Apparatus for making a split pie

A pie-making apparatus for use in a pie pan including a generally flat circular bottom having a first diameter, an annular pie pan side having a bottom edge integral with the outer peripheral circumference of said flat circular bottom and a top pie pan rim spaced a predetermined distance above the plane of said flat circular bottom, said pie pan side being disposed upwardly from the plane of said flat circular bottom and radially outward from the center of said flat circular bottom such that the diameter of said pie pan rim is greater than the diameter of said flat circular bottom, a plane substantially parallel to the plane of said flat circular bottom passing through said pie pan rim for defining an open circular pie pan top and the space between said bottom, said top, and said side defining a pie pan interior adapted to receive a bottom layer of pie dough therein for substantially covering said bottom, said side, and at least a portion of said rim, said pie pan interior and said bottom layer of pie dough being adapted to receive a pie filling material therein and thereon, respectively, and said pie filling material being adapted to receive a second top layer of pie dough thereover, if desired, to form a complete pie ready for baking, said apparatus comprising:

• pie divider means adapted to be inserted within said pie pan interior after said bottom layer of pie dough is added but before said pie filling material and said top layer of pie dough are added for dividing said pie into a plurality of different and distinct pie sections;
• each of said different and distinct pie sections being adapted to receive a different and distinct pie filling material therein, and each of said different and distinct pie filling materials having a substantially equal baking time, and a different and distinct one of said pie filling materials being added to each of said plurality of different and distinct pie sections before said top layer of pie dough is placed thereover, said pie divider means including a first elongated strip having a length substantially equal to the diameter of said circular pie pan, said first elongated strip having two substantially, equally dimensioned end portions and a hollow mid-portion therebetween, said mid-portion including upper and lower eyelet-forming means integral with and joining said two portions together such that the hollow interior of said upper and lower eyelet-forming means are vertically aligned with each other and spaced a predetermined distance apart,
• a second separator strip member having a length approximately equal to the radius of said pie pan, an outer distal end adapted to abutedly conform to the shape of the side of said pie pan and a pair of upper and lower eyelet-forming means operatively disposed on the interior opposite end thereof,
• a third separate strip member having a length approximately equal to the radius of said pie pan, an outer distal end adapted to abutedly conform to the shape of the side of said pie pan and a single eyelet-forming means operatively disposed at the mid-portion of the opposite interior end thereof;
• said single eyelet-forming means of said third separator strip member being adapted to be operatively disposed in the gap between the upper and lower eyelet-forming means on the interior distal end of said second separator strip and the combination thereof being adapted to fit in the gap between the upper and lower eyelet-forming means at the mid-portion of said first elongated strip such that the apertures through the eyelet-forming means are all coaxially vertically aligned with one another, and
• pivot pin means adapted to be inserted through the hollow apertures of said vertically aligned eyelet-forming means for enabling said second and third separator strips to be selectively positioned with respect to the plane of said first elongated strip.