepper still drops out from the bottom of the bottle
6
. There has no options for the users to control the size of the pepper to be ground.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pepper mill and comprising a base having a first flange extending radially inward from an inner periphery of the base so that a fixed member is connected on the first flange. An end collar is connected to a bottom of the base and a second flange extends from a top the end collar. Serrated teeth are defined in a top edge of the second flange. A disk is rotatably mounted to the end collar and has openings defined therethrough. Protrusions extend radially outward from the disk and are movably engaged with the serrated teeth. The fixed member has a first grind surface defined in an inner periphery of the fixed member and a grinder is connected on the disk and located in the fixed member. The grinder has a second grinding surface on an outer periphery of the grinder.
A top member is mounted to a top of the base and a bottle is connected to the top member. The top member has a shaft which is securely engaged with the grinder and a spring is mounted to the shat and biased between the grinder and the top member.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a pepper grinder that has an adjustable grinding device so as to have desired size of pepper particles.
The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for purposes of illustration only, two preferred embodiments in accordance with the present invention.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5180114 (1993-01-01), Chen
patent: 5865384 (1999-02-01), Pai
patent: 6196481 (2001-03-01), Barbagli

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