This invention relates to a culinary whisk, and more particularly, it relates to the assembly of the whisk handle with the wires forming the whisk members. It involves both the whisk and a method of making the whisk.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Culinary whisks already exist in various forms. They are arranged to provide a handle with whisk wires or loops attached for the use in food or culinary preparations. The handle is of a rigid material, and the loops are flexible and areattached to the handle and extend therefrom.

The present invention is concerned with the entire whisk material and assembly, including the attachment of the wires to the handle. It is and object of this invention to improve upon the arrangement of a whisk and its material and the method ofmaking the whisk, including attaching the flexible wires to the rigid handle.

Heretofore, in some instances, the attachment of the wires requires that the wires be specially shaped to accomplish the attachment. In other instances, there is a wire retaining member attached to the handle, but the member is not arranged tosecurely clamp the wires to the handle.

The present invention improves upon the prior art by providing an assembly of a handle and wires wherein the wires are readily and firmly attached to the handle. Also, the assembly is easily accomplished, and the whisk can even be dissembled toremove the wires for replacement, if and when desired.

Still further, the entire whisk of this invention is coated with an elastomer, such as silicone, to render the whisk resistible to foreign matter and to avoid scratching in the use of the whisk and to render it liquid-proof and easily cleanable.

The whisk of this invention provides for the positioning of the wires for their usual looping and overlapping positioning, and to do so with a structure and method which are an improvement and reliable and simplified.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OFTHE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a whisk of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the handle shown in FIG. 1, but on a reduced scale.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a section view taken along the line designated 4--4 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a section view taken substantially along the line designated 5--5 in FIG. 1, and on an enlarged scale.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a part of the whisk shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of the part in FIG. 6.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are section views taken respectively along the lines designated 8--8 and 9--9 in FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged section view taken along the line designated 10--10 in FIG. 5.

FIG. 11 is similar to FIG. 5, but of another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT AND METHOD

A whisk handle 10 has a plurality of wires 11 attached thereto to extend in the shown loops. The handle 10 is elongated in its shape, and it presents a longitudinal axis 12. The handle 10 has a bulbous shape, as shown, to be ergonomicallyconfigured to accommodate a user's gripping hand, and it is generally cylindrical throughout its length along its axis 12.

FIG. 4 shows that one end 13 of the handle 10 has an opening 14 into which a weight 16 is snugly disposed to give a controllable weighted characteristic to the whisk. The handle end 13 is thusly completely enclosed and devoid of any access intothe handle 10.

The handle has another end 17, which is an upper end, and it has a cavity 18 defined by a tapered wall 19. The cavity 18 is initially open to the exterior of the handle 10 and it terminates at a shoulder 21 on the handle 10. The cavity 18 alsohas a base wall 22 at the interior of the handle 10. The tapered wall 19 is frusto-conical in its shape in the side view, as shown, and it is narrowest toward the interior of the handle 10, that is, at the base 22.

A plurality of equally circumferentially spaced-apart grooves 23 extend along the tapered wall 19 at the tapered orientation as that of the wall 19 and from the shoulder 21 and to their respective bases 24. Every two of the grooves 23 that arediametrically disposed across the cavity 18 form a pair, and the pairs have their every two bases 24 at the same longitudinal extent along the handle 10.

The respective pairs of grooves 23 all extend longitudinally on the handle and along the wall 19 to extents which differ from all other pairs of grooves. Also, all the grooves 23 arcuately extend in substantially a semi-circular cross-sectioninto the wall 19 and at the same arcuate depth. The arcuate depth of each of the grooves 23 is slightly less than the size of the semi-circular cross-section of each wire 11 on the plane transverse to the handle axis 12. The cross-sectional depth ofall grooves is the same.

The wires 11 have a circular cross section of uniform size throughout the entire lengths of all wires. The wires all have planar and completely straight ends 26 and 27 where the respective wires are disposed in the respective pairs of grooves23. Before assembly, the wires are coated throughout their lengths from end to end with an elastomer, such as silicone, and the heretofore mentioned size of the wires includes the silicone coating shown at 35.

FIG. 1 shows the wires 11 extend from the handle 10 in loops 28. The pairs of the depths of the grooves along the handle length are arranged so that the loops overlap each other because of the varying extents of pairs of the grooves and all thewires are of the same overall end-to-end length.

FIG. 5-9 show an insert 29 which is of a frusto-conical shape between parallel end surfaces 31 and 32. The conical shape and size are the same as that of a portion of the length of the cavity 18, and the insert 29 is disposed in the cavity 18and presents a conical wall 36 disposed at the angulation of the wall 19. The insert 29 has an axial length less than that of the cavity 18, and thus the insert walls 31 and 32 are spaced from the handle cavity walls 21 and 22 in the final assembledcondition shown in FIG. 5.

The insert 29 has grooves 34 equally spaced therearound and arranged to match the grooves 23 in length and cross-sectional size. The grooves 34 are arcuate in cross-section, and are formed in the tapered wall 36 on the exterior of the insert 29. Thus, the tapered walls 19 and 36 are parallel to each other. The arcuate depth of the grooves 34 is less than a semi-circular shape and is of the same arcuate shape and depth as that of the grooves 23.

