Solid material comminution or disintegration – Apparatus – Hand support comminutor
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-03
2001-06-19
Rosenbaum, Mark (Department: 3725)
Solid material comminution or disintegration
Apparatus
Hand support comminutor
Reexamination Certificate
active
06247661
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to a combination grinder and dispenser which is conveniently removably attachable to storage containers such as open mouth bottles and the like, which are used as standard containers for packaging and distribution of spices such as pepper and the like. The combination grinder and dispenser provides a convenient means for the user to grind a larger particle size stored product to a smaller particle size on an as needed basis to assure a fresh ground spice as may be desired.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the practice of the culinary arts, it desirable to enhance the taste experience by flavoring foods with measured quantities of spices of exacting taste. The populace has become more adept at combining various spices and recognizing the subtle differences between fresh ground spices and stored ground spices, with more and more people requesting and requiring the use of fresh ground spices in the preparation of foods.
A common implement in the kitchen is a pepper grinder, typically a single purpose device purchased for the sole purpose of grinding large kernels of pepper, generally referred to as pepper corn, into fresh ground smaller particles. The device is periodically filled from bulk or the like purchases of commonly available pepper corn and comprises a grinding means proximate an outlet to allow ground pepper to escape from the outlet as it is being ground. In use the device must be inverted so the open end faces downward and the pepper corn rests on the grinder, in a manner such that when the grinder is activated the large kernels of pepper engage the grinder and ground pepper falls through the outlet by gravity flow. Implements of this nature are generally manufactured using expensive metal parts and are generally intended to be refillable and reusable, thus requiring the purchase of bulk spices and tedious refilling of the device.
One modern device comprises a simple commercially available standard container having a threaded opening to which a molded plastic grinder mounts. Again, in use the device must be inverted so the open end faces downward and the pepper corn rests on the grinder, in a manner such that when the grinder is activated the large kernels of pepper engage the grinder and ground pepper falls through the outlet by gravity flow. The molded plastic grinder has appeal in that though it is only suitable for grinding limited amounts of spice, it can be so inexpensively manufactured that it is an insignificant cost increase to provide the grinder as an alternate to standard caps used on standard storage containers generally used for marketing and sale of large kernel spices.
Unfortunately, the manner in which the foregoing devices must be operated, e.g. inverted free flow through the outlet while grinding, though suitable in circumstances where one person is observing and controlling the quantity being applied to the food while another is grinding, is generally not convenient for the use by a cook, and certainly limiting for ascertaining the exacting quantities desired by many for the proper flavoring of food. In short, the time honored tradition of applying a “pinch” of pepper, or other spice is difficult if not impossible to measure using a free flow grinder, as is the typical measure of amounts by sight on the open hand of a traditional cook.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive molded plastic grinding means suitable for grinding limited amounts of spices.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive molded plastic grinding means suitable for replacing capping means on standard storage containers.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a means for grinding spices, which stores small quantities of ground spices for later use.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In its most general embodiment, the present invention comprises a combined grinding and dispensing assembly arranged for threaded mounting to an open end of a mating threaded storage container, the assembly comprising a grinding means, a temporary holding area for storing ground spices and a flow selector cap means for capping and/or dispensing ground spices from the holding area in selected flow patterns and volume.
More particularly, the assembly of the present invention comprises a housing composed of a base housing element and an upper housing element. The base housing element is configured to be removably mounted to surround an outlet of a storage container, while the upper housing element is rotatably mounted to the base housing element. Arranged between the base and upper housing elements is a grinding element arranged to grind particles of spice as the upper housing element is rotated in respect to the base housing element. Spaced upwardly into the upper housing element, above the grinding element, is a flow grid and a rotatable flow selector, the space between the flow grid and the grinding element comprising a temporary holding area for ground spice. In the functional operation of the assembly, the storage container is inverted to allow large particulate spice in the storage container to engage the grinding element for grinding; the upper housing is rotated to activate the grinding process; ground spice flows into and/or through the temporary holding area; and the rotatable flow selector is rotated to various selected open flow positions and/or is closed to cap the assembly from dispensing ground spice from the temporary holding area. If the flow selector is in an open flow position during grinding, ground spice flows through the temporary holding area and is dispensed from the assembly in various patterns and rates of flow. If the flow selector is in a closed position during grinding, the ground spice is maintained in the temporary holding area between the grinding means and the flow grid for later dispersing.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the assembled housing comprises generally cylindrically walled interior sections or volumes of different diameters arranged along a central (also referred to as vertical) axis.
In the base housing element or unit, starting from the bottom to the top, a generally cylindrical interior wall surface is a first (larger) diameter bottom section having internal threads arranged to engage mating external threads arranged about an opening of the storage container, is stepped inward in diameter to a smaller diameter grinder section, this wall diameter generally being smaller than the diameter of the opening of the storage container, then stepped outward in diameter to a top section having a wall diameter somewhat larger than the grinder section wall.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the internal surface of the smaller diameter grinder section is arranged to extend into the opening of the container when the base housing element is mounted onto the storage container and comprises a plurality of generally parallel grinder grooves along its circumference, the grinder grooves being angled from the direction of the central longitudinal axis and having generally parallel peaks therebetween. The grooves are angled such that a particle flowing from the storage compartment, which engages a groove along the internal wall of the smaller diameter grinder section, will tend to follow the groove and move circumferentially about the longitudinal axis of the base housing element as it moves in the general direction of the vertical axis. In a further preferred embodiment, a portion of the exterior surface of the base housing element is generally cylindrical and comprises an attachment slot, which generally encircles the housing element and is sized to accept a mating ridge of the upper housing element for attachment thereto.
In the upper housing element or unit the generally cylindrical interior sections or volumes are also stepped in diameter, generally from a wider diameter size arranged at the bottom of the upper housing element to matingly engage over a cylindrical
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