Abstract:
The invention relates to a spreading device and a method for automatically spreading ingredients onto a dough base, assuring an even distribution of the ingredients in an automated process.  
     A device for spreading ingredients like grated/shredded cheese, ham, sausage, meet, fish, vegetables, etc., on top of a dough base like a pizza base, cake base or the like has a supporting member ( 100 ) being arranged above the dough base while in use. The supporting member ( 100 ) comprises a provisioning container ( 160 ) provided with a shutter, the provisioning container being capable of containing a predetermined amount of ingredients, and at least one rake with teeth ( 124 ), which is adapted to spread the ingredients while dropping along an ingredients path.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The invention relates to a spreading device, and particularly to a spreading device spreading ingredients evenly on top of a pizza base, cake base, or the like.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     To achieve a high grade of automation in the field of producing ready-to-eat pizzas, it is necessary to automate also the process of spreading ingredients on top of a dough base. In particular, there is a problem in that an even distribution of the ingredients on top of the dough base is not always carried out reliably.  
         [0003]     The object of the invention is to solve this problem. In particular, the object is to provide a device, which makes it possible to evenly spread ingredients on top of a dough bases in an automated manner.  
         [0004]     This object is solved by a device according to claim  1  and by a method according to claim  26 . Further advantageous developments are subject-matter of the sub-claims.  
         [0005]     The invention provides a device for spreading ingredients like grated/shredded cheese, ham, sausage, meet, fish, vegetable, etc. on top of a dough base like a pizza base, cake base or the like, the device comprising a supporting member being arranged above the dough base while in use and including a provisioning container, capable of containing a predetermined amount of ingredients, and at least one rake, which is adapted to spread or disperse ingredients evenly.  
         [0006]     Advantageously, the invention comprises an ingredients spreading well including the at least one rake and preventing parts of the ingredients to bypass the at least one rake.  
         [0007]     An even better result of spreading the ingredients can be achieved by provisioning a further rake which is arranged such that its teeth are oriented orthogonally to the teeth of the first rake and by overlapping the teeth of the rakes.  
         [0008]     A further improvement of the result of spreading can be achieved by provisioning further rakes being arranged opposite the present rakes and the teeth of which being oriented in parallel with the opposing rakes.  
         [0009]     To further improve the result of spreading, it is advantageous that one or more rakes pivot-in into the ingredients dropping path against the dropping direction.  
         [0010]     To prevent the ingredients from sticking to the rakes, it is advantageous that the teeth of one or more rakes pivot-out of the ingredients dropping path with the dropping direction, wherein advantageously the pivoting of multiple rakes is executed synchronously.  
         [0011]     To reduce loss of ingredients by ingredients falling down over the edge of the dough base, it is respectively advantageous to provide a hopper attached on top of the ingredients spreading well and/or a shield. To enhance this result, the shield is embodied as a lowering shield being lowerable onto the dough base.  
         [0012]     For purposive emptying the provisioning container, it includes advantageously one or more synchronously operated opening flaps, the opening speeds of which are variable. For a better pre-spreading of the ingredients, the opening flaps are oriented horizontally in a closed state.  
         [0013]     For being able to approach different positions, in particular for being able to follow a dough base placed on a continuously moving conveying belt, the supporting member advantageously is a cradle placed on a frame with tracks where the cradle is moved by a motor and advantageously is moved by means of a toothed belt.  
         [0014]     Advantageously for an automated processing, a conveying belt adapted to move a dough base or the like is used as a part of the device.  
         [0015]     For rapid automated processing, advantageously, a combination weigher is used for dosewise weighing of the ingredients.  
         [0016]     For supporting a smooth cooperation of the members, a controller is used, comprising control drivers for the belt motor, the cradle motor, at least one rake motor and/or solenoid valves, respectively.  
         [0017]     According to the invention, a method is presented, comprising opening a provisioning container for giving out ingredients, pivoting-in at least one rake into the dropping path of the ingredients and pivoting-out the at least one rake out of the dropping path of the ingredients.  
         [0018]     The result can be increased in efficiency, if one or more of the following steps are previously executed, like lowering a lowering shield onto the dough base and aligning the dough base by the lowering shield, minimizing the relative speed between dough base and cradle, detecting the dough base by a sensor, transporting a dough base on a conveying belt.  
         [0019]     A higher grade of automation can be achieved by executing, as a subsequent method, one or both steps of raising the lowering shield and moving back the cradle to its initial position.  
         [0020]     The invention will be described by means of an embodiment with reference to the Figures. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0021]      FIG. 1  shows a diagonal view of a device of an embodiment of the spreading device according to the invention.  
         [0022]      FIG. 2  shows a diagonal view of an ingredients spreading well and a provisioning container of an embodiment.  
         [0023]      FIG. 3  shows a diagonal view of an ingredients spreading well and a provisioning container of an embodiment.  
