Patent Publication Number: US-2007122516-A1

Title: Apparatus for preparing fresh ravioli, dumpling and pastries with filling in kitchen

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION  
      This invention relates to an apparatus used for the preparation of food articles where an outer layer of viscous material envelops the core of another material in particular to a device for the mixing, extrusion, shaping and cutting of food condiments.  
     DESCRIPTION OF PREVIOUS ART  
      All previous inventions and devices in the market related to continuously mass making an outer layer of viscous material about the core of another material apparatus share the following characteristics: 
          1. Chambers and containers mixing different materials are physically situated apart from each other.     2. Use of rollers or conveyors to transport the made dough. 
 
 Such characteristics have a number of flaws: the structure results in a machine that is very space occupying and not fit for household or small restaurant use, many are complicated to use and inconvenient to clean. Two typical examples are U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,158 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,147, those two inventions have better unique structure and the apparatus could occupy less space than other&#39;s. However, the apparatus for molding an outer layer of viscous material about a core of another material uses two separate chambers: one for the viscous material and another for the core the material in each chamber are then transported together. And a previously made outer layer material such as dough is required thus giving the user extra work. The inventions mentioned still fails to solve the problem of space efficiency, and these machines are still too complicated to run and difficult to clean for kitchen or restaurant use. 
       

     SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
      This invention uses the concept of “chamber in chamber” to make the machine smaller and more space efficient for use in the home or small restaurants. This design also allows for easy use and is convenient to clean making it very practical for household use. The apparatus is easily assembled and requires little input from the user. It takes raw materials, mixes, kneads, extrudes, shapes and cuts the food condiments preparing them to be cooked right away or stored for later use. The machine saves time, space, and money for those who enjoy homemade foods with fillings such as ravioli, dumplings, or various types of pastries. The preferred embodiment of the apparatus consists of an inner chamber situated inside a spin-able chamber where the spin-able chamber is enclosed by the outer chamber. The viscous outer material is mixed and kneaded in the outer chamber while the core material is mixed inside the inner chamber. Condiments inside each chamber are mixed by blades extending from the spin-able chamber which is powered by a motor in the machine. Once materials are ready to be extruded, the bottoms of the chambers are opened and materials are moved down to an extrusion chamber where the viscous material is further kneaded and shaped into a tube by extrusion die. The extrusion of core material is controlled by an adjustable stopper and the bottom of the inner chamber. Viscous material is extruded from extrusion chamber as a tube about a rope of core material. The materials are ran through two adjacent rollers turning towards each other where one roller is shaped to cut the material while the other roller acts as cutting surface.  
      The apparatus functions using one power source. The gears, rollers, spinning-chamber and all other movement are powered by one motor thus making the apparatus very efficient and user-friendly. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
      FIG.- 1  is a perspective view of preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
      FIG.- 2  is a vertical cross section view through the center of the embodiment taken along line  2 - 2  of FIG.- 1 .  
      FIG.- 3  is a partial enlarged vertical cross section view through the center of the inner chamber, spin-able chamber, outer chamber and extrusion chamber from FIG.- 2 .  
      FIG.- 4  is a partial enlarged view of area - 4  in FIG.- 3 .  
      FIG.- 5  is a fragmentary, exploded perspective view of the pieces of the extrusion system.  
      FIG.- 6  is an exploded perspective view of extrusion chamber and related gears and shafts.  
      FIG.- 7  is a fragmentary, exploded perspective view of outer chamber and separate gate.  
      FIG.- 8  is a demonstration of stopper at closing status.  
      FIG.- 9  is a demonstration of stopper at opening status while permanent magnet is repelled by electromagnet.  
      FIG.- 10  is a vertical cross section view taken along line  10 - 10  of FIG.- 2 .  
      FIG.- 11  is a partial horizontal cross section view taken along line  11 - 11  of FIG.- 2 .  
      FIG.- 12  is an exploded perspective view of roller cutters and related shafts and gears. 
    
