Method and apparatus for making a hollow baked product

A hollow body is made from a flat baked wafer cake by first juxtaposing the wafer cake with a cavity of a deep-drawing mold and then forming edge regions of the cake with a plurality of deformations out of a plane of the cake at a uniformly spacing around a periphery of the cake. Then the cake is pushed by a deep-drawing punch into the cavity to it into a hollow body and to form each of the deformations into a multilayer fold.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the manufacture of a baked wafer product. More particularly this invention concerns a method of and apparatus for making a hollow baked product such as an ice-cream cup or cone.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is known to make a hollow baked product from an edible, baked flat wafer cake that can be shaped when hot and that has a rigid cup shape during and/or after the shaping process, normally when it has cooled. More particularly, the hollow baked product is at least partially formed from a fluent bakable batter for long-life bakery products made of flour and/or starch, preferably dough and bakable batter being used as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,754,268. The simple method of baking a flat wafer piece is combined with the possibility of plasticizing it at or just below baking temperature through the melted sugar content so as to be able to easily mechanically reshape it, but then to let the sugar solidify through simple and rapid cooling and thus to stabilize the obtained shape. This results in a brittle, hard product. At room temperature, these wafers substantially consisting of a starch-sugar (sugar substitute)-protein mixture are below the glass transition temperature. Moreover, the sugar portion is mostly solidified as a glassy melt and therefore has a particularly crisp texture.

Typical sugar contents for rolled ice cream cones are, for example, 30 to 50% by weight based on flour, or 60 to 100% in the case of hollow wafer sticks.

Methods and apparatuses for shaping wafer-like long-life bakery products are also known and, accordingly, can also be found in patent literature, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,855 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,741 that describe an apparatus and a method for making rolled, preferably conical hollow wafers usable as ice-cream cones. In the thus produced individual wafers, in particular baked from a sugar-containing dough, in the soft and shapable state for baking, the flat wafer cakes are first rolled into a particular shape of the hollow wafers and are then solidified in this shape, where each flat wafer cake is first freely rolled into a predetermined shape of the hollow wafer, and then the finish-rolled hollow wafer is calibrated by plastically shaping edge regions to a predetermined longitudinal extension of the hollow wafer, and subsequently, the calibrated hollow wafer solidifies.

These rolled cones have proven themselves in practice due to their properties such as, for example, stability, appearance, haptics, processability, ease of filling, etc. and are therefore one of the most common wafer-like hollow body shapes.

An alternative apparatus for making a wafer product is shown in DE 10 005 500. Here, substantially flat wafer product is deep drawn so that side walls are formed that are preferably perpendicular opposite each other in the upper region, the wafer product being created by using a shaping punch and pressing a substantially flat wafer piece into a corresponding hollow mold, and where the upper edge of the preferably perpendicularly opposing side walls of the deep-drawn wafer product are cut to be flush. The also disclosed production method is comparable to the shaping method of die forging. After the baking process, the wafer sheet is pressed in the hot and therefore shapable state by a punch into a die and is squeezed between these two elements.

Another method for shaping an edible hollow container from wafer dough is shown in WO 1999/033348. Here, an also flat wafer sheet is drawn by means of a punch into a die. Due to the shapes, in particular the proportions between the circumference of the baked flat wafer cake and the circumference of the opening of the finished hollow container, bulging can occur in the region of the opening.

In practice, experience has shown that it can be desirable to provide edible, hollow baked products, in particular edible hollow containers from wafer-like dough or baked substances, with reinforcement ribs so as to positively influence their physical properties. However, implementing ribs with the above-described production methods is limited in that after solidifying, thicker areas have different physical properties and, for example become soft or too hard. Nevertheless, in order to provide thicker regions in wafer products, it is therefore advantageous to configure these regions in a multilayer manner. Forming folds during a deep-drawing process is one possibility to achieve this multilayer arrangement.

The disadvantage of the prior art is that it is not possible to provide specific structures with multilayer regions in hollow, baked products or edible hollow containers such that the structures have improved stability, appearance, physical properties, crispness, eating experience and sound during consumption, etc.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for making a hollow baked product.

