the gravity switch 31 functions to complete the circuit the motor 30 will not operate thus the switch 15 and the gravity switch 32 assure operation of the apparatus 10 only when needed the two switches 15 and 31 provide the redundancy needed to create a safe and effective cutlery device 10 fig5 shows pictorially an alternate embodiment of the present invention in this case the knife blade 14 is forced downward into the food material by a screw track 70 the screw track 70 directs the knife blade 14 in a slow downward spiral fashion in this way the fork need not be retractable in order to bring the knife 14 back to its rest position the blade may be reverse wound by the motor alternate means may be provided wherein the knife 14 is snapped back to its rest position by a spring 71 and switch 72 the drive transmission gears 73 are elongated so that the ring gear 24 does not disengage the gears 73 when the knife 14 travels in its downward spiral the switch 72 has a post 74 that engages the retractable plate 75 when the post 74 touches the plate 75 inwardly the track engagement post 76 is drawn out of the track 70 this is due to the fact that the track engagement post 76 is connected to the plate 75 when the post 76 is pushed out of the track 70 the knife 14 no longer engages the track 70 and the spring 71 can push the knife 14 back to the rest.