Abstract:
A system top deliver liquid egg product in aliquot portions respective to a selected number of eggs, the system being totally contained in a cooled surround.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     Storing liquid egg, and delivering it in aliquot portions to the cook, for example for one, two or three egg omelets, while maintaining the egg product in a wholesome and sanitary condition from the storage to the omelette pan.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     A restaurant customer who orders his eggs cooked in an unmixed fashion such as sunnyside up, or over, expects and receives a product in which the egg yolk and the white are discrete and recognizable from one another. For these dishes the cook breaks and cooks the eggs without disturbing them, except perhaps for puncturing the yolks.  
         [0003]     Depending on the type of restaurant, an order of scrambled eggs or an omelette will also be produced by the cook from eggs which he breaks and then stirs or whips. Restaurants and cafes with relatively slow traffic in egg dishes do provide shell eggs to the cook, who breaks them when he prepares every order.  
         [0004]     There is another type of restaurant, in which egg dishes are an active, even dominant part of the menu, and which rely heavily on omelettes as a specialty and product leader. In such operations, the cook must produce omelettes at a considerable rate, so there is no time for him to break eggs. For such operations deshelled whole eggs are provided in a liquid, mixed and stabilized form. This product is sometimes called “Egg Wash”. It is the whole egg, mixed and stabilized, and supplied in a plastic bag. This bag is often confined in a cardboard box, and can conveniently be stored in a refrigerator located at the cook&#39;s omelette stand.  
         [0005]     The advantages of this form of egg are evident. It arrives at the cook&#39;s stand free from the biological hazards of handling a whole unshelled egg. It can readily be portioned to suit an order for any number of eggs per order. Even more importantly, it is the same product as would have been produced from an egg that was shelled at the stand. The customer will not know the difference.  
         [0006]     However advantageous the above is, and it is in widespread use, restaurant proprietors and public health inspectors are on nearly continuous alert because of the way the egg product is actually dispensed. In practice there is a cold-table insert for the egg product. The cook fills the insert from the bag and returns the bag to the refrigerator. Then he puts a ladle, usually one which conforms to a “one-egg” size, into the filled insert. When he makes the omelette, he doles out an amount respective to a number of eggs, one at a time, puts it in the pan, and returns the ladle to the insert when it is kept until the next order.  
         [0007]     Notice that the egg product in the insert will be exposed to the air for an undetermined length of time depending on activity, exposed to ambient temperature, subjected to repeated return of a ladle into the egg product, and subject to things passing into it, which they do. The temperature and sanitary condition of the egg product are of continuing and considerable importance. After the egg product has left the bag, its condition is no longer certain. Also, it becomes exposed to the question about sanitary condition of the insert.  
         [0008]     These uncertainties plague the operators of restaurants with heavy egg traffic, and often result in negative grades from inspectors.  
         [0009]     It is an object of this invention to provide liquid egg product in a strictly-sanitary condition up to the moment it is placed in the pan.  
         [0010]     It is another object of this invention to provide a delivery system which can produce on demand egg product in desired aliquot qualities.  
         [0011]     It is yet another object of this invention to produce a system that can readily be primed and sanitized, utilizing the same equipment as is used to deliver egg product to the pan.  
       BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE INVENTION  
       [0012]     A egg product delivery system according to this invention is adapted for use with a packaged and refrigerated supply of liquid egg product. It is sometimes referred to herein as a “bag”. A tubing sometimes called an umbilical cord, is connected to the bag to remove liquid egg from the bag.  
         [0013]     A peristaltic pump withdraws the product from the bag, delivering a known volume of the product per pulse, part of revolution, or multiple revolutions. A control for this pump causes the desired action, and thereby the extraction from the bag and movement of the desired amount of egg product to the pan.  
         [0014]     A delivery hose from the pump extends into an insert customarily used instead to hold egg product to be ladled out, where the hose outlet end is available for the cook to direct the output to a pan.  
         [0015]     According to a preferred but optional feature of this invention, the outlet end of the hose is attached to a lid which removably covers the insert so as to protect the insert from dropped items, and to keep the hose end in a cooled region.  
         [0016]     According to still another preferred but optional feature of this invention, a leg or legs is fixed to the bottom of the lid so that the lid can be laid aside, but with the hose end held away from surrounding surfaces. Also, the legs can be arranged so that a pan can be slid under the lid to receive the liquid egg. Then the cord need not handle the lid at all.  
         [0017]     According to yet another preferred but optional feature of the invention a control for the pump is also provided with a “run” setting, by means of which a sanitizing solution can be sent through the system downstream from the umbilical cord to clean the system, or a continuous longer flow of egg product.  