Another object is the provision of such an improved method and apparatus for making a hollow baked product that overcomes the above-given disadvantages, in particular that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art and, in addition, that is inexpensive in terms of production, flexible in terms of shaping, flexible in terms of controlling the fold structure, and that can be produced efficiently.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A hollow body is made from a flat baked wafer cake by first juxtaposing the wafer cake with a cavity of a deep-drawing mold and then forming edge regions of the cake with a plurality of deformations out of a plane of the cake at a uniformly spacing around a periphery of the cake. Then the cake is pushed by a deep-drawing punch into the cavity to it into a hollow body and to form each of the deformations into a multilayer fold.

Furthermore, the present invention is characterized in an advantageous manner in that the flat wafer cake is positioned over the deep-drawing cavity and is bulged at the folds by lifters of the preshaping device opposite to the holding force from a substantially planar shape into a shape that is bulged and preshaped in the folds, that the preshaped flat wafer cake is brought during the deep-drawing process from a shape that is bulged at the folds substantially into a cup shape, and/or that during the deep-drawing process, the bulged folds are first shaped to be Ω-shaped and are subsequently shaped so as to lie on top of each other in a multilayer manner.

According to further advantageous features, the flat wafer cake is round, oval, rectangular, polygonal, square, star-shaped or corresponds to any other shape in which the longitudinal extension exceeds the thickness a plurality of times, that during shaping, the flat wafer cake is given a shape with a controllable position of its folds, that the flat wafer cake is fed along the transfer surface to the deep-drawing cavity, is centered over the deep-drawing cavity by centering bosses, is preshaped by the preshaping device and is deep drawn by the punch into the deep-drawing cavity and in the course of these steps, and/or thereafter, is cooled and solidified and subsequently ejected by the ejector out of the deep-drawing cavity, and/or that the flat wafer cake is first positioned when planar on the deep-drawing ring over the deep-drawing cavity, is held there by a holding force, subsequently bulged opposite to the holding force and subsequently deep drawn into the deep-drawing cavity by the punch of the deep-drawing device.

Moreover, inventive features are that from a position outside of the deep-drawing cavity, the punch is at least partially inserted in a substantially straight line into the deep-drawing cavity thereby drawing the flat wafer cake into the deep-drawing cavity, and/or that the flat wafer cake consists of a dough or a baking mass that contains a plasticizer, in particular a temperature-dependent plasticizer such as, for example, sugar, erythrol and/or xylite.

The hollow baked product that is at least partially formed from an edible, baked flat wafer cake that can be shaped in the hot state and has a cup shape during and/or after the shaping process, is characterized in that the product has multilayer folds that are distributed around the circumference in a symmetrical, rotationally symmetrical and/or regular manner, that the main extension directions of the folds of the cake run substantially perpendicular to the rim of the cup toward the floor of the cup, that the folds are at least double-layered, preferably triple-layered, and/or that the folds follow the shape of the cup in a substantially close manner.

The invention further relates to an apparatus for making a hollow baked product, comprising a deep-drawing device with a deep-drawing cavity over which a baked, shapable and solidifiable flat wafer cake can be positioned, and with a punch that can be at least partially inserted by means of a punch actuator from a position outside of the deep-drawing cavity into the deep-drawing cavity, characterized in that a preshaping device for preshaping the flat wafer cake is provided in the region of the deep-drawing cavity, that the preshaping device has preshaping elements that are arranged in the region of the folds of the wafer cake and can preferably be extended toward the flat wafer cakes, a drawing ring being provided that substantially surrounds the deep-drawing cavity and on which the flat wafer cake is retained with a holding force, and/or that the drawing ring is parallel to or level with the transfer surface.

Further apparatus features according to the invention are that at least one centering boss for centering and/or positioning the flat wafer cake is provided over the deep-drawing cavity, that the centering bosses project above the drawing ring against the holding force, that the lifters can be brought from a retracted position in which they are substantially recessed in the transfer surface into an extended position in which they project above the drawing ring and/or that a drive is provided for moving the lifters.

It is to be noted that the designations deep-drawing cavity, drawing ring, round blank and punch are typical terms from the field of metal shaping. The use of these terms serves for clarity and better understanding of the patent application. However, these terms are under no circumstances to be interpreted as being limited to their common use in the field of metal shaping. For example, the mold called a deep-drawing mold here has a cavity in which the round blanks are deep drawn by the punch. Similar to a die, this deep-drawing mold can have a shaping function—but it does not have to. Thus, it depends on the volume of the deep-drawn round blank and the remaining volume between the fully inserted punch and the deep-drawing mold if the round blank is squeezed in the resulting gap or is freely deep drawn so that the round blank does not rest against the deep-drawing mold. Through suitable selection of the shape of the punch and the deep-drawing mold, shape and surface of the edible hollow body can be determined. By providing an embossing punch or a relief in the deep-drawing mold or on the punch, for example, the wafer body can be embossed with a particular structure. During free deep drawing, thus without large-area surface contact or squeezing on the deep-drawing mold, the grid-shaped surface embossing of the baking tongs of the baking oven is maintained.

