MANUAL MEAT PRESS

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a manual meat press for pieces of meat according to the preamble of claim 1.

[0002] Cuts of meat used to prepare dishes such as Wiener Schnitzel, Schnitzel Wiener Art, roulades, or Cordon Bleu are usually pounded with a meat mallet before frying to ensure a uniform thickness and prevent the meat from shrinking during cooking. However, this manual pounding is time-consuming and cumbersome, and it doesn't always produce the desired quality.

[0003] Manual meat presses are also known in which the piece of meat is placed on a support plate and a pressure plate positioned above it is pressed onto the meat by means of an operating lever. Such known meat presses are often not as easy and simple to operate as desired, or are expensive to manufacture and purchase.

[0004] US 2006 / 078 642 A1 concerns a patty forming device. The device includes an element for adjusting the volume of a forming chamber in order to preset the approximate weight of a patty.

[0005] DE 86 10 688 U1 relates to a mechanical ham press for processing raw and cooked ham.

[0006] The invention is therefore based on the objective of creating a manual meat press according to the preamble of claim 1 that is simple, light and intuitive to use, delivers particularly precise pressing results and is cost-effective to manufacture.

[0007] This problem is solved by a manual meat press with the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the further claims.

[0008] The meat press according to the invention has the following features: a stationary holding console, a support plate connected to the stationary holding console for placing the pieces of meat, a pressure plate movable between an opening position furthest from the support plate and a lower end position in which the pressure plate maintains a minimum distance from the support plate, a lifting device for moving the pressure plate between an upper lifting position and the lower end position over a stroke extending to the lower end position, in which the pressure plate is aligned parallel to the support plate, an actuating lever for manually moving the pressure plate relative to the support plate, wherein the lifting device, with which the pressure plate can be moved in an orientation parallel to the support plate, is attached to a swivel arm which is pivotably mounted on the stationary holding console about a horizontal pivot axis and is positioned between a pivoted starting position,in which the pressure plate assumes its maximum open position, and is pivotable to a lower pivot position, in which the pressure plate is parallel to the support plate and in an intermediate position located above its lower end position.

[0009] The meat press according to the invention is particularly simple, lightweight, and intuitive to operate. This is primarily due to the fact that both the pivoting movement of the swivel arm, which moves the pressure plate between the maximum opening position and the lowered intermediate position, and the actuation of the lifting mechanism, which applies a high pressing force to the pieces of meat, can be performed by a single, fluid movement of the operating lever in the same vertical plane. In other words, the operating lever only needs to be continuously pivoted downwards or upwards to perform the pressing process or to fully open the meat press for the next loading process. Pressing the pieces of meat can be carried out very precisely, quickly, and with minimal effort. The meat press requires little space. Furthermore, the meat press according to the invention is inexpensive to manufacture.

[0010] According to the invention, the actuating lever is operatively connected to both the swivel arm and the lifting device, such that, starting from a maximum opening position of the meat press, a manual pivoting of the actuating lever over a first pivoting range initially causes a pivoting movement of the swivel arm from its pivoted starting position to its lower pivoting position, without moving the pressure plate to its lower end position by means of the lifting device, and a manual pivoting of the actuating lever over a second pivoting range adjoining the first pivoting range causes actuation of the lifting device, such that the pressure plate is moved along the stroke path parallel to the support plate to its lower end position.This design ensures that the pivoting movement of the swivel arm and the actuation of the lifting device can be carried out in a particularly simple way, directly one after the other.

[0011] According to an advantageous embodiment, the lifting device comprises a guide piston connected to the pressure plate, which is guided longitudinally displaceably in a guide sleeve of the swivel arm. This allows the pressure plate to be guided precisely on the swivel arm and displaced relative to it.

[0012] According to an advantageous embodiment, the lifting device comprises a toggle lever for displacing the guide piston relative to the pivot arm, wherein the toggle lever can be actuated by means of the actuating lever. By means of such a toggle lever, the pressure plate can be moved from the lowered intermediate position, initially quickly and then more slowly, but with considerable force, to its lower end position, according to the toggle lever principle. This enables both rapid handling of the meat press and the application of a high pressing force at the end of the pressing stroke.

