Pivotally-leveraged manual centrifugal drive

A pivotally-leveraged manual centrifugal drive for use with a bowl having an open top and a basket formed to nest within the bowl:

• a) a housing having a top, and having a bottom that is formed to mate with the top of the bowl;
• b) a rotation wheel rotatably connected to said bottom of said housing, formed to mate with the basket, and having a plane of rotation;
• c) a handle pivotally attached to said housing at a handle axis in said top of said housing and moveable, between an extended position and a down position, within a plane that is substantially perpendicular to said plane of rotation, wherein when in said down position said handle lies in a plane that is substantially parallel to said plane of rotation;
• and
• d) means for transferring pivotal force exerted on said handle into rotation of said rotation wheel.

A pivotally-leveraged manual centrifugal drive for use with a container having a bottom and an open top, comprising:

• a) a housing having a top, and having a bottom that is formed to mate with the top of the container;
• b) a rotating member for use with food items and formed to sit rotatably within the container;
• c) a rotating drive at said bottom of said housing, formed to engage said rotating member when said rotating member is seated within the container and said bottom of said housing is mated with the top of the container, and defining a drive axis of rotation;
• said rotating drive being oriented such that when said rotating member is seated within the container and said bottom of said housing is mated with the top of the container and said rotating drive is engaged with said rotating member, said drive axis of rotation runs centrally through the open top and the bottom of the container;
• d) a handle having two ends one of which is pivotally attached to said top of said housing such that said handle is oriented for a direction of pivotal movement between an extended position and a down position, the range of said movement defining a handle movement plane that is substantially perpendicular to a plane that is perpendicular to said drive axis of rotation, wherein when in said down position both ends of said handle are intersected by a plane that is substantially perpendicular to said drive axis of rotation;
• and
• e) gears and a clutch connecting said handle to said rotating drive.