Flexible Gripping Mitt with Integrated Slicing Guide and Safety Guard
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gripping tools lack integrated safety features and versatility for handling both food and non-food items, particularly in terms of temperature protection, hygiene, and ease of use.
Innovation Solution
A flexible gripping mitt with an integrated slicing guide and safety guard, featuring a molded base of soft and semi-rigid silicone or rubber, and additional grippers and ribs for enhanced grip, along with removable guards for protection and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If gripping tools are designed to handle hot items, then temperature protection is improved, but the tools lack integrated safety features and versatility
Solution Approach 1:
The gripping mitt is designed to perform multiple functions: it provides heat protection when handling hot items, offers a secure grip through textured surfaces and gripper elements, enables precise cutting through integrated slicing guides, and ensures safety through built-in guards. This multi-functional design resolves the contradiction by making a single tool adaptable to various tasks including handling, cutting, and protecting against both heat and cutting hazards.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines previously separate functions into a single integrated tool: the gripping surface, slicing guide, and safety guard are merged into one mitt structure. This integration allows the tool to simultaneously provide temperature protection, secure handling, precise cutting guidance, and safety protection, thereby resolving the contradiction between specialized temperature protection and overall versatility.
2Reliability
If gripping tools add safety features, then protection is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The safety guard is integrated directly into the mitt structure rather than being a separate component. The guard works in conjunction with the slicing guide to provide protection during cutting operations, while the overall mitt design maintains simplicity through its glove-like form factor. This integration provides safety functionality without significantly increasing device complexity.
3Ease of operation
If gripping tools are made flexible for comfort, then ease of operation is improved, but structural strength may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The mitt is constructed as a flexible glove-like structure that conforms to the hand, providing comfort and ease of operation. Despite its flexible nature, the mitt incorporates reinforced elements including gripper protrusions for secure handling, rigid slicing guides for precise cutting, and protective guards that maintain structural integrity during use. This design allows flexibility for comfort while incorporating sufficient strength for functional requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
The flexible gripping mitt is a hand tool for handling and retaining rigid and semi-rigid food and non-food items in order to cut, trim, slice, carve, pare or chop the item or perform other treatments such as painting, sanding and sculpting to non food items. The gripping mitt present disclosure is intended to allow a person to firmly hold and grip a variety of small items while working on the item being held. The gripping mitt protects from the temperature and liquids being emitted from the held item. It is also a hygienic guard for helping to minimize contamination of the held item and to prevent injuries, and allows for the hand to flex and move easily and freely to firmly grip and hold small food and non-food items.