Patent EA-001996-B1 (EA)
Title: Automatic baking apparatus and mixbag therefor
Inventor: HEDENBERG ROLF P
IPC: A21B7/00
Filed: 1998-11-16
Abstract: 1. An apparatus for automatically making baked food products from dough having: an upper and lower holding means (14,16) to be affixed to either end of a flexible sealable mixbag (44) containing ingredients for a dough; a dough preparation and baking station (25) having a slit (37,41) at the top and bottom portions thereof for allowing said mixbag to pass through the station, the top and bottom slits each being formed by a set of two adjacent members (22,24,39,43); kneading means (56) for mechanically working the ingredients in said mixbag, the kneading means being at the top and bottom portions; reciprocating mechanism (30) for creating relative reciprocating movement between the mixbag and the slit openings of said station; and heating means (18,20) in at least a portion of said dough preparation and baking station to bake the kneaded ingredients, each of said adjacent members being provided with a kneading surface (58,62,64,70,74) defining the slit between each set and through which slit passes the mixbag, wherein  at least one of said kneading surfaces of each set being moveable away from the adjacent kneading surface  thereby widening the slit, the movement being solely actuated by the mixbag when the mixbag passes in a first direction through said slit,a at least one of said kneading surfaces of each set being moveable towards the kneading surface of the other kneading member thereby reducing the width of the slit, the movement being solely actuated by the mixbag when the mixbag passes in a second direction through said slit, when the mixbag passes in any of the first or second directions, one slit being widened, and the other being reduced, each kneading surface being part of a resilient support structure (60,62,66,70,72), each support structure being attached to its respective member. 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the set of two adjacent members forming the bottom kneading means also forms the bottom surface of a baking tray (25) in which the kneaded dough is baked in said station. 3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of the members is movable relative to the other member in at least one of the sets. 4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said at least one relative movable member of the top set of members is constructed to move downwardly when the mixbag is moving downwards. 5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said at least one relative movable member of the bottom set of members is constructed to move upwards when the mixbag is moving upwards. 6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said kneading surfaces are made of a friction reducing material and have an appropriate cross-section in a direction transverse to said slit. 7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said kneading surfaces are curvilinear in cross-section and said friction reducing material is TEFLON. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said resilient support structure is silicone. 9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said kneading surfaces are curvilinear in cross-section and said support structures and kneading surfaces are made of silicone. 10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said kneading surfaces are curvilinear in cross-section and have a constant radius. 11. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said kneading surfaces are elliptical in cross-section. 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said kneading surfaces are made of friction reducing material; said support structure is intermediate the kneading surface and said member and is more resilient than said kneading surface material, so as to allow greater flexibility of the kneading surface. 13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of said kneading means members has an elongated kneading surface (64,70) in cross-section in a direction transverse to said slit and the elongated kneading surface is made of a resilient material allowing it to move relative to the adjacent member. 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein said top and bottom kneading means members are attached to said elongated kneading surfaces (70) so as to only allow downward relative movement in the top set and upward relative movement in the bottom set. 15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cross-section in a direction transverse to said slit (72) of said kneading means members is a half hemisphere, the upper surface of said support structure forming a planar surface with the flat of the half hemisphere of the kneading means in the bottom portion and the lower surface of said support structure forming a planar surface with the flat of the half hemisphere of the kneading means of the top portion. 16. The apparatus of claim 1 in combination with a mixbag, wherein said mixbag has top and bottom edges (50,52,54) having a width and two longitudinal sides (48) extending between said top and bottom edges, a permanent seal (47) along the bottom edge and two longitudinal sides, the mixbag being open at the top, said bottom edge and two top edges being reinforced along said width to form reinforced top and bottom portions. 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said mixbag is provided with a plurality of openings (51,53) along said reinforced top and bottom portions. 18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said mixbag is made of a multi-layered plastic film, the outer film layer being biaxially stretched nylon and the inner layer being polyamide having high vapor and oxygen barrier properties. 19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein said upper and lower holding means are rollers (14,16) having a length at least equal to the width of said mixbag top and bottom reinforced portions, said rollers each having at least one longitudinal slit (13,15,17) extending radially inwardly the respective roller and curved at its lower portion thereof such that the depth and width of the roller slit is commensurate with said reinforced top and bottom portions. 20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein each end of said mixbag is attached to the respective roller by inserting the reinforced portion of the mixbag into the commensurately shaped slit in each respective roller. 21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein said top roller has two slits (13,15) and each of the two top reinforced edges (52,54) are inserted into a different one of said two slits. 22. The apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein said upper and lower holding means are rollers having a length at least equal to the width of said mixbag top and bottom reinforced portions, said rollers each being provided across their longitudinal periphery with male protrusions (80,82) which are commensurate in shape and size with the openings at the top and bottom portions of the mixbag. 23. The apparatus as claimed in claim 22, wherein each end of said mixbag is attached to the respective roller by placing the openings of the mixbag onto the commensurately shaped male protrusions of each respective roller. 24. The apparatus as claimed in claim 22, wherein at least some of said male protrusions (80,82) have a mushroom shape at their upstanding end so as to mechanically interlock the mixbag thereon. 25. The apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein said mixbag has a burstable seal (46) across its width thereby separating the dough ingredients from an upper compartment intended for water; said upper compartment has a plurality of burstable seals longitudinal the mixbag, starting at approximately the height of the water and extending upwardly an appropriate distance. 26. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein all of said kneading surfaces are non-rotatable relative to each respective member. 27. A kneading apparatus for mechanically working the ingredients of a mixbag containing an upper and lower holding means (14,16) to be affixed to either end of a flexible sealable mixbag (44) containing ingredients for a dough; two sets of adjacent members (22,24,39,43) of the kneading means; kneading means (56) affixed to each of said adjacent members, each of said adjacent members being provided with a kneading surface (58,62,66,70,72) defining the slit (37,41) between each set and through which slit passes the mixbag, reciprocating mechanism (30) for creating relative reciprocating movement between the mixbag and the slit openings of said station; wherein at least one of said adjacent kneading members is constructed such that its kneading surface is moveable away from the kneading surface of the other kneading member thereby widening the slit, the movement being solely actuated by the mixbag when the mixbag passes in a first direction through said slit, and such that at least one of said adjacent kneading members is constructed such that its kneading surface is moveable towards the kneading surface of the other kneading member thereby reducing the width of the slit, the movement being solely actuated by the mixbag when the mixbag passes in a second direction through said slit, and when the mixbag passes in any of the first or second directions, one slit being widened, and the other being reduced. 28. The apparatus as claimed in claim 27, wherein at least one of the kneading surfaces is part of a resilient support structure (70,72), the support structure being attached to its respective kneading member and constructed to enable said movement of the kneading surface. 29. The apparatus as claimed in claim 28, wherein said resilient support structure is silicone. 30. The apparatus as claimed in claim 27, wherein said kneading surfaces are made of a friction reducing material. 31. The apparatus as claimed in claim 27, wherein said kneading surfaces are curvilinear in cross-section in a direction transverse to the slit. 32. The apparatus as claimed in claim 31, wherein said resilient support structures and kneading surfaces are silicone. 33. The apparatus as claimed in claim 31, wherein said kneading surfaces are curvilinear in cross-section in a direction transverse to t