Dough discharging apparatus

Abstract: An apparatus is provided for forming a circular sheet-like dough topping to be deposited on bread dough. In this apparatus the pressure for discharging the dough decreases from the center of the dough topping toward each of its ends, and at the same time the dough topping is initially discharged from its center followed by a delayed flow toward both ends of the dough topping.

Description: The present invention relates to a food material discharging apparatus for supplying highly elastic and fluid material such as dough used for producing foods, to obtain a sheet of food material having a circular or oval shape. More specifically, the present invention relates to a topping dough discharging apparatus for disposing the material on bread when producing so-called melon bread, etc. A prior art melon bread producing apparatus (see prior art disclosed in the intermediate documents of the applicant EP-A-707 795 and EP-A-709 028) is shown in Fig. 13. In this discharging apparatus, topping dough 34 is discharged from above by the action of an extruding pump 32 and a discharge valve 33 to cover bread dough that is separately conveyed by a conveyer belt 30. Since the topping dough 34 is in the form of a sheet, in this apparatus the topping dough 34 that is supplied to discharge valve 33 through a supply pipe 35 must be discharged from a long aperture 36 having a predetermined width. Conventionally, a rotor 37 of the type shown in Fig. 14 is used to discharge the topping dough 34 in a sheet-like form. As seen in Figs. 15 and 16, the topping dough of a preset shape is gradually shaped into a desired form to discharge it in the sheet-like shape. The rotor 37 can indeed discharge the topping dough, giving it a sheet-like form. However, in this case the topping dough takes a square or rectangular form. Thus when the topping dough 34 is discharged to cover bread dough 31, the four corner portions of the topping dough appear at the periphery of the bread dough 31, as in Fig. 17. Fig. 18 shows the bottom surface of the baked melon bread 39. Fig. 18 shows that the four extra corner portions of the topping dough 34 before baking are left to protrude from the bottom surface or side surface on the bread dough 31. This gives an ugly appearance to the product. According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for intermittently discharging sheet-like foodstuff material, comprising a housing in which a cylindrical rotor is rotatably mounted, the rotor having an inlet to communicate with a material-feeding opening of the housing, a guiding chamber the cross section of which is larger than that of the inlet, and an elongate aperture communicating with the guiding chamber, the cross section of the aperture being smaller than that of the guiding chamber, whereby when foodstuff material is supplied into the rotor through the material-feeding opening, the material passes through the rotor and is discharged in substantially circular or oval sheet-like form from a discharge outlet of the housing. Thus the discharge conditions for the central portion and the ends of the food material to be discharged from the long aperture are made to differ. Namely, the discharging amount at the central portion is large and gradually decreases towards each end so as to discharge food material of a circular or oval sheet form. Some embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig. 1 is a partial cross section to show the effect and structure of a first embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a front view in cross section showing the discharge valve of the first embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a perspective view to show the effect and the partial structure of the first embodiment; Fig. 4 is a perspective view that explains the inner structure of the rotor of the first embodiment; Fig. 5 is a perspective view to explain the flow and effect of the food dough of the first embodiment; Fig. 6 is a cross section taken along the line A-A in Fig. 3; Fig. 7 is a front view of the melon dough before baking, of the first embodiment; Fig. 8 is a plan view of the melon dough before baking, of the first embodiment; Fig. 9 is a front view of the melon dough after baking, of the first embodiment; Fig. 10 is a partial cross section to show the inner structure of the discharge valve of a second embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a nozzle member of the second embodiment; Fig. 12 is a perspective view to explain the inner structure of the rotor of the second embodiment; Fig. 13 is a partial cross sectional front view to show the effect and structure of a prior art apparatus; Fig. 14 is a perspective view to show the inner structure of a rotor of the prior art