4.1. Field and use.

The invention "Multi knife vegetable cutter" belongs to the broad area of kitchen appliances and specifically to the class of manual vegetable cutters. This invention is time and labour saving ,user friendly and can do different types of cutting like a) slicing whole vegetables like potatoes b) Cutting potato slices into fingers ,c) cutting bunches of Okra, Beans etc to pieces in a single cut with 7 knives. It will be extremely useful in home kitchens and also in small commercial establishments for whom the motorized commercial cutters would be too expensive.

4.2. Prior art.

There are many patents for manual vegetable cutters but most of them have problems in cutting effectively like excessive loads, knife bending and fouling with surrounding parts, vegetable sliding resulting in jamming, low mechanical advantage, frequent breakages, not able to do different types of cutting etc. In trying to solve these problems, I invented a vegetable cutter and have been granted two patents, one Indian and one from USA. The details are given below.

Indian patent: NO.240692 dated 10.10.2005, multiple knife cutting devices, improved. US Patent. 7392,729 dated July, 2008.Multiknife cutting device. Given below is the patent number of another invention for vegetable cutting by another inventor.

US patent no 6148,704 dated Nov 21, 2000.Vegetable cutting device. Present invention “Multi knife vegetable cutter" is an outcome of major modifications to my Indian patent no 240692 " multiple knife cutting device" to solve the problem of skewed cutting of vegetables due to excessive play of the knives on the fulcrum, and also the problem of knives overlapping the guides while cutting whole potatoes and cutting the guides.

Prior art Patent no 240692 "Multiple knife cutting device (refer fig 12 and 13) comprises rectangular guides 6 forming slots between them, a vegetable enclosure 5, a cutting member made up of parts 1,2,3, consisting of 6 knives on a fulcrum 4, characterized by splitting of the knives into top and bottom knife assemblies and arrangement of the said knife assemblies in two different levels using the same fulcrum, to reduce cutting loads.

4.3. Drawing description of Multi knife vegetable cutter.

4.4. Objects of the invention

The object of the present invention is to find solutions to the problems faced with the multiple knife cutters in my Indian patent no. 240692 and US patent number 7392729 which are more or less similar. The problems surfaced after manufacturing and selling a trial lot of 100 units of the multiple knife cutters as per drawings of patent no 240692. This invention became necessary to eliminate the problems faced in the devices made according to patent number 240692. There are two main problems as described below.

First problem: Knives moving sideways on the fulcrum in axial direction during cutting.

Original cutter of patent no 240692 is shown in fig no. 12/13.

Sheet no 8, fig no 13 shows details of Fulcrum and knife mounting in the device before modification.
Sheet no 8,Fig no 3 shows details of Fulcrum and knife mounting in the present application after the modification The fulcrum arrangement of both the old and new devices are shown side by side in sheet no 8 for easy comparison.

I had got manufactured 100 units of the old design cutter as per the patent no 240692 and test marketed them to see the performance of the device. According to customer feedback, slicing whole potatoes was not smooth, even though the cutting of green vegetables was smooth. While slicing medium size whole potatoes the bottom knife assembly outer knives were moving sideways on the common fulcrum resulting in wedge shaped slices. It is not desirable for the knives to change the plane of cutting during cutting, as it can cause overloads and jamming of the vegetable in the guides. If the knives during cutting do not move in parallel planes uneven forces occur, causing obstruction to the knife movement. In my original patent 240692, the top and bottom knife assemblies of the vegetable cutter are mounted on a common fulcrum part 4 of fig no 12 and fig no 13. The knives were located in a slot 2mm wide between two guides 5 mm thick, part 6 of fig 12 and fig no 13. The fulcrum bolt part 4 is supported by all the guide’s part 6 fig 13...The knives part 1 and la are free to move axially in the 2mm slot part 8 fig 13. The object of the present invention is to find a solution to this problem of axial knife movement on the fulcrum which distorts the cutting process.

