Kitchen utensil and method of making

Abstract

A kitchen utensil and method of making the head portion of the utensil coated with a nonstick coating extending onto an adjacent handle area. A curved groove is formed into each face of the handle portion and the coating extends into the groove, creating a well defined and regularly shaped line of demarcation between the coated and uncoated areas of the utensil. The coating does not fill the grooves, creating the appearance of a mechanical joint so that the head and handle portions look as though they are separate pieces. The grooves are also used to guide trimming masking tape applied prior to dipping the utensil into coating material.

1 . A kitchen utensil of one piece construction including a unitary head portion and handle portion; a darkly colored nonstick coating applied over the head portion and a contiguous adjacent area of the handle portion, said nonstick coating having a crisp well defined border edge extending across said adjacent handle portion comprising a corresponding groove in said handle portion extending along said coating border edge, said coating extending into said groove to create a well defined regularly shaped border having the appearance of separate head and handle pieces for the regions of exposed metal and nonstick coating of said utensil.  
     
     
         2 . The kitchen utensil according to    claim 1    wherein said handle portion has opposite faces, both faces having a coating border edge and a groove extending thereacross defining a curving coating border edge on each face of said handle portion.  
     
     
         3 . The kitchen utensil according to    claim 2    wherein said grooves on said opposite faces of said handle portion each are curved with a constant radius.  
     
     
         4 . A method of providing a nonstick coating on the head portion of a kitchen utensil having a working head portion and a handle portion, comprising the steps of: 
 forming said kitchen utensil head and handle portion of a single piece of metal;    forming a groove extending across said handle portion at a location adjacent said head portion;    coating said head portion with a contrasting nonstick coating extending across said adjacent handle portion and into said groove, whereby a seam having some depth produced is separating said coated and uncoated areas of said utensil.    
     
     
         5 . The method according to    claim 4    wherein said groove is stamped into said handle portion in said step of forming kitchen utensil.  
     
     
         6 . The method according to    claim 4    further including the step of wrapping said handle portion with masking tape covering said groove prior to coating said head portion, and trimming said tape by cutting along said groove to allow removal of a portion of said tape and the head portion side of said groove, and dipping said head portion with said trimmed tape thereon into coating material to coat over head portion and adjacent handle portion up to said uncovered side of said groove.  
     
     
         7 . The method according to    claim 4    wherein said kitchen utensil handle portion is formed with opposite faces and wherein grooves are formed across each face of said handle portion.  
     
     
         8 . The method according to    claim 7    wherein said grooves are each formed as an arc of constant radius extending across a respective face of said handle portion.