Retractable Blade Assembly for Manual Food Slicer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing manual food slicing apparatuses face issues with resistance and bruising of food material when sliding it back towards the initial position, leading to misaligned cuts and double cuts due to permanently protruding blades.
Innovation Solution
A manual food slicing apparatus with a reversibly retractable blade assembly that retracts into a biased position when the food material is displaced rearward, reducing resistance and preventing double cuts, featuring a retraction mechanism that moves the blades between a cutting position and a biased position in response to the food material's displacement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If permanently protruding blades are used in the slicing apparatus, then cutting functionality is maintained, but resistance is imposed to food material when sliding it back towards the initial position causing bruising and misaligned cuts
Solution Approach 1:
The blade assembly is made dynamically retractable rather than statically fixed. A spring mechanism automatically retracts the blades when food material is pushed back towards the initial position, eliminating resistance and preventing bruising. The blades extend again when the pusher releases, maintaining cutting functionality for the next forward pass.
Solution Approach 2:
The retractable blade mechanism performs preliminary anti-action by retracting the blades before the food material can cause harmful double cuts or excessive resistance during the return stroke. This prevents the harmful effect of permanently protruding blades by anticipating and counteracting the potential damage during the backward movement phase.
2Productivity
If permanently protruding blades are used, then cutting operations can be performed continuously, but double longitudinal cuts occur when food material is misaligned and moved back towards the initial position
Solution Approach 1:
The dynamic retraction of blades during the return stroke prevents double longitudinal cuts by ensuring blades are retracted when food material is moved backward. This maintains cutting precision while allowing continuous operation, as blades are only exposed during the forward cutting pass when properly aligned.
Solution Approach 2:
The blade assembly operates periodically - extended during forward cutting passes and retracted during backward returns. This periodic extension and retraction ensures cuts are only made during properly aligned forward movements, preventing misaligned double cuts while maintaining continuous productivity through rhythmic operation cycles.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution significantly reduces resistance and maintains momentum for clean cuts, preventing double longitudinal cuts and bruising, while allowing for efficient julienne and cube slicing operations.
Implementation Method 1
In some embodiments, the mechanism rendering the blade assembly retractable comprises a spring. The spring can be configured to store a biasing force when the blade assembly is in the cutting position, and release the stored biasing force when the blade assembly is in the retracted position.
Data Source
AI summary
A manual food slicing apparatus is provided for slicing a food material into food cuts. The apparatus includes a main blade and at least one blade set comprising multiple spaced apart blades being positioned in a row that extends in a transverse direction of a sliding area. The blades are moveable between a cutting position to perform longitudinal cuts in the food material upon sliding the food material against the blade set in a forward displacement direction, and a biased position when the blade set is retracted to avoid cutting the food material when displaced in a rearward displacement. The apparatus can further include a locking mechanism being selectively moveable between a locked position for preventing movement of the blades from the cutting position to the biased position, and an unlocked position for allowing movement of the blades between the cutting position and the biased position.