EATING TOOL
An eating tool (100) is composed of a rod-shaped member (102) which comprises a holding portion (104) and a utensil portion (108) provided at a tip of the holding portion (104) for holding or cutting food (106) to carry the food (106) into mouth, wherein the utensil portion (108) comprises a fork (110) split into two and a knife portion (114) in which a plurality of grooves (112) are formed outside one of the split portion of the fork (110).
The present invention relates to an eating tool for having a meal.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ARTIn the past, forks and knives have been used for Western dishes and chopsticks have been used for Japanese dishes. Various shapes of chopsticks have been created (For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. JP 2006-20700 A). Further, disposable chopsticks are used for eating out or eating home. In Japan, 2.6 million pairs of disposable chopsticks are annually used and in China, 4.5 million pairs of disposable chopsticks are annually used, resulting in the consumption of 8 million pairs of disposable chopsticks that are disposed of as a large amount of wastes after use.
Originally, Japanese disposable chopsticks contributed to natural environment protection. That is, the use of disposable chopsticks was good Japanese traditional culture because such disposable chopsticks were created to effectively use thinned wood and pieces of wood left from lumber. Even now, disposable chopsticks have been produced in Japan based on such tradition.
While disposable chopsticks made in Japan are expensive; about Japanese Yen 5/pair, disposable chopsticks made in China are low; about Japanese Yen 1/pair. This results in nearly 98% of China-made disposable chopsticks used in the world. These China-made disposable chopsticks have been produced by clear-cutting forests. Therefore, an issue that forests of China or the like are decreasing has been raised. The decrease of forests deteriorates global warming and avoids CO2 absorption. On the contrary, Japan has facing the crises that man-made forests in Japan are not taken care without thinning the man-made forests, resulting in death of the forests.
Thus, it is necessary to restrict logging in China and the like to prevent destruction of nature because of production of the chopsticks, avoid the global warming, and promote CO2 absorption. Furthermore, it is necessary to preserve good Japanese tradition that disposable chopsticks are produced by effectively using wood to be disposed of. In view of this, it is necessary to provide eating tools at low cost until the widespread use of the Japan-made disposable chopsticks. In addition, people's movement for nature preservation performed by reuse of thinned wood and mill ends can be supported by carrying out activities aimed at such contents by restaurants or eating out stores.
In recent years, pasta, which is Italian cuisine, has been eaten using chopsticks and the usage aspects of plate ware is diversified, alternatively, forks have been used for Japanese dishes. Since blending of Japanese and Western cuisines is widely spread instead of either Western dishes or Japanese dishes, it is necessary to provide a table ware corresponding to the diversification in usage aspects of the table ware and diversified cuisine.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the present invention to provide a table ware capable of maintaining traditional culture of Japan, contributing to revitalization of Japanese forestry, and responding to diversification of usage aspects of table ware and diversified cuisine, as well as preventing the destruction of nature. In addition, it is further object of the present invention to blend Western knives and forks with Oriental chopsticks because frequent exchanges in economy, cultures, and diet for each country in the global society have been promoting.
In a first preferred embodiment, an eating tool according to the present invention composed of a rod-shaped member comprises: a holding portion for holding food by hand; and a utensil portion for holding or cutting food to carry food into mouth, wherein the utensil portion comprises: a plurality of forks; and a knife portion.
In one preferred embodiment of the eating tool according to the present invention, the utensil portion may comprise a plurality of forks wherein a plurality of grooves are formed outside the plurality of forks to constitute the knife portion.
In another preferred embodiment of the eating tool according to the present invention, the grooves may be formed from the front-side surface through the outside surface and may be invisible from the back side.
In still another preferred embodiment of the eating tool according to the present invention, the holding portion may be configured in a shape that the rod-shaped member is twisted at 180° around a center line of the rod-shaped member.
In a further preferred embodiment of the eating tool according to the present invention, the holding portion may be configured in a shape that the rod-shaped member is twisted at 360° around the center line of the rod shaped chamber.
In a still further preferred embodiment of the eating tool according to the present invention, the holding portion may be configured in a form of helical shape twisted around the center line of the rod shaped member.
In another preferred embodiment of the eating tool according to the present invention, the holding portion may be configured to be in a shape of twisted rod-shaped member having a rectangular cross section.
In still another preferred embodiment of the eating tool according to the present invention, the utensil portion may be configured to be in a shape twisted at an angle of 90° with respect to the rod-shaped member.
In a further preferred embodiment of the eating tool according to the present invention, the utensil portion may be placed on a table face in a state of being spaced from the table face while allowing the twisted portion to come into contact with the table face.
In a still further preferred embodiment of the eating tool according to the present invention, the utensil portion may have a spoon portion.
In another preferred embodiment of the eating tool according to the present invention, the utensil portion may comprise a plurality of forks, wherein one of the plurality of forks comprises a knife portion having a plurality of grooves outside the fork.
In still another preferred embodiment of the eating tool according to the present invention, the grooves may be provided from the front side surface to the outside surface and may be invisible from the back side. Further, in the eating tool according to the present invention, the holding portion may be helically shaped wherein the rod-shaped member is twisted around its center line.
ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTIONAccording to the eating tool of the present invention, a utensil portion comprises a fork and a knife portion, so that the eating tool can be used either as a fork or a knife and the eating tool can be used as chopsticks when using two pieces. Further, when the holding portion is helically shaped, it is easily possible to prevent the slippery of a hand as well as holding the holding portion having a prescribed thickness, even if the eating tool is used either as a fork or as a knife. Furthermore, according to the eating tool of the present invention, one kind of eating tool can be used for a variety of foods. For instance, regarding a course meal, one kind of eating tool can be used for the whole meal, such as appetizers, such as a soup and a salad and the like, a main course, such as a fish dish and a meat dish and the like, and desserts, such as fruits or sweets and the like.
Moreover, if the use of disposable chopsticks is reduced by the widespread of the eating tool according to the present invention, it will become possible to prevent the destruction of forests, as well as restricting the generation of about 1.2 million tons of wastes per year caused by the use of disposable chopsticks. CO2 absorption by forests can be promoted. Accordingly, it is possible to contribute to the nature preservation by using the eating tool of the present invention, resulting in support of people's movement for nature preservation.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSA preferred embodiment of an eating tool according to the present invention will now be described in detail on the basis of the accompanying drawing. In
The eating tool 100 of the present invention is composed of a rod-shaped member 102 and comprises: a holding portion 104; and a utensil portion 108 provided on a tip of the holding portion 104 for holding or cutting food 106 to bring the food 106 to the user's mouth. As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
While there has been described one embodiment of the eating tool of the present invention, it is to be understood that the eating tool of the present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiment. For instance, the eating tool may be eating tools 130 shown in
The eating tools 130 respectively have a holding portion 132 and a utensil portion 134. As shown in
In
The eating tool 10 composed of a rod-shaped member 12 comprises: a holding portion 14 for holding by hand; and a utensil portion 18 provided at a tip of the holding portion 14 for holding or cutting food 16 to bring the food 16 to the mouth.
The holding portion 14 is such helical-shaped that the rod-shaped member 12 having a rectangular cross section is twisted around the central line 20 of the rod-shaped member 12 twice or more times. Thus, while the rod-shaped member 12 having a rectangular cross section itself is thin in the front view of
The utensil portion 18 is composed of a fork 22 split into two, wherein a knife portion 24 is provided on the outside one of the fork 22 split into two. This enables the eating tool 10 to cut the food 16 as a knife as well as pricking the food 16 with the fork to be held. Further, the two pieces of the eating tool 10 may be used as chopsticks. Since the utensil portion 18 is in such a shape to be twisted at 90° with respect to the rod-shaped member 12, a knife portion 24 is located at the lower side when applying a forefinger 28 to the left side of the rod-shaped member 12.
As shown in
Next, when using the eating tools 10 as a knife and a fork, as shown in
And in the present invention, since the number of the forks of the utensil portion is not limited to two, as shown in
The holding portion 14 is not limited to the one in which the middle of the rod-shaped member 12 is twisted, so that as shown in
As shown in
In an eating tool 100, as shown in
As shown in
In the eating tool 100, as shown in
Additionally, in the eating tool 100, the holding portion 104 may be covered with a cover 156. The cover 156 may be formed by heating a resin foam inside and a thermosetting resin outside. The holding portion 104 becomes a little thicker than the rod-shaped member 102 by providing the cover 156, which makes it easier to hold by hand.
While preferred embodiments of the eating tool according to the present invention have been described so far based on the drawings, it is to be understood that the eating tool of the present invention is not limited to such preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings. For example, the cuisine in which the eating tool of the present invention is used is not limited to Japanese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Western cuisine or the like at all.
While the aspects of the eating tool of the present invention have been described so far, it is to be understood that various improvements, modifications, and variations will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It is understood that such aspects fall within the spirit of the invention.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITYAccording to the eating tool of the present invention, as well as being used as either a fork or a knife because the utensil portion includes a knife portion composed of a fork, the eating tool can be used as chopsticks when used in pairs. Therefore, the eating tool can be widely used as a tool for eating regardless of the kind of food, such as Japanese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, and Western cuisine or the like.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSClaims
1. An eating tool composed of a rod-shaped member, comprising: wherein the utensil portion comprises: a plurality of forks; and a knife portion.
- a holding portion for holding food by hand; and
- a utensil portion provided at a tip of the holding portion for holding or cutting food to carry food into mouth,
2. The eating tool according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of grooves are formed outside the plurality of forks to constitute the knife portion.
3. The eating tool according to claim 2, wherein the grooves are formed from a front-side surface through an outside surface and are invisible from the back side.
4. The eating tool according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the holding portion is configured in a shape that the rod-shaped member is twisted at 180 degrees around a center line of the rod-shaped member.
5. The eating tool according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the holding portion is configured in a shape that the rod-shaped member is twisted at 360 degrees around a center line of the rod-shaped member.
6. The eating tool according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the utensil portion is placed on a table face in a state of being spaced from the table face while allowing the twist part to come into contact with the table.
7. The eating tool according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the utensil portion has a spoon portion.
8. The eating tool according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a recess is provided along a longitudinal direction of the forks.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 26, 2007
Publication Date: Dec 2, 2010
Inventor: Mitsuru Misawa (Shiga)
Application Number: 12/448,518
International Classification: A47G 21/02 (20060101); A47G 21/06 (20060101);