[0013] According to an advantageous embodiment, the actuating lever is pivotably mounted on the pivot arm and rotationally fixed to a first toggle lever element of the lifting device toggle lever, while a second toggle lever element of the lifting device toggle lever is coupled on one side to the guide piston and on the other side to the first toggle lever element. This allows for a simple and effective toggle lever principle in which the clamping force increases sharply as the clamping plate approaches its lower end position.

[0014] According to an advantageous embodiment, the lifting device's toggle lever interacts with a stop that limits the angular position of the first and second toggle lever elements relative to each other to a maximum of 180°, preferably to 160° to 180°. This stops the lowering movement of the lifting device, and thus that of the pressure plate, at a precisely defined height position, i.e., in the lower end position, where the pressure plate maintains a precisely defined distance from the support plate. A precisely defined pressing thickness of the meat can thus be achieved very easily by pressing the actuating lever downwards until the stop blocks any further pivoting movement of the actuating lever.

[0015] According to an advantageous embodiment, the swivel arm can be locked in its lower pivot position, in which the pressure plate occupies the intermediate position, by means of a locking device that blocks any pivoting movement of the swivel arm. This allows the swivel arm to be easily locked in its lower pivot position, in which the pressure plate is aligned parallel to the support plate, so that the swivel arm is stationary and prevented from pivoting upwards when the pressure plate is pressed onto the piece of meat by means of the lifting device and the counterforce must be absorbed by the swivel arm.

[0016] According to an advantageous embodiment, the locking device comprises a locking toggle lever, which includes a first toggle lever element pivotably mounted on the stationary mounting bracket about a toggle lever pivot axis, and a second toggle lever element articulated to the pivot arm and capable of being moved into an over-center position that blocks the pivoting movement of the pivot arm. This allows the locking mechanism to be... dh The swivel arm's locking mechanism in its lower pivot position can be easily released by a further movement of the operating lever once the swivel arm has reached its lower pivot position when closing the meat press. The release of the lock when opening the meat press can be achieved in the reverse manner.

[0017] Instead of such a locking toggle lever, other locking devices are also conceivable, for example those in which the locking is automatic and uses a swivel angle detection device which detects the swivel angle of the swivel arm relative to the holding console.

[0018] According to an advantageous embodiment, the second toggle lever element of the locking toggle lever is articulated to the pivot arm by means of a guide axis which, in the lower pivot position of the pivot arm, abuts a stop on the stationary mounting bracket and is in the over-center position relative to a connecting line that runs through the toggle lever pivot axis and a toggle lever element connecting axis. The stop can preferably be formed by the end wall of an arcuate slot in the stationary mounting bracket through which the guide axis attached to the pivot arm extends.

[0019] According to an advantageous embodiment, the locking toggle lever interacts with a release lever, which, by means of a pivoting movement of the actuating lever in the opening direction, moves the locking toggle lever in a direction of rotation that allows the pivot arm to be pivoted upwards.

[0020] According to an advantageous embodiment, the release lever has a first end that is attached to the first toggle lever element of the locking toggle lever, and a second end that, in the lowered end position of the pressure plate, can be brought into coupling engagement with the lifting device toggle lever and transmits an opening force to the locking toggle lever during an opening movement of the lifting device toggle lever.

[0021] According to an advantageous embodiment, the release lever is pivotably mounted at its first end on the first toggle lever element of the locking toggle lever, wherein the second end of the release lever is springily biased into a starting position in which the second end is located in the pivoting range of the lifting device toggle lever.

[0022] According to an advantageous embodiment, the first toggle lever element of the locking toggle lever is pre-tensioned in the opening direction by means of a spring attached to the stationary mounting bracket. This ensures that the pivot arm remains in its maximum open position as long as it is not pivoted downwards by means of the actuating lever.

