Eating tool

Abstract

An eating tool (100) is composed of a rod-shaped member (102) which comprises a holding portion (104) and a utensil portion (108) provided at a tip of the holding portion (104) for holding or cutting food (106) to carry the food (106) into mouth, wherein the utensil portion (108) comprises a fork (110) split into two and a knife portion (114) in which a plurality of grooves (112) are formed outside one of the split portion of the fork (110).

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to an eating tool for having a meal.DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART[0002]In the past, forks and knives have been used for Western dishes and chopsticks have been used for Japanese dishes. Various shapes of chopsticks have been created (For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. JP 2006-20700 A). Further, disposable chopsticks are used for eating out or eating home. In Japan, 2.6 million pairs of disposable chopsticks are annually used and in China, 4.5 million pairs of disposable chopsticks are annually used, resulting in the consumption of 8 million pairs of disposable chopsticks that are disposed of as a large amount of wastes after use.[0003]Originally, Japanese disposable chopsticks contributed to natural environment protection. That is, the use of disposable chopsticks was good Japanese traditional culture because such disposable chopsticks were created to effectively use thinned wood and pieces of wood left from lumber...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0020]According to the eating tool of the present invention, a utensil portion comprises a fork and a knife portion, so that the eating tool can be used either as a fork or a knife and the eating tool can be used as chopsticks when using two pieces. Further, when the holding portion is helically shaped, it is easily possible to prevent the slippery of a hand as well as holding the holding portion having a prescribed thickness, even if the eating tool is used either as a fork or as a knife. Furthermore, according to the eating tool of the present invention, one kind of eating tool can be used for a variety of foods. For instance, regarding a course meal, one kind of eating tool can be used for the whole meal, such as appetizers, such as a soup and a salad and the like, a main course, such as a fish dish and a meat dish and the like, and desserts, such as fruits or sweets and the like.

[0021]Moreover, if the use of disposable chopsticks is reduced by the widespread of the eating tool according to the present invention, it will become possible to prevent the destruction of forests, as well as restricting the generation of about 1.2 million tons of wastes per year caused by the use of disposable chopsticks. CO2 absorption by forests can be promoted. Accordingly, it is possible to contribute to the nature preservation by using the eating tool of the present invention, resulting in support of people's movement for nature preservation.

[0022]A preferred embodiment of an eating tool according to the present invention will now be described in detail on the basis of the accompanying drawing. In FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), reference numeral 100 is an eating tool of the present invention. The eating tool 100 is mainly used at household or a restaurant. Although the material of the eating tool 100 is not particularly limited, stainless-steel can contribute to cost reduction because stainless eating tools can be repeatedly used by being washed, which results in contribution to cost reduction. The eating tool may be antibacterial plated for good sanitation. The eating tool 100 may be made of ferritic stainless-steel and may be configured not to make any noises by carrying the eating tool 100 while putting the eating tool 100 into a plastic case with a magnet attaching the eating tool 100 into the case. In the case of austenite stainless-steel, the thickness of the material covered with a transparent oxide film is varied in units of 0.1μ to be configured so as to be highly fancy and elaborately-designed by beautifully coloring the stainless-steel surface because of interference phenomenon of light. And the stainless-steel surface may be so treated to be colorful. Furthermore, the eating tool 100 can be easily put name stamp as so-called “my chopsticks” for personal use when eating at home and eating out.

[0023]The eating tool 100 of the present invention is composed of a rod-shaped member 102 and comprises: a holding portion 104; and a utensil portion 108 provided on a tip of the holding portion 104 for holding or cutting food 106 to bring the food 106 to the user's mouth. As shown in FIG. 2 (a), the utensil portion 108 comprises: a fork 110 split into two, wherein a knife portion 114 is configured by forming a plurality of grooves 112 outside one of the fork 110 split into two. The grooves 112 are formed from a front side surface 116 to an outside surface 118 and are invisible from the back side. As shown in FIG. 2 (d), in the grooves 112, a square pyramid having four triangular surfaces 120 (a), 120 (b), 120 (c), and 120 (d) is formed. Accordingly, the knife portion 114 is not saw-shaped and is preferable when bringing the food 106 to the user's mouth and the like for safety. As mentioned above, the reason why it is necessary to consider safety is that the eating tool 100 is used not only as a knife but also as a fork. Further, the eating tool 100 has high intensity compared with that having a saw-shaped knife. On the other hand, it is possible to cut the food 106 because of having the triangular surfaces 120 (a), 120 (c), and 120 (d). That is, the shape of the grooves 112 are in the best form for being used as a knife while considering safety. In addition, the fork 110 split into two has a recess along a longitudinal direction. Moreover, the fork 110 split into two is taper-shaped by forging. Since this improves intensity, there is no possibility of the fork 110 being warped when used as a knife.

[0024]As shown in FIG. 1 (b), a pattern 122 is designed on the back side surface of the utensil portion 108 to represent a rabbit whose ears are the fork 110 split into two, which is preferable from the standpoint of appearance. And a pattern 124 are carved on the holding portion 104 to prevent the user's hand from slipping as well as being preferable appearance. Furthermore, a plurality of lines 126 are carved around a back-end of the holding portion 104 to hold the food 106 at the back-end.

[0025]As shown in FIG. 3, the eating tool 100 can be used as chopsticks when used in pairs. In this case, the utensil portions 108 are in a shape of being twisted at 90° with respect to the rod-shaped members 102. It is easy to hold the eating tool 100 because a surface of one of the utensil portions 108 is overlapped with a surface of the other utensil portion 108. It is possible to prevent noodles from falling by using the two eating tools 100 as chopsticks while facing up the knife portions 114 to eat wheat noodles or back wheat. When holding one of the eating tools 100 by the right hand as a knife and holding the other eating tool 100 by the left hand as a fork, as shown in FIG. 4, the eating tools 100 can be used as a knife and a fork. In addition, the part formed by twisting the utensil portion 108 at an angle of 90° with respect to the rod-shaped member 102 swells out relative to the other part, so that the utensil portion 108 is not in contact with the upper surface of the table when putting the eating tool 100 on the table while facing the front side or the back side downward, the eating tool 100 has a function as a chopstick stand. Besides, the eating tool 100 can be conveniently used to practice how to use a spoon, a fork, and chopsticks starting from the age of three.

Problems solved by technology

In Japan, 2.6 million pairs of disposable chopsticks are annually used and in China, 4.5 million pairs of disposable chopsticks are annually used, resulting in the consumption of 8 million pairs of disposable chopsticks that are disposed of as a large amount of wastes after use.

Therefore, an issue that forests of China or the like are decreasing has been raised.

On the contrary, Japan has facing the crises that man-made forests in Japan are not taken care without thinning the man-made forests, resulting in death of the forests.

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