APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING AND DISPENSING SKEWERED FOODS

Abstract: Apparatus for storing, conveying, cooking and delivering of skewered foods such as kabobs and hot dogs. Prior art devices have been typically restricted to dispensing only one type of foodstuff, characteristically hot dogs (unskewered) and accompanying buns, due to the dimensional and physical variations between different foods. The present invention overcomes these deficiencies by employing a conveyor with attached brackets for receiving and transporting the skewers past cooking elements. Due to the uniformity of the employed skewers, a wide variety of disparate food items can be reliably dispensed. The apparatus includes a removable dispensing cartridge (3) for storing foods (7) or other articles be dispensed. The cartridge includes a pair of vertical side members (5) with plurality of horizontally aligned notches (6) for supporting skewers (8) in vertical relationship and further a second pair of vertical side members (11) with disposed pins (12) corresponding to and extending into notches (6) for guiding the skewers to the next subjacent notches as the skewers are displaced by push bar (9). A further embodiment of the present invention includes a cooking apparatus wherein skewered food is conveyed past cooking elements (28) by endless conveyor belts (31). The conveyor carries receiving brackets (36) which receive and carry the skewers past cooking elements while rotating the skewers to effect an evenly-cooked product. Rotation of the skewers is facilitated by rack gear (38) in cooperation with spring biased roller arms (39) and roller bearings (35).

Description: APPARATUS FOR CONVEYING AND DISPENSING SKEWERED POODS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Apparatus of the type useful for sequentially dispensing food items to be cooked to a cooking unit are well known in the art. Such apparatus have particular application in short-order vending opera¬ tions, particularly coin-operated vending machines of the type employing an endless belt to convey dis¬ pensed raw food past a cooking element. Difficulties have been encountered, however, in the practical use of such apparatus, both with respect to the dispensing means and the endless belt systems employed to convey the food for cooking. Owing to the great variability in the physical characteristics of different foods, dispensing units have been typically restricted to dispensing only one type of foodstuff, characteristi¬ cally hot dogs and acx_αmpanyin buns. Even then, the non-uniform^.characteristics of the same type of food¬ stuff have resulted in irregular and unreliable operation of many prior art dispensers. Additionally, it has been necessary to develop specialized endless belt conveyor systems for use in conjunction with the cooking of specific foodstuffs, again owing to non-uniformity between different types of foods. Known conveyor systems for foods such as hot dogs are typically prone to result in a poorly cooked produ-ct, most usually. overdone on one side and underdone on the opposite side. Frequently, it has been difficult to develop dispensing apparatus compatible with conveyor systems specifically designed for use with a certain type of foodstuff. Accordingly, the invention provides an endless conveyor system for both food and non-food items, but particularly for conveying skewered raw food items past a cooking assembly and for manipulating the food during transport to insure proper cooking and a palat¬ able product. In addition, the invention provides a dispenser for both food and non-food artoicles, but par¬ ticularly for skewered food items. Owing to the uniform¬ ity of the skewers employed, a wide variety of disparate food items can be reliably dispensed, including many food items not previously dispensible in an automated opera¬ tion. Further, the dispensation of foodstuffs on skewers particularly facilitates use of the dispenser with a variety of endless conveyor means for conveying the raw food through a cooking unit. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention comprises a dispenser for sequen¬ tially dispensing articles, particularly skewered food items. The dispenser includes a removable dispensing cartridge for storing the articles to be dispensed, which, includes means for supporting the articles within the cartridge in spaced vertical relationship and means for guiding the articles stepwise through the cartridge to a discharge outlet. The cartridge may be supplied as a filled disposable unit for use in the dispenser, or may be refillable. The dispenser further includes means for urging the articles through, the dispensing cartridge, and is advantageously employed in combination with a cooking assembly of the type employing endless conveyor means for conveying food past a series of cooking elements in a combined dispensing and cooking apparatus. The invention further comprises a cooking assembly including an endless conveyor system for the simul¬ taneous conveyance and rotation of articles, particularly skewered foods. The conveyor system comprises endless conveyor means and rotation means for conveying and rotating articles, especially for conveying skewered foods past a cooking element to a product discharge outlet, with simultaneous rotation to ensure even exposure to the elements. The conveyor system of the invention includes a pair of vertically disposed end¬ less belts driven by sprocket wheels in a conventional manner. Each belt includes a plurality of receiving brackets extending from the outer surface -thereof; each of the brackets is horizontally aligned with a corres¬ ponding bracket on the opposing belt for receiving the free ends of a skewer to thereby convey the skewered food. The brackets are sufficiently angled to retain the skewers, and are provided with bearing means in the vertex of the angle, upon which the skewer bears to permit facile rotational movement of the skewer in the bracket. The rotation means of the invention comprises means for imparting rotational movement to the skewers lodged in the brackets such as a rack gear disposed for interaction with the skewers as they are conveyed by the conveying means; the rack gear acts in cooperation with biasing means for urging the skewers against the gear teeth, for example a spring biased roller arm acting against the endless belt conveyor. The skewers are thus pressed between the gear teeth and the barcket bearing means, resulting in even rotational movement of the skewers as they are moved along by the endless belt. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the Drawings : Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a combined dispensing and cooking apparatus according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of an alternate embodiment of the combined dispensing and cooking apparatus; Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of the combined dispensing and cooking apparatus of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the dispenser of the apparatus of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a partial detail of the dispenser of the apparatus of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a view along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a partial detail of the conveyor system of the apparatus of Fig. 3; Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of an alternate embodiment of the apparatus of Fig. 3; Fig. 9 is a cross-section partial detail of the dispenser of the apparatus of Fig. 2; Fig. 10 is a view along the line 10-10 of Fig. 9. Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the dispensing cartridge of the invention, packaged for sale; Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a detail of the apparatus of Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 9; and Fig. 13 is a perspective view of the actuating mechanism of the apparatus of Fig. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION With particular reference to Fig. 4, the dis¬ penser of the present invention generally indicated at 1, comprises a housing 2 for a removable dispensing cartridge 3 adapted for storing and feeding the articles to be dispensed. The cartridge 3 Includes a frame 4 having a first pair of vertical side members 5 including a plurality of support means comprising horizontally aligned notches 6 for supporting the articles to be dispensed in vertical relationship within the cartridge 3. In the illustrated embodiment, the articles to be dispensed comprise food items such as hot dogs 7 sup¬ ported in notches 6 by skewers 8. In addition to the hot dogs 7, however, the dispenser 1 is useful for dispensing a large variety of both food and non-food items, but is particularly useful for skewered foods including those commonly served en brochette, such as kabobs. The cartridge 3 further includes guide means for guiding the skewers 8 holding the hot dogs 7 to the next subjacent notches 6 as the skewers 8 are dis¬ placed during the dispensing process, as by a push bar 9. The guide means exemplified comprise a second pair of vertical side members 11 in the frame 4 having vertically disposed pins 12 corresponding with, and extending into the notches 6. As the push bar 9 is operated, the skewers 8 are dislodged from the notches 6 and drop on to the subjacent pins 12, which guide them into the corresponding subjacent notch.es 6, or, in the case of the lowermost hot dog 7a, through a discharge outlet 13 in the cartridge 3- The outlet 13 communi¬ cates with discharge means in the housing 2 comprising an opening 14 in the floor of the housing 2. The housing 2 is optionally refrigerated, and In this event, the opening 14 is provided with a door 16, and the housing 2 is insulated with, insulating material 15, as best seen in Fig. 3- The cartridge 3 ma be supplied for disposition In the housing 2 as a disposable filled "blister pack" as shown In Fig. 11, or may be intended for reuse, in which case means such as hinge 17 (Fig. 4) are included to permit the pairs of vertical side members 5 and 11 to be separated so that the cartridge 3 may be refilled. The displacing means comprising push bar 9 may be associated with the cartridge 3, as shown in Fig. 4, or more preferably, associated with the housing 2. In a preferred embodiment, illustrated in detail in Figs. 5 and 6, the push bars 9 include a pin and slot mechanism 18 for translating downward motion from associated levers 19 into horizontal motion of the push hars 9 so that the skewers 8 are displaced from the notches 6. Preferably, the levers 19 are actuated by actuating means such as lever solenoids 21 to move from the position indicated by solid lines to the position indicated by dotted lines; the levers 19 are retracted to their original position by countersprings 22. In an alternate embodiment shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the push bars 9, guided by a pin and slot mechanism l8a, are displaced horizontally by levers 19a, preferably actuated by lever solenoids 21a. The levers 19 and 19a are either secured to the push bars 9 so that the push bars automatically return to their original positions as the levers are retracted, or the push bars 9 are biased towards the inoperative pssition by biasing means such as biasing spring 23 shown in Fig. 4. Both the push bars 9 and the door lβ to the discharge opening 14 in the housing 2 may be manually operated, if desired. However, for commercial vending operations, both mecha- ■; nisms are preferably automatically actuated. As best shown in Fig. 3 . the door 16 is conveniently operated by actuation of a linkage 24 by door solenoid 21b and closed by the action of a counterweight 26. The dispenser 1 or a similarly useful conven¬ tional dispenser may be employed for dispensing food to be cooked, particularly skewered food, to a cooking assembly including the endless conveyor system of the invention. Typically, the dispenser and cooking assembly are disposed in a combined dispensing and cooking apparatus of the type illustrated in Figs. 3 and 8, wherein skewered food discharged from the dispenser 1 is conveyed by endless conveyor means past a series of cooking elements to a discharge outlet. The endless conveyor system of the invention may be used independently in other applications, .however. With particular reference to Fig. 3_ the cooking assembly of the present invention is generally indicated at 27 and disposed in a common housing 25 with dispenser 1. The cooking assembly 27 includes a vertical array of cooking elements such as infrared lamps 28 disposed In a parallel plane to the dispensing cartridge 3, and an endless conveyor* system including endless belts 31 of the chain link type (only one of which is shown) disposed parallel to the vertical array of cooking ele¬ ments 28. Preferably, the cooking elements 28 are associated with reflecting means for reflecting heat toward the belt 31 and the food It carries, comprising a polished reflector 32 of known type. The belts 31 are driven by spaced sprocket wheels 33 supported on shafts 3^ which extend between opposite side walls of the common housing 25. (Each shaft carries two sproc¬ ket wheels 33 . but only one Is illustrated on each shaft, exemplifying the interaction between the belts 31 and the associated sprocket wheels 33) ♦ The sprocket wheels- are in turn driven in a conventional manner as by an electric motor associated with a usual drive shaft or chain and associated gearing system (not shown) . Preferably, the motor is of the variable speed type, to permit regulation of chain speed and hence cooking, time. As best seen in Figs. 3 and 7_ each belt 31 includes spaced receiving means for receiving and carrying food from dispenser 1, comprising a plurality of brackets 36 extending from the face of each belt 31. Each bracket 26 is horizontally aligned with a corresponding bracket on the opposing belt (not shown) which are adapted to receive and carry the free ends of the skewers 8 piercing the food articles -discharged from the dispenser 1. Each bracket is angled sufficiently to retain the skewer 8 and includes bearing means for bearing