[0023] According to an advantageous embodiment, a spring is attached to the first toggle lever element of the lifting device toggle lever and to the first toggle lever element of the locking toggle lever, which exerts a rotational force on the first toggle lever element of the lifting device toggle lever in the opening direction. This ensures that the lifting device remains in its upper starting position as long as it is not lowered by means of the actuating lever.

[0024] According to an advantageous embodiment, a height-adjustable support plate is provided, with which the support plate is attached to the stationary holding bracket in a height-adjustable manner. This allows the distance that the pressure plate maintains in its lower end position relative to the support plate, and thus the thickness of the pressed piece of meat, to be easily adjusted or changed. It is therefore not necessary to change the swivel range of the swivel arm and / or the stroke of the lifting device when the pressed thickness of the meat piece is to be changed.

[0025] According to an advantageous embodiment, the support plate height adjustment device comprises one or more insert elements that can be inserted between the support plate and the stationary holding bracket to determine the height position of the support plate relative to the stationary holding bracket. This allows for particularly simple adjustment and modification of the distance between the pressure plate and the support plate.

[0026] The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings. They show: Figures 1 to 3: spatial representations of the meat press according to the invention in a maximum opening position, intermediate position or lower end position of the pressure plate; Figure 4: an exploded view of the meat press; Figures 5 to 7: vertical sections through the meat press in the maximum opening position, intermediate position or lower end position of the pressure plate; and Figure 8: a vertical section through the meat press, showing a state that the meat press assumes after the pressing process when the locking toggle lever is unlocked.

[0027] The Figures 1 to 3 show a manually operated meat press 1 in three different states or positions.

[0028] In Figure 1The meat press 1 is fully open. A pressure plate 2 of the meat press 1 is in a fully open position relative to a support plate 3 located below it, which serves to place pieces of meat (not shown) and is attached to a horizontal base plate 4 of a stationary holding console 5.

[0029] In the maximum opening position, the pressure plate 2 is spaced at its maximum distance from the support plate 3 and is arranged at an angle, which in the illustrated embodiment is 60°, obliquely to the horizontal plane and thus to the support plate 3. Other angles are readily possible, particularly in the range of 40° to 80°.

[0030] Due to the inclined position of the pressure plate 2, in the maximum opening position there is a large space between pressure plate 2 and support plate 3, which allows the pieces of meat to be placed on the support plate 3 without obstruction and without the pressure plate 2 swiveling to the side.

[0031] The stationary support bracket 5 further comprises a vertical arm 6, which is rigidly connected to the base plate 4 and extends vertically upwards from it. The vertical arm 6 has two parallel, spaced-apart side walls 6a, 6b, so that a space exists between the side walls 6a, 6b in which further functional elements of the meat press can be arranged, which will be described in more detail below. The side walls 6a, 6b thus form part of a housing.

[0032] A swivel arm 7 is pivotally mounted on the side walls 6a, 6b by means of two pivot bolts 8 and can thus be pivoted about a horizontal pivot axis 9 relative to the stationary support bracket 5. In the Figure 1 In the maximum opening position shown, the swivel arm 7 extends obliquely upwards from the vertical arm 6 of the stationary support bracket 5. From this position, the swivel arm 7 can be extended as shown in the Figures 2 and 3 It can be seen that it is pivoted downwards over a predetermined swivel range into a lower swivel position, in which it is then, for example, at least essentially horizontally aligned.

[0033] The swivel arm 7 has two parallel, spaced-apart side walls 7a, 7b, so that there is a space between the side walls 7a, 7b in which further functional elements of the meat press can be accommodated, which will be described in more detail below. The swivel arm 7 is covered at the top by an upper cover 7c. The side walls 7a, 7b thus form a housing together with the upper cover 7c.

[0034] The pressure plate 2 is attached to the swivel arm 7 by means of a lifting device 10 ( Fig. 3 ) such that the pressure plate 2 can be moved towards or away from the support plate 3, particularly after a pivot locking of the swivel arm 7.