apparatus; Fig. 15 is a perspective view to explain the flow and effect of the food dough in the prior art apparatus; Fig. 16 is also a perspective view to explain the flow and effect of the food dough in the prior art apparatus; Fig. 17 is a plan view of the melon bread before baking by the prior art apparatus; and Fig. 18 is a bottom view of the melon bread after baking by the prior art apparatus. A first embodiment of the food-material discharging apparatus will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 6. A conveying device 1 is provided, in the form of a conveyor that moves continuously at a fixed speed, or intermittently. A hopper 2 has an extruding pump 4 that extrudes dough 3 for forming a topping, and a supply pipe 5 is connected at its upper end to the exit of the extruding pump 4. The extruding pump 4 is, for example, a vane pump of a volume-measuring type, but it is not limited to being such a pump. The dough 3 may consist of biscuit dough, or biscuit dough mixed with, for instance, chocolate chips or raisins, etc., chocolate, jam, custard cream, etc., or kneaded sea urchins or kneaded cheese that is used for kneaded fish products. The lower end of the supply pipe 5 is provided with a discharge valve 6. As seen in Fig. 2, the discharge valve 6 consists of a housing 7 and a rotor 8. The housing 7 has a material-feeding opening 9 for feeding the dough 3, and the upper end of the opening 9 is detachably connected to the supply pipe 5. The rotor 8 is inserted in the housing 7 and is rotatably supported by it so that the rotor can reciprocate. As seen in Fig. 4, the rotor 8 has a space that is provided as a path that connects an inlet 10 for the dough 3, a guiding chamber 11, and a long aperture 12. The inlet 10 has a cross section of a width W1 and a thickness T1, and the upper end of it is aligned with the material-feeding opening 9 of the housing 7. The guiding chamber 11 is a space having a width W2 that is greater than the width of the inlet 10 (W2 > W1), a thickness T1, and a depth D1. The long aperture 12 extends from the lower surface of the guiding chamber 11 to the discharge opening 13 of the rotor 8. The aperture 12 has a width W2, a thickness T2 (<T1), and a depth D2 to provide a long aperture. Although the shape of the inlet 10 and the long aperture 12 differ, their cross sections are made to be the same, namely, W1 X T1 = W2 X T2. The rotor 8 is connected to a rod 15 of an air cylinder 14 via an arm 16 and the rotor 8 reciprocally rotates in the housing 7 as the rod 15 extends and retracts. The discharge outlet 17 of the housing 7 is also a long aperture, having a space larger than that of the discharge opening 13 of the rotor 8. In Fig. 3 the number 18 denotes molded bread dough that is being conveyed. Topping dough 19 discharged from the discharge outlet 17 of the housing 7 is deposited on the bread dough 18 from above to form melon bread dough 20. The number 21 in Fig. 9 denotes baked melon bread. A second embodiment of the present invention will now be explained with reference to Figs. 10 to 12. The apparatus of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment except for the rotor 8. Thus in the second embodiment the same numbers are used for the same elements as in the first embodiment, but the associated explanation is omitted. A rotor 22 is rotatably mounted in the housing 7 and a nozzle member 23 is detachably mounted on the rotor 22. The nozzle member 23 is formed with a long aperture 24 and has a recessed portion 25' that forms a guiding chamber 25. By providing the separable nozzle member 23 as above and by thus constructing the rotor 22 as a plurality of members, the nozzle member 23 can be replaced by other types of nozzle members 23 having a long aperture 24 and a guiding chamber 25 of an appropriate size. By so doing, the shape of the topping dough 19 to be discharged can easily be changed. The effect and function of the both of the above embodiments will now be explained, with reference also to Figs. 5 and 6. The bread dough 18 is continuously or intermittently conveyed and in synchronism with its movement the extruding pump 4 for extruding the dough 3 stops rotating, and an air cylinder 14 is activated intermittently, so that the topping dough 19 is deposited on the bread dough 18. Due to the activation of the air cylinder 14, the rotor 8 in the housing 7 rotates to form a passage for the dough 3 from the material-feeding opening 9 to the discharge outlet 17. In this condition the dough 3 in the hopper 2 passes through supply pipe 5, the material-feeding opening 9, the inlet 10, the guiding chamber 11, and the long aperture 12, and the topping dough 19 is extruded from the discharge mouth 13. Since the topping dough 19 expands in the fermenting