the weight of skewers 8 such as roller bearings 35 in the vertex of the angles. As best seen in Fig. 3, the common housing 25 suitably includes a ramp 37 or similar gravity conveying means for conveying the material discharged from the dispenser 1 to the receiving brackets 36 dis¬ posed on the belt 31. As best seen in Fig. 7_ the endless conveyor system of the invention further includes ro¬ tating means for rotating the skewers 8 carried by the brackets 36 as the belts 31 move past the cooking elements 28. The rotating means comprises a rack gear 38 in coop¬ eration with biasing means for biasing the belt 31 toward the rack gear 38 such as plurality of spring-biased roller arms 39 pivotally secured to a section of the housing 25. The biasing action of the roller arms 39 positively engages the skewers 8 with the rack gear 38 against the bearings 35, causing rotation of the skewer 8 and the associated food article as the endless belt 31 is driven by the sprockets 33. It is essential that the bearing means be provided for bearing the weight of the skewer 8 on the bracket 36. Without such bearing means, the skewer will not be rotated, or will be rotated only erratically, and the product will not be properly cooked. As best seen in Fig. 3 , as the endless belt 31 moves over the upper sprocket 33, the associated bracket 36 is inverted, and the skewered food product is dispensed through a discharge chute 41 in the common housing 25. As best seen in Fig. 12, the chute 41 is preferably equipped with a "sneeze guard" 42 for sanitary reasons. A modification of the embodiment of Figs. 3 and 7, particularly suitable for food items such as skewered buns 40, which do not require rotation for adequate cooking, is illustrated In Fig. 8. In this embodiment, a cooking assembly 27a includes a similar endless belt 31 driven by sprockets 33 which conveys skewered food discharged from- the dispenser 1 past a double array of cooking elements 28. The cooking elements 28 are disposed in spaced vertical arrays parallel to the dispensing cartridge 3 so that dispensed food picked up by receiving brackets 3βa disposed on belt 31 is carried between the two arrays of cooking elements 28. In this embodiment, no provision is made for rotation of the skewered food carried by brackets 36a, and the brackets 36a accordingly are not provided with the bearings 35 illustrated in the embodiment of Fig. 7. In the embodiment of Fig. 8, skewered food is dispensed through discharge chute 41 as previously described, on passing over the uppermost sprocket 33- In both the embodiments of Figs. 3 and 8, a fan 43 driven by motor 45 (Figs. 1 and 2) may be provided for the cook¬ ing assembly 27 to assist in the evacuation of vaporized water and grease particles. However, in the embodiment of Fig. 8, a fan will not be required for some cooking operations, for example, bun warming. As best seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the common housing 25 for the dispenser 1 and cooking assembly 27 may include either a top access 44 (Fig. 1) or side access 46 (Fig. 2) for insertion of cartridges 3« Fig. 13 is a detailed illustrated of the top access apparatus of Fig. 1 associated with the actuating means of Figs- 5 and 6. In Figs. 1 and 2, the dispenser 1 is shown employed with both a cooking asembly 27 of Fig. 3 and a cooking assembly 27a of Fig. 8, suitable for cooking hot dogs and warming buns. In operation, one or more filled dispensing cartridges 3 are placed in the dispenser 1. To dispense skewered hot dog 7a, the lever solenoids 21 or 21a are energized to activate the levers 19, which in turn actuate the push bars 9 to displace the skewers 8 from the notches 6 in the vertical side members 5. The pins 12 of the guide means then direct each of the skewers 8 holding hot dogs 7 to the next subjacent notches 6; the lowermost pins 12 direct the skewers 8 holding hot dog 7a through the outlet 13 in the cartridge 3 and the opening 14 in the floor of the housing 2. If the opening 14 is provided with a door lβ, a door solenoid 21b is activated to open door 16 to dispense the hot dog 7a. The skewered hot dog 7a proceeds down ramp 37 to the endless conveyor means 29, where the skewers 8 are picked up by a pair of brackets 36 on endless belts 31. As the belts 31 are driven by the sprockets 33, the skewers 8 are positively engaged between the bearings 35 on the brackets 36 and the rack gear 38 by the action of the roller arms 39 urging the belts 31 toward the rack gear 38, and are caused to rotate as the hot dog 7a passes the cooking elements 28. As the belts 31 travel over uppermost sprockets 33. the bracekts 36 are inverted, and the cooked hot dog 7a is discharged onto discharge chute 41 and dispensed.