[0035] Both the pivoting of the swivel arm 7 and the actuation of the lifting device 10 are effected by means of a manually operated actuating lever 11, which is pivotably mounted in the side walls 7a, 7b of the swivel arm 7 about a horizontal pivot axis 12. The actuating lever 11 comprises two longitudinal struts 11a, 11b, which are connected at their free ends by means of a handle 11c.

[0036] Figure 2 Figure 7 shows the swivel arm 7 in its lowered, pivoted position, in which the pressure plate 2 is aligned parallel to the support plate 3 and occupies an intermediate position relative to it, since the lifting device 10 has not yet been actuated. In this intermediate position, the pressure plate 2 is already very close to the piece of meat, although it preferably does not yet touch pieces of meat of typical thickness.

[0037] A pivoting movement of the actuating lever 11 about its pivot axis 12 relative to the pivot arm 7 does not yet take place when the pivot arm 7 is pivoted from its maximum opening position to its lower pivot position.

[0038] Figure 3 The meat press 1 is shown after the lifting device 10 has been actuated by means of the operating lever 11 such that the pressure plate 2 has been moved downwards to its lower end position relative to the pivot arm 7, which is locked in its lower pivot position. During this lifting movement, the pressure plate 2 remains aligned parallel to the support plate 3. In the lower end position, the pressure plate 2 has a specific, predetermined minimum distance to the support plate 3, which determines the thickness of the piece of meat after pressing.

[0039] The lifting device 10 is actuated by the actuating lever 11, starting from its position in Figure 2In the position shown, the lifting device 10 is manually pivoted downwards around its pivot axis 12 relative to the lowered, stationary pivot arm 7. After completion of the pressing process, the lifting device 10 and the pivot arm 7 can preferably be returned to their positions with spring assistance and without effort. Figure 1 The starting position shown will be returned.

[0040] Based on the Figures 4 and 5 The following section describes in more detail the construction of the meat press 1.

[0041] As already mentioned, the swivel arm 7 is pivotally mounted on the vertical arm 6 of the stationary mounting bracket 5 by means of the pivot pins 8. The side walls 7a, 7b of the swivel arm 7 are spaced slightly further apart from each other than the side walls 6a, 6b of the vertical arm 6, so that one end of the swivel arm 7 overlaps the vertical arm 6 from the outside. Figure 4shows a bearing bore 13 provided in the side wall 7a, through which one of the hinge bolts 8 can be passed.

[0042] The pivoting range of the pivoting arm 7 is limited by two arc-shaped elongated holes 14, which are provided opposite each other in the side walls 6a, 6b of the vertical arm 6, and a guide axis 15, which extends through the elongated holes 14 and is fixedly attached on both sides to the side walls 7a, 7b of the pivoting arm 7 at a distance from the pivot axis 9. Figure 4 A bore 16 in the side wall 7a is shown, through which one end of the guide axis 15 extends.

[0043] The two ends of the elongated holes 14 thus form stops against which the guide axis 15 abuts in the raised starting position of the swivel arm 7, i.e. in the maximum opening position of the meat press 1, or in the lowered, lower swivel position of the swivel arm 7.

[0044] After pivoting the swivel arm 7 into its lower pivot position, the swivel arm 7 is locked by means of a locking device such that during the subsequent pressing process, the swivel arm 7 can no longer pivot back into its raised starting position. In the illustrated embodiment, this locking device comprises a locking toggle lever 17 with a first toggle lever element 18 and a second toggle lever element 19.

[0045] In the illustrated embodiment, the first toggle lever element 18 consists of two toggle lever element parts 18a, 18b arranged parallel to each other, while the second toggle lever element 19 consists of two toggle lever element parts 19a, 19b arranged parallel to each other.

[0046] The first toggle lever element 18 is pivotably mounted at a first end on the side walls 6a, 6b of the swivel arm 6 by means of a transverse axle element 20 about a toggle lever pivot axis 21.

[0047] The second toggle lever element 19 is pivotally connected at one end to a central section of the first toggle lever element 18 by means of a transverse axle element 22 and is pivotable about a toggle lever connecting axis 23. At a second end, the axle element 22 is connected to the guide axis 15.

