Cutlery – Shell openers – Nutcrackers
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-19
2003-08-26
Shoap, Allan N. (Department: 3724)
Cutlery
Shell openers
Nutcrackers
C081S302000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06609303
ABSTRACT:
This invention pertains to a household hand held food implement for splitting open and shelling half shells of edible nuts, and more particularly to a pistachio nut opener for separating pistachio nut half shells and removing the edible pistachio nut from the shells.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Pistachio nuts are nature grown small edible nuts contained in a closed shell comprising attached top and bottom half shells adapted to be split laterally open but quite secure with an edible nut inside and intact as the natural pistachio nut. Pistachio nuts ordinarily are either white or red in color, quite small in size, and frequently are served as snack foods available at parties. However, the nuts are purchased with the shells intact to maintain freshness of the edible nut inside, which requires the user to remove the shells from the edible nut before eating. The user most often is a party attendee who separates and removes the shells by hand from individual nuts. The shell removal is somewhat tedious since the two half shells are not easily broken by squeezing or compressive pressure, but instead need to be separated manually along the lateral peripheral separation between the half shells, and then pulled apart. In the roasting process of pistachio nuts, a small separation apparently results between the upper and lower half shells, frequently at one end of the roasted pistachio nut, which provides a small opening to physically grasp to separate, open, and remove the half shells from the internally enclosed nut. Pistachio nuts are small nuts, requiring nimble fingers, along with sufficient coordination to remove the edible nut from the shell. The small pistachio nuts frequently are hand held and the shells manually separated by inserting one's finger nails in the peripheral separation between the upper and half shells to physically open and separate the half shells. The pistachio nut half shells are thin and somewhat rigid but sufficiently resilient to be easily separated along the lateral separation of the half shells without cracking the nut inside the half shells.
Hand held pistachio nut openers for separating the pistachio nut half shells are known, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,317,281 and 4,462,156 and 5,339,524. A pocket size nut opener is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,281 for separating the half shells of a pistachio nuts described as obloid in shape and having a pair of half shells defining a narrow slit between the half shells enclosing the edible nut, where the pistachio nuts are opened by a curved spoon hook implement. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,156, a pistachio nut opener is adapted to be inserted into the lateral separation between the half shells for forcing open the half shells and removing the edible nut contained within the shells. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,524 discloses a pistachio nut opener for shelling edible nuts, such as pistachio nuts, by inserting end members of a food implement between the half shells and separating the half shells.
It now has been found that a small hand held nut shelling implement comprising a pistachio nut opener can effectively and efficiently separate the half shells of a pistachio nut and expediently enable removal of the edible nut from within the separated half shells. In accordance with this invention, the pistachio nut opener of this invention contains forwardly extending protrusion members with engaging distal forward edges adapted to engage the outer peripheral lateral separation between the closed half shells of a pistachio nut, where the forward protrusions are operative to separate and split open and separate the half shells. The forward extending protrusions comprise an upper protrusion member and a lower protrusion member, where each has a rearward extension member operatively interconnected to enable vertical separation of the forwardly disposed distal edges of the protrusion members. The top protrusion member moves upwardly relative to the lower stationary protrusion member, thereby operative to split open the closed half shells of the pistachio nut. The upper and lower forward protrusion members are spring biased to maintain the protrusion forward distal edges closed, which requires compressive pressure to rotate the upper protrusion upwardly relative to the stationary lower protrusion to split open the closed pistachio nut half shells. After the half shells are split open, the edible nut inside the shells can be expediently removed. The pistachio nut opener of this invention provides a small, simple to operate, hand held food implement adapted to remove edible nuts from the shells of a pistachio nut without cracking the shells or damaging the edible nut within the shells. These and other advantages of the invention will become more apparent by referring to the illustrative drawings and the detailed description of the invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly, the invention consists of a hand held pistachio nut opener for separating half shells of an edible pistachio nut to enable removal of the edible pistachio nut contained within the half shells. The pistachio nut opener has a pair of cooperating, forwardly disposed, protrusion members for engaging the half shells, comprising upper and lower forward protrusion members having forward distal ends adapted to engage the peripheral lateral separation between the half shells to expand apart and separate the half shells. The forward disposed protrusion members both have rearward extensions operatively interconnected and spring biased to maintain the forward protrusion members together in a flat closed position, but operative to vertically separate the forward protrusion members. The upper protrusion member rotates upwardly, while the lower forward protrusion member remains stationary. The separating rotation of the forward protrusion members is activated by applying downward compressive pressure against a rearward extension disposed rearwardly of the spring loaded biased operative interconnection. While both the distal ends of the forward protrusion members are inserted between the half shells to engage the shells at the peripheral lateral separation of the half shells, the rotating upward movement of the upper protrusion member relative to the stationary lower protrusion member causes the closed half shells of the pistachio nut to separate and expose the edible pistachio nut inside the shells, whereby the edible nut can be easily removed from the shells.
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Hudak, Shunk & Farine Co. LPA
Prone Jason
Schmitz Thomas M.
Shoap Allan N.
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