Claims: WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. Dispensing apparatus for sequentially dispens- a' '' plurality of articles comprising: a).) a housing including discharge means for discharging said articles; b) at least one dispensing cartridge removably disposed within said housing adapted for storing said articles in superposed relationship with respect to one another, said cartridge including I) a frame having a pair of vertical side members; ii) a plurality of support means associated with said side members for supporting said articles in superposed relationship with respect to one another within said cartridge; and iii) guide means associated with said support means for guiding an article displaced from one support means to the next subjacent support means or from the last support means to the discharge means; and c) displacing means operatively associated with said dispensing cartridge for displacing said articles from said support means. 2. The invention of Claim 1, further Including actuating means for actuating said displacing means to displace said articles from said support means so that each article is guided to the next subjacent support means or to the discharge means. 3. A dispensing cartridge for use in conjunction with dispensing means for sequentially dispensing a plurality of articles comprising: a) a frame including a pair of vertical side members; b) a plurality of vertically disposed support means associated with said side members for supporting said articles in superposed relationship with respect to one another within said cartridge; and c) guide means associated with said support means for guiding an article displaced from one support means to the next subjacent support means; wherein said support means comprises a plurality of horizontally algined corresponding notches on said pair of vertical side members. 4. The invention of Claim 1, wherein said support means comprises a plurality of horizontally aligned corresponding notches on said pair of verti¬ cal side members. 5. The invention of Claim 4, wherein the article to be dispensed is a skewered food item, and the free ends of each skewer are disposed in said corres¬ ponding notches. 6. The invention of Claim 4, wherein said guide means comprises a pin extending into each notch. 7. The invention of Claims 3 or 4, wherein said guide means comprises a plurality of pins verti¬ cally disposed on a second pair of vertical side members for said frame, each of said pins corresponding with and extending into one of said notches. 8. The invention of Claim 5_ wherein said dis¬ placing means comprises a pair of vertical bars operable to displace said skewer ends from said notches. 9. The invention of Claim 3 3 wherein the article to be dispensed is a skewered food item, and the free ends of each skewer are disposed in said corres¬ ponding notches. 10. In a combined dispensing and cooking apparatus of the type wherein food to be cooked is dispensed from a storage dispenser onto endless conveyor means for conveying the food past a series of cooking elements, the improvement comprising employing the dispensing ayparatus of Claim 5 as said storage dispen¬ ser. 11. The invention of Claim 3 . wherein said car¬ tridge includes a plurality of skewered foodstuffs disposed on said support means, and further comprising: selectively actuable displacing means operatively associated with said cartridge for displacing said skewered foodstuffs from said support means, said dis¬ placing means comprising at least one vertically- extending member mounted for selective horizontally- OMPI directed displacement to push said skewered food¬ stuffs out of said notches. 12. Apparatus for heating and dispensing food articles supported on elongated skewers, said apparatus comprising: conveyor means defining an elongated path of travel between skewer receiving and discharging sta¬ tions, said conveyor means including a pair of endless conveyors spaced transversely from each other relative to the length dimension of said path; driving means operatively associated with said conveyor means for moving said endless conveyor along said path; heating means disposed adjacent said path; a plurality of skewer support' means secured on and spaced longitudinally along each endless conveyor, each skewer support means on one of said conveyors being paired and transversely aligned with a skewer support means on the other of said conveyors, each skewer support means comprising a bracket member having a closed end for loosely carrying a skewer portion while travelling along said path and an open end which is sufficiently wider than the thickness dimension of said skewer portion to freely receive said skewer portion when the skewer portion is dropped into said bracket member at said receiving station and to permit the received skewer portion to drop freely of its own weight from the bracket member at said discharging station; wherein said bracket members are oriented on said conveyors such that said open end is directed generally upward when passing said receiving station and generally downward when passing said discharging station; and means for continuously rotating said skewers in said bracket members as said skewers travel along said path, said means for continuously rotating com¬ prising an elongated gear track disposed adjacent said path in direct contact with skewers location inter¬ mediate said endless conveyors; wherein said means for continuously rotating further comprises at least two spaced roller bearings in each bracket member for rotatably supporting the skewer portion received in the bracket member, and means continuously urging said bracket members in said path toward said elongated gear track to positively engage supported skewers with said gear track. 