Patent ID: 7621669

Claim:
Apparatus for providing, on-demand of a soft-serve dessert customer, the blending of edible ingredient solids into a frozen edible base product when flowing from a freezer, the apparatus comprising: a blender assembly which has an inlet for coupling to a dispenser outlet of a freezer, for receiving said frozen edible base product from said dispenser outlet of the freezer into said blender assembly, said blender assembly having an outlet for dispensing a blended product from said blender assembly, and said blender assembly having a passageway with an entrance at said inlet and an exit spaced from said blended product outlet; a storage assembly including a plurality of containers for storage in different ones of said containers, different ingredient solids for selective blending with said base product passed through said passageway; a transfer device coupled to said storage assembly and to said blender assembly for receiving selected ones of said solids from said storage assembly and for guiding said selected ones of said solids from said storage assembly into said blender assembly; said blender assembly including a blender hopper coupled to said transfer device for receiving said selected ones of said solids from said transfer device and for introducing said selected ones of said solids to said base product when said base product from the freezer is flowing out from said passageway toward said blended product outlet; a blending chamber in said blender hopper between said passageway exit and said blended product outlet; a blending auger in said blender hopper and including at least a portion of said passageway and mounted for rotation on an axis of rotation for moving said solids toward said blended product outlet, said auger having an intake end and having a discharge end; a blender motor coupled to said auger for rotation of said auger on said axis; valves associated with said containers and operable, when actuated, for release of selected ones of said stored ingredient solids from said storage assembly to said transfer device; and a controller coupled to said blender motor and to said valves to operate said auger to move released ingredient solids into said base product in said blending chamber during passage of said base product from said passageway to said blended product outlet.