Knife, fork and spoon combination

• US 5,327,650 A
• Filed: 10/14/1993
• Issued: 07/12/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Gilbert R. Rojas
• Original Assignee: Gilbert R. Rojas
• Inventors: Rojas, Gilbert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Seidel, Richard K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PAYER, HWEI SIU CHOU
• Application Number:
  US08/136,357
• Time in Patent Office: 271 Days
• Field of Search: 30/147-150, 30/322, 30/324, D 7/643, D 7/645
• 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

Abstract

A knife has a handle that slideably receives the respective handles of a fork and a spoon in one orientation only. The transverse cross section of the fork handle and the spoon handle is generally rectangular, with a longitudinally-extending step formed in each side to create a broad base and a slightly narrower upper part. The knife handle has a corresponding channel on each of its opposite sides and slidingly receives the fork handle on one side and the spoon handle on the other if the handles are correctly oriented. The steps formed in the handles of the fork and spoon are of small depth so that they are barely noticeable by users of those utensils.

Claims

1. A combination of knife, fork, and spoon assembly, comprising:

a knife having a handle and a blade;

a fork having a handle and a set of tines;

a spoon having a handle and a dished distal end;

said knife handle including a fork handle-receiving channel and a spoon handle-receiving channel, said channels sharing a common construction;

said knife handle including a pair of elongate, transversely spaced apart, parallel side walls, each of said side walls having a first outermost edge and a second, opposite outermost edge;

said knife handle further including at least one interconnecting wall disposed in interconnecting relation to said side walls, said at least one interconnecting wall being disposed in a plane normal to the plane of said side walls;

said at least one interconnecting wall disposed in bisecting relation to said side walls, thereby dividing said knife handle into said fork handle-receiving channel and said spoon handle-receiving channel;

each of said handle-receiving channels having an inner part and an outer part;

a plurality of retainers being formed at longitudinally spaced apart intervals along the extent of each of said pair of side walls, said plurality of retainers being disposed on said first and second outermost edges of said side walls and extending toward one another in a plane parallel to the plane of said at least one interconnecting wall;

said outer part of each of said handle-receiving channels having a transverse extent less than a transverse extent of the inner part of each of said handle-receiving channels, due to placement of said plurality of retainers on said first and second outermost edges of said side walls;

an elongate step being formed on opposite edges of said fork handle, said elongate step dividing said fork handle into a broad base having a first transverse extent and a narrow upper part having a second transverse extent less than said first transverse extent;

an elongate step being formed on opposite edges of said spoon handle, said elongate step dividing said spoon handle into a broad base having a first transverse extent and a narrow upper part having a second transverse extent less than said first transverse extent;

said fork handle being selectively slideably received within said fork handle-receiving channel when said broad base of said fork is in alignment with the inner part of said fork handle-receiving channel and when the narrow upper part of said fork is in alignment with the outer part of said fork, handle-receiving channel; and

said spoon handle being selectively slideably received within a said spoon handle-receiving channel when said broad base of said spoon is in alignment with the inner part of said spoon handle-receiving channel and when the narrow upper part of said spoon is in alignment with the outer part of said spoon, handle-receiving channel.

2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of retainers has a common thickness and a common extent slightly less than the corresponding depth and extent of said steps formed in said respective fork and spoon handles.

3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein a combined thickness of the knife, fork, and spoon handle when the respective handles of the fork and spoon are slideably received within their associated handle-receiving channels is equal to a predetermined thickness of the knife handle.