Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – Shaping surface including means to release or remove product... – Removal-miscellaneous
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-17
2001-04-17
Yeung, George C. (Department: 1761)
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
Shaping surface including means to release or remove product...
Removal-miscellaneous
C099S439000, C425S258000, C425S422000, C425S443000, C425S444000, C426S512000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06217311
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to apparatus for and a method of portioning rice, particularly but not exclusively, for making sushi. This is a transliteration of a Japanese word meaning seasoned rice, but it has in the western world become associated with raw fish because this is a common topping for or accompaniment to the rice.
A known machine for portioning cooked rice (called a Nigiri machine) has a number of rotatably driven wheels which, with gravity assistance, feed the rice downwardly to a pair of cooperating wheels defining a nip into which the rice is delivered. On their outer peripheries, the pair of cooperating wheels are recessed to define a mould cavity into which the rice is first delivered, then compressed as the recessed parts of the wheels move together and finally released under gravity as the recessed parts of the wheels move apart. The rice portions are thus formed and deposited individually. They are then lifted by hand and put into trays where the rice portions are normally topped, for example with fish or meat. This is a slow process the speed of which is limited by the rate of production of the rice portions by the Nigiri machine. The invention aims to provide an apparatus for and method of portioning rice which lends itself to quicker production of the rice portions.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for portioning rice, comprising a mould having a mould cavity to receive a portion of the rice, filling means for filling the cavity with rice, an ejector member, and means for effecting relative snap-action movement of the mould and the ejector member to cause release of the rice portion from the cavity.
Preferably, the means for effecting relative snap-action movement are operative to cause the mould to move with a snap-action with respect to the ejector member when the latter is in contact with or in close proximity to the rice portion in the cavity, to cause release of the rice portion from the cavity.
The cavity is preferably open at its top and bottom, the ejector member being of a cross-sectional shape complementary to that of the cavity, the mould moving suddenly upwardly relative to the ejector member when said snap action movement takes place.
The apparatus may comprise a chamber for holding a supply of the rice and the filling means may include compressing means for compressing the rice in the chamber, either before the rice is pressed into the mould cavity or at the same time as the rice is pressed into the mould cavity.
The mould is preferably reciprocatable between a charging position in which the mould cavity is aligned with an opening in the chamber to enable the compressing means to push the rice into the mould cavity, and a discharge position in which the mould cavity is aligned with the ejector member, ready for said snap action to take place. In a preferred embodiment, the mould is horizontally reciprocatable, in its discharge position the mould being aligned with a vertical path of movement of the ejector member.
The means for effecting relative movement between the ejector member and the mould preferably comprise an over-centre mechanism which, on release, causes a sudden release of stored energy which applies a step-function force to the mould to move the latter with respect to the ejector member with said snap action. The over-centre mechanism is preferably movable with the mould and engaged by a release member, such as a latch pin, movable with the ejector member.
When in the discharge position, the mould may be movable between a raised position and a lowered position, the ejector member being movable downwardly towards the mould when the latter is in the raised position, the ejector member and the mould then moving downwardly together until the over-centre mechanism is released to cause the mould to return to its raised position with said snap action, preferably under the force of a spring compressed during downward travel of the mould to its lowered position. When in its lowered position, the mould conveniently places the rice portion in a position very close to a receiving tray or the like, so that the snap action causes the rice portion to be released from the mould and immediately placed in the tray.
The cavity may be one of a plurality of cavities disposed side by side in the mould, the ejector member being one of a corresponding plurality of ejector members.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provide a method of portioning rice, comprising filling a mould cavity in a mould with a portion of rice, effecting relative snap-action movement between the mould and an ejector member, thereby to release the rice portion from the mould cavity.
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Lee, Mann, Smith, McWilliam, Sweeney and Ohlson
Sushi Express Co. Limited
Yeung George C.
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