process, its height becomes high, and thus the dough topping can fully cover the bread dough 18. Thereafter the extruding pump 4 is rotated and stopped, and the air cylinder 14 rotatively retracts, so that the flow of the topping dough 19 is cut so as to form the melon bread dough 20. Since the width of the guiding chamber 11 is larger than that of the inlet 10, the dough 3 receives high pressure at the central part, and the pressure decreases towards each end of the dough 3. Also, the flow of the dough 3 towards the ends of the guiding chamber takes time. Due to the provision of the long aperture 12 of a desired size at the bottom of the guiding chamber 11, the dough 3 flows in the guiding chamber 11, receiving the pressure mentioned above, and the flow of the dough 3 towards both ends of the guiding chamber 11 takes time. The dough 3 enters the long aperture 12 to be discharged therefrom. Eventually the topping dough 19 begins to be discharged from the central portion of the discharge opening 13 and is gradually discharged toward both ends of the guiding chamber 11 due to the time lag of the dough flow mentioned above. By this structure the discharged topping dough 19 is initially extruded at the central part of it, followed by the extrusion towards both of its ends, giving it a smoothly curved line. This eventually provides a dough sheet having a circular periphery. Thus it has become possible to discharge topping dough 19 in a circular shape. Since the bread dough 18 for forming the melon bread dough 20 is round, and the topping dough 19 is circular, the discharged topping dough 19 deposited on the bread dough 18 well fits the round surface of the bread dough, as compared with the prior art wherein four extra corner portions appear around the periphery of the topping dough. Also, since the boundary between the topping dough and the bread dough after baking is round at the bottom surface and the side surface, it provides melon bread having a good appearance. The curvature of the leading edge and the trailing edge of the topping dough 19 depends on the elasticity of the dough 3, the cross-sectional ratio of the inlet 10 and the guiding chamber 11, and the depth D1 of the guiding chamber 11. If, for instance, the depth D1 is large, the curvature becomes small, and if the depth D1 is small the curvature becomes large. In this embodiment the cross sections of the inlet 10 and the long aperture 12 are made to be the same. But they are not so limited. The cross section can be determined as desired, depending on the kind of the product to be produced or the elasticity of the dough 3, etc. Also, when the depth D2 of the long aperture, namely the distance from the guiding chamber 11 to the discharge opening 13, is small, the pressure difference in the dough 3 to be supplied to the long aperture 12 directly affects the discharged topping dough 19. Thus the dough 19 becomes a spindle-like sheet of dough whose thickness bulges at its central portion in the longitudinal direction. Conversely, if the depth D2 of the long aperture is large, the pressure in the long aperture 12 is equalized, thereby producing a dough sheet of a predetermined thickness. Although the present invention has been explained by showing embodiments to produce melon bread, the present invention is not limited to the production of melon bread. The present invention enables elastic food dough to be formed into sheet-like foodstuffs having a circular or an oval shape, or enables such a sheet of such a shape to be applied to foodstuffs. Although it has been explained that in the embodiments the extruding pump intermittently rotates, the pump may also continuously rotate.

Claims: Apparatus for intermittently discharging sheet-like foodstuff material, comprising a housing (7) in which a cylindrical rotor (8) is rotatably mounted, the rotor having an inlet (10) to communicate with a material-feeding opening (9) of the housing, a guiding chamber (11) the cross section of which is larger than that of the inlet, and an elongate aperture (12) communicating with the guiding chamber, the cross section of the aperture being smaller than that of the guiding chamber, whereby when foodstuff material is supplied into the rotor through the material-feeding opening, the material passes through the rotor and is discharged in substantially circular or oval sheet-like form from a discharge outlet (17) of the housing. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotor is made from a plurality of replaceable elements (22, 23).

Inventors: MORIKAWA MICHIO, WATANABE YUKIO, MORIKAWA, MICHIO, WATANABE, YUKIO
Applicants: RHEON AUTOMATIC MACHINERY CO, RHEON AUTOMATIC MACHINERY CO. LTD.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: A21C3
IPC codes: A21C3, A21C9, A23P1