Second problem, knife bending and overlapping with guides. Reference figures: 13,3,15,16. While slicing hard whole vegetables like potatoes, the outer knives part 1 of fig 13 (fulcrum details of old device) of the bottom knife assembly were bending sideways resulting in fouling with guides part 6 fig 12/ fig 13. This bending of knives is illustrated in Fig no’s 15 and 16 which are elevation view and plan views of relative position of knives and guides during potato slicing. The dotted lines represent the bent knives. The round section of the guide part 7 in the elevation view fig 15 belongs to the present patent application after modification. The square guide just below the round guide in fig 15 represents the old patent 240692. Both are shown in the same drawing to understand how the shape change of the guides affects the interference between the knives and guides. The potato is not shown in the drawing and the drawing exaggerates the knife bending for ease of understanding. I will explain here what happens when the knives enter the potato for slicing it. First the knives of the bottom knife assembly enter the potato and slice it causing reaction from the potato fibers on the bottom knives. This reaction forces the bottom knives to bend in the direction of free space which is outwards for the outer knives. When the top assembly knives enter the potato, it is already sliced into 4 pieces and further slicing by top knives causes only minimum reaction. Thus there is minimum bending of top knives and causes no problems of fouling with guides. The problem is only with bottom knives.

The dotted lines in fig 15, 16 represent the knife position after bending. The bending of bottom outer knives part 1 fig 13 beyond a limit during potato slicing resulted in cutting of the guide’s part 6 and damaging them. The guides part 6 in patent no 240692 had a rectangular cross section with thickness of 5mm, as they were made from a sheet The sheet type of guide offers big area of contact to the knife when compared to arid guides which offers only a line contact. The chance of cutting is more when there is a bigger area of contact between the knife and guide. The bottom outer knife was cutting the guides part 6 fig 15, when the bending was more than the horizontal space available between the knife and guide. The dotted lines in fig 15,16 represent the bent knives. This is shown in fig no 15 and 16. As a result whole potato slicing was restricted to less than 40 mm height potatoes so that the knife bending is minimum. This was a limitation for the device. Finding a solution to this problem of knife fouling with guides and cutting them is another object of this patent application.

Solution to the problem of knives moving axially on the fulcrum .

The object of this invention is to eliminate the axial movement of the knives on the fulcrum. The solution is shown in the following drawings.

Fig 1. Elevation view of the vegetable cutter,new.

Fig no 13 details the knife mounting of original device of patent 240692.

Fig no 3 details the knife mounting of the present application for patent.

For eliminating the axial movement of the knives on the fulcrum, major structural changes have been made in the guide frame of patent 240692. Briefly, the fulcrum support is removed from guides part 6 of fig 13 and in the new design of the present application, The fulcrum is supported by a new element fulcrum support pt. 1 of fig 3 or fig 1.

It was not possible to eliminate the axial play in the old design of patent 240692 by tightening the fulcrum bolt 10 after inserting washers in the gaps between the knife and slot ,see fig 13 part 1 knife and part 8 slot, and part 6 guide. When the bolt 10 is tightened the guides will get jammed with the washers and the fulcrum will not move at all! Hence it was necessary to find a novel way of separating the fulcrum from the guides so that the fulcrum bolt can be tightened to stop the axial play. As a result, fulcrum supports part 1, a new element is introduced. The fulcrum supports are independent of the guides and the fulcrum bolt 14 is supported only on the two fulcrum supports pal. The knife location on the fulcrum 14 is fixed using spacersl5 on the fulcrum bolt without axial play, so that the knives are at the middle of the gap between two rod guides as seen fig 3.This completely eliminates the axial play of knives part 8 on the fulcrum part 14, fig 3, solving the problem of knives moving in skewed planes and irregular slicing. This will be explained in detail in the chapter on detailed description. Solution to the Problem of knife bending and interference with guides.

The problem is explained in fig no’s 15 and 16 and under the heading Second problem in the previous pages. Knife bending is a result of the reaction from the vegetable being cut.

In cutting green vegetables like Beans, Okra there is very little bending and cutting is smooth. The problem comes only when slicing whole potatoes of height between 50 and 70mm as there is high resistance from the potato fibers to the entry of multiple knives into the potato resulting in knife bending. The problem is solved by a) increasing the gap ( also called slot Between the adjacent rod guides pt. 7 fig 3, so that there is more space for the knife to bend, so that most bending instances when cutting whole vegetables like potatoes do not result in interference with guides. The increase in gap is achieved by using rod guides of 4mm diameter in the new invention in place of the sheet guide of 5 mm thick in prior art and also increasing the gap between guides to 4mm from 2 mm in prior art patent. Only in rare cases the knife bending results in overlapping with guides.

b) the elimination of axial play of knives on the fulcrum as explained in the previous problem/solution also results in minimizing the knife bending as the knives are kept in parallel planes without skewing,

c) Another modification is, changing the guide element shape radically. The sheet type guide part 6, fig 13 is replaced by a rod type element/guide Part 7, fig 1/fig 3. This new type of rod guide eliminates the cutting of guide by knives in case of a rare overlap. This is so because the circular section of the rod element when it comes into contact with the overlapping knife edge, slides it back into position because the circular shape by nature causes a sliding action instead of offering a surface to cut. There is a second advantage with a circular section guide. The contact between the knife and circular section guide becomes a line contact as opposed to the surface contact between the knife and sheet type guide of prior art. This feature is of great value as it greatly minimizes the chance of cutting as the area of contact is greatly reduced. The replacement of sheet guides with rod guides type of guides is a major difference in design and structure to eliminate the problem of guide cutting by knives.