[0048] The arc-shaped elongated holes 14 describe a circular arc around the pivot axis 9 of the swivel arm 7. The lower ends of the elongated holes 14 are arranged such that the guide axis 15 is in the lower pivot position of the swivel arm 7, as shown in the figure. Figure 6 evident, relative to a connecting line 24, which runs through the toggle lever pivot axis 21 and the toggle lever element connecting axis 23, in an over-center position, i.e. in Figure 6slightly to the left of the connecting line 24. If, in this position of the locking toggle lever 17, a force is applied to the free end of the pivot arm 7 that attempts to pivot the pivot arm 7 upwards back to its raised starting position, such an opening movement is blocked by the locking toggle lever 17, since the guide axis 15 applies a torque to the first toggle lever element 18 via the second toggle lever element 19, which prevents the first toggle lever element 18 from opening, i.e., Figure 6 counterclockwise, but instead generates a clockwise torque on the first toggle lever element 18, which prevents the guide axis 15 from moving upwards along the arc-shaped elongated holes 14.

[0049] In the Figures 5 and 6The lifting device 10 is in its upper lifting position, i.e., the lifting device 10 is not extended towards the support plate 3.

[0050] The lifting device 10 comprises a lifting device toggle lever 25 and a guide piston 26, which can be moved in a guide sleeve 27 of the swivel arm 7 by means of the lifting device toggle lever 25 in order to move the pressure plate 2 into its lower end position.

[0051] The guide sleeve 27 is fixed to the swivel arm 7 and projects downwards beyond it. The longitudinal axis of the guide sleeve 27 is perpendicular to the main plane of the pressure plate 2.

[0052] To reduce friction, a sliding bearing bushing 28 is arranged between the guide sleeve 27 and the guide piston 26. The sliding bearing bushing 28 advantageously extends to a lower end region of the guide sleeve 27 and is held axially there by an inwardly projecting collar of the guide sleeve 27.

[0053] In the upper end region of the guide sleeve 27 a spacer bushing 29 is arranged, which prevents an axial displacement of the sliding bearing bushing 28 upwards.

[0054] The pressure plate 2 is connected to the lower end of the guide piston 26 by means of screws 50 ( Figure 4 ) firmly connected. Advantageously, the guide piston 26 is placed on the pressure plate 2 in a central area.

[0055] In the upper stroke position, the guide piston 26 is preferably fully retracted into the guide sleeve 27. The pressure plate 23 abuts the lower end of the guide sleeve 27, thus limiting the upward stroke. From this upper stroke position, the guide piston 26 can, as in Figure 7 shown, extend downwards out of the guide sleeve 27 until the pressure plate 2 has reached its lower end position.

[0056] The lifting device toggle lever 25 comprises a first toggle lever element 30 and a second toggle lever element 31.

[0057] As from Figure 4 As can be seen, the first toggle lever element 30 in the illustrated embodiment consists of two parallel toggle lever element parts 30a, 30b, which are rigidly connected to an axis 32. The axis 32 extends transversely outwards from a central region of the toggle lever element parts 30a, 30b on both sides and is rotatably mounted on both sides in bearing bores 33a, 33b of the side walls 7a, 7b or in bearing bushings 34a, 34b which are inserted into the bearing bores 33a, 33b.

[0058] The first toggle lever element 30 is non-rotatably connected to the actuating lever 11 via the axis 32, drive elements 35a, 35b and clamping screws 36a, 36b. A pivoting of the actuating lever 11 relative to the pivot arm 7 thus causes a corresponding pivoting of the first toggle lever element 30 within the pivot arm 7.

[0059] The second toggle lever element 31 is connected on the one hand to a first end region of the first toggle lever element 30 by means of a joint axis 37 and on the other hand to the guide piston 26 by means of a cylindrical pin 38.

