Patents on the soles of your shoes...: Oh patents! The 21st century Peugeot pepper mill

Friday, July 17, 2015

Oh patents! The 21st century Peugeot pepper mill

Many, though not all of the 21^st century condiment, salt and pepper mills look and work exactly like the original 1878 Peugeot patented improvement on pepper mills, that is, without a crank handle, using an integrated spindle with a cross-bar and nut, which is battery or manually operated. And, most importantly, the condiment mills that spice our fare stand vertical and perpendicular to a tabletop.

In the tradition of the 1878 patented Peugeot peppermill improvement, a new Peugeot peppermill patent was granted in 2014, and this pepper mill lies horizontal and parallel to the tabletop! Indeed, almost 150 years after the original 1878 patent, Peugeot, having merged with Citroen (and acquired Chrysler!), the company now called Peugeot Citroen Automobiles, S.A. applied for the French patent FR2995514 titled Condiment Mill.

FR2995514, the 21^st century Peugeot patent, addresses two issues in condiment dispensing: the grinds that spill and soil a countertop after grinding, and control over the amount of condiment dispensed from the mill. Indeed, when grinding pepper or other condiments with a vertical mill, there is really no way to control the amount of the condiments dispensed. Even with a small built-in light that is included in many battery-operated mills, designed both to illuminate the area that is sprinkled and to provide some feedback on the amount of the output, it is impossible to measure the amount dispensed, for example in ¼ teaspoons.

So the new 21st century Peugeot mill dispenses pepper horizontally on an attached spoon-like receptacle or extension, enabling users to then sprinkle and control the amount of pepper or other condiments dispensed, ounce ground.

In another aspect of the 21st century Peugeot invention, the horizontal design also specifically addresses the issue of spilt grinds soiling a counter top, since all of the grinds are captured onto the receptacle (spoon-like) extension.

1878 upside down embodiment

The horizontal take on spilt grinds actually also comes as an alternative solution to the one designed 150 years earlier. Indeed, the 1878 Peugeot solution to spilt grinds then consisted in provisions for the mill to be designed with the grinder on the top of the mill. Thus, when the pepper mill was designed with the spindle-crossbar and nut mechanism on the bottom of the mill, and the grinder on the top, it was provided in the 19^th century patent that one embodiment of the1878 improved peppermill would be stored vertically on its head, and flipped upside down when used, thus resolving the issue of spilt grinds, as shown just above in the1878 figure drawing. A solution, which is, in fact and incidentally, retained in 21st century electric Trudeau pepper mills, for example!

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Below, you will find included the English Abstract for FR2995514, the 21^st century Peugeot Citroen Automobile S.A. patent, titled Condiment Mill, as well as one of the patent figure drawings, and an image of the manufactured horizontal product marketed by the Peugeot Design Lab.

The assembly has a grain tank and an electric crushing mechanism (2) placed in a hollow tubular body (1). A receptacle (5) is located in an extension of the tubular body for collection of grinds. A condiment mill rests on a base (6) in a lying position. The receptacle is obtained by a scalp of the tubular body. The condiment mill comprises a wheel (3) for controlling the crushing mechanism that closes the grain tank at an end, which is opposite to that of an exit surface of the crushing mechanism. The mill is provided with a cap carrying a control button. [Abstract FR2995514]