It is clear from the above description that there are major modifications in the present invention like, no play fulcrum part 14 fig 1, Round element for the guide part 7 fig 1, doubling of the gap between the adjacent guides where the knives are located, a new element fulcrum support part 1, fig 1 all of which are necessary to solve the said problems faced with prior patent 240692.

4.5. Summary of the invention.

This invention is a result of the efforts to eliminate the problems, deficiencies in my prior invention India patent no 240692,as detailed in previous pages, These problems have been solved in the present invention application without losing any of the novel features of the device in patent no 240692, listed below.

Feature of old invention:

• Two level knife mounting and increased gap between knives in both top and bottom assemblies resulting in reduced cutting loads,

• the guide frame of the old device ( pt 5,6,10 fig 12) having multiple functions like Fulcrum mounting holes, vegetable enclosure and guides for the knives in compact manner.

Novel features of the new invention are:

1. A fulcrum where knives are in a fixed position with respect to the guide elements which is essential for good cutting,

2. Addition of a new element fulcrum support part 1 which facilitates elimination of knife axial play

3. Replacing rectangular section guides with rod section guides part 7 figs 1 which are essential to eliminate cutting of guides incase of knife bending.

4. High mechanical advantage resulting from locating the vegetable enclosure contiguous to the fulcrum with knives in vertical position, so that the load arm is only 50 mm compared to 300 mm for effort arm. Cutting starts even from the vertical position of knives, as the enclosure 16 firmly holds the vegetables from sliding.

5. There are no separate levers for cutting, the knife assemblies' act as levers. This makes the device compact and strong. This feature also enables an open vegetable enclosure and long vegetable cutting.

The above changes have made the cutter trouble free in slicing vegetable like whole potatoes, finger cutting of slices, dicing of whole bunches of greens in a user friendly way without any cutter changes.

4.6. Detailed description of the modified invention "Multi knife vegetable cutter".

In the previous pages, the problems with the device in my earlier patent 240692 have been described and how they have been solved through modification to the structure of the device. Now the modifications will be described as part of the detailed description of the new device and how it is more useful and reliable now after the modifications.

Reference drawings.

Fig 1. Elevation view of the cutter without the table pt 17.

Fig 2. Plan view of the cutter without the knives pt 8,9 but with table ptl7

Fig 3.End view of the cutter with knives but without table.

Fig 4,5,6. Knife assemblies.

Fig 7 ,8,9. Rod guide base different views.

Fig 10,11. Different views of table pt 17.

In principle the new device in the present patent application can be built in a range of enclosure sizes (pt. 16). Accordingly dimensions of other key component like knives, rod guides and the gap between the. Rod guides will change suitably. It is also possible to build the device with 3, 5, 7 or 9 knives using the same design. For ease of description the following dimensions have been chosen and the total knives as seven.

Present device is based on 4mm diameter stainless steel rod (cross section) guides and 4mm distance between adjacent rod guides and a vegetable enclosure of 60mm length parallel to the base ,60 mm width across the base and 80 mm height and 7 knives. This size is optimum for home use. Knife length including handle is 300 mm. Construction details. Refer fig no’s 1,2 and 3.

Details of parts ofMuIti knife vegetable cutter:

Part 1. Fulcrum supports, 2 nos ,front and back

Part 2. Front distance piece to maintain the required distance between the 2 fulcrum

supports 1

Part 3. Rod base, meant for mounting all the rod guides pt7 at correct spacing and connecting them to the fulcrum supports.

Part 4. Handle rest, maintains correct distance between the fulcrum supports pt land stops the knife handles 10,11 at the end of cutting.

Part 5, Bottom rod support, maintains gap between rod guides part7 and connects to fulcrum supports.

Part 6. Top rod support, maintains gap between the rod guides at the top end.

Part 7. Rod guides, made of metal rod guides to locate the knives and guide them.

Part 8. Bottom knives 4 nos, straight construction.

