CA2810313A1

CA2810313A1 - Torque multiplying manually operable rotary drum grater

Info

Publication number: CA2810313A1
Application number: CA 2810313
Authority: CA
Inventors: Andre Lafleur
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2013-03-21
Filing date: 2013-03-21
Publication date: 2014-09-21

Abstract

There is provided a torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater comprising i) a body defining a food inlet and a cylindrical cavity for rotatably receiving a food processing drum; ii) a cover closing the cavity at one end thereof;
and iii) a hand operated crank mounted on the cover and having a drive shaft, said drive shaft being coupled to a sealed planetary gear assembly, in turn removably connected to the drum. Thereby, rotation of the crank at a given angular speed imparts rotation of the drum at a lower angular speed to create a multiplication of the operating torque.

Description

TITLE
TORQUE MULTIPLYING MANUALLY OPERABLE ROTARY DRUM GRATER
BACKGROUND
1) Field [0001] The subject matter generally relates to manually operated rotary food graters. More specifically, but not exclusively, the subject matter relates to a torque multiplying rotary drum grater providing geared torque conversion.

2) Related art [0002] Manually operated graters employing a crank driven grating drum to grate cheese and vegetables are known in the art. In existing graters, a crank is directly coupled to a peripheral edge of a grating drum having a relatively small diameter. Actually, for a given length of the crank handle arm, the larger the drum diameter the lower the available shear strength at the drum surface to fight the grating or slicing shear effort. Therefore, the prior art manual graters are facing limitations and drawbacks such as limiting drum size and grating capacity and/or requiring excessive cranking effort when grating some types of food ingredients, especially when drum blades become clogged or dull.

[0003] There is therefore a need to provide a manually operated rotary drum food grater that obviates the limitations and drawbacks of the prior art devices.
SUMMARY

[0004] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a torque multiplying manually operated rotary drum grater allowing a user to generate at the periphery of the drum, a few times the torque and shear strength that would be available using a conventional grater of similar drum and crank handle arm proportions.

[0005] According to an embodiment, there is provided a torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater comprising: i) a body defining a food inlet and a cylindrical cavity for rotatably receiving a food processing (such as grating or slicing) drum; ii) a cover closing the cavity at one end thereof; and iii) a hand operated crank mounted on the cover and having a drive shaft, said drive shaft being coupled to a sealed planetary gear assembly, in turn removably connected to the drum. Thereby, rotation of the crank at a given angular speed imparts rotation of the drum at a lower angular speed to create a multiplication of the operating torque and shear strength.

[0006] According to a further embodiment of the torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater, the gear assembly is sealed to prevent gated food from entering an inner compartment of the gear assembly.

[0007] According to another embodiment, the torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater can be disassembled for throughout cleaning and washing.

[0008] According to yet another embodiment, a drive assembly, being formed by the gear assembly and the assembled handle and having a first gear ratio, may be substituted by another compatible drive assembly having a second different gear ratio.

[0009] Features and advantages of the subject matter hereof will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of selected embodiments, as illustrated in the accompanying figures. As will be realized, the subject matter disclosed and claimed is capable of modifications in various respects, all without departing from the scope of the claims. Accordingly, the drawings and the description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive and the full scope of the subject matter is set forth in the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Further features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in combination with the appended drawings. Similar parts are identified by identical or similar numerals throughout the drawings. In the appended drawings:

[0011] Figures la through Id respectively illustrate a top view, a side isometric view, a front view and a side view of an embodiment of the torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater;

[0012] Figure 2 illustrates a top side isometric exploded view of a torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater according to an embodiment, as viewed from a discharge end side;

[0013] Figure 3 illustrates a top side isometric exploded view of a torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater according to an embodiment, as viewed from a crank side;

[0014] Figure 4 is a cross-sectional side view of a vertical embodiment of the torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] In the non restrictive illustrative embodiments there are disclosed a torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater and a vertical self-standing torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater.

[0016] Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to Figures 1 through 3, a first illustrative embodiment is concerned with a torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater 100 comprising a body 110 defining a circular elongated cylindrical drum cavity 111, a solid food inlet 112, a processed (grated or sliced) food discharge outlet 113, an opposite mounting mouth 114 and a holding handle 116. Pivotally assembled to a free end of handle 116 is a press member 117 terminating into a ram portion 118.

[0017] The grater 100 further comprises a crank 120, defining a crank arm 121 and a free rotating button handle 122. The crank 120 further defines a circular shield 123 abutting on a recessed portion of a cover 124, and a drive shaft driving an internal planetary gear assembly 130 in cover 124, through a center hole 125 in the cover. The structure and operation of the gear assembly 130 will be described in detail in the flowing.

[0018] The cover 124 has a plurality of inner peripheral tabs 126 for mating and co-operating with ridges 115 at the periphery of the mounting mouth 114 to form a sealed fluid tight twist-lock connection. Alternatively, threaded portions could be implemented to provide a screwed connection. The gear assembly 130 has a rotatable drive cap 135 removably connected to an interchangeable grating or slicing drum 140 fitted for rotation within cavity 111. The crank 120, the cover 124 and the planetary gear assembly 130 form a replaceable drive assembly 150 mountable to the mounting mouth 114.

[0019] The drum 140 has an outer cylindrical peripheral wall 142 provided with cut-outs and blades (not shown) as known to those skilled in the art. The drum 140 further comprises a flange 144 at a discharge end thereof and a twist-lock type of connecting edge 146 defining ridges 147 at its opposite end. The twist-lock edge 146 removably engages twist-lock connecting tabs 137 at peripheral connecting edge 136 of the geared drive cap 135 at an output end of the gear assembly 130.

[0020] Thereby, the drive assembly 150 can be assembled by mounting the cover 124 to the mating twist-lock mounting mouth 114 of the body 110 and, then, the drum 140 can be inserted into the cavity 111 from the discharge end 113, with its flanged portion 144 abutting on the peripheral edge 113' of outlet 113, and its opposite end 146 removably connecting to the rotatable drive cap 135, to form an integral functional assembly of the grater 100.

[0021] The planetary gear assembly 130 comprises a center sun gear 131 fixedly assembled to the end of the drive shaft 126 with plate 132 using a stainless steel screw 133. Three planetary gears 138 are pivotally mounted on axle pins projecting from inside the cover 124 and also held in place by plate 132.
Gears 138 run on the mating inner indented (geared) face 134 of the rotating drive cap 135, to drive the cap into rotation. The cap 135 has an outer peripheral edge 136 bearing the tabs 137 forming part of the previously described twist-lock connection to which the drum 140 may be removably mounted to be rotatably driven. It can be appreciated that the assembled grater 100, as well as the fluid tight drive assembly 150, can be totally or partly dismantled for maintenance and cleaning.

[0022] In use, a user grips the handle 116 of the grater 100 with one hand and places a piece of food such as cheese, vegetables, nuts, etc. in the inlet 112, then closes the press member 117 and applies some pressure thereon with the thumb to have the ram portion 118 maintaining the food in intimate contact with the outer peripheral wall 142 of the drum 140. The user may use a second hand to grip the button handle 122 and operate the crank 120. The drive shaft 126 drives the sun gear 131 in turn driving the planetary gears 138 along the track 134 inside the drive cap 135. Thereby the drive cap 135 is rotated, driving the drum 140 at the same angular speed.

[0023] However, given the designed gear ratio of the planetary gear assembly 130, one turn of the crank 120 causes only one third to a half of a turn of rotation of the drum 140. As a consequence, given force and torque applied at the handle will provide multiplication of the torque and much higher shear strength at the drum surface to overcome shear resistance of the blades penetrating the food piece. Thereby, the grater 100 enables a user to process harder food pieces more easily or faster. It may also enable processing larger pieces of food: and material that conventional manually actuated graters would not enable processing. In addition, the user may easily remove and replace the drum 140 by one having different blades to provide a different type of food processing. Moreover, the user may remove and replace the drive assembly 150 by one having a different gear ratio to adapt to the type of drum 140 being used and to the physical properties of the food material being processed, thus requiring reasonable effort for operating the grater and obtaining a desired processing throughput, for a variety of applications.

[0024] Referring to figure 4, there is illustrated a vertical embodiment of the torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater 100, identified as 100', and featuring similar structure, functions and benefits as the afore described horizontal embodiment thereof, except for the fact that the grater 100' can be ergonomically manipulated with the discharge outlet 113 directed downwardly.
Moreover, the peripheral ring 113' of the outlet 113 is advantageously configured to serve as a base for enabling stable self standing of the grater 100' on a planar surface.

[0025] It can thus be easily appreciated that the above-described non-restrictive illustrative embodiments of torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater according to disclosed matter obviate the above-discussed limitations and drawbacks of the prior art devices.

[0026] While preferred embodiments have been described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made without departing from this disclosure. Such modifications are considered as possible variants comprised in the scope of the disclosure.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A torque multiplying crank operated rotary drum food grater comprising: i) a body defining a food inlet and a cylindrical cavity for rotatably receiving a food processing drum; ii) a cover closing the cavity at one end thereof; and iii) a hand operated crank mounted on the cover and having a drive shaft, said drive shaft being coupled to a sealed planetary gear assembly, in turn removably connected to the drum;
wherereby, rotation of the crank at a given angular speed imparts rotation of the drum at a lower angular speed to create a multiplication of the operating torque.