PRODUCING METHOD FOR GRATER

A producing method for grater includes: coating etching resistant layers (2, 3) with etching openings (5, 6) on the front surface and the rear surface of a metal plate (1), the opening (6) on the rear surface being larger than the opening (5) on the front surface, etching liquid attacking the metal plate (1) via the etching opening (6) on the rear surface and corroding towards the etching opening (5) on the front surface without pressure, thereby etching the exposed area in the etching opening (5, 6), then, forming a sharp edge (7) near the front surface and a curved surface along the discharging direction. The edge of the grater produced by the method is sharp, and cutting is smooth.

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Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for forming a plurality of cutting edges on a thin metal plate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A grater is normally used for shredding foods such as vegetables, cheese or chocolate. The grater is a tool with cutting perforations on a thin metal plate. The foods such as radish to be shredded is applied on the front surface of the metal plate and moved with respect to the cutting perforations to enable the foods to be shredded and then discharged from the rear surface of the metal plate.

The traditional method for manufacturing the grater is to punch a thin metal plate to form a plurality of cutting perforations thereon. The cutting perforations obtained through punching can not form sharp cutting edges and normally have burrs. It is thus difficult for the grater manufactured by this method to shred the foods into continuous and complete filaments or pieces, and may result in obstruction of the perforations easily. Moreover, in order to prevent the grater from rusting and thus polluting the foods, most of the known graters are made of stainless steel. However, the stainless steel has high toughness, and the punching process is thus relatively difficult.

The known chemical etching method for manufacturing the grater includes: covering an anti-corrosion protection layer on a thin metal plate; forming a plurality of openings in a desired shape on the protection layer; washing or soaking the metal plate with chemical corrosive liquid to enable the metal surface exposed from the opening to be corroded into a desired blade shape; and stamping the metal plate to allow the blades to protrude from the metal plate, such that the grater is obtained. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,506 discloses several chemical etching methods for manufacturing the grater. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, the reference number 1 refers to a metal plate, the reference number 2 refers to a protection layer on the front surface of the metal plate, the reference number 3 refers to a protection layer on the rear surface, the reference number 4 refers to the etching spray, the reference number 5 refers to the etching opening on the front surface, the reference number 6 refers to the etching opening on the rear surface, the reference number 7 refers to the cutting edge of the blade obtained by etching, the reference number 8 refers to the base of the cutting edge, and the reference number 9 refers to the root of the blade.

In the etching method illustrated in FIG. 1, the upper and lower surfaces of the metal plate are both provided with anti-corrosion protection layers, and the etching openings on these two protection layers are correspondingly overlapped, the etching liquid corrodes the metal plate from both surfaces simultaneously, and after etching, the obtained blade is shown in FIG. 2, a cutting edge 7 is formed at the middle of the section of the metal plate. This cutting edge is slightly protruded and not sharp, and a blade base 8 is provided on each side of the cutting edge, the surface of the blade base is almost the cross section of the metal plate, therefore, the cutting edge is not sharp, and the surface of the blade base will block the discharging of shredded foods and result in obstruction during shredding of foods, and irregular shape of shredded foods.

In the method illustrated in FIG. 3, a protection layer with etching openings thereon is formed on one surface of the thin metal plate, and etching liquid corrodes the metal plate from the etching openings. After etching, the obtained blade is shown in FIG. 4. It is still impossible to a sharp cutting edge, and a curved surface against the discharging direction is formed at the blade base, the shredded foods will be blocked and pressed by the curved surface, and therefore the discharging is still not smooth and it is difficult to obtain continuous filaments or pieces.

