Combination condiment grinder and dispenser
AssigneeF. Bartow Fite
InventorsDavid A. Holcomb, James A. Tryon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A combination condiment grinder and dispenser mechanism (10) which can be held and operated by one hand and which includes a hand-activated lever (80) which when squeezed forces a grinding surface (88,90) in one direction against spring (92) pressure. When the hand-actuated lever (80) is released, the grinding surface (90) reverses. The grinding action thus is linear or arcuate. The upper portion of the dispenser has a salt or other condiment compartment (38) which can be sprinkled from the top thereof. Only one hand is necessary to dispense either pepper or salt or other condiment from the body of the device.
Claims18
An adjustable condiment grinding device for a hand-held condiment grinder, comprising:
- a first member having a condiment gripping surface, said gripping surface having a discharge end;
- a second member having a sloped surface converging toward said discharge end of said first member;
- a sharp-cornered edge at the termination of the sloped surface of the second member adjacent the discharge end of the first member and extending outwardly from said second member toward said first member beyond the plane of the sloped surface of the second member;
- means for reciprocating one of said members relative to the other member along a first path for grinding condiment between said gripping surface and said sharp-cornered edge;
- and
- means for adjusting the position of one of said members relative to the other member in a direction perpendicular to said first path.
A hand-held condiment grinder having a housing with a discharge opening, a reciprocable condiment gripping element in said opening, means for reciprocating the condiment gripping element including means biasing the grippng element upwardly away from the discharge opening, a vertically restrained but horizontally movable shearing element having a sloped surface and a shearing edge protruding outwardly from the termination of said sloped surface toward said condiment gripping element but terminating a predetermined distance from the gripping element to define a grinding gap therebetween, and means for adjustably positioning the shearing element in said horizontal direction to adjust the width of said grinding gap.
A hand-held adjustble condiment grinding device, comprising:
- hand-held housing;
- a first member mounted in the housing having a condiment gripping surface with upper and lower ends;
- a second member mounted in the housing having a sloped shearing surface converging toward the lower end of the gripping surface of the first member and ending adjacent the gripping surface of the first member, said second member having a sharp-cornered edge protruding outwardly from the second member adjacent the lower end of the gripping surface of the first member;
- means for reciprocating one of said members relative to the other member along a first path for cracking condiment between the gripping surface and the sharp-cornered edge of the shearing surface;
- a guide track in the housing positioned generally perpendicular to the first path;
- the second member being mounted slidably within the guide track and movable toward and away from the first member;
- and
- means for precisely adjusting the sliding movement of the second member within the track to finely adjust the gap between the sharp-cornered edge of the shearing surface and the gripping surface for adjusting the coarseness of the cracked condiment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.