Part 9. Top knives 3 nos .Offset fulcrum hole,

Part 10. Bottom knife handles 2 nos,

Part 11, Top knife handle 1 no.

Part 12 .bottom handle connector

Part 13. Spacers for knife and handle joint

Part 14. Fulcrum bolt 6mm die

Part 15. Spacer for knife location on fulcrum

Part 16. Vegetable enclosure , space enclosed by the eight Rod guides pt 7.

Part 17,Table for supporting extra length of vegetable.

Assembly of part 1 to 7 is called "housing frame", a sub assembly of the cutter device. It is one of the two main sub assemblies, the second one being the bottom and top knife assemblies. When both the sub assemblies are connected through the fulcrum bolt pt. 14,the device is complete.

The housing frame consists of fulcrum supports front and back (part 1), part 2 front distance piece, part 3 rod guide base, part 4 handle rest, part5 bottom rod support, part 6top rod support, part 7 rod guides 8 nos. The main component to which all other parts are attached is part 1 fulcrum support 2 nos. Part 2, part 3, part 4 are attached to the fulcrum supports using fasteners as shown in fig no’s l,2,and 3.

Now the fulcrum supports are ready to receive the rod guides part 7.The 8 numbers rod guides are inserted into the rod base part 3 so that all the horizontal rod ends are facing the fulcrum end and remain parallel to each other. Now part 5 bottom support and part 6top rod support are assembled on the rods as shown in figl,2 and 3, locating the rod guides firmly in position parallel to each other. The rod guides are of 4 mm dia as compared to 5 mm thick sheet guides of old invention.

Now the housing frame is ready to receive the two knife assemblies The fulcrum hole is part of the Fulcrum support as seen in fig l.The fulcrum supports extends to the full length of device from the front distance piece part 2 to handle rest part 4.The space enclosed by the rod guides 7 is the vegetable enclosure 16. The vegetable enclosure is designed to be contiguous to the fulcrum bolt and the knives when they are in vertical position. The rod guides are far superior to the sheet type of guides in prior art. Firstly they have only a line contact with knives versus surface contact in the case of sheet guides, greatly minimizing the chance of guide cutting. Secondly the circular section of the rod guides deflects overlapping knives rather than getting cut. Both these features of the rod guides make the new invention very reliable in cutting vegetables without cutting guides. Knife assemblies bottom and top. Refer fig nos 4,5 and 6.

There are two knife assemblies, bottom assembly fig 4 and top assembly fig 5. Bottom assembly has 4 knives pt 8 all of them of straight construction. Top assembly has 3 knives pt 9 of offset fulcrum hole type construction shown in fig 6. It is found that 0.8mm thick and 19 mm width knives are best suited for this device to achieve minimum cutting loads and maximum bending resistance.

The knife assemblies are attached to respective handles 10,11 as shown in fig 4 and 5 using spacers part 13 and fasteners. The bottom assembly has two handles and the top assembly has only one handle. The two handles of bottom knife assembly are joined together using the connector, ptl2 fig 3. Now the knife assemblies are ready to be connected to the housing frame using the common fulcrum bolt partl4. Assembly of knives on to the housing frame .

Both the knife assemblies with the edges facing the handle rest 4 of the frame, are vertically lowered in to the respective gaps between the rod guides near the top rod support pt 6 fig 1, one by one (top assembly should be on the left side) with the fulcrum hole of the knives at the bottom end. Match the fulcrum holes of knives and the fulcrum holes on the support part 1, using a tapered guide rod. There are 7 slots between the 8 rod guides pt 7 in fig 3. Counting from any side slot nos 1,3,5,7 are meant for bottom knives and slot nos 2,4,6 are meant for top knife assembly. Once the holes are aligned, the fulcrum bolt part 14 is fitted in place inserting spacers pt 15. Once the bolt is tightened so that there is just enough play for the bolt to rotate in the fulcrum support,there is no ahial play for the knives and the knife mounting is complete. The gap between adjacent knives on each assembly is so maintained using spacers 13 so that the knives occupy alternate slots between rod guides on the housing after assembly on the fulcrum 14 (fig3, part 8,9.).After assembly on the frame using the fulcrum bolt ,the top knife assembly is at a higher level than the bottom assembly due to the offset fulcrum holes of top knives. After assembly on the Fulcrum the top knives are located at the centre of bottom knives but at a higher level, achieving both double spacing and different levels for the knives so that cutting loads are reduced considerably.

