Patent ID: 7503687

Claim:
In a frozen dessert mixing machine of the type including (a) a housing, (b) a motor driven drive shaft extending from said housing, (c) an auger attached to a distal end of said motor driven drive shaft, (d) a mixing cone having an open top and an open bottom with said mixing cone being in substantially coaxial alignment with said mixing auger and said motor driven drive shaft, and (e) drive means for moving the mixing cone in linear movement toward said auger, an improvement comprising: means for effectively closing said open top of said mixing cone when said mixing auger is positioned within said mixing cone so that a liquid material can be mixed with a frozen material in said mixing cone by said auger to produce a liquid mixture without said liquid mixture being ejected from or otherwise escaping from said mixing cone during the mixing of said frozen material and said liquid material in said mixing cone; a valve mechanism associated with said open bottom of said mixing cone, said valve mechanism being kept closed when said liquid material and said frozen material are introduced into said mixing cone as well as during mixing of said liquid material and said frozen material in said mixing cone, with said valve mechanism then being opened to dispense said liquid mixture from said bottom of said mixing cone; and a cup holding mechanism incorporated into said valve mechanism at the bottom of said mixing cone, said cup holding mechanism being adapted to hold a cup in proper position immediately beneath said valve mechanism so that said liquid mixture dispensed from said mixing cone through said valve mechanism is fed directly into said cup.