The method illustrated in FIG. 5 is that a protection layer is formed on each side of the metal plate, but etching openings are only formed on the protection layer of the rear surface, and the corrosion liquid corrodes the metal plate from the rear surface. Since the metal plate is corroded at one surface and the other surface is covered with a protection layer. With this method, a relatively sharp cutting edge can be obtained. However, the curved surface of the blade base is still formed, as shown in FIG. 6, and this curved surface will still block the discharging of the shredded foods. Thus, it is still difficult to obtain continuous and complete filaments or pieces. Furthermore, since the cutting edges are formed on the upper surface of the metal plate, the cutting edge is not inclined with respect to the upper surface, which is not good for separating the filaments or pieces from the main body of the foods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a grater, which can obtain sharp cutting edges, ensures objects to be cut into continuous and complete filaments or pieces, and facilitates smooth discharging of them.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for producing a grater, comprising:

    • a. coating etching resistant protection layers on both front and rear surfaces of a thin metal plate;
    • b. forming etching openings on the etching resistant protection layers on the front and rear surfaces of the metal plate according to a desired blade shape, the etching opening on the front surface of the metal plate is staggered with respect to the etching opening on the rear surface of the metal plate to ensure the etching opening on the rear surface of the metal plate to be widen at the side where a blade root is located with respect to the etching opening on the front surface of the metal plate;
    • c. attacking the metal plate via the etching openings on the rear surface by using etching liquid that is capable of etching metal, and soaking the etching openings on the front surface without pressure, thereby etching areas of the metal plate exposed from the etching openings, thus forming blades;
    • d. removing the protection layers and washing the metal plate;
    • e. stamping the metal plate to enable cutting edges of the blades to be protruded from the metal plate.

In the producing method of the present invention, because the etching openings on both sides of the metal plate are staggered with respect to each other, and the opening on the rear surface is larger than the opening on the front surface, and during the etching process, the etching liquid attacks the metal areas exposed from the openings on the rear surface under pressure to enable the rear surface to be rapidly etched, while the front surface is slowly etched by the etching liquid without pressure. After etching, a sharp cutting edge is formed at the position where the cross section of the metal plate is close to the front surface, and there is a slope between the cutting edge and the front surface, which facilitates the separating of the filaments or pieces from the main body of the foods. Furthermore, because the etching opening on the front surface is staggered with respect to the etching opening on the rear surface, the blade base is relatively long and a curved surface is formed along the discharging direction such that the cutting is smoothed. With the grater of the present invention, the cutting edge is sharp, and the cutting is smooth, which allow the foods to be shredded into continuous and complete filaments or pieces.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a chemical etching method for producing a grater;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a product obtained from the method of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of another chemical etching method for producing a grater;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a product obtained from the method of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of another chemical etching method for producing a grater;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a product obtained from the method of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a method for producing a grater according to the Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is another schematic view of a method for producing a grater according to the Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is the product obtained from the method of FIG. 7 and FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a partial enlarged view showing the cutting edge of the blade of FIG. 9.

 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Embodiment 1

A method for producing a grater of the Embodiment 1 is shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, the method includes:

    • a. etching resistant protection layers 2, 3 are coated on both front and rear surfaces of a thin metal plate; photoactive ink is applied on the surfaces of a clean and dry thin metal plate, and an oven is used for drying the ink on the surfaces of the metal plate;
    • b. etching openings 5, 6 that are corresponding to the desired blade shape are formed on the protection layer photoactive ink on both surfaces of the metal plate by the known techniques of image developing, fixing and exposing; the etching opening 6 on the rear surface of the metal plate is staggered with respect to the etching opening 5 on the front surface of the metal plate such that the etching opening on the rear surface of the metal plate is widen at the side where the blade root 9 is located with respect to the etching opening on the front surface of the metal plate;
    • c. the metal plate is attacked via the etching openings on the rear surface by etching liquid that is capable of etching metal, and the etching liquid soaks the etching openings on the front surface without pressure, thereby the exposed metal areas in the etching openings are etched, thus blades are formed, wherein the etching liquid that is capable of etching metal is the chemical etching liquid in the prior art which includes 70-80wt % of ferric trichloride, 10-20 wt % hydrochloric acid, 2-4 wt % of water and 1-2 wt % of nitric acid;
    • d. the protection layers are removed, and the metal plate is washed;
    • e. the metal plate is stamped to enable cutting edges of the blades to be protruded from the metal plate.

