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US 11,229,306 B2Granted
Locking knife holder
AssigneeBrothers Brands, Inc.
InventorJordan Schmidt
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A locking knife holder uses either mechanical or electronic locking systems to secure the knives into the holder. The electronic locking system includes the implementation of one or more electromagnets into the holder. The user can then selectively lock or unlock the knives in the holder by activating or deactivating, respectively the electromagnet. In other implementations, the mechanical locking system can use magnetic keys to unlock the mechanical locking system.
Claims9
A knife holder comprising:
- a body having a block having a front surface;
- a magnetic locking mechanism in communication with the front surface of the block and configured to selectively lock at least one knife blade against the front surface of the block, the magnetic locking mechanism having at least two distinct magnetic strength levels, a first of said at least two distinct magnetic strengths being high enough to prevent removal of the at least one knife blade from the front surface of the block, and a second of said at least two distinct magnetic strengths being high enough to retain the at least one knife blade against the front surface of the block and low enough to enable the at least one knife blade to be removed from the block by hand.
A knife holder comprising:
- a body having a front surface;
- and
- a rotating magnet disposed within body and having at least two distinct and different magnetic strengths relative to each other and the front surface, the at least two distinct magnetic strengths being determined based on a rotational position of the magnet relative to the front surface, such that in one predetermined rotational position a first of said two distinct magnetic strengths is high enough to prevent removal of a knife from the front surface by hand, and in a second predetermined rotational position, a second of said two distinct magnetic strengths is lower than the first distinct magnetic strength such that the knife is magnetically retained against the front surface of the body yet can be removed from the front surface by hand.
A knife holder comprising:
- a body having a front surface;
- electronic circuitry inside the body;
- at least one permanent magnet within the body, the at least one permanent magnet magnetically securing a knife blade against the front surface with a first magnetic strength;
- at least one electromagnet electrically coupled to the circuitry and when activated further magnetically securing the knife blade against the front surface with a second magnetic strength without mechanically engaging the knife blade;
- a switch electrically coupled to the circuitry and the at least one electromagnet and configured to selectively activate and deactivate the at least one electromagnet;
- and
- wherein the first magnetic strength is lower than the second magnetic strength, such that the knife blade stays attached to the front surface of the body under the first magnetic strength and can only be removed from the front surface by hand when the second magnetic strength of the electromagnet is deactivated and cannot be removed from the front surface of the body by hand when the second magnetic strength of the at least one electromagnet is activated.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.