Protected food utensils

• US 5,161,691 A
• Filed: 01/15/1991
• Issued: 11/10/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Henri Vulliez
• Original Assignee: Henri Vulliez
• Inventors: Vulliez, Henri
• Primary Examiner(s): Culver, Horace M.
• Application Number:
  US07/641,535
• Time in Patent Office: 665 Days
• Field of Search: 76/104.1, 76/105, 76/DIG. 7, 53/410, 53/450, 53/553, 30/323, 30/322, 30/142, 30/147, 30/148, 30/149, 30/150, 294/56, 294/61, 206/553, 206/542, 383/200
• US Class Current: 206/553
• CPC Class Codes: A47G 21/02 Forks; Forks with ejectors; Combined forks and spoons; Salad servers
• CPC Class Codes: B26B 29/02 Guards or sheaths for knives
• CPC Class Codes: B26B 3/00 Hand knives with fixed blades handles, attaching the handles B25G
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 37/0007 using means operable from outside the mould for moving between mould parts, e.g. robots
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 45/42 using means movable from outside the mould between mould parts , e.g. robots
• CPC Class Codes: B29L 2031/286 Cutlery
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 76/07 Plastics
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4998 Combined manufacture including applying or shaping of fluent material

Abstract

A device for protecting articles comprising a plate-shaped protective member connected directly to at least one sharp-pointed portion of the article to be protected by at least one frangible point so as to separate the protecting member from the article before using the latter.

Claims

1. An article of manufacture comprising a food utensil having at least one sharp region and further having a protecting member frangibly joined to said sharp region wherein said protecting member blocks access to said sharp region, and wherein said article further includes a protective bag surrounding said article and welded to said protecting member.

2. The article of claim 1, wherein said utensil is a hors d'"'"'oeuvre skewer, wherein said protecting member is ball-shaped, and wherein said protecting member is frangibly joined to a sharp end of said hors d'"'"'oeuvre skewer by a narrowed section extending from said ball-shaped member to the sharp end of said hors d'"'"'oeuvre skewer.

3. The article of claim 1, wherein said food utensil is a fork having a plurality of prongs, and wherein a protecting member is a flat strip having a number of protrusions therefrom equivalent to the number of prongs on said fork wherein each protrusion is frangibly joined to a tip of a prong of said fork.

4. The article of claim 1, wherein said article is a knife having a sharp edge, said protecting member is a strip having substantially the same length as said sharp edge of said knife, wherein said protecting member has at least one protruding member which frangibly joins said sharp edge of said knife.

5. The article of claim 1, wherein an article is manufactured as a single integral piece by a technique selected from the group consisting of injection molding and compression molding.

6. The article of claim 1, wherein said article is entirely made of a single plastic material.