         [0024]      FIG. 4  shows a partly sectional side view of a cradle and a frame of an embodiment.  
         [0025]      FIG. 5  shows a front view of a cradle of an embodiment.  
         [0026]      FIG. 6  shows a bottom view of a cradle of an embodiment. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0027]     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the device according to the invention comprises a cradle  100 , a frame  200 , a combination weigher (not shown), a conveying belt (not shown) and a controller box (not shown).  
         [0028]     In the following, firstly the cradle  100  of the device according to the invention is described by means of FIGS.  1  to  6 .  
         [0029]     According to  FIG. 1 , the cradle  100  comprises a rectangular frame  110 , being oriented horizontally. Four rollers  111  are attached to the frame by four U-shaped mountings. Thus, the cradle  100  can move left and right with regard to  FIG. 1  (in the following, indications of directions related to the whole device, like front, back, left and right are used related to the direction of motion of the cradle  100 , wherein a moving direction of the cradle  100  to the left related to  FIG. 1  is regarded as direction of motion or “to front”). In the cradle frame  110  a bottom  114  is provided. On the bottom  114 , a basically rectangular ingredients distribution well  120  is arranged oriented vertically, pierces the bottom  114  and tapers below the bottom  114  to approximately circular shape (see  FIG. 6 ). Two axles  121 ,  122  are oriented in parallel to the direction of motion of the cradle  100  and pierce the ingredients spreading well  120  near the right and the left side wall thereof, respectively. The axles  121  and  122  are pivotable and are connected by a linkage  123  in such a way that they pivot synchronously in opposing senses of rotation.  
         [0030]     As shown in  FIG. 6 , teeth  124  and  125  are attached to the axles  121  and  122 , respectively, such that teeth  124  and axle  121 , teeth  125  and axle  122  form rakes, respectively, being pivotable about the axles  121 ,  122 .  
         [0031]     Further, in  FIGS. 1 and 3 , axles  126 ,  127 , a linkage  128  and teeth  129 ,  130  in  FIG. 6  are arranged in the same manner like the previously described axles  121 ,  122 , the linkage  123  and the teeth  124 ,  125  and only differ in that the axles  126 ,  127  are arranged orthogonally to the direction of motion of the cradle  100  and pierce the ingredients spreading well  120  near the front and the rear wall thereof, respectively, slightly above the axles  121 ,  122 .  
         [0032]     As it can be seen e.g. from  FIG. 1 , on the ingredients spreading well  120  at the top end thereof, a rectangular hopper  134  is arranged such that ingredients dropping in from above are centered to the center of the ingredients spreading well  120 .  
         [0033]     The lower end of the ingredients spreading well  120  is enclosed by the lowering shield  140  (see  FIGS. 5, 6 ), substantially having the shape of an open truncated cone. The lowering shield  140  is connected with the cradle frame  110  by supports  141 ,  142  and pneumatic cylinders  143 ,  144  (see  FIG. 5 ). The lowering shield  140  can be moved vertically by the pneumatic cylinders  143 ,  144 .  
         [0034]     According to  FIG. 1 , a housing  150  is arranged on top of the cradle frame  110 .  
         [0035]     The housing includes solenoid valves (not shown) for controlling the pneumatic cylinders  143 ,  144 ,  157  as well as an electric motor (not shown), the shaft  151  of which pierces the cover of the left side of the housing  150 , and an electric motor (not shown), the shaft  152  of which pierces the front cover of the housing.  
         [0036]     The shaft  151  is connected with the axle  126  by the linkage  153  in such a way that a rotation of the shaft  151  is transmitted to the axle  126  (see  FIG. 3 ). In the same manner, the shaft  152  is connected to the axle  122  by the linkage  154  in such a way that a rotation of the shaft  152  is transmitted to the axle  122  (see  FIG. 4 ).  
         [0037]     As it can be seen e.g. in  FIGS. 2 and 4 , a cuboid-shaped provisioning container  160  is connected with the housing  150  by a framing  156  and is carried by the housing  150 . The provisioning container  160  is closed on the lower side by two opening flaps  161 ,  162  (see  FIG. 1 ), the opening flaps being pivotably supported by the axles  163 ,  164 . The two opening flaps  161 ,  162  are horizontally oriented in a closed state. The axles  163 ,  164  are connected by a linkage  165  (see  FIG. 2 ) in such a way that the flaps rotate synchronously in opposing directions. A pneumatic cylinder  157  is connected to the axle  163  by a linkage  158  in such a way that an extension movement of the pneumatic cylinder  157  is converted in a rotation of the axle  163 .  
         [0038]     In the following, the frame  200  of the device is described referring to  FIGS. 1 and 4 .  
