Pivotable Lower-Arm Food Preparation Appliance for Compact Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing household food preparation appliances are bulky and not ergonomic, making them difficult to store and use effectively, especially with mixing containers due to their height and design.
Innovation Solution
A food preparation appliance with a base and pivotally mounted upper and lower arms, featuring an articulation device allowing the lower arm to pivot and rotate, enabling a compact storage position and optimized working positions for various accessories, including a mixing container, with a motor housing that reduces device height and enhances accessibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the upper arm is pivotally mounted on the lower arm with multiple carriers to support various accessories, then the appliance can be used with a greater variety of accessories, but the appliance becomes relatively bulky and difficult to store
Solution Approach 1:
The lower arm is made pivotable relative to the base through an articulation device, allowing the arm to dynamically change its position between a working configuration (extended outward to support accessories) and a storage configuration (folded parallel to the base). This dynamic positioning resolves the contradiction by enabling the appliance to be compact for storage while maintaining full accessory compatibility during use.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the mixing container is positioned at the top of the lower arm, then the appliance can accommodate mixing containers, but the user has very poor access to the inside of the container due to significant height
Solution Approach 1:
The pivotable lower arm allows the mixing container to be dynamically repositioned. During operation, the arm extends to provide stable support for the container. When not in use or during loading/unloading, the arm can be folded down to bring the container to a more accessible height, resolving the accessibility issue while maintaining container compatibility.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of only vertical positioning, the invention introduces horizontal movement through the pivotable arm mechanism. This allows the mixing container to be accessed from different spatial positions - extended outward for stable operation, folded inward for easy access - effectively using dimensional flexibility to resolve the accessibility contradiction.
3Ease of operation
If the lower arm can rotate 180 degrees about a vertical axis, then the upper face of the upper arm remains visible and accessible in storage position, but the articulation device becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The articulation device merges two functions into a single mechanism: it provides both the horizontal pivoting motion (parallel to the base) and the vertical rotation (about the vertical axis). This combined articulation mechanism achieves full positional flexibility including 180-degree rotation while avoiding the need for separate, more complex articulation systems for each degree of freedom.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a household food preparation appliance comprising a base (1) intended to be placed flat on a work surface from which it can be removed, a lower arm (2) borne by the base (1) and an upper arm (3) mounted on the lower arm (2) such that it can pivot about a single axis X' parallel to the work surface, said upper arm (3) comprising at least one drive mechanism rotated by a motor and intended to be coupled to a food processing accessory. The appliance is characterised in that the lower arm (2) is connected to the base (1) by a hinge means allowing the lower arm to pivot on the base (1), and in that the lower (2) and upper (3) arms can occupy a storage position in which the lower arm (2) extends parallel to the base (1) above the latter and the upper arm extends along the length of the lower arm (2).