In the producing method of this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, since the etching openings on both sides of the metal plate are staggered with respect to each other, and the etching opening on the rear surface is larger than the etching opening on the front surface at the position where the blade root 9 is located. During the etching process, the chemical corrosive liquid attacks the metal surface exposed from the opening on the rear surface under pressure to allow the rear surface to be corroded quickly, while the front surface is corroded slowly by the chemical corrosive liquid without pressure. After the corrosion, a sharp cutting edge is formed at the position where the cross section of the metal plate adjacent to the front surface of the metal plate, and the cutting edge has a slope 10 with respect to the front surface, and the length of the slope is around 0.03 mm, which facilitates the separating of the filaments or pieces from the main body of the foods. Furthermore, since the openings on the front and rear surfaces are staggered with respect to each other, a blade base with a long curved surface along the discharging direction is formed, and thus the shredding is smoothed. With this grater, the cutting edge is sharp, the shredding is easy and smooth, and the foods can be shredded into continuous and complete filaments or pieces.

It should be emphasized that in the step b, upon conforming to the condition that the etching openings on both sides of the metal plate are staggered and the etching opening on the rear surface is larger than the etching opening on the front surface at the position where the blade root 9 is located, the size of the openings on the front and rear surfaces can be the same or different, for example, the projection of the etching opening on the rear surface onto the front surface can cover the etching opening on the front surface completely.

Embodiment 2

In the method for producing the grater of this embodiment, the step c is: the metal plate is disposed in an electrolytic cell, the metal plate is connected to the positive pole of a DC power supply to enable the metal plate to be the electrolytic anode, and the etching liquid for etching the metal is the electrolytic liquid. The electrolytic liquid attacks the metal plate via the opening on the rear surface of the metal plate, while the corrosive liquid flows randomly on the etching opening of the front surface and etches the metal surface exposed from the etching opening to obtain the blade with the desired shape. The other steps are the same as that of the Embodiment 1.

The electrolytic liquid can be NaCl, KCl, Na2SO4, etc.

In this embodiment, the non-toxic and harmless electrolytic liquid substitutes the acidic corrosive liquid that is harmful to human body and pollutional to the environment.

Embodiment 3

In the method for producing the grater of this embodiment, in the steps a and b, the anti-corrosion protection layer with etching openings is formed by printing a layer of etching resistant ink layer with openings onto the metal plate directly via printer. The other steps are the same as that of the Embodiment 2. With this method, the manufacturing process is simple, rapid, with high yield and reduces the cost greatly.

Claims

1. A method for producing a grater, comprising:

a. coating etching resistant protection layers on both front and rear surfaces of a thin metal plate;
b. forming etching openings on the etching resistant protection layers on the front and rear surfaces of the metal plate according to a desired blade shape, the etching opening on the front surface of the metal plate is staggered with respect to the etching opening on the rear surface of the metal plate to ensure the etching opening on the rear surface of the metal plate to be widen at the side where blade roots are located with respect to the etching opening on the front surface of the metal plate;
c. attacking the metal plate via the etching openings on the rear surface by using etching liquid that is capable of etching metal, and soaking the etching openings on the front surface without pressure, thereby etching metal areas of the metal plate exposed from the etching openings, thus forming blades;
d. removing the protection layers and washing the metal plate;
e. stamping the metal plate to enable cutting edges of the blades to be protruded from the metal plate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the metal plate is disposed in an electrolytic cell, both poles of a DC power supply are respectively connected to the metal plate and the electrolytic liquid, and the etching liquid for etching the metal is the electrolytic liquid, the electrolytic liquid attacks the metal plate via the etching openings on the rear surface of the metal plate, while the electrolytic liquid flows randomly on the etching openings of the front surface and etches metal surface exposed from the etching openings to obtain the blades.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the anti-corrosion protection layer with etching openings is formed by printing a layer of etching resistant ink layer with openings onto the metal plate directly.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the etching openings of the protection layers have the same size.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the projection of the etching opening on the rear surface onto the front surface covers the etching opening on the front surface completely.

Patent History
Publication number: 20110198233
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 26, 2007
Publication Date: Aug 18, 2011
Inventor: Qitian Lin (Guangzhou)
Application Number: 13/057,095
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: Sharpening Or Point Making (205/664); Masking Of A Substrate Using Material Resistant To An Etchant (i.e., Etch Resist) (216/41)
International Classification: C25F 3/02 (20060101); C23F 1/02 (20060101);