Food grinder with electronically adjustable grind settings, tooless disassembly
First Claim
1. A food ingredient grinder, comprising:
- a frame with a top and sidewalls for supporting the top above a support surface;
a rotary electrical drive motor attached to the frame;
a hollow rotary drive shaft rotated by the rotary motor when the motor is energized;
a fixed grinding burr attached to the frame;
a movable, rotatable grinding burr mounted in grinding relationship with the fixed grinding burr to grind food located between the fixed grinding burr and the rotatable grinding burr;
an elongate rotary drive member fixedly attached to the movable grinding burr and received within the hollow rotary drive shaft for slidable movement relative to the hollow rotary drive shaft;
means for releasably linking the elongate rotary drive member to the hollow rotary drive shaft to restrain the elongate rotary drive member against rotary movement relative to the hollow rotary drive shaft while allowing relative sliding movement between the hollow rotary drive shaft and the elongate rotary drive member; and
means for selectively, slidably, moving the elongate rotary drive member relative to the hollow rotary drive shaft to automatically adjust spacing between the fixed grinding burr and the movable rotary grinding burr.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A grinder (30) has a toolessly attached ingredient hopper assembly (50) overlying a toolessly attached fixed grinding burr (134) defining the top of a grind chamber (158) within which is received a mating rotary grinding burr (150) that is slidably mounted to a rotary drive motor (154) for adjustment relative to the fixed grinding burr (134). Adjustment is achieved automatically by control of a stepper motor (168) that pushes on the end of an elongate member (151) passing through a hollow rotary drive axle (152) and carrying the rotary grinding burr (150) at an opposite end. Start of a grinding cycle in response to actuation of a start switch is inhibited if a pair of photosensors (81, 82) do not detect location of a ground ingredient container (68) in a correct position for receipt of the ground food ingredient, if an automatically closable hopper cover lid (57) is not in a closed position or if grinding parameters, such as the fineness of the grind and the amount of ingredient to be ground has not been detected.
28 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A food ingredient grinder, comprising:
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a frame with a top and sidewalls for supporting the top above a support surface; a rotary electrical drive motor attached to the frame; a hollow rotary drive shaft rotated by the rotary motor when the motor is energized; a fixed grinding burr attached to the frame; a movable, rotatable grinding burr mounted in grinding relationship with the fixed grinding burr to grind food located between the fixed grinding burr and the rotatable grinding burr; an elongate rotary drive member fixedly attached to the movable grinding burr and received within the hollow rotary drive shaft for slidable movement relative to the hollow rotary drive shaft; means for releasably linking the elongate rotary drive member to the hollow rotary drive shaft to restrain the elongate rotary drive member against rotary movement relative to the hollow rotary drive shaft while allowing relative sliding movement between the hollow rotary drive shaft and the elongate rotary drive member; and means for selectively, slidably, moving the elongate rotary drive member relative to the hollow rotary drive shaft to automatically adjust spacing between the fixed grinding burr and the movable rotary grinding burr. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification