Patent Publication Number: US-2006003065-A1

Title: Dry-base aerated food product dispensing method and apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      This invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing and dispensing an aerated and/or blended food product derived from a dry product base. It has a particular application to the production and dispensing of frozen confections such as ice cream and frozen yogurt. Consequently, we will describe the invention in that context. It should be understood, however, that various aspects of the invention to be described may also have application to the making and dispensing of various other dry-base products.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      Aerated frozen food products generally require the mixing of a selected base ingredient with a prescribed volume of air and the freezing of the resultant aerated mixture followed by the dispensing of the finished product. A flavoring may be introduced into the mixture prior to its being frozen. The desirability of the product is often related directly the to the manner and the degree in which the air is metered and blended with the base ingredient(s) of the mixture, referred to as overrun, and the manner in which the blended mix is frozen and then dispensed. The prior art is replete with examples of apparatus for dispensing ice cream and other semi-frozen dairy products such as soft ice cream and frozen yogurt. See for example, my U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,433,967; 5,727,713 and 6,698,228, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.  
      All of the prior dispensing machines of this general type of which we are aware utilize a product base which is in a liquid form, e.g. a liquid ice cream base, liquid yogurt base, etc. Containers containing a volume of a liquid base sufficient for even a relatively large number of servings are quite heavy. For example, a 5-gallon container can weigh over 45 pounds. Therefore, they are difficult to handle and to lift up into the dispenser and to handle generally while being shipped through the required trade channels. Often the containers are dropped resulting in leakage and spillage of the container contents. In extreme cases, the containers may burst on impact so that the container contents flood the area of impact. Needless to say, this can materially increase the downtime of the affected dispenser and gives rise to health and sanitation concerns in the general area of that dispenser and in shipping and handling areas generally.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus for producing and dispensing a food product from a product base consisting of a dry particulate material or powder.  
      A further object of the invention is to provide such apparatus which is capable of producing and dispensing a variety of different frozen confections such as ice cream, low-fat ice cream, frozen yogurt, etc.  
      A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus for producing and dispensing frozen confections which can be stocked with product base in a minimum amount of time and with minimum effort.  
      Another object of the invention is to provide such apparatus which presents fewer shipping and handling problems than prior machines utilizing a liquid as the product base.  
      Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method of making and dispensing a frozen confection which has one or more of the above advantages.  
      Other objects will, in part, be obvious and will, in part, appear hereinafter.  
      The invention accordingly comprises sequence of steps and the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts to carry out those steps as exemplified in the following detailed description, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.  
      Briefly, the present apparatus produces and dispenses a frozen or partially frozen food product starting from a product base consisting of a dry particulate material or powder. When a particular frozen product is selected for dispensing, e.g. a scoop of chocolate ice cream, a measured amount of the powder base for that product is released from its container into a turbulence passage where it is entrained in a measured volume of water whose temperature is preferably such as to optimize the dissolving of the powder base in the water. That passage has an inside diameter and length such as to create confined turbulent mixing of the liquid and powder flowing through the passage. Resultantly, the powder base is thoroughly dissolved in the water to form a liquid product base.  
      At a selected location along the passage, air is injected into the passage to aerate the liquid product base so that by the time the base reaches the distal or outlet end of the passage, the ice cream powder base, water and air will have combined to form a homogenous aerated liquid ice cream intermediate.  
      A measured amount of liquid flavoring, i.e. chocolate syrup in this case, may be introduced into the aerated liquid stream relatively near the outlet end of the passage. Thus, a measured amount of flavored aerated liquid product exits the passage and may be deposited on a freezing surface to produce an at least partially solidified product body. Thereupon, that solidified product body may be scraped from the freezing surface and formed into the selected frozen product, i.e. a scoop of chocolate ice cream, which scoop may then be placed in a cup or cone before being served to a customer.  
      A given dispenser may have several containers containing different dry product bases such as ice cream, low-fat ice cream, soy, sorbet, yogurt, etc., and several containers holding a variety of different flavors such as chocolate, vanilla, pistachio, strawberry, etc. Thus, the apparatus is able to produce and dispense individualized portions of freshly aerated and flavored frozen product, on demand, and in different formats, e.g. a cup or cone.  
      It should also be understood that various aspects of the invention may be used to mix, blend and dispense various other hot or cold food products such as hot chocolate, instant soups, juices, omelets, crepes, flavored milks, and any other product that can be produced from a dry powder or particulate base material. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which is a diagrammatic view of apparatus for producing and dispensing a frozen food product in accordance with the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Referring to the drawing FIGURE, my apparatus for producing and dispensing an aerated frozen food product from a dry base comprises a housing  8  having an internal shelf  10  capable of supporting one or more relatively large containers  12 , each filled with a food product base consisting of a dry powder or particulate material P. Container(s)  12  may be inserted into housing  8  in an inverted condition and slid onto shelf  10 , the shelf being provided with a notch  10   a  to provide clearance for a container outlet  12   a  which extends down below the shelf so that it can be coupled to the inlet port  15   a  of a metering device shown generally at  15  supported below the shelf. The container outlet  12   a  may be closed by a removable plastic or foil cover (not shown) until the container  12  is coupled to the metering device  15 .  
      The illustrated metering device  15  is a screw feeder consisting of cylindrical housing  16  with inlet port  15   a  opening into one end. The opposite end of housing  16  opens into a tube section  17 . Rotatably mounted in housing  16  is an auger  18 . Auger  18  may be rotated by a step motor  19  controlled by a controller  20  on shelf  10 . Each time auger  18  is turned by motor  19  through a given angle, a selected amount of powder P from the container  12  will be introduced into tube section  17 .  
      One end of tube section  17  is connected by way of a valve  22  to a pipe  24  leading from a source of water under pressure. Valve  22  is opened and closed at the appropriate times by controller  20 . Pipe  24  may receive water directly from a water mains or from a water storage container (not shown) inside housing  8 . Preferably, the water entering pipe section  17  has a temperature which optimizes the mixing process to be described presently.  
      The opposite end of tube section  17  is connected to the inlet end  32   a  of a relatively long, i.e., about three feet, tube  32 . When valve  22  is open and the metering device  15  injects powder P into tube section  17 , the powder is entrained in the water stream and carried into tube  32 . The tube defines a confined turbulent mixing passage such that in its travel along the tube, the powder becomes thoroughly dissolved in the water to form a homogenous liquid product base. Of course, that passage could be formed directly in a metal or plastic block or manifold.  
      At a selected location along tube  32 , air is introduced into the tube via a pipe or tube  34  to aerate the volume of liquid product base flowing along the tube. The pipe may receive air under pressure from a compressor (not shown) in housing  8  or from an external source. Pipe  34  includes a valve  36  which is opened and closed by controller  20  so that each volume or charge of liquid product base from metering device  15  receives a selected amount of air. This controls the aeration or so-called overrun in the final product.  
      The liquid, and now aerated, product base continues its course along tube  32  so that by the time it reaches the tube outlet end  32   b,  it is a thoroughly homogenous aerated liquid product base or liquid product intermediate.  
      Under normal circumstances, one or more flavors are introduced into the aerated liquid product base usually, but not necessarily, before the base reaches the tube outlet end  32   b.  Thus, in the illustrated apparatus, three pipes or tubes  38   a,    38   b  and  38   c  are connected to tube  32 . These pipes lead to containers (not shown) containing three different liquid flavors F 1 , F 2  and F 3 , e.g. chocolate, strawberry and banana flavors. The three tubes include corresponding in-line valves  42   a,    42   b  and  42   c  which, under the control of controller  20 , selectively introduce a given flavor or flavors into the liquid product base about to exit tube  32 . Preferably, a sufficient length of tube  32 , e.g. 6 to 9 inches, is present downstream from pipes  38   a  to  38   c  that the flavor(s) is thoroughly mixed with the base so that a homogenous aerated and flavored liquid product exits tube  32  at outlet end  32   b.    
      If the measured amount of aerated liquid product exiting tube  32  is ice cream or the like, it may be deposited on a refrigerated freezing surface  44  as shown. The surface  44  may be a stationary or moving plate or a rotary drum as disclosed in my above patents. Suffice it to say that the liquid product deposited on surface  44  freezes or partially freezes to form a thin, at least partially solidified product body B. That body may then be removed from surface  44  using, for example, a hand scraper S and deposited into a suitable container such as a dish, cup or cone. Automatic means for such removal and deposit are disclosed in my above U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,433,967 and 6,698,228.  
      As noted above, the housing  8  of a given dispenser may have more than one container  12  for holding different dry product bases, e.g. ice cream, low fat ice cream, yogurt, etc. Each container may be provided with its own metering device  15 , tube  32 , etc. for processing that base to form the finished flavored product. Alternatively, several metering devices  15  may feed different base powders into the same tube  32  to dispense the product.  
      The base and flavor selections may be made by pressing appropriate buttons or keys on a keyboard  20   a  of controller  20 . When a selection is made, controller  20  opens valve  26  for a selected period of time so that a measured amount of water is introduced into the tube section  17 . At the same time, the metering device  15  serving the container  12  containing the selected powder base is activated by controller  20 . This results in that device&#39;s auger  18  being rotated through the necessary angle to introduce a selected amount of powder P into the water stream flowing through tube section  17 .  
      The water and the powder P flow into tube  32  and are turbulently mixed so that the powder dissolves completely in the water to form a homogenous liquid base. That liquid base charge enters tube  32  whereupon controller  20  opens valve  36  thereby injecting air into that liquid base so as to aerate the base. That fixed volume of liquid continues its travel along tube  32  undergoing turbulent mixing in the process so that the air is distributed uniformly as tiny bubbles throughout that liquid base.  
      When the charge of liquid product base reaches the flavor injection segment of the tube  32 , controller  20  opens one (or perhaps more) of the valves  42   a  to  42   c  thereby injecting a fixed volume of the selected flavor(s) into that charge. In the remaining segment of the tube, that flavor(s) becomes thoroughly mixed with the aerated liquid product base so that a thoroughly homogenous aerated and flavored liquid base product leaves tube  32  and is deposited on the freezing surface  44  where it quickly freezes to form the at least partially frozen product body B. That body may then be scraped or otherwise removed from surface  22  by a scraper S and pressed into an appropriate container C to form a shaped food product.  
      It will be seen from the foregoing that since the frozen products dispensed from the described apparatus derive from a dry powder base, the container or containers  12  in housing  10  weigh as much as 55-60% less than liquid base container(s) providing the same number of servings. This makes it easier to restock the dispenser and reduces the incidence of container breakage and spillage due to the dropping of containers during shipping and handling. The dispensing of product starting from a powder base also makes it easier to maintain the dispenser areas and shipping and handling areas in a sanitary condition. Yet with all of these advantages, the described apparatus should be no more expensive to make than prior comparable dispensers of this general type.  
      It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above among those made apparent from the preceding description are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in carrying out the above method and in the construction set forth without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.  
      It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention described herein.