[0060] When the guide piston 26 is in its upper stroke position, which is in Figure 6 As shown, the two toggle lever elements 30, 31 are angled relatively sharply relative to each other, with the angle preferably being less than 110° and, for example, between 60° and 90°. If, on the other hand, the first toggle lever element 30 is moved by means of the actuating lever 11, starting from the position shown in Figure 6In the position shown, pivoted clockwise, the two toggle lever elements 30, 31 are increasingly extended relative to each other until they form an angle of preferably 180° and the distance between the axis 32 and the guide piston 26 is maximized. This moves the pressure plate 2 from its intermediate position to its lower end position, which is in Figure 7 is shown.

[0061] The pivoting movement of the actuating lever 11, and thus the lowering movement of the pressure plate 2 beyond its predetermined lower end position, is stopped by the fact that, as shown from Figure 7 It can be seen that the lifting device toggle lever 25 strikes a stop 39 of the swivel arm 7 when the maximum permissible extension position of the two toggle lever elements 30, 31 relative to each other is reached.

[0062] Due to the toggle effect, the pressure plate 2 is moved when the actuating lever 11 is moved from the Figure 6shown position relative to the swivel arm 7 in the Figure 7 As the illustrated position is pivoted downwards, the pressure plate 2 is initially moved quickly at the beginning of the stroke, and then increasingly slowly but with increasing force as the stroke progresses, approaching the support plate 3. This makes it possible to overcome the free distance between the pressure plate 2 and the piece of meat very quickly by pivoting the actuating lever 11 relative to the swivel arm 7 in an energy-saving manner, and furthermore, to apply a very high pressing force as the pressure plate 2 approaches its lower end position.

[0063] In order to fully reopen the meat press 1 after the pressing process and to pivot the swivel arm 7 upwards relative to the stationary support bracket 5, the swivel lock of the swivel arm 7 must be released. For this purpose, a release lever 40 is provided, which is located inside the swivel arm 7.

[0064] The release lever 40 is articulated to the free end of the first toggle lever element 18 of the locking toggle lever 17 by means of a pivot pin 41. From there, the release lever 40 extends towards the lifting device toggle lever 25. The release lever 40 has a length and is designed and arranged such that its free end 42 can be engaged and disengaged at its end face with a drive pin 43, which is fixed in an end region of the first toggle lever element 30 of the lifting device toggle lever 25, depending on the pivot position of the first toggle lever elements 18, 30.

[0065] In the Figure 5In the maximum opening position shown, the free end 42 of the release lever 40 is not engaged with the drive pin 43 of the lifting device toggle lever 25. The release lever 40 is held in a predetermined, yet resiliently flexible orientation within the pivot arm 7 by a transverse spring 44, which is attached to both sides of the pivot arm 7 and extends through an elongated hole 45 in the release lever 40.

[0066] Is the swivel arm 7 inserted into the Figure 6When the lower pivot position shown is pivoted without pivoting the lifting device toggle lever 25 relative to the pivot arm 7, the first toggle lever element 18 of the locking toggle lever 17 is pivoted clockwise. This causes the release lever 40 to be displaced within the pivot arm 7, and the free end 42 of the release lever 40 to be pushed over the drive pin 43 of the lifting device toggle lever 25. The elongated hole 45 allows this displacement without obstruction from the spring 44.

[0067] The actuating lever 11, and thus the first toggle lever element 30 of the lifting device toggle lever 25, is then moved relative to the swivel arm 7 into the Figure 7When the lever is pivoted into the position shown, the drive pin 43 moves under the free end 42 of the release lever 40 into a region located in front of the free end 42 of the release lever 40 and opposite the end face of the release lever 40. The spring 44 allows the free end 42 of the release lever 40 to yield upwards in a resilient manner.

[0068] If, after completion of the pressing process, the actuating lever 11 is pivoted upwards again relative to the swivel arm 7 and the first toggle lever element 30 of the lifting device toggle lever 25 is rotated counterclockwise, as shown in the diagram... Figure 8As can be seen, the drive bolt 43 engages with the free end 42, i.e., with the end face, of the release lever 40 and pushes it to the left, i.e., in the direction of the vertical arm 6 of the stationary holding bracket 5. This causes the first toggle lever element 18 of the locking toggle lever 17 to pivot counterclockwise, i.e., in the opening direction, thereby releasing the over-center position of the second toggle lever element 19 and thus the pivot locking of the pivot arm 7.

