Serving utensil with integral scraper
OwnerPhilip A. Koller, Roy Waldmaninventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A serving utensil for cakes and pies has a broad, flat blade with a slanted, upwardly extending rear portion and a tang extending rearwardly therefrom. An extendable planar scraper element is positioned in front of the slanted rear portion of the blade with a stem extending rearwardly through an opening in the slanted portion of the blade under the tang with a spring connected to the stem and to the tang to bias the scraper rearwardly. The scraper is normally positioned above the surface of the blade, but is is moveable downard to the blade and forward by a user's thumb pressure. A removable handle is slideably mounted on the tang and encloses the scraper stem and spring under the tang.
Claims7
A serving utensil comprising:
- a handle;
- a transition piece at one end of said handle forming an angle with the longitudinal axis of said handle;
- a flat blade extending away from said handle held in set apart relation to said handle and parallel to the longitudinal axis of said handle by said transition piece;
- a slide member slideably mounted on said handle;
- a scraper piece of such shape and size as to allow it to lie upon the surface of said transition piece;
- a traction and thrust member having a first end attached to said slide member and a second end attached to said scraper piece such that the scraper piece may be moved along the blade away from or toward the handle by movement of said slide member;
- an elastic element having a first end attached to said handle and a second end attached to said traction and thrust member so as to urge said scraper piece against said transition piece;
- an elongated planar handle mount extending from said transition piece;
- and
- an elongated handle piece of greater length than said handle mount having an open U-shaped cross-section extending from a first end along its length to a distance equal to the length of said handle mount, and a solid cross-section from that point to its other end, and having a groove just within the open section so as to allow said handle mount to engage said groove so as to form a handle having a void interior.
In serving utensil apparatus having a blade with a broad, flat planar surface and an upwardly slated rear portion and a tang with a slotted hole therein extending rearwardly from said upwardly slanted rear portion, said upwardly slanted rear portion having an opening therein above said flat planar surface and below said tang, a scraper element positioned over said planar surface and in front of said slanted rear portion with a stem extending rearwardly through said opening and under said tang, a shank extending upwardly from said stem and through said slotted hole with an enlarged knob thereon above said tang, a spring connected to said tang and to said stem for biasing said scraper element rearwardly, and a handle element mounted on said tang, the improvement comprising:
- said scraper element being planar and extending downwardly from the top of said opening a distance less than the distance from the top of said opening to the top of said flat planar surface such that the bottom edge of said scraper element is a spaced distance above said planar surface when the top of said stem is in contact with the top of said opening, said opening extending downwardly a sufficient distance to accommodate sufficient downward movement of said stem to move the bottom edge of said scraper element into contact with the top of said flat planar surface, and said shank being of sufficient length between said stem and said knob to accommodate such downward movement of said scraper element into contact with said planar surface;
- and
- said handle element having a longitudinal channel therein with an open top, wherein said channel is large enough to have positioned and enclosed therein said stem and said springs, said handle element also being removeable from said tang to expose and provide access to said stem and said spring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.