13. The apparatus according to Claim 12 wherein said heating means comprises a plurality of indivi¬ dual heating elements disposed in spaced alignment along a dimension parallel to said path. 14. The apparatus according to Claim 12 wherein said elongated path extends substantially vertically throughout most of its length. 15. Apparatus for heating and dispensing food articles supported on elongated skewers, said appara¬ tus comprising: conveyor means defining an elongated path of travel between skewer receiving and discharging stations, said conveyor means including a pair of end¬ less conveyors spaced transversely from each other relative to the length dimension of said path; driving means operatively associated with said conveyor means for moving said endless conveyor along said path; heating means disposed adjacent said path; a plurality of skewer support means secured on and spaced longitudinally along each endless conveyor, each skewer support means on one of said conveyors being paired and transversely aligned with a skewer support means on the other of said conveyors, each skewer support means comprising a bracket member having a closed end for llosely carrying a skewer portion while travelling along said path and an open end which is sufficiently wider than the thickness dimension of said skewer portion to freely receive said skewer portion when the skewer portion is dropped into said bracket member at said receiving station and to permit the received skewer portion to drop freely of its own weight from the bracket member at said discharging station; wherein said bracket members are oriented on said conveyors such that said open end is directed generally upward when passing said receiving station and generally downward when passing said discharging station; wherein each of said bracket members includes a pair of edges which mutually diverge from said closed end toward said open end; and means for continuously rotating said skewers in said bracket members as said skewers are carried along said path, said means for continuously rotating comprising: an elongated gear track disposed adjacent said path; at least two spaced roller bearings secured in each bracket member for rota ably supporting the received skewer portion; and means continuously urging the bracket members disposed In said path toward said elongated gear track to positively engageothe supported skewers in direct contact with the gear track at a skewer lo¬ cation intermediate the bracket members. 16. Apparatus for heating and dispensing food articles supported on elongated skewers having a support portion of substantially constant thickness on which at least one food article is supported, said apparatus comprising: conveyor means defining an elongated path of travel between skewer receiving and discharging stations, said conveyor means comprising a pair of endless conveyors spaced transversely from each other rela¬ tive to the length dimension of the path; driving means operatively associated with said conveyor means for moving said endless conveyors along said path; heating means disposed adjacent said conveyor means along said paibh; a plurality of skewer support means spaced longitudinally along each endless conveyor, each skewer support means on one of said conveyors being paired and transversely aligned with a skerwer sup¬ port means on the other of said conveyors, wherein each skewer support means comprises a bracket member having bearing means for rotatably supporting a portion of a skewer while travelling along said path and skewer receiving means extending from said receiving station and permitting the received skewer portion to freely fall onto said bearing means; and means for continuously rotating said skewers in said bearing means as said skewers travel along said path, said means for- • ■continuously rotating comprising a rack gear disposed adjacent and in substantially parallel spaced relation with said path, and means continuously urgin said bracket members toward said rack gear to positively engage the support portion of each skewer in said path with said rack gear. 17- The apparatus according to Claim 16 wherein said bearing means comprises at least two spaced roller bearings secured bracket members for rotatably support¬ ing the support portion of a received skewer.

Inventors: BOOSALIS GEORGE M, BOOSALIS MICHAEL G, FERRIN WAYNE, BOOSALIS, GEORGE, M., BOOSALIS, MICHAEL, G. (DECEASED), FERRIN, WAYNE
Applicants: BOOSALIS FRIEDA, BOOSALIS, FRIEDA
Application year: 1983
Main classification: G07F11
IPC codes: G07F9, G07F11