EP0689906A1 - Safety holder for slicing bagels, rolls and other foods - Google Patents

Abstract

A tool for facilitating the even slicing of a bagel-like food items comprising a pair of spaced apart walls (16,18) joined along the upper edges to a base (20) running parallel to the upper edges of the walls. The base (20) has a first end and a second end, with a slot (22) in the inner face thereof opening towards the interior of the space defined by the spaced apart walls. The slot (22) accommodates a slicing blade. Inner surfaces (28,30) of the spaced apart walls have a pattern of protrusions (32) for gripping said bagel when the walls (16,18) are pressed against the surfaces of the bagels. Preferably the ends of the slots are bevelled to facilitate entry of said slicing blade. Conveniently, the spaced apart walls (16,18) are hinged to the base by hinges (66) at the upper edges and the outer surfaces of said walls are provided with handles. The hinges may be biased to pivot said walls away from each other.

Description

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
• The present invention is concerned with a kitchen tool or apparatus for safely holding and slicing bagels or rolls into two separate and substantially equal halves. The invention provides a simple hand held tool for firmly grasping the bagel to be sliced and provides an initial starting guide for the slicing knife. The design is such that it is easily used for repetitive slicing; with the tool of the present invention one utilizes motions and hand positions that people commonly utilize for slicing bagels, but it eliminates the inherent danger of cuts as well as the difficulty of providing even halves of bagels.
2. PRIOR ART
• InU.S. 4,807,505, Campbell et al, discloses a bagel slicing apparatus comprising a pair of spaced apart facing blocks one of which is hinged in order to place the bagel within the blocks. The base of this is a cutting block and the spaced apart blocks allow the knife to be run in from the top. In this case a pin is provided to steady the bagel within the grip of the blocks. A number of motions are involved and the cutting blade is inserted from the open top and sliced down towards the closed bottom of the device.
• InU.S. 2,206,154, Bixler, discloses a bread slicer comprising a pair of opposed plates hinged together at the bottom with a cutting block inserted in the space between the bottom hinge. The opposed faces are dimpled in order to hold the thinly sliced bread to be sliced. The knife is inserted at the top space between the opposed walls and the slicing takes place downwardly towards the block adjacent to the lower hinge.
• InU.S. 3,347,296, Rothman, discloses a bagel slicer in the form of hinged plates generally placed horizontally on a surface and opposed slots on opposite walls are provided as a slicing knife guide. In this case, a significant number of motions are required to place the bagel, slice it, open up the apparatus and remove the sliced halves.
• InU.S. 2,918,099, Goldstein, discloses a holding and slicing guide for edible products such as bagels and in this case a pair of opposed clam shell sections hinged together at the bottom are provided for placing the bagel or other food item to be sliced. The clam shells are then closed. They are spaced slightly apart to provide for the insertion of the knife.
• InU.S. 5,228,668, Guyer, discloses a hand-held bagel slicing jig in which two generally circular cages having handles extending from one end and which are hinged in a individually hinged and a spaced apart relationship and a lower cutting block provided. In this case, the slicing knife is placed in the space below the handles and sliced back and forth towards the base of the hinge block. A number of extraneous motions are necessary and the device must be held in an awkward manner as opposed to the natural manner in which people normally slice bagels.
• InU.S. 4,807,862 Popeil, et al and U.S. 4,948,106, Popeil etal disclose a food cutting apparatus for cutting bagels which comprises a cavity having slots in which the food is placed and then sliced. The device is transparent in order to observe the food, however, a natural tendency is for foods such as bagels as it is sliced to be pushed down and wedged into the apparatus, making it difficult to remove following use.
• InU.S. 4,674,404, D'Erasmo, discloses a device for pressing bagels together after they are sliced in order to compress them into a thinner slice for placing into conventional toasters and eliminating the commonly used method of hand pressing the bagels against a counter surface which can be very unsanitary, but is widely used to practice.
• The following patents are mentioned for background purposes only and disclose a variety of jigs or holders for slicing bread and other materials. Generally, they are not at all closely related to the device of the present invention. They are disclosed for completeness of background information developed by the applicant in searching for disclosures bearing on the patentability of his new device.

