Blade runner cutting/chopping board
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cutting and chopping boards do not efficiently align and cut comestibles of different sizes and shapes without requiring fingers to touch the cutting blade, nor do they facilitate medial slicing or efficient transfer of cut items.
Innovation Solution
A cutting/chopping board with a trough-shaped design featuring interlocking panels that form multiple troughs of varying sizes and shapes, including a transverse piece to guide a knife for medial cutting and side slots for orthogonal cutting, allowing for the stabilization and alignment of comestibles without direct finger contact with the blade.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a traditional cutting board is used, then it is simple in structure and easy to manufacture, but it cannot align and stabilize comestibles of different sizes and shapes for simultaneous cutting without requiring fingers to touch the blade
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting board is divided into multiple separate panels (first panel, second panel, third panel, fourth panel) that can be assembled to form the trough structure. Each panel serves a specific function in aligning and stabilizing comestibles, allowing the complex structure to be manufactured and assembled in manageable segments rather than as a single monolithic piece.
Solution Approach 2:
The transverse piece acts as an intermediary element that connects the panels and provides the cutting slot. This mediator component enables the knife to pass through while the panels provide stabilization, creating a coordinated system where each element contributes to the overall function of safe, simultaneous cutting without direct finger contact with the blade.
2Productivity
If multiple comestibles are cut simultaneously, then productivity increases, but the risk of fingers touching the blade increases
Solution Approach 1:
The panels and transverse piece serve as intermediary barriers between the user's fingers and the cutting blade. The comestibles are positioned within the trough formed by the panels, which physically separate the fingers from the blade path while still allowing the blade to pass through the transverse piece's slot and cut the comestibles simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a vertical dimension to the cutting process by having the blade pass through the transverse piece from above, rather than requiring horizontal finger contact. This dimensional change allows fingers to remain on the surface level while the blade moves vertically through the slot, eliminating the harmful contact risk while maintaining productivity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the trough structure is designed to hold various sizes of comestibles, then versatility increases, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the structure into multiple panels and a transverse piece, the manufacturing precision requirements for each individual component are reduced compared to manufacturing a single complex piece. Each panel can be manufactured to standard dimensions and then assembled, allowing for greater versatility in accommodating different comestible sizes without requiring extremely tight tolerances across the entire structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The trough structure is designed with universal characteristics that allow it to accommodate various sizes and shapes of comestibles. The panels form a configurable trough that can adapt to different item dimensions, and the transverse piece's slot is designed to guide the blade through various configurations, providing multi-functionality without requiring high manufacturing precision for each specific use case.
4Manufacturing precision
If a transverse piece with slot is added to guide the blade, then cutting precision improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The transverse piece with its slot acts as an intermediary guide that simplifies blade alignment. Rather than requiring complex adjustment mechanisms, the slot provides a straightforward geometric constraint that guides the blade through the correct path, improving cutting precision while adding only a single additional component to the assembly.
Data Source
AI summary
A comestible cutting/chopping board which enables a user to align and cut or chop comestibles, preferably seed-to-egg sized, the board including side walls defining a longitudinal trough of V-shape or U-shape or half-pipe shape, the side walls preferably providing uneven surfaces, and the cutting/chopping board including structure traversing the side walls, most preferably end structures, providing a slot for penetration of a longitudinally oriented knife and providing for retaining at least some comestibles in the trough, the cutting/chopping board having a base for stabilizing the trough upon a horizontal surface.