         [0039]     The frame  200  consists of two supports  201 ,  202  being assembled of square pipes and forming reversed U-shapes, respectively. The supports  201 ,  202  are connected by connecting supports  203 ,  204 , having basically a low U-section. Further, both supports  201 ,  202  are connected by two tracks  205 ,  206  extending left and right in the direction of motion and having an interval corresponding to the interval of the rollers  111  of the cradle  100 . The tracks  205 ,  206  consist of square pipes being oriented on edge, respectively. On these tracks  205 ,  206 , the cradle  100  is placed with its rollers  111  and is movably supported to front and back. An axle  207  pierces and connects the connecting supports  203 ,  204  near the support  201 . The axle  207  supports two pulleys  209   a,    209   b  near the connecting supports  203 ,  204 , respectively. An axle  208  pierces and connects the connection supports  203 ,  204  near the support  202  and is provided with pulleys  210   a,    210   b,  accordingly. Both pulleys  209   a,    209   b  of the axle  207  are connected with the pulleys  210   a,    210   b  of the axle  208  by toothed belts (not shown), respectively. The toothed belts are connected with the cradle frame  110  by a left arm and a right arm  115 , respectively. The toothed belts are driven by a not shown servo motor.  
         [0040]     A conveying belt (not shown) passes through the frame  200  below the supports  201 ,  202  from front to back.  
         [0041]     A controller box (not shown) includes control drivers for the belt motor, the cradle motor, both rake motors and the solenoid valves for the pneumatic cylinders  143 ,  144 ,  157 , respectively.  
         [0042]     A combination weigher (not shown) is arranged above the provisioning container  160  and portions the ingredients.  
         [0043]     In the following, a method for spreading ingredients onto the dough base is described.  
         [0044]     In an initial position, the cradle  100  is placed near the support  202 . The teeth  124 ,  125 ,  129 ,  130  hang down vertically alongside the side walls of the ingredients spreading well  120 , respectively. The provisioning container  160  is closed on its lower side by the horizontally oriented opening flaps  161 ,  162  and is charged with a dose of ingredients destined to be spread on one single dough base.  
         [0045]     The dough base is conveyed on a conveying belt from an oven for pre-baking to an oven for final baking. Meanwhile, the dough base is detected in its movement by a sensor. The detection triggers a movement of the cradle  100  in direction of motion. By this, the cradle  100  is moved by the cradle motor via the arms  115  and the toothed belts. The speed of the cradle  100  is matched with the speed of the belt such that the cradle  100  moves synchronously above the dough base.  
         [0046]     By extending the pneumatic cylinders  143 ,  144  the lowering shield  140  is lowered onto the dough base, whereby the dough base is aligned exactly. A dose of the ingredients provided by the combination weigher is contained in the provisioning container  160 . By extending the pneumatic cylinder  157 , flap  161  is pivoted about axle  163  by the linkage  158 . At the same time, flap  162  is pivoted about axle  164  in an opposite direction by linkage  165 . By the pivoting of the flaps  161 ,  162 , the provisioning container  160  is opened. The ingredients contained in the provisioning container  160  drop out of the provisioning container  160 , are centered by the hopper  134 , and drop into the ingredients spreading well  120 .  
         [0047]     At the same time, the teeth  124 ,  125 ,  129 ,  130  of the rakes are pivoted in against the dropping direction into the dropping ingredients. This happens by rotating axle  126  by a rotation of shaft  151  transmitted by the linkage  153  in such a way that teeth  129 , initially hanging down alongside the side wall of the ingredients spreading well  122  from the axle  126  are pivoted upwardly up to a basically horizontal orientation. At the same time, the rotation is transmitted to the axle  127  by the linkage  128  in such a way that the teeth  130  thereof formerly hanging down alongside the side wall of the ingredients spreading well  120  from the axle  127 , are also pivoted upwardly in an approximately horizontal orientation against the rotational direction of axle  126 . Shortly afterwards, a rotation of the axle  122  is carried out corresponding to a rotation of the shaft  152  transmitted by the linkages  154 ,  123 , which causes the teeth  124 ,  125  to be pivoted in a horizontal orientation. Thus, the teeth  124 ,  125 ,  129 ,  130  form a kind of coarse riddle. By passing the riddle and by effect of the movement to the ingredients while pivoting-in the teeth, the ingredients are spread evenly over the diameter of the ingredients spreading well.  
         [0048]     Shortly afterwards, the teeth  124 ,  125 ,  129 ,  130  of the rakes are pivoted out in accordance with the dropping direction, such that residues of the ingredients sticking to the teeth drop down too. The process of pivoting-out is carried out analogous to the process of pivoting-in except for an inversed order with inversed rotational directions.  
         [0049]     The ingredients drop down further and are centered to the dough base by the lowering shield  140 .  
         [0050]     After finishing the dropping process of the ingredients, the lowering shield  140  is raised again by the pneumatic cylinders  143 ,  144 , the cradle  100  stops and moves back to its initial position.  
         [0051]     While moving back the cradle  100 , the combination weigher weighs a new dose of ingredients for the next cycle.  
         [0052]     This process is repeated with the detection by the sensor of every further dough base.