Now all the knives are located in the center of the gaps between guides and there is no axial play. In this design the fulcrum bolt 14and the knives are supported on fulcrum support part 1 which is independent from guide’s part 7 so that the fulcrum bolts can be fully tightened to eliminate axial play. This is a major innovation in the structure of the new device to eliminate axial play.

This is not possible in the patent 240692 device as the fulcrum bolt is passing through guides part 6 fig 13 . If the bolt pt 10 fig 13 is tightened to reduce play of the knives, the guides will get bent and jam the knives. There is another play in the new device apart from axial play of knives. The joint between the fulcrum bolt and the fulcrum supports 1, designed without relative play between them , ensures that the fulcrum is always at 90 degrees to the fulcrum supports which results in true parallel movement of fulcrum mounted knives with respect to guides 7 and low cutting loads. This is not the case in the patent 240692 as the fulcrum bolt passes through all the guides pt6 fig 13 and the fulcrum bolt cannot be fully tightened as this will jam the guides. Another noteworthy feature in the construction of the modified device is the closeness of the fulcrum and the vegetable enclosure. They are contiguous to each other. The enclosurel6, is only a space enclosed on 3 sides by the rod guides 7 in such a way that at one end the vegetables are in contact with knives in starting position and at the back end they are firmly held from sliding by the rod guides .

Cutting starts even from vertical position of knives as there is no sliding of vegetables being firmly held in the enclosure 16. This feature gives very high mechanical advantage of 6 due to the fact that Load arm is 50 mm and effort arm is 300mm. At this stage the table part 17 can be assembled to the front fulcrum support as shown in fig 10 and 11 using fasteners. The device assembly is complete now. Operating procedure of the new device, for cutting vefietables. Refer figs 1,2 and 3.

In the present invention ,the guides and fulcrum structure are radically different resulting in marginally bigger enclosure. The important components of the cutter device are the bottom (8) and top (9) knife assemblies, the fulcrum (14), the vegetable enclosure( 16) surrounded by rod guides (7) on three sides, the table (17), the handle rest (4). The vegetable cutter is kept on a counter with the handle rest 4 pointing towards the person cutting.

The knives should be kept vertical touching the top rod guide support pt 6 at the start of cutting. Vegetables are to be kept on the base of the vegetable enclosure pt 16 and normally the vegetables are in contact with the vertical knives on the left hand side and held firmly from sliding by the rod guides at the back end. In case of beans etc the extra length protruding beyond the enclosure can rest on table pt 17.The cutting starts even from the vertical position of the knives!

Once the vegetables are kept inside the enclosure, ensure that hand or fingers are not put inside the enclosure. Both the knife handles 10 and 11 are in vertical position and in contact with vegetables as the vegetable enclosure is abutting the knife fulcrum. The knife handles 10,11 are held by one hand and brought down to the horizontal position in pivoting motion at steady pace passing through the vegetable enclosure 16 in the process. The simultaneous cut with 7 knives is over and the knives come to rest on the handle rest pt 4.To prevent the device from moving during cutting, it is recommended to keep the table 17 pressed with left hand and use the right hand for cutting . At the end of cutting, all the knives are below the bottom edge of the rod guides .The knives do not hit any surface at the end of cut as is the case with normal cutting. This prolongs the knife edge sharpness greatly.

Once the cut is over, the cut pieces can be removed from the enclosure base just by tilting the device to the right side by lifting the table pt 17.The cut pieces are free on the base as the knives go fully below the enclosure. There is no need to put the hands inside the enclosure for collecting the cut pieces. Once the enclosure is empty the knife assemblies are made vertical to make the device ready for the second cut.

It is also possible to cut vegetables only with the top knives or only with bottom knives by choosing the corresponding handle 10 orll. Cutting only with bottom knives gives longer cut pieces. It is possible to cut with one knife only to achieve cut pieces thinner than 7 mm which is the space between adjacent knives on the fulcrum. This ability to choose the number of knives for cutting increases the versatility of the device. The device is user friendly as the cutting action is similar to the normal cutting of the vegetables with kitchen knife.

For making potato fingers two cuts are needed . In the first cut the potato is cut into 8 slices. All the slices as a bunch are turned by 90 degrees and put back in the base of enclosure. A second cut turns them all into fingers . The loads are low compared to traditional type potato finger cutters which have grid type cutters with low mechanical advantage.

The ability of the multi knife cutter to cut potato fingers in only two cuts without using grid type cutters in addition to cutting green vegetables to pieces, with the same knives, is a great feature making the device truly versatile and utilitarian. The device can cut all types of vegetables except very hard ones like Coconut etc. The size of the whole vegetable that can be cut varies depending on it's hardness. Whole Potato of 70 mm height can be sliced comfortably. 10 or 12 pieces of Beans or Okra can be cut at a time with 7 knives saving both time and labor.