    
     DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      FIG.- 1  shows the perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment is basically comprises  4  systems, a base cabinet  21 , a mixing and feeding system enclosed in lid  38  and chamber  31  which is mounted on the top shelf of cabinet  21 , an extrusion system mounted under beneath the top shelf of cabinet  21  and the extrusion chamber  61  is connected or disconnected to chamber  31  by opening or closing gate  36 , a roller cutting system mounted on the shelf  26  directly under the extrusion system and a power transmission system is hide inside of walls  211  and  212  of cabinet  21 . An on-off switch mounted on the wall  211  controls main power of mixing, feeding, extrusion and cutting. A button switch  23  is for power supply to the electromagnet  56  as shown in FIG.- 2 , and a related turning knob  25  above switch  23  controls electric current intensity inputting to the electromagnet. Mark  24  shows the direction of increasing or decreasing of current intensity.  
      Referring to FIG.- 2  and FIG.- 3 , the present invention concept of “chamber in chamber” for mixing and feeding system is revealed: smaller chambers being enclosed inside of larger chamber. The spin-able chamber  32  is enclosed by a larger mixing chamber  31 ; the spin-able chamber  32  encases inner funnel- shape chamber  33  where filling ingredients are mixed together. Blades  42  and  43  are attached to the exterior of spin-able chamber  32  so that when chamber  32  is rotated via shaft  55 , the blades move along with the chamber  32  and mix the ingredients in chamber  31  making a viscous material. Chamber  31  is covered by lid  38  and chamber  32  is covered by inner lid  34 . Lid  34  is secured to chamber  32  but not chamber  33 . A cylindrical tube  35  attached to lid  34  runs through the center of chamber  32  and blades  44  and  45  are attached on tube  35 , so when chamber  32  is rotated, lid  34 , tube  35 , and stirring blades  44  and  45  also rotates mixing the ingredients sitting in a stationary chamber  33 . Rod  46  runs through tube  35  and has a cone shaped head which fits the bottom opening of chamber  33  serving as a stopper.  
      Referring to FIG.- 3 , FIG.- 4 , FIG.- 8  and FIG.- 9 , an electromagnet  56  is mounted between the underneath housing  311  of chamber  31  and the top shelf of cabinet  21  along the center line of shaft  55 . The amount and speed which condiments travel through chamber 33  into tube  331  is adjusted by controlling the gap between the stopper  46  and the bottom of chamber  33 . FIG.- 8  shows stopper  46  is in closing status by gravity while the electromagnet  56  is in off status. FIG.- 9  shows the status that the electromagnet  56  is on and is generating opposite magnetic field against permanent  47  and the magnet  47  is pushed up by the opposite magnetic field from electromagnet  56 , then the stopper  46  along with magnet  47  is pushed up, and allows the ingredients in chamber  33  pass over the stopper  46  and into the tube  331  which is attached underneath the bottom of chamber  33 . Referring to FIG.- 1 , by pushing the button switch  23 , the electromagnet  56  will be on, by turning switch  25 , the electric current inputted to electromagnet  56  adjusted, the greater the electric current, the stronger the electromagnet, and the stopper  46  will be pushed higher, then more ingredients flow into tube  331 ; in the opposite way, the same reason, the weaker the electric current, lower the stopper  46  to be pushed and the less ingredients flow into tube  331 .  
      Chamber  32  and the parts attached to it are rotated while the inner chamber  33  inside chamber  32  remains still due to the placement of bearing  52 . Chamber  33  is secured to seat  51 , where seat  51  is tightly secured to the outer diameter of bearing  52 . Chamber  32  is screwed to a special shaped screw  53  which both sits on a needle roller bearing  54  and is securely screwed on shaft  55 , and the upper part of shaft  55  is then tightly secured to the inner diameter of bearing  52 . Thus when shaft  55  is rotated, the attached chamber  32  and inner diameter of bearing  52  also rotates while seat  51 , which as tightly fitted to the outer diameter of said bearing  52 , remains stationary, and therefore chamber  33  which is sitting on seat  51  also remains stationary.  
      Referring to FIG.- 3 , FIG.- 6  and FIG.- 7 , the bottom opening  312  of chamber  21  gets through the top shelf of cabinet  21  and directly connected with the upper lip  612  of extrusion chamber  61 . Gate  36  separates the ingredients in chamber  31  from the extrusion chamber  61 . Gate  36  can slide in for closing or out for opening along edge  313  surrounding the inside wall of opening  312 . Gate  36  is opened once the dough ingredients have been sufficiently mixed and is ready to be extruded. Once gate  36  is opened, the scraping blade  43  will push the dough down to chamber  61 , and then dough is to be guided down by extrusion screw  64  which is secured to rotating shaft  52  by a sleeve clutch  62 . Gear  86  turns shaft  52  which turns attached clutch  62  causing extrusion screw  64  to turn and push the dough downward. A seat  651  in multi-layer extrusion die  65  is attached to the bottom of extrusion screw  64 , the die  65  is held by a threaded holding nut  66 . On the inside of upper part of nut  66  it is female threaded to match male threads