CUTTER BLADE AND METHOD MAKING AND USING THE SAME
Cutter blade is a generally elongate member having an undulating portion, a leading edge, a trailing edge, and a width defined by a distance between the leading edge and the trailing edge when viewed from a first side surface. At least a section of the width of the undulating portion located behind the leading edge has a generally uniform thickness. A method of slicing a food product includes mounting at least one cutter blade of any of the types described above on a device that rotates and rotating the at least one cutter about a center axis of the device that rotates. A method of assembling a device for slicing a food product includes mounting at least one cutter blade on a rotating portion of the device.
1 . A cutter blade comprising:
a generally elongate member comprising an undulating portion, a leading edge, a trailing edge, and a width defined by a distance between the leading edge and the trailing edge when viewed from a first side surface; and
at least a section of the width of the undulating portion located behind or adjacent the leading edge having a generally uniform thickness.
2 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the undulating portion does not cross or extend into a plane defined by the first side surface of the cutter blade.
3 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the undulating portion comprises a pitch of about 0.333 inch and an amplitude of about 0.167 inch.
4 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein a radius of an inwardly curved surface of at least one undulation of the undulating portion is about 0.071 inch and a radius of an outwardly curved surface of at least one undulation of the undulating portion is about 0.095 inch.
5 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein an overall thickness of the cutter blade is between about 0.219 and about 0.228 inch.
6 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the section of the width comprises at least 10% of the width.
7 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the section of the width comprises at least about 65% to about 75% of the width.
8 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the generally elongate member further comprises at least one mounting section arranged on one side of the undulating portion.
9 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the undulating portion is structured and arranged to form ridges in a food product being sliced with the cutter blade.
10 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the undulating portion comprises at least one of:
alternating outwardly curved sections and inwardly curved sections; and
undulations having a generally uniform pitch and depth.
11 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the leading edge comprises a cutting edge and a length of the cutting edge viewed from the first side is between about 4 inches and about 5 inches.
12 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the cutter blade is configured to form potato slices having crinkles or grooves.
13 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein at least the undulating portion is formed by at least one of:
a material removal or machining process; and
a milling process.
14 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the cutter blade is at least one of:
made of food grade stainless steel; and
machined from a section of material stock and the material stock is a food grade stainless steel.
15 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein at least the undulating portion is not subjected to anyone of:
a process which shapes or deforms sheet stock;
a process utilizing a punch press; and
a sheet metal forming or bending process.
16 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the leading edge comprises one of:
a beveled edge;
a tapered edge; and
a sharpened cutting edge.
17 . The cutter blade of claim 1 , wherein the cutter blade is mountable on at least one of:
a rotary cutting wheel adapted to slice food products;
a rotating device and in a generally radial orientation;
a rotating device so that a cutting edge of the cutter blade faces a direction of rotation and the cutter blade is oriented generally parallel to an annular surface of the rotating device; and
a rotating device having inner and outer annular mounting surfaces and so that a cutting edge of the cutter blade faces a direction of rotation.
18 . A method of cutting or slicing a food product, the method comprising:
mounting at least one cutter blade of claim 1 on a device that rotates; and
rotating the at least one cutter about a center axis of the device that rotates.
19 . A cutter blade comprising:
a generally elongate member comprising an undulating portion, a leading edge, a trailing edge, a width defined by a distance between the leading edge and the trailing edge when viewed from a first side surface, and a length measured perpendicular to the width;
at least one undulation of the undulating portion having a radius of curvature relative to an imaginary center point located outside the cutter blade; and
at least a section of the width of the undulating portion located directly behind the leading edge at least one of:
having a generally uniform thickness;
being formed by a material removal process; and
not being subjected to deformation, bending or stretching when formed.
20 . A cutter blade for producing crinkle slices comprising:
a generally elongate member comprising an undulating portion, a leading edge, a trailing edge, a width defined by a distance between the leading edge and the trailing edge when viewed from a first side surface, and a length measured perpendicular to the width;
the undulating portion being located entirely on one side of an imaginary plane defined by the first side;
at least a substantial part of the undulating portion being formed by a material removal process;
at least one undulation of the undulating portion having a radius of curvature relative to an imaginary center point located outside the cutter blade; and
at least a section of the width of the undulating portion located behind the leading edge having a uniform thickness.