Also, the designation round blank is not limited to round, thin flat-cake-like bodies made of baking masses or dough goods for long-life bakery goods. Thus, it also in accordance with the inventive idea to select rectangular, oval, star-shaped, polygon-shaped, flat wafer-shaped or other blank shapes. Preferably, the round blank is formed as a flat wafer cake.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As seen inFIGS. 1A and 1Ba wafer baking oven1has revolving baking tongs and an oven output station at which soft flat wafer cakes, that is round blanks, are removed by the individually opening baking tongs and transferred from a device2to a preshaping device3. Here, this transfer is carried out by grippers4that can orbit about a rotation axis5of the transfer device2, that engage the flat wafer cakes from above, and that subsequently feed them with a rotary movement about the rotation axis5along a substantially horizontally transfer surface6to the preshaping device3. The preshaping device3has at least one, preferably a plurality of deep-drawing devices such as shown inFIGS. 2-10that are mounted on a carousel rotatable about a vertical axis7. The speed of the revolving baking tongs and the angular speeds of the transfer device2and the preshaping device3are synchronized in such a manner that when a baking tong opens, the soft and still shapable flat wafer cake8or round blank is received by the transfer device2and is fed with a synchronous rotational movement to the preshaping device3, specifically each fed to a revolving deep-drawing device9. Here, the absolute average speed of the flat wafer cake on the transfer device2is higher than the speed of the flat wafer cake on the deep-drawing device9.

As further shown inFIGS. 1A and 1B, during rotation of the flat wafer cake8on the preshaping device3about the axis7, the flat wafer cake8is deep drawn with the method steps described below. The method steps conform to first through fifth positions A, B, C, D, E that are preferably assumed in this order. At the end of the shaping method, that is after fifth step E, the deep-drawn edible body—the hollow baked product—is transferred from an intake device10to a reconditioning device11. The intake device10has a rotatable intake unit10that lines the baked products up into a straight row. Subsequently, the straight row of baked products is fed substantially perpendicular to its longitudinal extent to the reconditioning device. Therein, the edible bodies can for example be precooled, greased and finally cooled, or can also be provided with a coating, for example of chocolate.

FIGS. 2 and 3show the deep-drawing/deep-drawing device9according to the invention in the first position A in which a punch16movable by a punch actuator17is in a raised position spaced from the soft flat wafer cake8. The flat wafer cake8is positioned outside a deep-drawing mold13or its deep-drawing cavity14defined by a drawing ring15.

As mentioned in the description ofFIGS. 1A and 1B, the flat wafer cake8coming from the baking oven1is fed by a transfer device2to the deep-drawing device9. For positioning the flat wafer, centering bosses20are provided that project from a support face21of the preshaping device3in order to be able to serve as stops and center the flat wafer cake over the deep-drawing cavity14. Apart from the illustrated cylindrical embodiment, it is also possible to shape the stopper elements differently, for example as recesses in the support face21or stop rails and the like. In this embodiment, four coin-shaped or cylindrical bosses20are provided. Using a smaller number of them can have advantages with respect to transporting the flat wafer cake8. Thus, in this or in another embodiment, the support face21of the deep-drawing device9can be flush with the transfer surface6, the round blank8being slid over both surfaces6and21and stripped off at the centering bosses20serving as stopper elements by the gripper4. When using four centering bosses, the transfer surface6is above the support face21of the deep-drawing device9by a certain amount, preferably by the height of the centering bosses20. In this manner, the flat wafer cake is slid over the centering bosses and then positioned by gravity over the deep-drawing mold opening and then deposited centered between the centering bosses20.

As further shown inFIGS. 2 and 3, the flat wafer cake8positioned over the deep-drawing cavity14is lying on the drawing ring15of the deep-drawing device9. This drawing ring15is level with the transfer surface6of the preshaping device3. The flat wafer cake8is retained by gravity that here is parallel to the actuation direction18of the punch actuator17. In a different or alternative configuration, the flat wafer cake8can also be held by centrifugal forces that act outwardly when the preshaping device3rotates. Furthermore, it is also a feature of the invention, apart from acceleration forces due to gravity or acceleration due to centrifugal force, to hold with low-pressure devices, or with mechanical holders and the like.

