Impeller for use with vegetable cutter

In a vegetable cutter having a hollow, cylindrical drum for receiving vegetables, said drum having a forward end through which vegetables are received and a rear end, a slabbing knife mounted adjacent the periphery of said drum, said knife being substantially parallel to the axis of said drum and extending into the interior of said drum and terminating in a cutting edge, a plurality of radially oriented impeller blades mounted within the drum for movement of the blades such that the blades sweep the interior surface of the drum and urge the vegetables against the cutting edge of the knife, the improvement wherein each of said impeller blades curves in the direction of movement of the impeller blades as it extends from the rear of the drum to the forward end of the drum so as to form a curved portion in each of the impeller blades so that as a vegetable enters the drum and moves to the rear of the drum, the curvature of each of the blades is such that the blade curves away from the advancing vegetable, so as to minimize the force of impact between the vegetable and the blade when the vegetable and the blade come into contact.

A rotatable impeller assembly for use with a vegetable cutter comprising:

• a cylindrical shaft having a first and a second end;
• a backing plate affixed to said first end of said shaft, substantially orthogonal thereto;
• a plurality of impeller blades oriented radially with respect to said shaft equally spaced around said shaft, each of said impeller blades having a rectangular first portion extending from said shaft adjacent said first end of said shaft, a curved second portion extending from said first portion in a direction toward said second end of said shaft and curving around said shaft in the direction of rotation of the impeller assembly, and a third finger portion extending from said second portion toward the second end of said shaft and continuing to curve in said direction of rotation, the width of said finger portion in a direction radially oriented relative to said shaft decreasing as the blade extends toward said second end of said shaft.

An impeller assembly for use in a vegetable cutter, comprising:

• shaft means for mounting said impeller assembly for rotation in a predetermined direction about an axis,
• a plurality of impeller blades mounted on said shaft means, the width dimension of said blades being oriented generally radially relative to said axis, each blade having a rearward rectangular portion affixed to and radiating from said shaft and having a curved forward portion affixed to and extending forwardly from said rearward portion, said forward portion curving about said axis in said predetermined direction as it extends forwardly, said forward portion being of lesser width than said rearward portion, each of said blades having an outer edge equidistant from said axis at all points along said edge.