         [0018]     The above and other features of this invention will be fully understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0019]      FIG. 1  is a side view partly in schematic and partly in cross-section view;  
         [0020]      FIG. 2  is a schematic showing of a peristaltic pump in its open condition;  
         [0021]      FIG. 3  is a view of the pump of  FIG. 2  in its operating condition;  
         [0022]      FIG. 4  is a fragmentary side view of a lid;  
         [0023]      FIG. 5  is a top view of  FIG. 4  with this invention;  
         [0024]      FIG. 6  is a top view of an insert for use with this invention; and  
         [0025]      FIG. 7  is a right hand end view of the lid in  FIG. 4 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0026]     While this system need not be contained principally in a refrigerator or refrigerated work counter, it is an important advantage that it can be. Accordingly a work counter  10  is shown with a plurality of metal inserts  11 ,  12 , whose sides and bottoms are refrigerated, usually by cold air, but occasionally with chilled water. These will usually contain various ingredients of omelettes. One of them, insert  11 , associated with the liquid egg product.  
         [0027]     The refrigerated enclosure shown schematically by line  20  has a support  21  to hold a plastic bag  22  filled with liquid egg. A tubing  23  sometimes called an umbilical cord leads from the bag to a free end  24 . It is usually a separate tubing attached to the bag. The free end of tubing  23  is closed until it is connected into the system by a coupler  26 . An optional off-on shut-off valve  25  may be provided to which tubing  23  can be connected.  
         [0028]     The term “peristaltic pump” is used herein to define a pump which delivers liquid product in aliquot portions respective to a pulsed action. A pulsed action means that there is no contact of the product in the pump structure except for contact with the tubing in which it is conveyed. For example it does not include piston-cylinder types in which a piston directly contacts the product.  
         [0029]     This invention utilizes the advantageous roller-type peristaltic pump. Other types exist which can be used that utilize isolated valving techniques, but the roller type offers significant advantages in the environment where these pumps will be used, not the least of which is their capacity for convenient and quick sanitizing.  
         [0030]     A peristaltic pump  30  is connected to this outlet of the shut-off valve or to the tubing from the bag. Its principal characteristic is that the egg product does not come into contact with any of the mechanism of the pump itself. Instead, as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the pump includes a length of springly flexible pump tubing  31  that tends to be self-shaped retaining, but which can be pinched closed. When a pinching force is removed, the tubing will reopen to its full extent.  
         [0031]     An arcuate race  32  backs up the tubing. A pair of rollers  33 ,  34  are rotatably mounted at a center  35  for rotation parallel to the race. For convenience these are called rollers, although they could instead merely slide along the tubing. When in contact with the tubing they pinch it closed. As they move along the tubing they displace the egg product ahead of the pinch. The volume delivered is thereby determined by the passage of the rollers. In the illustration, the rollers are spaced apart by 180 degrees, so that when they are closed there is no free flow through the pump.  
         [0032]      FIG. 2  shows the rollers in an open position out of contact with the tubing. The tubing can then be removed and replaced, or if desired, cleaned out by a pressurized flow of sanitizing fluid forced through it. Also, when the system is set up and empty, it can be primed.  
         [0033]     The rollers are rotated around center  35  by a motor  36 . The motor is powered by a source  37  enabled by control  40 . This control is provided with several switches  41 ,  42 ,  43  and  44 . As examples, switches  41 ,  42 , and  43  are respective to running times for delivery of one, two or three eggs.  
         [0034]     Switch  44  can run the system independently of time. The cook can then draw as much egg product as he desires, or can run sanitizing solution through the system, or can run egg product to prime the system when the system is empty.  
         [0035]     Control  40  includes timers respective to the running times needed for the respective deliveries. Alternatively, the pump can be proportioned to deliver one egg per revolution.  
         [0036]     Delivery hose  50  receives product from the pump and delivers it to its delivery end  51 . If desired, a nozzle or a spout can be provided there. The hose passes through a notch  52  or hole in the insert so that it is always in a cooled region.  
         [0037]     The delivery hose downstream from the pump will always be filled with egg product, but because the hose is chilled, the product is safe. Further, it is shielded from the air—it is not exposed until after it leaves the hose, as it would be if it merely were poured into the insert.  
         [0038]     The end of the delivery hose can also be provided with a handle, but it is potentially advantageous both to cover the hose end and the insert to keep them clean and cold. For this purpose a removable lid  55  can be laid on the top of the insert, with the hose end attached to its underside. Then a handle  56  can be attached to the top of the lid for convenient manipulation.  
         [0039]     So that lid and hose can be set down without contaminating the hose, a leg  57  or legs project from the bottom of the lid. These can enter the insert when the lid is on, but as shown in  FIG. 4 , they will hold the hose end up above the work surface. A notch  58  in the lid will pass the hose in the position of  FIG. 4 . As a further advantage, the leg or legs can be long enough to support the lid and the delivering end high enough above the work table that a pan can be shoved under neath them. Then the cook need not hold the lid or the pan while egg is discharged into the pan.  
         [0040]     The delivery hose will be equipped with sufficient length that it can be pulled out as desired, and returned to the enclosure.  
         [0041]     This invention thereby provides a sanitary, reliable and convenient system to deliver egg product directly to the cooking pan in a desired amount.  
         [0042]     This invention is not to be limited by the embodiments shown in the drawings and described in the description, which are given by way of example and not of limitation, but only in accordance with the scope of the appended claims.