In the first position A, the basically planar wafer cake lies flat on the drawing ring15over the deep-drawing cavity14and accordingly over the deep-drawing mold13. The term “over” refers to the schematic view as shown inFIG. 2. In practice it happens that due to the low stiffness of the flat wafer cake, sagging into the deep-drawing cavity14occurs. Although in the course of this, the flat wafer cake8partially projects into the deep-drawing cavity14, for improving clarity and simplicity, this is understood to be covered by the term “over” the deep-drawing cavity.

Actuating the punch actuator for moving the punch16in its actuation direction18is done in this embodiment by a pneumatic arrangement such as, for example, a linear pneumatic cylinder. Of course, it is within the scope of the invention to carry out this linear movement by hydraulic, electric or mechanical actuators such as, for example, hydraulic cylinders, linear motors, linear drives, cam systems, etc.

FIG. 3shows the flat wafer cake8positioned on the drawing ring15over the deep-drawing cavity14and the deep-drawing mold13. The punch16and the punch actuator are in the first position A, thus in a raised position. Furthermore, an ejector19is illustrated that, in this embodiment, is configured as an elastically prestressed punch and is in a raised position. Lifters22are completely recessed in the support face21.

FIGS. 4 and 5show the preshaping device3in the second position B. Here, the lifters22are extended against a holding force in such a manner that they project above the support face21and give the flat wafer cake a shape that has multiple upward bulges, preshaping the cake8with folds23. Thus, the flat wafer cake is converted from a substantially planar shape into a shape that has multiple bulges. During bulging or also after bulging is completed, the punch16itself can be moved toward and into the deep-drawing cavity14.

FIGS. 6 and 7show the deep-drawing device9in the third position C. The punch16is pushed by its actuator17into the deep-drawing cavity14and through the drawing ring15into the deep-drawing mold13. Similar to a deep-drawing process, the round blank or the flat wafer cake8is drawn by this action into the deep-drawing mold13. Thus the flat wafer cake8is formed into a cup12between the punch16and the deep-drawing mold13. The spring-loaded ejector19, which is mounted so as to be guided in the actuation direction of the punch actuator, is pushed by the punch16from an extended or raised position shown inFIGS. 2-5, into a prestressed recessed position.

Optionally, a cutting arrangement interacting with a cutting ring24can be provided for interaction with the drawing ring in order to cut off the overhang of the flat wafer cake8at a rim26(FIGS. 15-17) of the formed cup12. To this end, the punch16is provided with a cutting ring24that interacts with a stop ring25. When moving the punch into the deep-drawing cavity, the cutting ring24is pressed with its cutting edge against the ring25. With the present geometry, the flat wafer cake8is cut off along the edge of the cutting ring24.

It is to be noted that in the present form, a circularly annular cutting ring24is provided. However, it is absolutely in accordance with the inventive idea to make the cutting ring oval, rectangular or star-shaped or to shape it following any conceivable shape, in particular following any conceivable closed contour.

Insertion of the punch16, pretensions the ejector19. The force of the punch is effective through the flat wafer cake for tensioning a biasing element of the ejector19to push this ejector19against the force of its biasing spring into the illustrated lowermost position.

FIG. 8shows the device9in the fourth position D in which the punch16is retracted upward out of the deep-drawing mold13. The elastically biased ejector19moves synchronously up with the punch16and pushes the finished baked product12or edible body that is formed from the flat wafer cake8and is now cup-shaped and at least partially solidified and dimensionally stable with the punch16out of the deep-drawing mold13. As this happens, the deep-drawn flat wafer cake formed into the product12maintains the desired cup shape.

FIGS. 9 and 10show the apparatus in the final or fifth position E with the punch16retracted upward completely out of the finished cup12and the ejector19holding this cup12above the plane of the top face of the mold13.

During the deep-drawing movement according to the invention as illustrated, for example, inFIGS. 2-9, of folds are formed on the flat wafer cake or the hollow baked product takes place due to geometrical and physical conditions. As mentioned above, the formation of folds23is desired and provides the finished product with a number of advantageous properties.