  UTILITY PATENTS
  U.S. 2,009,913	Bever
  U.S. 2,172,538	Katzinger
  U.S. 2,279,376	Marriott
  U.S. 3,018,806	Moore
  U.S. 3,338,282	Blum
  U.S. 4,429,445	Browning
  U.S. 4,399,989	Baillie
  U.S. 4,747,331	Policella
  U.S. 4,546,686	Losiowski
  U.S. 4,550,636	Josselson et al

  DESIGN PATENTS
  U.S. 277,066	Levine
  U.S. 277,445	Levine
  U.S. 279,156	Levine
  U.S. 315,275	Aziz et al
  U.S. 316,657	Mulherin
  U.S. 330,315	Shved

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• In the present invention, there is provided a safe and efficient tool for facilitating the cutting of bagels and similar foods such as rolls with a hand held knife which may be with the blade thereof normally used facing away from the user. The device comprises spaced apart walls connected along their upper edges to a said base having a longitudinal slot therein dimensioned to accommodate a slicing tool; i.e. knife and said base having sufficient resiliency to allow a user to press the inside surfaces of said walls against a bagel placed between the spaced apart walls, said walls being provided with pointed protrusions for holding said bagel in place when cutting.
• In an alternative embodiment, the walls of the device are hinged along their upper edges to the base portion and are spring biased from each other by spring means associated with the hinges.
• Both embodiments may be constructed of plastic or metal or other suitable material.
• A further embodiment provides spaced apart descending finger-like extensions from the side of the slot at each end of the base which serve as guides for the slicing tool.
• It is further understood that while the side walls are illustrated as rectangular in shape, that circular, oval, or similar shapes are also suitable.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
• In the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification;
• Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the holder of the present invention showing it grasping a bagel and with a knife positioned in the guiding slot about to slice the bagel;
• Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the device of Fig. 1 without the bagel;
• Fig. 3 is a sectional view or an end view of the bagel being grasped by the device as shown in Fig. 1;
• Fig. 4 is a sectional view along lines 4-4 of Fig. 1 with the bagel being grasped and the knife having come down partially sliced through the bagel;
• Fig. 5. is a sectional view along lines 5-5 of Fig. 1;
• Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of a portion of the dimpled face of the inner walls of the device;
• Fig. 7 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the device of the present invention, having hinged side walls and handles on the external surface of the sides;
• Fig. 8 is an end view of the device with the bagel in place in the holder;
• Fig. 9 is also a side view with the sides being depressed and firmly grasping the bagel; and
• Fig. 10 is a sectional view taken along lines 10-10 of Fig. 9;
• Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the further embodiment of the invention illustrating finger-like guides for the slicing tool;
• Fig. 12 is a side elevation of the embodiment of Fig. 11;
• Fig. 13 is a sectional view along lines 13-13 of Fig. 11;
• Fig. 14 is a bottom plan view of the embodiment of Fig. 11;
• Fig. 15 is a left end elevational view of the embodiment of Fig. 11; and
• Fig. 16 is a right end elevational view of the embodiment of Fig. 11.
ILLUSTRATIVE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT
• In Fig. 1, the tool is shown being grasped by the user in one hand and a knife manipulated in the other hand in preparation to slice the bagel. Thetool 2 encloses thebagel 4. A knife 6 with acutting blade 8 andhandle 10 is grasped by one hand of the user with thetool 2 held in the other hand.
• Thetool 2 comprises afirst side wall 16 and a complementarysecond side wall 18, theupper ends 13 and 15 ofwalls 16 and 18 respectively, being connected in a resilient fashion tobase section 20 which in thelower face 21 thereof has alongitudinal slot 22 running therethrough.
• Thebase 20 is connected to thesides 16 and 18 respectively by downwardly and outwardly extendingtransitional sections 24 and 26 which extend slightly downwardly and outwardly from thebase 20. Thebase 20 is molded of a resilient thermoplastic such as polyethylene that while solid and relatively stiff, yields enough so that thesides 16 and 18 are biased outwardly apart from the position shown in Fig. 2, but which may be squeezed inwardly as shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 4 with a slight amount of hand pressure in order to grasp thebagel 4 to be held. Thewalls 16 and 18 have insidefaces 28 and 30 respectively the area of which is designed with multiplepointed protrusions 32 which serve to grasp thebagel 4 to keep it from slipping.