Advantages of the new vegetable cutter.

1. The cutting starts even from vertical position of knife without sliding of vegetable. This becomes possible as the vegetables are firmly stopped by the back wall of the rod guides 7. This results in low effort cutting. There is hardly any other device which has this feature.

2. The device has a mechanical advantage of 6. The fulcrum is 50 mm from load and the knife handle is 300 mm from the fulcrum.

3. Strength of parts. The fulcrum is made of steel, eliminating failure. The knives themselves act as levers which is a unique feature. As the knife cum levers are also of metal there is no fear of failure.

4. Choice of number of knives for cutting : There is big choice in choosing the number of knives for cutting. One can choose 3,4 or 7 knives just by selecting the handle of the knife assemblies. Cutting with 4 knives of bottom knife assembly gives cut pieces 16 mm long. Cutting with 7 knives gives pieces 8 mm long.

In addition there is a single knife option for special jobs like cutting pieces/slices thinner than 8 mm and potato wafer cutting.

5. Versatility : The device can slice whole vegetables like potatoes, turn all the slices to fingers in one cut, cut bunches of Beans or Okra into neat pieces in one cut. All the above functions are possible without changing any knives. If green beans are cut in grid type cutters, the cuts will happen in two directions creating a mess.

6. The knife assemblies are in two levels and in each level the knives occupy alternate slots between guides. These features greatly reduce cutting loads and minimize knife bending on load while cutting vegetables like whole potatoes.

7. There is no axial play of the knives mounted on the fulcrum 14 This stops skewed cutting. With so many features and durability, the modified vegetable cutter can be justifiably labeled Superb and indispensible for kitchens Maintenance of device. The device can be easily cleaned using tap water and a small brush. The device is so designed that both the top and bottom knife edges are easily accessible. Sharpening the edges is required only at intervals of 6 to 9 months. This can be done in position using a diamond file meant for sharpening.

Novel features of the device in original patent no 240692.

• Simultaneous cutting of vegetable with 7 knives.

• Reduced cutting loads due to locating knives in alternate slots and mounting knife assemblies in two different levels.

• The device can cut multiple slices to fingers in single cut, Cut bunches of Beans etc to neat pieces in one cut.

All these novel features are present in the modified cutter also. Only the undesirable play and guide cutting have been eliminated.

Novel features of the new device and the structural differences in the present invention application compared to the original patent 240692.

• All the advantages of the original invention are retained in the new invention.

• The new device consists of a fulcrum part 14 which is supported on independent fulcrum supports part l,which also functions as the main support base for attaching rod guides 7 through rod base 3,front distance piece 2, and handle rest 4.This structure is very different from the original patent where the guides 6 form the base and also support the fulcrum as per fig no 13.The new structure is much stronger enhancing durability and performance.

• The fulcrum 14 facilitates accurate location of all the 7 knives pt 8,9 on the fulcrum using spacers 15,at the centre of the rod guides 7 without any axial play so that cutting happens in truly parallel planes ,essential for good cutting. This eliminates cutting in skewed planes causing problems.

This is not possible in the original patent 240692 as the knives are free to axially move on the fulcrum ,fig 13.

• Sheet guide elements pt6 fig 13 of the old invention are replaced with rod guides pt 7 figl to eliminate the occurrence of knife cutting the guides in case of slicing large size whole potatoes. The gap between adjacent rod guides pt 7 is doubled to 4 mm so that most cases of knife bending do not cut the guides. The round surface of the rod guides does not allow cutting by overlapping knives (which will be rare now due to the increased gap between guides) due to its round shape. In addition the round rod guides part 7, will push back the overlapping knives pt 8 towards the centre of the guides when the knives are being brought down for cutting. This modification enables slicing of medium size whole potatoes smoothly.

• The rod guides have only a line contact with the knives compared to the surface contact in the old device which minimizes interference. The replacement of plastic sheet type guides with Stainless steel rod guides has made the device stronger, eliminating damage to the guides and making the cutting function reliable and trouble free.

• The location of the Vegetable enclosure 16 (fig 1) abutting the fulcrum 14 and touching the knives 8 and 9 in vertical position is unique and results in very high mechanical advantage of six and enables vegetable cutting right from the vertical position of knives as vegetables are stopped from sliding by the back wall of vegetable enclosure. This feature is not available in other cutting devices ,as in these devices the cut starts only when the knife is at 45 degrees to horizontal.

