Patent ID: 8561528

Claim:
A device for heating the outside of food particles, comprising: a substantially cylindrical tube extending with a substantially horizontal axis, said substantially cylindrical tube including an internal wall; a heating device configured to heat the tube on an outside thereof, wherein the tube is dimensioned for heating of the food particles through contact transfer; a drive device configured to drive the tube in rotation about the substantially horizontal axis thereof; a supply device configured to supply food particles to be heated to an interior of the tube in a vicinity of a first end of the tube; a discharge device configured to discharge the heated food particles from a second end of the tube; and an engaging device configured to engage the food particles that are placed in the tube, said engaging device being adapted to transport the food particles through the tube, the engaging device being provided with a drive device that is separate from the drive device of the tube so that the engaging device is rotatable independently of the tube and the engaging device is fixedly disposed independently of the tube, wherein the tube is adapted to entrain the food particles after being heated in an upward moving part of the internal wall, as a result of a friction force between the food particles and the internal wall of the tube, until a gravity force becomes greater than the friction force, and wherein the engaging device comprises a helical body movable in an axial direction to a position outside of the tube, and the helical body is connected to a carriage which can travel over a sub-frame extending in line with the frame on a second end of the tube.