• In Fig. 3bagel 4 has been inserted between thewalls 16 and 18 and theblade 8 of the knife 6 in theslot 22 of thebase section 20. Theupper edge 42 of the knife 6 is in thebase 20 and the cutting edge at 44 is in proximity of thebagel 4. Thewalls 16 and 18 are squeezed towards each other to place the inner faces 28 and 30 of thewalls 16 and 18 against the sides of thebagel 4 to firmly hold it in place. The knife 6 is sliced back and forth descending on the edge of thebagel 4 and slicing as shown in Fig. 4.
• Theinner surfaces 28 and 30 of thewalls 16 and 18 respectively are faced withpyramidal protrusions 32 similar to those used on meat tenderizers. They are sharp enough so that they firmly grasp the surface of thebagel 4 or other bread item being sliced and yet generally do not perforate the surface of thebagel 4.
• Referring to Fig. 7-10, an alternate embodiment of the tool of the present invention is shown in which abase 56 is generally rectangular in cross section and has aslot 58 running longitudinally. The end edges 57 of theslot 58 are beveled to assist in placing the knife therein. The loweroutside corners 59 of the base 56 have a pair ofhinges 66 from which thewalls 60 and 68 depend. If desired, thewalls 60 and 68 may be biased to an open position by springs, being attached in the usual manner to thehinges 66. Theinner surfaces 62 of thewalls 60 and 68 are provided withprotrusions 65 in order to grasp thebagel 46 as shown. Fingers and/or thumb may be placed under a pair ofhandles 72 on the outer faces of thewalls 60 and 68 to facilitate the movement. A depression orfinger grip 74 is included in the outer surfaces of thewalls 16 and 18 to facilitate gripping.
• In Fig. 11, a further embodiment is shown in which thetool 80 comprises a base 82 withsides 84 and 86 of similar construction as in the first embodiment. The base has aslot 88. The ends 90 and 92 of the base 82 extend slightly beyond the side edges 93 and 95 of thesides 84 and 86 as most clearly shown in Fig. 12. Finger-like extensions 94 and 96 on theleft side 90, and 98 and 100 on theright side 92 extend downwardly to about mid-height of thesides 84 and 86.
• As in the previous embodiment, thesides 84 and 86 are provided withdepressions 87 and/or textured surfaces to facilitate gripping. The inner faces 103 and 105 ofwalls 84 and 86 are faced withprotrusions 106 that are indicated schematically.
• In all embodiments, lips extending slightly inwardly and outwardly from the edges and the side walls may be included to aid in preventing the fingers from slipping past the outer edges into the path of the slicing tool and on the inner edges to serve as a secondary holding means for the bagel.
• The present invention permits a bagel or similar food item to be sliced evenly and safely and handled with ease by the user.
• While the invention has been described by reference to an illustrative embodiment, it is not intended that the novel device be limited thereby, but that modifications thereof are intended to be included as falling within the broad spirit and scope of the foregoing disclosure, the following claims and the appended drawings.

Claims (7)

1. A tool for facilitating the even slicing of a bagel-like food item comprising the pair of spaced apart walls joined along the upper edges to a base running parallel to said upper edges of the walls, said base having a first end and a second end, said base having a slot in the inner face thereof opening towards the interior of the space defined by the spaced apart walls, for accommodating a slicing blade, inner surfaces of the spaced apart walls having a pattern of protrusions for gripping said bagel when the walls are pressed against the surfaces of the bagels.
2. A device as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the ends of the slots are beveled to facilitate entry of said slicing blade.
3. A tool as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said spaced apart walls are hinged to the base by hinges at the upper edges and the outer surfaces of said walls are provided with handles.
4. A tool as claimed in claim 3 wherein said hinges are biased to pivot said walls away from each other.
5. A tool as claimed in Claim 1 wherein outer surfaces of said walls have recesses formed therein to facilitate gripping.
6. A tool as claimed in Claim 1 wherein outer surfaces of said walls have textured surfaces formed thereon to facilitate gripping.
7. A tool as claimed in Claim 1 wherein descending finger-like extensions depend from each side of said slot at each end of said base to guide said cutting blade.

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