• The knives 8 and 9 apart from cutting vegetables also function as levers when the knives are pushed down using the handles 10 and 11. This makes the device compact as separate levers are dispensed with. It also makes the cutter strong and reliable as both the fulcrum

and levers are made of steel. In most other cutters the fulcrum and levers are made of plastic.

• The knives 8,9 at the end of cut go completely below the enclosure 16 base and rest on the handle rest 4. The knife edges are free and do not hit any board at the end of cut. This is innovative and prolongs the life of knife edges. Also the cut pieces are completely free of knives and can be easily pushed out by tilting the device.

• The fulcrum bolt 14 along with knife assemblies 8 and9 is mounted on separate fulcrum supports pt 1 without any play between them except for the minimum required for rotation. This results in the fulcrum remaining always at 90 degrees to the Fulcrum supports resulting in true parallel plane movement of knives with respect to guides and supports. This is good for cutting with minimum loads.

• The new Multi knife vegetable cutter is enabled to cut vegetables longer than the enclosure. This is not possible in most other devices as the enclosure is not open ended. The extra length of the vegetable can rest on the table 17 and the part inside the enclosure is cut by the multiple knives . This feature saves time as there is no need to prepare the vegetable.

I claim,

1. A Multi knife vegetable cutter comprising:

a housing frame consisting of 2 fulcrum supports 1, 8 metal rod guides 7, interconnecting parts ( parts 2 to 6);

a cutting means of one bottom and one top knife assembly consisting of multiple knives (8 to 13);

a mounting means of fulcrum bolt assembly 14,15;

a vegetable enclosure 16 formed by the said rod guides 7;

a table 17 for accommodating long vegetables; the said housing frame when assembled with the cutting means using the said fulcrum bolt assembly and further assembled with the said table 17, forming the multi knife vegetable cutter;

The object of the invention being to provide an efficient means for multi knife vegetable cutting tasks like slicing whole potatoes, potato finger cutting, chopping green vegetables with minimum cutting loads and without any tool changes; the said multi knife vegetable cutter, characterized by zero axial play of knives on the fulcrum , true parallel plane movement of knives enabled by the said fulcrum supports 1 and fulcrum bolt assembly 14,15 ;

The said multi knife cutter also characterized by introduction of metal rod guides 7 with circular section to eliminate cutting of guides; the said multi knife cutter also characterized by the ability to cut vegetables from the vertical starting position of knives 8,9, thereby resulting in high mechanical advantage;

The said multi knife cutter also characterized by the double spacing between adjacent knives in both bottom and top knife assemblies(8,9) to reduce cutting loads;

The said multi knife cutter also characterized by the mounting of the two knifeassemblies 8,9 in two different levels so as to further reduce the cutting loads;

The said multiple knife cutter characterized by the use of all knives as levers for cutting, thereby making the device compact;

The said multi knife cutter characterized by the ability to sharpen the knives in position, prolonging the life of the cutter;

The said multi knife cutter characterized by availability of wide choice in the number of knives used for cutting,namely 1,3,4 or 7 knives;

the said multi knife cutter where in all the knives 8,9 go below the base of the vegetable enclosure 16 at the end of the cut, coming to rest on handle rest 4 with the knife edges not hitting any board before coming to rest, facilitating easy removal of vegetable cut pieces from the enclosure base;

The said multi knife cutter also enabling cutting of vegetables longer than the enclosure width, using the table 17 ;

2. The said multi knife vegetable cutter according to claim 1;

Wherein the said housing frame having two fulcrum supports one at front and second one at the back ,extending to the full length of the frame, providing structural base for attaching with fasteners the front distance piece 2, rod guides base 3, handle rest 4 , bottom rod guides support 5, top rod guides support 6 , thread guides 7 and the table 17, facilitating the mounting of knives without axial play and the pivoting of knives in true parallel planes; wherein the eight metal rod guides 7 assembled with fasteners in parallel planes to the fulcrum supports 1, using the rod guides base 3, bottom rod guides support 5,top rod guides support 6, the space in between the rod guides having been increased to permit more space for knife movement on load, the space enclosed bathe 8 rod guides on three sides forming a vegetable enclosure 16, contiguous to the fulcrum hole on fulcrum support wherein the bottom knife assembly further consisting of four straight knives 8, two common handles 10, spacers 13, fasteners and connector 10 with the knives having fulcrum hole at the end opposite to the handles, with the knives so spaced that they are located in alternate slots between the rod guides 7 after mounting on the fulcrum 14;wherein the said top knife assembly consisting of three knives 9 with offset fulcrum hole, one handle ll,s pacers 13 and fasteners, with the spacing so maintained to Centre the knives in alternate slots between rod guides 7;wherein the fulcrum bolt assembly consisting of the fulcrum bolt 14 and spacers15, when assembled on the fulcrum hole located in the said housing frame, enabling the mounting of the two knife assemblies 8,9 in such manner that the knives will be at the center of adjacent rod guides 7 with the top knives lying in-between the bottom knives but at a higher level, the knives rotating without axial play on the fulcrum, in parallel planes to the said rod guides and fulcrum supports.

