Spiral meat slicer with improved reciprocating knife structure

Claim 1

A spiral meat slicer for forming a continuous spiral slice on a cut of meat having an irregularly shaped bone extending therein comprising means for mounting the meat with the bone as a substantially vertical axis about which to rotate the meat, a vertically movable carriage, a knife for slicing the meat mounted on said carriage, said knife being positioned with respect to the axis of rotation of the bone to enable a spiral cut to be made in the meat, said knife being an elongated member having a relatively wide base for mounting on said carriage said knife including an inner end and an outer end and a rearward edge and a forward edge, said forward edge including a cutting edge for slicing the meat, said cutting edge comprising a first portion extending from the base and curving toward said rearward edge and a second straight portion extending therefrom to near the outer end of the knife blade, means for longitudinally reciprocating the knife against the meat, means for automatically tensioning said knife against the meat, means for rotating the meat, and means for relatively moving said carriage vertically with respect to the meat to advance the knife along the axis of rotation of the meat to form a continuous spiral slice in the meat, further characterized in that said curved portion of the cutting edge extends to about the midpoint of the cutting edge and is curved to be complementary to the shape of the meat and to the path of rotation whereby the operational vibration level is reduced.