Patent Publication Number: US-2012031054-A1

Title: Ice bagging system

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority under  35  U.S.C. § 119  to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/333,516, filed on May 11, 2010, entitled Ice Bagging System. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to an ice bagging system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a bagging system designed to bag and display for sale compressed flake nugget ice on-site at a seller&#39;s or retailer&#39;s location. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Prior art ice baggers are all designed for compatibility with cube ice and cube ice makers. Because conventional cube ice makers drop the cubes over a large area and because they drop a large quantity of ice each ice making cycle, the prior art baggers all require a large hopper to intercept the ice that is dropped from the cube ice maker. This compatibility requirement drives the size of the hopper, making them very large and expensive. The size of the hopper likewise drives the overall size of the bagging machine, making it large as well. The ice dropped by cube ice makers is also quite wet. Because of this, prior art baggers must have an added means for removing the water from the ice. If this is not done, the bagged wet ice will freeze into an undesirable block. The removal of water is typically accomplished with a large moving part, such as an auger or a rotating drum. These moving parts are themselves expensive and require expensive motors to operate them. Finally, conventional baggers are separate (physically discrete) devices from the ice makers. The baggers being separate from the icemakers evolved from two things: first, manufacturers of the baggers, who are not in the ice making business, do not want to build the ice makers; and second, because the cube ice baggers are inherently large, combining the ice maker and the ice bagger into a single device would create an unacceptably large machine. 
     A conventional ice bagger system typically consists of an ice cube making machine and a separate ice bagger. In such prior art bagging systems, ice cubes are produced by the ice cube making machine. The ice cube making machine makes the ice in batches, with each batch taking anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes to produce. The amount of ice dropped from each batch can be fairly large, e.g. anywhere from 6 pounds to 75 pounds. The location of the ice drop area varies from one ice machine to the next. For example, it is possible for the drop area to be located across the front of the machine, along the right-hand side, along the left-hand side, in the middle of the machine, or both the right and left hand sides of the machine. In other words, the drop area can essentially be anywhere on the bottom of the ice machine. 
     In order to be compatible with the majority of ice machines, a conventional ice bagger must be able to catch the ice dropped by any of those machines. That means that the bagger must contain a large hopper that is both beneath any of the possible ice drop areas and is large enough to catch up to 75 pounds of ice. Thus the hopper must be very large. For example, a conventional ice bagger is roughly 48 inches in width, equal to the standard width of a large ice maker. The conventional bagger must also have an ice drying system required to remove the water that is dropped with each batch of cube ice. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According, the present invention provides an ice bagging system that comprises a compressed flake nugget ice maker and an ice bagging device that receives compressed flake nugget ice dispensed from the ice maker. The ice bagging device includes at least one bag into which the compressed flake nugget ice is dropped. The ice bagging device is configured to seal and drop the bag of compressed flake nugget ice once a predetermined quantity of ice has been loaded into the at least one bag. An ice merchandiser supports at least the ice bagging device. The ice merchandiser is adapted to receive the at least one bag of compressed flake nugget ice dropped from the ice bagging device. The compressed flake nugget ice is dispensed from the ice maker directly to the bag of the ice bagging device as the ice is being produced by the ice maker and the at least one bag of compressed flake nugget ice is dropped directly from the ice bagging device into the ice merchandiser. 
     The present invention may also provide n ice bagging system that comprises an integral ice maker and bagger unit that includes a compressed flake nugget ice maker that has a small chute, and an ice bagging device that receives compressed flake nugget ice dispensed from the ice maker. The ice bagging device includes at least one bag which receives the compressed flake nugget ice directly from the small chute of the ice maker without the ice going through a hopper. The ice bagging device is configured to seal and drop the at least one bag of compressed flake nugget ice once a predetermined quantity of ice has been loaded into the at least one bag. The integral ice maker and bagger unit does not include a hopper. An ice merchandiser supports the integral ice maker and bagger unit. The ice merchandiser is adapted to receive the at least one bag of compressed flake nugget ice directly from the ice bagging device through a hole in a top of the ice merchandiser. 
     The present invention may also provide a method for bagging nugget ice that comprises the steps of producing compressed flake nugget ice in an ice maker; dispensing the compressed flake nugget ice directly from the ice maker to at least one bag of a bagging device as the ice is being produced; sealing the at least one bag loaded with the compressed flake nugget ice; and dropping the at least one bag loaded with the compressed flake nugget ice directly into an ice merchandiser. 
     Other objects, advantages and salient features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of an ice bagging system according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, showing a integral nugget ice maker and bagger unit stacked on an ice merchandiser with a portion of the unit and merchandiser cut away; and 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of an ice bagging system according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, showing a nugget ice maker stacked on a nugget ice bagging device that is stacked on an ice merchandiser with a portion of the bagging device cut away. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
     A system according to the embodiments of the present invention produces and bags compressed flake ice (nugget ice) and dispenses said bags of nugget ice for display and sale in an ice merchandiser. The system  100  generally comprises an ice maker  104  for making nugget ice and a bagging device  108 . The bagging device  108  may include a bag filling mechanism for placing the ice in a bag, a bag delivery mechanism including a bag supply mechanism, a bag opening device to open the mouth of the bag to receive the ice, and a heat sealer that seals the open mouth of the bag once the bag is filled with the ice. A control mechanism is preferably included that controls the ice maker and the bagging mechanism. 