3. The multi knife vegetable cutter according to claim 1,

wherein the characteristic of zero axial play of knives on the fulcrum and true parallel plane movement of knives 8,9 is enabled by the structure of the two fulcrum supports 1 being part of the said housing frame combined with the said fulcrum bolt 14 and spacers 15 forming a mechanism which does not allow any axial play of the knives on the fulcrum 14 and also ensures no play in the parallel plane rotation of knives.

4.The multi knife cutter according to claim 1,

wherein the rod guides 7 as mounted on the fulcrum supports l,having increased the space between adjacent guides , forming a structure characterized by only a line contact between knives and guides instead of surface contact, minimizing area of contact between knives and guides 7, also eliminating the cutting of rod guides 7 by the knives under load as the circular section guides 7 by nature deflecting the knives instead of getting cut, this feature greatly enhancing the functional reliability of multi knife cutter.

5. The multi knife vegetable cutter according to claim 1;

wherein the characteristic to cut vegetables from vertical position of knives 8,9 is enabled by the location of the said vegetable enclosure 16 contiguous to the fulcrum 14 touching the vertical knives, the said enclosure also holding the vegetables without sliding, giving high mechanical advantage; wherein the characteristic of double spacing between adjacent knives in top and bottom knife assemblies is enabled by the structure of the two knife assemblies wherein the knives 8,9 using spacers 13 , handles 10,11 and fasteners are assembled in such a way that the space between adjacent knives in both knife assemblies, is the same as the space between alternate guides 7 so that the knives of top and bottom assemblies are located in alternate slots between the rod guides 7 after mounting on the fulcrum, the said double spacing reducing cutting loads; wherein the characteristic of two level mounting of the bottom and top knife assemblies 8,9 is enabled by the structure of the top knife assembly consisting of three knives 9 with off centered fulcrum hole, handle ll,spacers 13 and fasteners with the off centered fulcrum hole of the knives locating the top knives at a higher level when assembled on the fulcrum 14, the said top knives located in between the bottom knives but at a higher level, resulting in reduced cutting loads; wherein the characteristic of the knives 8,9 combined with the handles acting as levers for cutting eliminates additional levers, enables an open front enclosure further enabling long vegetable cutting;

6. The multi knife vegetable cutter according to claim 1;

Wherein the characteristic of choosing either 1,3,4 or 7 knives for cutting is enabled by the design of the knife assemblies 8,9 and their mounting structure which permits choosing any mode only by holding the right handles, resulting in ability to cut short or long vegetable pieces or pieces thinner than the space of about 7mm between adjacent knives on the fulcrum ; wherein the characteristic of knife sharpening without dismantling is enabled by the open structure of the said housing frame lto7 allowing access to both the bottom knives and top knives, permitting sharpening with a sharpening tool thus enhancing the life of the device; wherein the characteristic of knives going below the enclosure 16 base at the end of the cut is enabled by the structure of the said housing frame having a knife handle rest 4, which is so located on the fulcrum supports 1, that at the end of the cutting stroke even the top knife is below the enclosure base, resulting in the cut pieces becoming free from entanglement with the multiple knives;

Wherein the knives at the end of cutting stroke come to rest on handle rest 4 without the knife edges hitting any board at the end , enabling long life of the knife edges; wherein the characteristic of cutting vegetables projecting beyond the enclosure is enabled by the structure of table 17 and the access to the enclosure 16 unhindered by any structures, thus enhancing the capability of the device; wherein the characteristic of multi knife cutting of bunches of green vegetables like Okra in a single cut or cutting of whole potatoes into slices in the first cut and into fingers in the second cut or into cubes in the third cut is enabled by the knife assembly and mounting parameters which result in low effort cutting in parallel planes without the need to use different tools for different jobs like grid cutters for potato finger, making the device truly versatile.