The formation of the folds is illustrated in detail inFIGS. 11 to 14. These figures show a vertical section through a segment, in particular of the fold23of the edge of the flat wafer cake that, after the shaping according to the invention, corresponds in the finished state to the rim26of the hollow baked product12. Bulging by the lifters22(seeFIG. 4) gives the flat wafer cake8a shape that enables and/or facilitates the formation of the folds23at the desired positions. Here, three lifters22are provided so that folds23are created in three regions of the flat wafer cake8.

At the beginning of the deep-drawing process, these bulges that eventually form the folds23are slightly bulged upward against the deep-drawing direction, and the flat wafer cake8extends substantially perpendicular to this vertical deep-drawing direction. As the punch16moves down in the deep-drawing cavity14and the deep-drawing mold13, the flat wafer cake8is formed into the cup12. Side walls28of the cup12are deformed here from the initial position toward the deep-drawing punch16. Since the circumference of the flat-lying flat wafer cake8is larger than the circumference of the finished cup12, the desired formation of folds takes place in particular in the region of the cup rim26, but also in a region near a cup floor27. At the beginning of the deep-drawing movement, the folds23are Ω-shaped (omega-shaped) bulges, as shown inFIG. 11. With continued penetration and deep drawing of the flat wafer cake8, these Ω-shaped bulges are more and more compressed, as illustrated in theFIGS. 12 and 13. Once the punch16is completely or almost completely moved into the deep-drawing mold13, the desired fold shape according toFIG. 14is formed. It is to be noted that this is a possible fold shape. Through suitable selection of the lifters22, for example asymmetrical lifters, angular lifters, but also through the number of lifters, it is possible according to the inventive idea to achieve different fold shapes.

The fold shape as illustrated inFIG. 14, for example, imparts to the flat wafer cake a constant thickness during the baking process and forms the desired reinforced regions only through specific folding in the folds23. If the lifters22were not provided, folds23would still be created; however, their positions would be at random so that the folds of each individual flat wafer cake would be generated at different positions. In is particular in mass production, this results in a high reject rate of wafer bodies caused by, for example, crack formation, irregular arrangement of folds, etc. With the present invention, selecting the position of the folds23is possible, that is they can be uniformly spaced in each cup12and identically spaced on all finished cups12.

FIG. 15shows an embodiment of a possible baked, deep-drawn product. It has the rim26, the floor27, the side wall28and the folds23. Here, the rim26is formed such that it projects laterally in a plane. This collar-shaped or bent embodiment increases stability and strength of the rim26.

FIG. 16shows another embodiment of a cup-shaped baked product12according to the invention in a side view. Here, however it is also in accordance with the inventive idea to shape the baked product spherically, hemispherically, cylindrically, conically, cubically or cuboidally, etc. In addition here the rim26is not bent over and outwardly projecting, but has been cropped off very close to the side wall28.

FIG. 17is a view from above of an inventive baked product according toFIG. 16. As noted, the folds23are laid on top of each other multiple times. The present illustration is a schematic view. It can happen in practice that in particular the regions lying on top of each other in a multilayer manner are squeezed by the punch and that therefore the flat wafer cake is thinner in this region than in the remaining regions of the side wall28. Thus, despite the multilayer arrangement in the folds, a constant total wall thickness along the entire side wall might exist.

Here ofFIG. 17, two folds23are regularly distributed on the circumference. However, it is also in accordance with the is inventive idea to provide more than two, in particular three, four, five, six or more folds.

In the embodiments shown, the folds are bulged by the lifters22. However, it is also within the meaning of the invention that no lifters extending opposite to the deep-drawing direction are used, but, for example, formations such as recesses or cutouts are provided in the region of the drawing ring25or in the region of the support face of the preshaping device3. For example, in a further, unillustrated embodiment, cutouts are provided in the drawing ring and in the region of the deep-drawing cavity, into which cutouts regions of the soft round blank, in particular of the hot, shapable flat wafer cake8are drawn by gravity or other holding force prior to the deep-drawing process or during the deep-drawing process. This configuration too forms folds that result in the desired specific fold formation during the deep-drawing process.

It should be noted here that the invention is not limited to the above-described illustrated embodiments. Further embodiments in accordance with the inventive idea arise from combinations of individual or a plurality of features that can be found in the entire description, the figures and/or the claims. Thus, also such embodiments are disclosed that consist of combinations of features that originate from different illustrated embodiments. The figures are at least partially schematic views, dimensions and proportions deviating from further illustrated embodiments or features that are not graphically illustrated, as well as from real embodiments.