Cutlery set assembly

• US 20070079513A1
• Filed: 09/27/2004
• Published: 04/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marta Lago-Arenas, Royal College Of Art
• Original Assignee: Royal College Of Art
• Inventors: Lago-Arenas, Marta
• Granted Patent: US 7,856,722 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 30/147
• CPC Class Codes: A47G 21/06 Combined or separable sets of table-service utensils; Oyster knives with openers; Fish servers with means for removing bones kitchen equipment A47J
• CPC Class Codes: B26B 3/00 Hand knives with fixed blades handles, attaching the handles B25G

Abstract

A cutlery set assembly is disclosed and comprises a knife (50) and a spoon (10) and/or a fork (30). The items of cutlery are made of resilient plastics material and each item of cutlery has a cylindrical handle. The handles are shaped such that they can be nested coaxially with each other. When in such a nested condition, the handle of the outermost item extends more than half way around the handle of the second item to hold the items in the nested condition. The resilience of the plastics material keeps the assembly together.

Claims

1. A cutlery set assembly comprising at least a first and a second item of cutlery made of resilient plastics material, one of said items of cutlery being a knife, wherein each item of cutlery has a cylindrical handle and wherein the handles are shaped such that they can be nested with each other and wherein, when in such a nested condition, the handle of the first outermost item extends more than halfway around the handle of the second item to hold the items in the nested condition.

2. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in claim 1, which includes a third item of cutlery and wherein, when in the nested condition, the handle of the second item extends more than half way around the handle of the third item to hold the items in the nested condition.

3. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the handles of at least two of the items of cutlery are hollow.

4. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein at least one of the items of cutlery has a slit running along the length of the handle.

5. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the assembly includes a knife that has a rib forming an extension of the blade extending along the inside of the hollow handle.

6. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in claims 4 and 5, wherein, in the nested condition, the rib of the knife is located in the slit extending along the handle of at least one further item of cutlery.

7. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the handle of the knife tapers towards the blade end of the knife to expose a sharp edge of the blade.

8. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein part of the handle extends over at least part of the blade.

9. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein each item has a neck between the handle and the rest of the item, said neck being part cylindrical in cross-section.

10. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the assembly includes a spoon and fork, the handles of the spoon and fork each having a slit running along the length of its handle and wherein the slit of the spoon handle lies in register with the slit of the fork handle when the handles thereof are nested to receive the rib of the knife so that the handle of the fork and spoon are nested within the handle of the knife.

11. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in claim 10, wherein the head of the spoon and/or fork has a thicker cross-section than the cross-section of the spoon handle and/or fork handle.

12. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein surfaces of adjacent handles engage when nested, the resilience of the walls of the handles keeping the cutlery set assembly together.

13. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in claim 12, wherein the engaging surfaces are textured to further resist slippage of the handles when nested.

14. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the diameter of the outside of the handle of the second, inner item is greater than the internal diameter of the hollow handle of the first, outer item when the handles are in an unflexed condition.

15. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the assembly includes a knife, fork and spoon.

16. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the resilient plastics material is polypropylene.

17. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the items of cutlery are formed by injection moulding.

18. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the handle of each item of cutlery nests or is nested by the handle of another item of cutlery of the set.

19. A cutlery set assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the handles of the items are coaxial when nested.

20. A knife, made of resilient plastics material, having a blade end and a handle end, the knife comprising:

a blade,

a hollow, substantially cylindrical handle, extending from the handle end of the knife towards the blade end, and

a rib forming a continuation of the blade and extending from the blade of the knife centrally along an inner curved surface of the hollow handle.

21. A knife as claimed in claim 20, having a slit running along the length of the hollow cylindrical handle in parallel to the central longitudinal axis.

22. A knife as claimed in claims 20 or 21, wherein the knife handle tapers to the blade end to expose a sharp edge of the blade.

25. A set of cutlery as claimed in claim 22, wherein the blade includes a rib extending along the inside of the handle of the knife and the rib is located in the slits of the second and third items.

23. A cutlery set assembly comprising a first, a second and a third item of cutlery made of resilient plastics material, wherein each item of cutlery has a cylindrical handle and wherein the handles are shaped such that they can be nested with each other and wherein, when in the nested condition, the handle of the first, outermost, item extends more than half way around the handle of the second, next inner, item to hold the first and the second items in the nested condition and the handle of the second item extends more than half way around the handle of the third, innermost, item to hold the second and third items in the nested condition.

24. A set of cutlery as claimed in claim 23, wherein the first item is a knife and the second and third items each have a slit running along the length of the their handles and wherein the blade can be located in the slits of the second and third items.