Abstract:
The invention concerns a bakery pan including a base plate ( 17 ) provided with a plurality of slots associated with a plurality of peripheral walls ( 1-9 ) defining cells each closed by a base and open along a through aperture ( 10 ) corresponding to one slot. In each cell, an intermediate mobile wall ( 12 ) moves along the cell median axis (I-I), and is integral with an adjusting rod ( 13 ) sliding in a guiding passage. A removable support plate ( 19 ) is associated with the base plate ( 17 ) from which it is spaced by an interchangeable spacer ( 20 ). A closure plate can cover the base plate ( 17 ) for closing the through apertures ( 10 ). This bakery pan structure greatly facilitates garnishing, and makes it possible to mould a food product such as pastry to give it a shape defined by the cells.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to pans for preparing food products which can expand during cooking. 
     To impart a particular shape to a food product such as pastry after it has been cooked, a pan is generally used that is partly filled with pastry, and so the pastry expands freely and occupies all of the volume of the pan at the end of cooking. 
     A pan which is open at the top is most usually employed so that any excess pastry can project out of the pan. However, the final shape of the product is then not entirely determined, because its top face depends on the initial quantity of pastry introduced into the pan and on the capacity of the pastry for expansion while cooking. 
     If all the faces of the pastry are to be molded at the end of cooking, the pan must be closed and its volume must correspond as accurately as possible to the total volume of the pastry at the end of cooking. This condition is difficult to satisfy because the expansion of the pastry during cooking depends on a large number of factors, in particular on objective cooking conditions such as the temperature, but also on the nature of the pastry and its ingredients. It is therefore necessary to control accurately the quantity of pastry that is introduced into the pan. 
     If the quantity of pastry is insufficient to fill all of the volume of the pan after cooking, molding is incomplete and the product has a random final shape. 
     On the other hand, if the quantity of pastry is too large, the expansion of the pastry tends to open the pan or to compress the material inside the pan, which leads to a more dense molding and affects the taste and mechanical properties. 
     The document FR 2 695 802 A describes various bakery pans with an adjustable filling in which a peripheral wall of the pan, parallel to an axis, is open at a through-aperture and joined to a closed base, defining an internal volume open at the through-aperture opposite the base, and shaped to contain and mould food products such as pastry while they are cooking. A mobile intermediate wall slides freely and with a small clearance in the peripheral wall in the direction parallel to the axis towards and away from the base. Means are provided for temporarily holding the mobile intermediate wall in a chosen intermediate position along its sliding stroke between the base and the through-aperture. In the above document, the mobile intermediate wall is held in an intermediate filling position by a removable wedge. With the wedge removed, the mobile intermediate wall can slide as cooking proceeds. 
     One problem is that the expansion of the pastry in a pan of the above kind is somewhat random and asymmetrical, and the mobile intermediate wall often jams, causing defects in the molded shape of the pastry after molding. 
     Another problem is that, if there is a plurality of associated pans side-by-side, it is necessary to provide a wedge for each pan, to introduce it individually into the pan, and then to extract it individually, which considerably complicates handling. 
     Also, with a device of the above kind, the filling of the pan is complex as all the wedges must be held in the chosen position simultaneously. 
     STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION 
     The problem addressed by the present invention is that of designing a new bakery pan structure allowing adjustable filling, which is reliable in operation, which achieves molding of defined shape without risk of defects, and which facilitates filling of the pan during the initial step of filling. 
     The invention also aims to facilitate handling of the pan during the preparation and cooking steps, as well as during removal of the cooked product from the pan, by avoiding individual handling operations. 
     To achieve the above and other objects, a bakery pan according to the invention for food products includes: 
     at least one tubular peripheral wall generally parallel to a median axis, open at a first end at a through-aperture, and joined at a second end to a base, defining a pan element having an internal volume open at the through-aperture opposite the base and shaped to contain and mould the food products while they are cooking, 
     a mobile intermediate wall sliding freely and with a small clearance in the peripheral wall over a sliding stroke in the direction parallel to the median axis and towards and away from the base, and closing the internal molding volume on the side opposite the through-aperture, 
     means for temporarily holding the mobile intermediate wall in a chosen intermediate filling position along its sliding stroke between the base and the through-aperture, 
     an adjusting rod, fastened to the mobile intermediate wall, sliding freely and with a small clearance in a median passage of the base, along the median axis, and longer than the sliding stroke of the mobile intermediate wall, with an end stop preventing it escaping from the median channel in the direction of the through-aperture, 
     a baseplate, having an opening in corresponding relationship to the through-aperture and fastened to the outside face of the peripheral wall, 
     means for temporarily holding the adjusting rod in a chosen intermediate position during filling of the pan. 
