Scooping device
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Transferring ingredients from a cutting board to pots or bowls is challenging due to the spread nature of ingredients, often requiring dirtying hands or missing the target, which leads to additional rinsing and cleaning steps.
Innovation Solution
A scooping device with a planar top surface and bottom surface, featuring a grooved hinge and handle portions, a flexible handle wrap, and a gap between handle portions, allowing for efficient channeling of ingredients into a container without using hands or knives, and including optional features like metal edges and textured surfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If hands are used to pick up food from the cutting board, then the food can be transferred to the target container, but the hands become dirty requiring subsequent rinsing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a cutting board with an integrated scoop as an intermediary tool between the food and the user's hands. The scoop allows food to be gathered and transferred without direct hand contact, eliminating hand contamination while maintaining food transfer capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the cutting board and scoop into a single integrated device. The scoop is formed as part of the cutting board structure, merging the cutting function with the food transfer function, allowing users to cut and then immediately scoop without switching tools or contaminating hands.
2Ease of operation
If a knife and hand are used to pick up food, then the food can be transferred, but the hand becomes dirty requiring rinsing
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated scoop acts as a mediator that eliminates the need for hand involvement in food transfer. Users can scoop food directly with the board, avoiding hand contamination and the subsequent time-consuming rinsing step.
3Ease of operation
If the cutting board is lifted and food is scraped off with a knife or hand, then food can be transferred, but the target may be missed requiring subsequent clean-up
Solution Approach 1:
The scoop is designed with a specific geometry that segments and channels food toward a concentrated discharge point. This structured approach to food movement ensures more reliable and accurate transfer to the target container compared to uncontrolled scraping.
Solution Approach 2:
The scoop serves as a controlled intermediary mechanism that guides food from the cutting surface to the target. This structured transfer path improves accuracy and reduces the likelihood of missing the target, thereby reducing cleanup requirements.
4Ease of manufacture
If a traditional cutting board is used, then cutting can be performed, but food transfer requires additional tools or hand contact
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the cutting board and scoop into a single integrated device, combining two previously separate tools (cutting board and scoop) into one. This reduces the number of tools required while maintaining both cutting and food transfer functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated cutting board and scoop serves multiple functions: it can be used for cutting ingredients and then immediately for transferring them. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate tools and reduces the overall complexity of the kitchen toolset.
Data Source
AI summary
Scooping devices are presented including: a scoop forming a planar top surface and a bottom surface, the scoop defining a leading edge, a trailing edge, a proximate edge, and a distal edge, where the bottom surface includes a grooved hinge that extends from the leading edge to the trailing edge; a proximate handle portion located along the trailing edge, the proximate handle portion forming a cavity and extending inward from a raised edge adjacent to the proximate edge; a distal handle portion located along the trailing edge, the distal handle portion forming a cavity and extending inward from a raised edge adjacent to the distal edge, where a gap is formed between the proximate handle portion and the distal handle portion; and a flexible handle wrap.