Pepper grinder

• US 5,082,190 A
• Filed: 12/05/1990
• Issued: 01/21/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tzung-Wen Chen
• Original Assignee: Tzung-Wen Chen
• Inventors: Chen, Tzung-Wen
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosenbaum, Mark
• Application Number:
  US07/622,512
• Time in Patent Office: 412 Days
• Field of Search: 241/168, 241/169.1, 241/169, 241/257 R, 241/258, 241/259.1, 241/285 R, 241/285 A, 241/259
• US Class Current: 241/169.1
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 42/04 hand driven
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 42/08 Adjusting mechanisms

Abstract

A pepper grinder possible to be manually operated by pressing or releasing a manipulating plate movably mounted in an opening of the outer wall of a cylindrical body in such a way that a grinding wheel is possible to be rotated by a unit of mechanical structure moved by pressing inward the manipulating plate or to be stopped by releasing back the manipulating plate and thus the pepper grains falling into a gap between a grinding wheel and a grinding cylinder can be ground. Besides, the gap between the two components can be adjusted to change the degree of minuteness of the pepper ground.

Claims

1. A pepper grinder comprising:

a cylindrical body having a salt chamber at an upper section provided with a filling opening covered with a rotatable lid at its top surface and a pepper grain chamber at its lower section provided with a filling opening covered with a rotatable lid in a vertical wall of the body;

a manipulating plate of a rectangular curved shape to close an rectangular opening in the vertical wall of the upper section of the body, having its upper edge stopped by a projecting-down edge of the body from falling out of the body, and having two tennons at the bottom of its two vertical sides to fit in two mortises set in side walls defining the rectangular opening and a triangular arm projecting radially inward from its inner surface, said two tennons fitting in said two mortises being able to function as pivots to make the manipulating plate incline only inward by manual operation, said triangular arm having a horizontal bottom side to touch with the top face of a vertical rack;

a rack fitting in a rack recess in the body wall opposite to the rectangular opening and resiliently pushed by a spring at its lower end, having a teeth surface to mesh with a movable gear;

a movable gear meshing with the rack and having both ends of its shaft fitting and able to move up and down in two shaft recesses;

a worm mounted on a worm shaft supported in two opposite walls of the body to mesh with a worm wheel mounted on the top end of a long shaft and a gear mounted on the same worm shaft and able to mesh with the movable gear;

a long shaft vertically passing through the pepper chamber and having its top end mounted with the worm wheel and its bottom end mounted with a grinding wheel;

two round height adjusters, upper and lower, being located just under the worm wheel and having a central hole for the shaft to pass through, said upper height adjuster having an inclined bottom surface and an adjusting bar projecting out sidewise through the body wall, said lower height adjuster having an inclined upper surface to touch with the inclined bottom surface of the upper one and being immovably fixed with the shaft; and

said manipulating plate being able to be manually pressed to incline only inward said triangular arm of said plate being able to press down the rack when said plate is pressed inward, said rack being able to rotate and move the movable gear toward the gear mounted on the worm shaft, said movable gear being able to mesh with and rotate said gear, said worm being able to be simultaneously rotated by the rotation of the said gear, said worm wheel being able to be rotated by the worm, said shaft being able to be rotated by the worm wheel, said grinding wheel being able to be rotated by the shaft by pressing inward of the manipulating plate and to be stopped by the shaft by releasing the manipulating plate to its original position of closing the opening, said upper height adjuster being able to be rotated by the adjusting bar to change the mutual touching points of its bottom surface with an upper surface of the lower height adjuster so as to push up the worm wheel, the shaft and finally the grinder wheel so that the gap between the grinding wheel and the grinding cylinder can be altered to change the degree of minuteness of the pepper ground.

2. The pepper grinder as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shaft combined with the worm wheel extends upward to pass through a top wall of the body and a screw-threaded button is provided to screw with the top end of the shaft, said button being able to screw downward or upward to raise or lower the shaft and accordingly to raise or lower the grinding wheel fixed at the bottom end of the shaft to adjust the degree of minuteness of the pepper ground.

4. The pepper grinder as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shaft holes for the shaft ends of the movable gear are shaped rectangular or curved as long as they have the necessary function.

3. A pepper grinder comprising;

a cylindrical body having a salt chamber at an upper section of the body, a pepper chamber at a lower section of the body, the salt chamber having a filling opening and pouring-out holes selectably covered by a rotatable lid, the pepper chamber having a filling opening covered by a rotatable lid, the body also having a vertical rectangular opening in the body wall opposite to the salt chamber and being closed by a movable manipulating plate;

a manipulating plate being shaped as the rectangular opening in the body to close it and on the circumferential edge defining the opening, and having two horizontal posts projecting from its inner surface to movably fit in two tubal projections on a vertical wall of the salt chamber and to be resiliently pushed by a spring placed in a central cavity of the tubal projections;

a rack horizontally placed in a rack recess in the bottom wall of the salt chamber and having its rear end resiliently pushed by a spring in the rack recess and its front end in touch with the inner surface of the manipulating plate;

a movable gear having both the ends of its shaft movably fitting in two shaft holes, one upper in a bottom wall of the salt chamber and one lower in an upper wall of the pepper chamber, engaging with the rack to be rotated right or left, and able to engage with a gear mounted on the top end of a shaft connected with a grinding wheel when it moves to the leftmost;

a shaft extending vertically through the pepper chamber and having its top end mounted with a gear able to engage with the movable gear and its bottom end mounted with a grinding wheel;

a gear being mounted with the top end of the shaft;

a tube being mounted under the gear mounted with the shaft and having an inclined bottom surface to touch with an inclined upper surface of a height adjuster;

a height adjuster being placed under the tube, being shaped rectangular, having a rectangular vertical through hole for the shaft to pass through, an upper inclined surface to touch with the inclined bottom surface of the tube and a sidewise screw-threaded hole for a threaded bar of an adjusting button to screw with;

an adjusting buttom having a threaded bar to adjustably screw with the screw-threaded hole in the height adjuster so as to pull or push the height adjuster and thus to push up or lower down the tube and the gear on it together so that the shaft connected with the grinding wheel can be raised or lowered to change the gap distance between a grinding wheel and a grinding cylinder and accordingly the degree of minuteness of the pepper ground; and

said manipulating plate being able to manually press to move only inward from the original position of closing the opening, said rack being possible to rotate the movable gear, said movable gear being able to engage with and rotate the gear on the top end of the shaft, the shaft being possible to rotate the grinding wheel, repeated manual pressing and releasing action of the manipulating plate being able to rotate or stop the grinding wheel so that the pepper grains falling into the gap between the grinding wheel and a grinding cylinder can be ground into powder, and the minuteness of the pepper powder can be adjusted by handling the adjusting button combined with the height adjuster.

5. The pepper grinder as claimed in claim 3, wherein the rack is arranged horizontal with its teeth facing downward to engage with the movable gear, a gear mounted on a same shaft that a bevel gear is also mounted being provided under the movable gear, the bevel gear engaging with another bevel gear fixed on the top end of a shaft mounted with a grinding wheel, said movable gear being able to engage with and rotate the gear, the bevel gears and finally the shaft and the grinding wheel.