     Because of the adjusting rod, the mobile intermediate wall slides reliably in the peripheral wall, despite random imbalances in the thrust of the pastry as it expands during cooking, with the result that the pastry is sure to occupy the whole of the volume of the pan in a regular manner at the end of cooking. Also, the mobile intermediate wall is held effectively in the filling position, with the result that the filling operation carried out by the user is correct. 
     In one advantageous embodiment of the invention, the means for temporarily holding the adjusting rod in a chosen intermediate position include: 
     a support plate, 
     removable and interchangeable spacer means adapted to be inserted around the peripheral wall between the support plate and the baseplate, with the end of the adjusting rod pressed against the support plate, to hold the baseplate away from the support plate by a distance such that the adjusting rod holds the mobile intermediate wall in the chosen intermediate filling position. 
     The pan preferably further includes an attached closure plate adapted to close off the through-aperture selectively, with holding means for holding the closure plate pressed against the peripheral edge of the through-aperture. 
     The spacer means can advantageously include a set of interchangeable tubular frames each of which is shaped to surround the peripheral wall(s) of the pan. 
     The invention can be applied to a pan structure with a single cell, having a single interior volume. 
     However, the number of cells that can be filled simultaneously can advantageously be increased, by providing a plurality of peripheral walls attached to the same generally plane baseplate with a plurality of openings and each having a base and a mobile intermediate wall, the mobile intermediate walls being associated with adjusting rods of the same length. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the following description of particular embodiments of the invention, which is given with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pan structure according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a view in cross section taken along the line A—A in FIG. 1, in a filling position; 
     FIG. 3 is a view in cross section taken along the line A—A at the end of the filling operation, after closing the pan; 
     FIG. 4 is a view in cross section in an overturned position prior to cooking; 
     FIG. 5 shows the pan during cooking; 
     FIG. 6 shows the pan at the end of cooking with the pastry occupying all the volume; and 
     FIG. 7 shows the pan during removal of the pastry from the pan. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In the embodiment shown in the figures, the bakery pan according to the invention comprises nine peripheral walls designated by the respective numbers  1  to  9  of the same tubular shape, each open at a first end at a through-aperture and joined at a second end to a respective base. Thus, the peripheral wall  1  is generally parallel to a median axis I-I, is open at the through-aperture  10 , and has a base  11 , defining a pan element having an internal volume open at the through-aperture  10  opposite the base  11 . 
     In the embodiment shown in the figures, the peripheral wall  1  defines a tubular pan element of parallelepipedal shape, for example of cubical shape, enabling cubical blocks of pastry to be produced. One application is to making cream buns of cubical shape for building ornamental cakes. 
     Each pan element delimited by a peripheral wall such as the peripheral wall  1  includes a mobile intermediate wall  12 , which slides freely and with a small clearance in the peripheral wall  1  along a sliding stroke in the direction parallel to the median axis I-I towards and away from the base  11 . 
     An adjusting rod  13 , fastened at its first end to the mobile intermediate wall  12 , slides freely and with a small clearance along the median axis I-I in a median passage  14  in the base  11 . The adjusting rod  13  is longer than the sliding stroke of the mobile intermediate wall  12  in the peripheral wall  1 , with the result that the second end  15  of the adjusting rod  13  remains at all times outside the pan. An end stop  16  can be provided at the second end  15  of the adjusting rod  13 , to prevent the adjusting rod  13  escaping from the median passage  14  in the direction of the through-aperture  10 . 
     It may be advantageous to provide means for encouraging sliding of the mobile intermediate wall  12  in the peripheral wall  1 . To this end, the median passage  14  of the base  11  has a tubular shape and is long enough to guide the adjusting rod  13  longitudinally. At the same time, the peripheral wall  1  has an inner clearance to define a molding volume in the shape of a truncated pyramid decreasing slightly in size in the direction of the base  11 . The base  11  can also be apertured, for example it can consist of a crossmember occupying only part of the cross section of the pan element. The dimensions of the mobile intermediate wall  12  are preferably such that when the pastry being cooked stops expanding it is wedged in the peripheral wall  1  in the vicinity of the base  11  and thus provides a peripheral seal preventing the pastry escaping from the pan element. 
     A generally plane baseplate  17  has a plurality of openings each of which corresponds to one of the through-apertures of the pan elements delimited by the respective peripheral walls  1  to  9 . The openings in the baseplate  17  are the same shape as and distributed in the same way as the respective through-apertures, such as the through-aperture  10  of the pan elements. The adjusting rods, such as the adjusting rod  13  of the pan elements, are all the same length. 
     Each through-aperture, such as the through-aperture  10 , is preferably bordered at the outside by a peripheral rib  18 , projecting from the outside face of the baseplate  17 . The rib  18  prevents the formation of flash at the periphery of the last face of the pastry to be molded. 