With both grooves 23 and 34 aligned with each other in pairs, each pair receives a respective wire 11, as shown in FIG. 5. The entire lengths of the wires 11 have fully encasing and resilient silicone coatings, as shown at 35. In the finalassembly, as shown, the diameter of the wire 11 with its coating 35 is slightly greater than the slightly incomplete diameter formed by each pair of the grooves 23 and 34. FIG. 5 therefore shows that the walls 19 and 36 are spaced apart. The entireinsert 29 is completely spaced from the handle 10. That results in the insert 29 radially forcing on the wires 11 to clamp the wires 11 between the handle 10 and the insert 29, with the wires 11 being in the respective pairs of grooves 23 and 34.

However, the insert 29 does not bottom out on the handle base 22, so the insert 29 can be moved axially of the handle to fully force against the silicone elastomer on the wires 11 and thereby firmly hold the wires 11 to the handle 10. That forceis in the direction transverse to the handle longitudinal axis 12.

A screw 37 extends through an axial passageway 38 in the insert 29 and threads into an opening 39 in the handle 10. The screw 37 has a head 41 and a shoulder 42 which bears onto a shoulder 43 on the insert 29. A usual screwdriver slot 44 is onthe head 41 and it faces to the exterior of the handle, namely, toward the extending wire loops 28. An unshown screwdriver bit, of any conventional form, can be inserted between the wire portions 28 and onto the screw 41 for tightening, and loosening,the screw 41, as desired. The insert 29 is forced axially of the handle 10 and is self-adjusting in exerting equal force on the wire ends, such as ends 26 and 27. The force is substantially radial relative to the handle axis 12, and, by virtue of theapplication of the screw 37, the insert 29 is forced into the taper 19 of the handle 10.

In making the assembly, the ends of the wires 11 can be placed into the handle grooves 23 and the insert 29 can be passed between the wire portions 28 and placed into the cavity 18 and tightened by the placed screw 41. Alternatively, the insert29 can be placed into the cavity 18 and the two ends of each of the wires 11 can be inserted into the respective pairs of grooves 23 and 34 and then the screw 41 can be tightened to clamp the wires, all performed with only the upper end 17 of the handlebeing arranged to present access to the handle interior while the handle lower end 13 can remain fully encased, as mentioned.

Upon completion of that assembly and tightening, the handle has an elastomer coating, such as silicone, including the juncture at 46, to render the assembly liquid proof and to even further support the wires 11 relative to the handle 10, andsilicone 47 is shown encasing the handle 10.

In a sequence of assembly events, the handle 10 is molded with its cavity 18 and the weight 16 disposed therein. The handle can be covered with liquid silicone, except, at this time at the cavity 18, by an injection molding process. The handlewill be attached to a core for molding, and the core will be suspended in the entire cavity 18 so the silicone can coat the entire remainder of the handle 10. Long lengths of wire, which is of a spring steel which retains its shape once it is bent, havethe silicone 35 bonded thereto by first applying a bonding agent and then extruding the silicone 35 around the wire and then curing the silicone. The wire is then cut into pluralities of the one length to present the wires 11. The wires 11 can be bentinto the shape they have in the final assembly, as shown. After assembly of the wires 11 with the handle 10, room temperature potting silicone, such as at 46, can be injected around the wires 11 and thereby provide a seal around the wires 11 and withthe handle 10 and prevent the accumulation of bacteria at that location.

The silicone 35 on the wires 11 provides for a resilience on the wires in the clamping of the wires by the two tapered members. The grooves 23 and 34 are each less than a semi-circle, so they do not abut each other in the tightening of theinsert 29 onto the wires 11, Also, the wire ends are straight and do not require any bending thereon in order to be clamped, and the wires 11 are clamped for the entire length of the insert 29 and thereby provide for stability of the wires 11.

FIG. 10 shows the relationship of the less than semi-circular shape of the grooves 23 and 34, and they are shown compared to the circumference of the coated wire straight end 26. With that arrangement, a gap 48 exits between the tapered walls 19and 36, so full radial force can be applied onto the wires 11. Also, the insert holes 38 and 49 permit the shank of the screw 37 and screw head 41 to be spaced away from the insert 29 for radial self-positioning of the insert 29, and thereby apply aforce only radially relative to the axis 12 as the force is applied to the wires ends 26 and 27 thus assure securement of the coated wires 11.

FIG. 11 shows an embodiment wherein the wires 11 are positioned to assure that they extend out of the handle 10 in an alignment parallel to the longitudinal axis 12. Thus, while the angulated grooves 34 are utilized for clamping the wires to thehandle, with each groove 34 there is another groove 51, positioned as and external end to each respective groove 34 and extending parallel to the axis 12. In that arrangement, the grooves 34 and the grooves or external ends 51 form one continuous groovefor positioning the respective wires 11 and thereby assure that the wires 11 exit the handle in the orientation parallel to the axis 12 and that the wires 11 maintain that straight orientation when in use. While that orientation is shown in FIGS. 1 and5, it is assured by the grooves 51 which abut the wires 11 which are adjacent to the grooves 51. There is, therefore, the provision of one continuous groove provided by the two grooves 34 and 51, and with those two grooves 34 and 51 being angulated toeach other in their respective extents. In FIG. 11, the insert 29 is still in the position shown in FIG. 5 and is thusly spaced from the grooves 51 and the two are therefore not positioned on one common transverse plane across the handle 10.

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