Slashdot Mirror
The Cheese Slicing Laser
purduephotog writes "Xiaochun Li of The University of Wisconsin-Madison has come up with the ultimate gift for those high-tech wine and cheese connoisseurs: A cheese slicing laser. More detailed information is available at Optics.Org."
But for home use?
Not going to happen in the us at least.
The legal ramifications and potential misuse will make it unlikely (as cool as it would be)
to ever to be offered to consumers.
Man, this would have been great back a few years ago when I was working at a plant that packaged natural cheese. The most automated process we had was using pnuematic cylindars to push a 40# block of Cheddar through a frame with criss-crossed stainless steel wires. I can just imagine how much closer we could have hit the weight tolerances using lasers... Plus you don't have to stop and clean a laser beam every once in a while..
To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer
I have a cheese slicer that is one the old wire kind and its a bitch to keep clean. Those old chees slicers are a health risk to a certain extent because there is always trace slivers of cheese embedded in the wood and along the pivot joint for the slice wire. Of course the component isnt dishwasher safe and the parts where the cheese sticks are too small for even one of those green scrubbies. so I say BRAVO LASER CHEESE SLICER INVENTOR PERSON!
// Empires come and go we live forever
Li tried again using a new class of laser that emits light in ultraviolet, and therefore shorter, wavelengths. That laser, known as a cold laser, cuts by blasting apart the molecular bonds that hold materials together.
By breaking molecular bonds in the cheese, wouldn't that alter the chemistry of the cheese where it had been cut? Could this inadvertently produce carcinogenic compounds (like when you burn meat)?
What you're looking for is a 'twistup corkscrew,' or the 'ah-so cork puller.' See here for a good picture. It doesn't damage the cork at all, and it's a very good idea for wines with older corks. It takes a bit of practice to do right, but I only screwed up one cork (pushed it in rather than pulling it out) before getting it. The other advantages include the fact it's one of the smallest corkscrews (if we redefine corkscrew to be "things you can open wine with") you could carry and the fact it's cheap. They sell for $3-$4 around here, and everything here (SF Bay) is expensive.
I mean for fuck sakes geeks! How many Bond movies do you need to watch to get a hint that there is a market demand? I've totally lost count of the times the DEA MI5 or FSB have had me manacled to a post kicking the fuck out of me and I'm thinking like "shit ... if only I could use my Rolex to slice off these handcuffs I beat you round this cell motherfucker"
So they do invent it and whats it used for 'CHEESE'!!. For fuck sake - I'm going to hunt the inventor down and whack him - the stupid fuck.
Cool as this might be, it's the wrong tool for the job. Waterjets are waaaaay better for things like this. Faster and no smell. Have a look at: http://www.flowcorp.com/
No mush. I've seen waterjets cut a fresh doughnut into 5 concentric rings. Perfect, clean cut. The water jet itself is very,very fine. Extremely high-pressure waterjets can cut through steel as well as cheese.
This is already being done to french fries to make sure that they arn't too long. They pass down a belt and a laser will cut them if they are too long. I guess McDonalds etc have all sorts of specs about what size the french fries need to come in. A quick google should be able to find these for they have been around for a while. They were even mentioned on the TLC show Modern Marvels (along with fun slow mo video).
-Benjamin Meyer
Do you changes clothes while making the "chee-chee-cha-cha-choh" transformation sound?
With an XY table (as mentioned), Camera, Some custom software, perhaps, you could reduce fat content in steaks by using the laser to break down the fat. Trim the steak on the edge and reduce the marbling and reduce the fat. Enter the reduction in %, and the laser does the work. Weigh the drippings to veryify the reduction. Though I like a well marbled ribeye, with this system, you may be able to make a steak more consistant.
www.facebook.com/DareDefendOurRights
www.fairtax.org
The "ostehovel" as we call it here in norway is much cooler ;P
Image of the ostehovel. It's a norwegian invention too.
Seriously, we use it almost every day to put cheese on our bread.
I'd be more intrested in a laser lawn mower. Less Noise, less weight to push around, etc. and I imagine that if you had a flat enough lawn you could mount it on a track on the side of the lawn, so all you'd have to do is push a button.
"Personal ownership is a hallmark of conservative capitalism. And I don't believe I am entitled to anything that I did n
if any of you guys watch "Japan Today" (its a series of Japan informational tapes aired here in the Philippines) circa 2003 the Japanese has already created a similar laser though i dont know exactly when. but i think Japan beat them to it.
the laser was designed to be used in the food processing industry to peel potatoes, apples, etc. it was also able to write letters (in this case it was the word "END") on an apple. the peeled fruit does not feel hot to touch after going to through the laser. and the actual machine is the size of a CNC machine.
- not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted