Patent Publication Number: US-2010107899-A1

Title: Mechanized apparatus for the preparation of pizzas

Description:
The present invention relates to a mechanized apparatus for the preparation of pizzas, particularly for use in pizza-restaurants and self-service restaurants. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     As known, in pizza-restaurants pizza is conventionally prepared to order by a pizza chef which, per each pizza, generally takes a premixed, leavened portion of dough, rolls it out, then arranges it on a baker&#39;s shovel, covers it with prepared condiments, such as minced mozzarella, tomato, anchovies, minced ham and/or various other condiments, and finally puts the resulting pizza into the oven. 
     In order to make the preparation of pizza less laborious and to reduce the use of skilled personnel, EP 1 168 926 of Applicant describes a highly automated machine for the preparation of pizzas, in which a horizontal, motorized shovel is driven to rotate by steps along a circular path in order to successively cooperate with a series of stations arranged along the path, in particular, a dough block dispenser, a pizza moulder adapted to roll the block out and to stretch it, a condiment dispenser, and an oven. 
     Alhough the above-described machine effectively achieves the desired aims of preparing and cooking high quality pizzas while substantially zeroing the human contribution, however it is rather cumbersome so that its installation is prohibitive in restaurants having a relatively small kitchen. It has been found in practice that, in these cases, a lower degree of automation would be accepted in exchange for a smaller and less expensive machine. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, it is a main object of the invention to provide a mechanized apparatus for the preparation of pizzas, by which pizzas can be prepared and cooked with a limited human conrtibution with respect to the manual preparation but which, at the same time, is smaller in size as well as much less expensive then the machine of the above-mentioned European Patent. 
     The above object and other advantages, which will better appear from the following description, are achieved by the invention with a mechanized apparatus for the preparation of pizzas having the features recited in claim  1 , while the dependent claims state other advantageous, though secondary features of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention will be now described in more detail with reference to a preferred, non exclusive embodiment, shown by way of non-limiting example in the attached drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a broken-away, plan view of the mechanized apparatus for the preparation of pizzas according to the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view which separately shows a component of the apparatus of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIGS. 3 and 4  are diagrammatical, plan views showing the apparatus in two different operative configurations. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     With reference to the above Figures, a mechanized apparatus  10  according to the invention for the preparation of pizzas comprises a frame  12  which basically supports a refrigerator  14  for condiments, a horizontal pizza-holding arm  16 , and a control unit  18 , each of which components will be described in more detail below. Apparatus  10  also comprises an oven  20  (which is of a known type and, therefore, is only diagrammatically shown in the Figures) which is arranged adjacent to frame  12  in order to receive a dressed, though still raw, pizza from pizza-holding arm, and a bench  22  on which a pizza chef (not shown) can prepare the pizza. All these components will also be described in more detail below. 
     Oven  20  comprises a housing  24  having an outlet opening  26  on its back side, as well as an inlet opening  28  on its front side, which is accessible via a tunnel  29  that is frontally fixed to the oven. Oven  20  is internally provided with known heating means (not shown), e.g., of the type based on electical resistors. The inner room of oven  20  can house two pizzas arranged side-by-side in respective reception areas  30   a,    30   b.  A pair of curved, expulsion arms  32 ,  34  are mounted within housing  24  and are driven by actuator means (not shown) to rotate about respective axes  36 ,  38 . A platform  39  is defined on the upper side of oven  20 , on which the cooked pizzas can be temporarily stored, waiting for the subsequent delivery to the consumer. 
     Pizza-holding arm  16  has a first end  16   a  hinged to the frame about a vertical axis  42 , and supports a slide  44  that is movable along longitudinal guides  46 ,  48  under control of a screw mechanism  50  (diagrammatically shown in  FIG. 1 ) which is operable in both directions by a first motor  52 . First motor  52  is housed within the pizza-holding arm and is operatively connected to control unit  18 . Slide  44  supports a perforated, horizontal shover  54  via a bracket  55 , on which a pizza can be laid down. 
     A free end  16   b  of pizza-holding arm  16  is operatively connected to a ratio-motor  56  fixed to frame  12 , via a linkage including a connecting rod  57  hinged to a crank  58 . Ratio-motor  56  is also operatively connected to control unit  18 , and is operable for successively positioning arm  16  at two predetermined angular positions ( FIGS. 3 and 4 ), in each of which the horizontal path T ( FIGS. 3 and 4 ) defined by shover  54  along guides  46 ,  48  leads to a respective one of the reception areas  30   a,    30   b  of oven  20 , which are accessible through the inlet opening. 
     Frame  12  bears a pair of position sensors  60 ,  62  for transmitting a stop signal to the control unit when pizza-holding arm  16  reaches one of the above-cited, predetermined angular positions. To this purpose, position sensors  60 ,  62  are arranged in such a way as to detect a pair of detection projections  68 ,  70  supported at the opposite ends of a horizontal rod  72 , which is fixed crosswise to the free end of arm  16 . Detection projections  68 ,  70  are adjustable by length to allow accurate setting of the point of intervention of sensors  60 ,  62 . 
     Refrigerator  14  for condiments is of a known type comprising a prismatic case  74  which is internally provided with known cooling means (not shown) and with a plurality of compartments (not shown) accessible from the upper side of the case. Conventional refrigerators of this type are on the market and, therefore, no further description will be given about it. 
     Control unit  18  is programmable in a conventional way in the field to pilot motors  52  and  56  and to coordinate their movements, as well as to switch on/off oven  20  and refrigerator  14  for condiments, as described below with regard to the operation of the apparatus. Control unit  18  is preferably provided with start/stop push buttons (not shown) and with buttons for selecting various parameters, such as the temperature of the oven, the cooking time, etc. 
     Bench  22  is advantageously arranged by side of frame  12  and comprises a metal structure  80  supporting several shelves such as  82 , on which dough blocks F can be stored, with an uppermost shelf  84  on which the pizza chef can lay down the block F and roll it out manually or by means of an auxiliary rolling pin (not shown). 
     The operation of mechanized apparatus  10  according to the invention will be now described. 
     The pizza chef (not shown) takes a block F from a shelf  82  of bench  22 , lays it down on uppermost shelf  84 , and then skillfully rolls it out into the typical flat, discoidal shape forming the base B ( FIG. 1 ) of the pizza. Then, the pizza chef conveys the base of the pizza onto horizontal shover  54  resting outside the oven at its withdrawn, loading position shown in  FIG. 1 , and seasons it with the required condiments C ( FIG. 3 ) taken from the refrigerator. 
     After this seasoning operation, the preparation of the pizza becomes completely automated. The pizza chef sets pizza-holding arm  16  going by acting on control unit  18 , which is programmed control slide  44  to move forward at a first, relatively low speed, with arm  16  resting at one of its predetermined angular positions (couterclock-rotated position in  FIG. 3 ), whereby shover  54  enters oven  20  through inlet opening  28  at a respective one of the two reception areas (area  30   b  in  FIG. 3 ). Now, first motor  52  is driven in the opposite direction at a second, higher speed, whereby shover  54  suddenly withdraws from the oven, thereby unloading the pizza by inertia. 
     While pizza-holding arm  16  is ready to perform a new working cycle, the pizza in the oven is cooked and, after a predetermined cooking time set by the software, the corresponding expulsion arm  32  or  34  pushes the pizza out of the oven, so that it can be taken and, if required, temporarily stored on platform  39  of oven  20 . 
     In the following working cycle, pizza-holding arm  16  carries out the same steps of the previous cycle, but control unit  18  is programmed to rotate the arm to the other, predetermined angular position, so that the pizza is unloaded on the other, free reception area (area  30   a  in  FIG. 4 ). 
     As described above and shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , detection projections  68 ,  70  respectively shade sensors  60 ,  62  when pizza-holding arm  16  reaches the corresponding predetermined angular positions, whereby arm  16  is stopped at the desired position. 
     A preferred embodiment of the invention has been described herein, but of course many changes may be made by a person skilled in the art within the scope of the claims, by means of alternative, though equivalent mechanical solutions. In particular, bench  22  is a useful, though non-indispensable, component of the invention, because the dough blocks could be stored and processed apart from the apparatus. Moreover, the oven could be provided with more than two reception areas for pizzas, e.g., three or even four reception areas; in this case, control unit  18  should be reprogrammed accordingly and the system of sensors associated to pizza-holding arm  16  should be redesigned to include a corresponding number of predetermined angular positions, with changes which will be obvious to the person skilled in the art. Furthermore, it is evident that, although the pizza-holding shover should be substantially horizontal, it could be slightly inclined to facilitate the unloading of the pizza into the oven. 
     The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. TO2008U000144 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.