[0069] When the actuating lever 11 or pivot arm 7 is pivoted further upwards into the maximum opening position, the release lever 40 disengages from the drive bolt 43, as shown in Figure 5 depicted.

[0070] The swivel arm 7 is pre-tensioned in its raised starting position by means of springs 46, which are attached on one side to a lower area of ​​the stationary holding bracket 5 and on the other side to the first toggle lever element 18 of the locking toggle lever 17. The force of these springs 18 holds the swivel arm 7 in its raised starting position as long as the swivel arm 7 is not manually swung downwards.

[0071] The lifting device 10 is pre-tensioned in its upper lifting position by means of springs 47, which are attached on one side to the first toggle lever element 18 of the locking toggle lever 17 and on the other side to the first toggle lever element 30 of the lifting device toggle lever 25. The guide piston 26 and thus the pressure plate 2 are held in their retracted starting position in this way as long as the actuating lever 11 is not manually pivoted downwards relative to the pivot arm 7.

[0072] To prevent the lifting device 10 from being actuated simultaneously when the swivel arm 7 is pivoted from its raised starting position to its lower pivot position, the spring force of the springs 46, 47 is preferably selected such that the force required to pivot the actuating lever 11 relative to the swivel arm 7, i.e. the force required to actuate the lifting device 10, is greater than the force required to pivot the swivel arm 7 relative to the stationary holding bracket 5.

[0073] In order to be able to adjust and vary the pressing thickness of the pieces of meat, the meat press 1 has a support plate height adjustment device with which the minimum distance that the pressure plate 2 takes in its lower end position to the support plate 3 can be adjusted.

[0074] This is as shown from Figure 4As can be seen, the support plate 3 is height-adjustable and detachably fixed to the base plate 4 of the stationary holding console 5 by means of centering pins 48. In this way, the support plate 3 can be lifted off the base plate 4 in order to place insert elements 49 of different thicknesses onto the centering pins 48 and arrange them between the base plate 4 and the support plate 3. Preferably, the insert elements 49 consist of plates whose size is adapted to that of the base plate 4 and the support plate 3.

Claims

1. Manual meat press for meat pieces, with - a stationary holding console (5), - a support plate (3) connected to the stationary holding console (5) for placing the meat pieces on, - a pressing plate (2), which can be moved between an opening position a maximum distance apart from the support plate (3) and a lower end position, in which the pressing plate (2) assumes a minimum distance to the support plate (3), - a lifting device (10) for moving the pressing plate (2) between an upper lifting position and the lower end position via a lifting path extending up to the lower end position, in which lifting path the pressing plate (2) is aligned in parallel to the support plate (3), - an actuation lever (11) for manually moving the pressing plate (2) in relation to the support plate (3), wherein the lifting device (10), with which the pressing plate (2) can be moved in an alignment in parallel to the support plate (3), is fixed on a pivoting arm (7), which is mounted pivotably on the stationary holding console (5) around a horizontal pivot axis (9) and can be pivoted between a high pivoted starting position, in which the pressing plate (2) assumes its maximum opening position, and a lower pivoting position, in which the pressing plate (2) is arranged above its lower end position in parallel to the support plate (3) and in an intermediary position lying above its lower end position, characterised in that the actuation lever (11) is in active connection with both the pivoting arm (7) and the lifting device (10), in such a way that, starting from a maximum opening position of the meat press (1), a manual pivoting of the actuation lever (11) via a first pivoting region firstly causes a pivoting movement of the pivoting arm (7) from its high pivoted starting position into its lower pivot position without the pressing plate (2) moving into its lower end position by means of the lifting device (10), and a manual pivoting of the actuation lever (11) via a second pivoting region attached to the first pivoting region causes an actuation of the lifting device (10) in such a way that the pressing plate (2) is moved along the lifting path in parallel to the support plate (3) into its lower end position.