     In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the peripheral rib  18  is relatively low in height, to enable several pan elements to be filled simultaneously. Some pastry nevertheless remains on the outside face of the baseplate  17 , and expands during cooking. This results in a risk of leakage out of the pan element, affecting the final shape of the block of pastry formed. To avoid this default, it can be advantageous to increase the height of the peripheral rib  18 , by placing the baseplate  17  at an intermediate height around the peripheral wall  1 . 
     In accordance with the invention, means are provided for holding the adjusting rod  13  temporarily in a chosen intermediate position for filling the pan. 
     In the embodiment shown in the figures, the means for temporarily holding the adjusting rod  13  in the filling position include a generally plane support plate  19  that the user can place to form a support for all of the second ends  15  of the adjusting rods  13 , by fitting removable and interchangeable spacer means  20  around the peripheral wall  1  between the support plate  19  and the baseplate  17 . The spacer means  20  are removable and interchangeable, and hold the baseplate  17  away from the support plate  19  by a distance D such that the adjusting rod  13  holds the mobile intermediate wall  12  in a chosen intermediate filling position. 
     This chosen intermediate position of the mobile intermediate wall  12  is such that the volume occupied between the mobile intermediate wall  12  and the through-aperture  10  corresponds to the appropriate volume of pastry for the pastry to occupy all of the volume of the pan element at the end of cooking. 
     The user therefore chooses one of a plurality of removable and interchangeable spacer means  20 , according to the required quantity of pastry. 
     The pan according to the invention preferably further includes a closure plate  21 , shown in FIGS. 3 to  6 , which can be generally plane and have the same dimensions as the baseplate  17 . The closure plate  21  is removable and selectively closes off the through-apertures such as the through-aperture  10 . Holding means such as lateral clips  22  hold the closure plate  21  pressed against the peripheral ribs  18  flanking the through-apertures  10 . 
     The lateral clips  22  are removable, and adapted to engage laterally along the edges of the baseplate  17  and the closure plate  21 , squeezing said plates  17  and  21  together. 
     A set of interchangeable and closed or open tubular frames can advantageously be provided, each shaped to surround all of the peripheral walls  1  to  9  of the pan elements, as shown in FIG.  1 . Each tubular frame constitutes separate spacer means  20  having a different height D. 
     In a different embodiment of the invention, the means for temporarily holding the adjusting rod  13  in a chosen intermediate filling position can include a key movable along the outside portion of the adjusting rod  13  and abutting against the outside face of the base  11  when the second end  15  of the adjusting rod  13  of the bakery pan rests on a worksurface. 
     How the pan constituting the first embodiment of the invention is used will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the user first places spacer means  20  on a support plate  19 , and then places the baseplate  17  on the spacer means  20  with the through-apertures  10  orientated towards the top. Due to gravity, the guide rods  13  each bear at their second end  15  against the support plate  19 , freeing the necessary volume for filling with pastry. In this position, the pastry  23  can be fed in by the user via the through-aperture  10 , as shown by the arrow  24  in FIG. 2, for example using a spatula with which the top face  25  of the pastry is leveled off flush with the peripheral rib  18 . A perfectly defined quantity of pastry is therefore placed in each pan element. 
     As shown in FIG. 3, the user closes the pan elements by fitting the closure plate  21 , and fixing it using the lateral clips  22 . 
     Squeezing the closure plate  21  and the support plate  19  together by hand, the user can then turn over the assembly, into the position shown in FIG. 4, with the closure plate  21  at the bottom position and the support plate  19  at the top position. The user can then withdraw the support plate  19  and the spacer means  20 , which have no function in subsequent stages of cooking. 
     As shown in FIG. 5, the assembly made up of the baseplate  17 , the pan elements delimited by the peripheral walls  1  and the bases  11 , and the closure plate  21 , associated by means of the lateral clips  22 , is placed in an oven or on a hotplate for the time needed to cook the pastry  23 . During cooking, as shown in FIG. 6, the pastry  23  expands and pushes the mobile intermediate wall  12  towards the base  11 . At the end of cooking, the pastry  23  occupies all of the inside volume of the pan, the mobile intermediate wall  12  being pressed against the base  11 . 
     The user can then remove the whole away from the hotplate or oven, and after removing the lateral clips  22  and the closure plate  21 , the combination of the pastry  23 , the mobile intermediate wall  12  and the adjusting rod  13  tends to move downwards under its own weight, releasing the molded pastry  23 . As an alternative to this, the user can push out each molded pastry  23  by pushing on the adjusting rod  13 . 
     The pan is then ready for re-use. 
     The present invention is not limited to the embodiments explicitly described, but includes variants and generalizations thereof within the scope of the following claims.