on the outside of bottom part of extrusion chamber  61 , the middle part of nut  66  is a flat ring edge to hold die  65 , the inside of bottom part of nut  66  is a seat to fit shaping die  67  and the out side of bottom part of nut  66  has male threads to fit with female threads on the inside of holding nut  68 . Dough is driven down by extrusion screw  64  and passes through the multi-layer hollow in die  65 , then meets with the inner wall of shaping die  67 , the dough is squeezed between the outer wall of the lower part of die  65  and the inner wall of die  67  to be shaped into tube-shape. The thickness of the dough tube is adjusted by screwing holding nut  68  closer or further away from nut  66 , moving nut  68  further down moves down the shaping die  67  leaving a bigger gap for dough to be extruded, moving nut  68  up moves the shaping die up reducing the gap through which the dough is extruded making the dough tube thinner. Screw  64  is attached to the upper flat edge of clutch  62  by magnet  63  and magnet  69 , magnet  63  and  69  are installed separately on clutch  62  and screw  64  and their magnetic orientation is arranged in the way of being attractive each other. Referring to FIG.- 5 , The inside of upper part of screw  64  has vertical flat and circle walls that are matched with the outer lower part of clutch  62 , which helps the screw  64  not slipping while turning. The Screw  64  can be easily detached and removed for cleaning by unscrewing nut  66  and detaching from magnetic clutch  62  by pulling downward.  
      Referring to FIG.- 10  and FIG.- 12 , adjacent rollers  91  and  92  situated directly beneath extrusion chamber  61  roll toward each other. The two rollers have the same dimensions however roller  91  serves as the cutting surface therefore has a smooth surface while  92  acts as cutting die and thus surface of  92  is engraved with desired shape. The two adjacent rollers rotate toward each other shaping and cutting the extruded condiments sealing the core material with the outer layer of viscous material. Ramp  27  is situated directly beneath the rollers to transport the finished food articles out of the machine. Ramp  27  consists of a tilted board at an angle that made food articles are gently guided down and out of the machine. On the middle part of ramp  27 , a metal scraping board  28  is attached through link with spring hinge  281 . The hinge  281  applies a spring pressure pushing  28  against the cutting surface on roller  91  thus when rollers are running, all viscous material is properly cut and scrapped off of the cutting surface for transport onto ramp  27 . Scraping board  28  comprises of a thin sheet of metal ensuring that no viscous material remains attached to roller  91  after cutting. Rollers  91  and  92  are held up by shaft  93  and  94  whose one side is held by wall  212  and the other side is held by stands  29  as shown in FIG.- 1 .  
      The apparatus has a drive means which includes a drive motor  71  in the bottom corner of the cabinet  21 . The motor turns shaft  72 , which turns attached first gear  73 , then the first gear  73  drives second gear  74  simultaneously turning third gear  75  for both of them are attached to same shaft  77 . Third gear  75  in turn drives forth gear  76  which turns main drive shaft  78 . Shaft  78  drives a fifth gear  79  that then drives a perpendicular sixth gear  80 . Gear  80  turns vertically therefore turning horizontal shaft  93  simultaneously turning a seventh gear  81 , then gear  81  drives the eighth gear  82  which turns shaft  94 . Shaft  93  turns roller  91  and shaft  94  turns roller  92 . This design causes the two rollers to turn toward each other. The ninth gear  83  is attached to the top of main shaft  78  therefore turns with the shaft and in turn driving gears  85  which are attached to shafts  84 . Gears  85  drive the main gear  86  attached to shaft  55  therefore turning shaft  55 . Shaft  55  is secured to chamber  32  through a special screw  53  thus the powering of gears  86  causes the rotation of chamber  32  with all interior and exterior attached mixing and scraping blades and the rolling of rollers  91  and  92 . The bottom of shaft  55  is secured to extrusion screw  64  by sleeve clutch  62  causing extrusion screw  64  to turn with shaft  55 .  
      All gears are enclosed in the cabinet to reduce the hazard and for visual appeal. All devices and mechanisms under the mixing chambers are protected by a cover, an door shall be mounted in the opening front of cabinet  21  to make the roller cutting system to be protected and the door shall be closed make the machine safer to user while running the machine, except ramp  27  where finished food exits the machine.  
      The described embodiment may be constructed using various materials or a combination of various materials and methods known to those knowledgeable in the art.  
      The embodiment may be constructed at any useful scale. For example, the chambers can be made in various sizes depending on the size of the scale of production.  
      What has been described herein is an embodiment of the present invention. This description is presented as an illustration and an aid in understanding the present invention and in no way is intended to limit the scope of the present invention which is described by the claims contained herein. One knowledgeable in the art would readily recognize that many variations are possible without departing from the invention&#39;s basic concepts.