       FIG. 1  is a front view of an exemplary first embodiment of the present invention showing an integral nugget ice maker and bagger unit  100 . The unit  100  is located on top of an ice merchandiser  110  that has a door  120 . In unit  100 , nugget ice  102  is produced by the nugget ice maker  104  and immediately and directly dropped into the plastic bag  106  of the bagging device  108 . Once the plastic bag  106  is filled with the desired amount of ice  102  (10 pounds, for example), the bag  106  is sealed and dropped into the merchandiser  110 . A control mechanism may be used to control the bagging of the nugget ice  102  and to select a predetermined amount of ice per bag. Using the bagging device  108  to bag the compressed flake ice (instead of cube ice) addresses the issues described above regarding conventional baggers. Compressed flake ice is made by continuously scraping a layer of ice off a wet, refrigerated evaporator surface and then forcing the resulting ice through an extruder to force out the liquid water and compress the ice into nuggets or pellets. The ice pieces generated may be opaque white in color, relatively dry when dispensed, and have a consistency that is softer than cube ice. The nugget ice maker  104  differs from cube ice machines in that the nugget ice is dropped through a small opening, the nugget ice comes out dry, and the nugget ice is dropped continuously rather than in large batches. Because the nugget ice maker  104  drops ice through a small chute  110  at a very slow, but continuous rate no hopper is needed inside the unit  100 . Likewise, because the nugget ice is dry when it is produced, no additional mechanism is needed to remove water from the ice prior to bagging. This allows the ice to be dropped directly into a bag  106  as it is produced. 
     By combining the nugget ice maker  104  with the bagging device  108  into one unit, it is possible to create a bagging system that is smaller, less expensive and less complex than the prior art bagging systems. This results from three characteristics of the nugget ice maker  104 . First, because the nugget ice maker  104  machines drops ice continuously from a very small area chute  110  (rather than in large batches over a large area), no large or expensive hopper is needed to catch the ice. This lowers the cost of the unit and dramatically shrinks the size needed for the bagging mechanism. Second, because the nugget ice  102  is dry when dispensed, no drying mechanism is required for bagging the ice. As a result, the cost and complexity of the bagging system is greatly reduced. And third, because the nugget ice maker  104  is typically a compact device compared to cube ice makers, it is possible to combine the bagging device and the ice maker into a single unit without creating an unacceptably large machine. 
     Because the nugget ice machine  104  is very compact relative to a cube ice machine and because the main components of a conventional bagger (the hopper and the drying mechanism) are eliminated, the combined unit  100  is significantly smaller than the prior art ice machine and bagger arrangements. In a preferred embodiment, the unit  100  may be about 21 inches wide. The ice merchandiser  110  may be a freezer with a glass door  120 . It is designed to store bags of ice  130  and make those bags accessible to customers through the glass door  120 . The merchandiser  110  may be different from conventional glass door freezers in that it preferably has a hole  150  in its top surface so that bags of ice dropped from bagging device  108  can fall into the merchandiser  110 . It should also be noted that the merchandiser  110  is preferably at least as wide as the unit  100  to avoid the unit  100  overhanging the merchandiser  110 . Because the maker/bagger unit  100  is so much smaller than the prior art bagging systems, it is also possible to use it with a narrower merchandiser  110 . The use of a narrower merchandiser  110  is advantageous in that the merchandiser  110  is less expensive and uses less floor space in the retail location. 
       FIG. 2  is a front view of an alternate second embodiment of the invention showing a nugget ice maker  200  and a nugget ice bagging device  210  located on top of a merchandiser  220 . This embodiment is similar to the first embodiment, except that the ice maker  200  and the bagging device  210  are formed as separate units. In this embodiment the maker  200  produces nugget ice  202  which is produced and immediately dropped through a chute  208  and into a plastic bag  206  inside the bagging device  210 . Once the plastic bag  206  is filled with the desired amount of ice ( 10  pounds, for example), the bag  206  is sealed and dropped into the merchandiser  220 . Like in the first embodiment the merchandiser  220  may include a top hole to receive the sealed bags of ice. And like in the first embodiment, the bagging device  210  may include a control mechanism  240  for controlling the bagging of the ice, and particularly the amount of ice per bag. Because the nugget maker drops ice through a small chute  208  at a very slow, but continuous, rate no hopper is needed inside the bagging device  210 . Likewise, because the nugget ice  202  is dry when it is produced, no additional mechanism is needed to remove the water from the ice prior to bagging. This allows the ice to be dropped directly into a bag as it is produced.