Brake mechanism for a device for drying foods and other items
AssigneeHelen of Troy Limited
InventorsMarco Perry, Mark Prommel, David Block
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A brake assembly for reducing the rotational velocity the spinning basket of a food spinning device applies a frictional force to an annular ridge on the lid of the spinning basket. A brake button movably disposed in a cover of the spinning device includes flexible pinching arms having cam surfaces. The cam surfaces of the flexible pinching arms extend through a guide aperture, thereby causing the pinching arms to flex toward each other when the brake button is depressed and to apply the frictional engagement to the annular ridge.
Claims17
A device for drying food comprising:
- a container including a bowl having a sidewall terminating at an edge defining an opening and a cover removably coupled to the bowl and substantially covering the opening;
- a basket assembly disposed in the bowl and rotatable relative to the container about an axis of rotation, the basket assembly including a basket having a sidewall with perforations and terminating at a top edge and a lid releasably coupled to the top edge of the basket;
- an upstanding generally annular ridge extending from a top surface of the lid toward the cover, the ridge disposed substantially coaxially about the axis of rotation;
- and
- a brake assembly including a brake button carried by the cover, wherein the brake button is operably coupled to pinching arms extending substantially parallel to the axis of rotation and movable between a non-braking position and a braking position wherein the pinching arms frictionally engage the annular ridge upon translation of the brake button relative to the lid, wherein the pinching arms flex toward each other when moving toward the braking position.
A device for drying food comprising:
- a container including a bowl having a sidewall terminating at an edge defining an opening and a cover removably coupled to the bowl and substantially covering the opening;
- a basket assembly disposed in the bowl and rotatable relative to the container about an axis of rotation, the basket assembly including a basket having perforations and a sidewall terminating at a top edge and a lid releasably coupled to the top edge of the basket;
- an annular upstanding ridge extending from a top surface of the lid toward the cover, the ridge being substantially coaxial about the axis of rotation;
- a brake button carried by the cover;
- pinching arms operably coupled to the brake button and movable between a non-braking position and a braking position to frictionally engage the annular ridge upon axial translation of the brake button toward to the lid, wherein the brake button and pinching arms are biased toward the non-braking position and flex toward each other when moving toward the braking position, wherein the brake button is vertically aligned with a location on the annular ridge engaged by the pinching arms when the pinching arms are in the braking position.
A method for reducing a rotational speed of a basket assembly disposed in a container including a bowl having a sidewall terminating at an edge defining an opening and a cover removably coupled to the bowl and substantially covering the opening, wherein the basket assembly is rotatable relative to the container about an axis of rotation, the basket assembly includes a basket having a sidewall terminating at a top edge and a lid removably coupled to the top edge of the basket, the method comprising:
- causing the basket assembly to rotate relative to the container;
- axially translating a brake button disposed in the cover, thereby causing pinching arms, which extend parallel to the axis of rotation, to frictionally engage an upstanding annular ridge disposed on a top surface of the lid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.