Patent ID: 8904816

Claim:
An ice maker comprising: a mould forming a number of consecutive mould cavities for receiving water and forming a respective piece of ice, each mold cavity including a front wall, a rear wall, an inner side wall, an outer side wall, and a bottom portion, the number of mould cavities being arranged in at least one column defining a longitudinal direction; a first shaft and a second shaft; an endless conveyor , which is arranged to convey the mould in the longitudinal direction around at least the first shaft; and a drive means connected to at least the first shaft or the second shaft for driving the endless conveyor, wherein the mould is formed of an elastic material and arranged to be elastically deformed as the mould passes around the first shaft, characterized by longitudinal communication channels which are arranged between at least some of the consecutive mould cavities within the at least one column which allow water to flow between the at least some of the consecutive mould cavities within the at least one column, and the mould further comprising a front fixation portion located at and fixed to the front of the at least one column, the front fixation portion extending from an upper plane of the mould that is distal with respect to the bottom portions of the mold cavities and the front fixation portion extending downwardly from said upper plane to be further fixed to the endless conveyor so that the elastic material of the mould is elastically deformed as the front fixation portion passes around the first shaft to cause the front wall of each mold cavity to be stretched away from the respective rear wall, the outer side wall of each mold cavity to be stretched away from the respective inner side wall, and the bottom portion to assume a curvature to thereby release the piece of ice from each respective cavity.