2. Manual meat press according to claim 1, characterised in that the lifting device (10) comprises a guide piston (26) that is connected to the pressing plate (2) and is guided in a longitudinally shiftable manner in a guide sleeve (27) of the pivoting arm (7).

3. Manual meat press according to claim 2, characterised in that the lifting device (10) comprises a lifting device knee lever (25) for shifting the guide piston (26) in relation to the pivoting arm (7), wherein the lifting device knee lever (25) can be actuated by means of the actuation lever (11).

4. Manual meat press according to claim 3, characterised in that the actuation lever (11) is pivotably mounted on the pivoting arm (7) and is connected to a first knee lever element (30) of the lifting device knee lever (25) in a rotationally fixed manner, while a second knee lever element (31) of the lifting device knee lever (25) is coupled, on the one hand, to the guide piston (26) and, on the other hand, to the first knee lever element (30).

5. Manual meat press according to claim 4, characterised in that the lifting device knee lever (25) interacts with a stop (39) which limits an angular position of the first and second knee lever element (30, 31) relative to each other to a maximum of 180°.

6. Manual meat press according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the pivoting arm (7) can be locked in its lower pivoting position by means of a locking device, which blocks a pivoting movement of the pivoting arm (7).

7. Manual meat press according to claim 6, characterised in that the locking device comprises a locking knee lever (17), which comprises a first knee lever element (18), which is pivotably mounted around a knee lever pivoting axis (21) on the stationary holding console (5), and a second knee lever element (19), which is hinged on the pivoting arm (7) and can be brought into an over dead centre position blocking the pivoting movement of the pivoting arm (7).

8. Manual meat press according to claim 7, characterised in that the second knee lever element (19) of the locking knee lever (17) is hinged on the pivoting arm (7) by means of a guide axis (15), which, in the lower pivoting position of the pivoting arm (7), abuts on a stop of the stationary holding console (5) and is in the over dead centre position relative to a straight connection line (24), which runs through the knee lever pivoting axis (21) and a knee lever element connection axis (23).

9. Manual meat press according to claims 7 or 8, characterised in that the locking knee lever (17) interacts with a release lever (40), which, by means of a pivoting movement of the actuation lever (11) in the opening direction, moves the locking knee lever (17) in a rotational direction, which enables a high pivoting of the pivoting arm (7).

10. Manual meat press according to claim 9, characterised in that the release lever (40) has a first end, which is fixed on the first knee lever element (18) of the locking knee lever (17), and a second end (42), which can be brought into coupling engagement with the lifting device knee lever (25) in the lower end position of the pressing plate (2) and, in an opening movement of the lifting device knee lever (25), transfers an opening force to the locking knee lever (17).

11. Manual meat press according to claim 10, characterised in that the release lever (40) is pivotably mounted on the first knee lever element (18) of the locking knee lever (17) on its first end, wherein the second end (42) of the release lever is pretensioned in a springily resilient manner into a starting position, in which the second end (42) is in the pivoting region of the lifting device knee lever (25).

12. Manual meat press according to one of claims 7 to 11, characterised in that the pivoting arm (7) is pretensioned into its high pivoted starting position by means of a spring (46), which, on the one hand, is in active connection with the stationary holding console (5) and, on the other hand, with the locking knee lever (17).

13. Manual meat press according to one of claims 6 to 12, characterised in that the lifting device (10) is pretensioned into its upper lifting position by means of a spring (47), which, on the one hand, is in active connection with the locking knee lever (17) and, on the other hand, with the lifting device knee lever (25).

14. Manual meat press according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that a support plate height adjustment device is provided, with which the support plate (3) is fixed to the stationary holding console (5) in a height adjustable manner.

15. Manual meat press according to claim 15, characterised in that the support plate height adjustment device comprises one or more insertion elements (49), which can be inserted between the support plate (3) and the stationary holding console (5) for setting the height position of the support plate (3) in relation to the stationary holding console (5).