Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – Boiler or deep fat fryer type
Patent
1996-05-20
1997-05-20
Simone, Timothy F.
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
Boiler or deep fat fryer type
99330, 99352, 99403, 99410, A23L 100, A47J 1900, A47J 2700, G01F 1100
Patent
active
056303599
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The invention relates to an apparatus for the discontinuous preparation of portioned pasta products, in particular spaghetti, with a supply container to receive the raw products, a cooking chamber and a draining chamber, Wherein the cooking and draining chambers can each be closed by valves in their inlet and outlet regions, and in addition an apparatus for portioning a predetermined amount of long-stemmed pasta products, in particular spaghetti, and transferring them into the cooking chamber of the former apparatus.
Apparatus for the discontinuous preparation of portioned pasta products have been designed in many different ways. Their purpose is to prepare a portioned amount of raw pasta product in the shortest possible time, and therefore they are employed in food-dispensing automats. One such known apparatus is disclosed in WO 90/04345. There the raw products situated above a cooking chamber are delivered in portions into the cooking chamber, the chamber is closed, and the pasta products are cooked at a preset temperature and corresponding pressure for a relatively short time. The cooked pasta products then leave the chamber along with the cooking water and pass into a connected draining chamber where the water is removed. Finally they are transferred to a suitable receptacle, for example a plate.
The cooking chamber is closed by two ball valves, one in the inlet region and the other in the outlet region, an arrangement that both allows filling and emptying of the cooking chamber and also, during the cooking process, guarantees that the cooking chamber is securely sealed. However, because ball valves operate with relatively high friction, they are extremely sluggish and a degree of force is needed to actuate them, so that as a rule pneumatic actuators are employed. Another disadvantage of ball valves is that they are relatively tall components, so that they increase the overall height of the above-mentioned apparatus. Finally, the use of a ball valve in the outlet region of the cooking chamber is not optimal because the pasta products--now cooked and hence delicate--can be damaged when passing through the valve.
It is therefore the object of the invention to design and develop an apparatus for discontinuous preparation of portioned pasta products of the kind cited above in such a way that the above-mentioned disadvantages are avoided and, in particular, the overall height of the whole apparatus, determined substantially by the vertically stacked elements supply container, cooking chamber and draining chamber, is kept as small as possible. Furthermore, it is desired that the cooked products be passed on to the consumer in as nearly undamaged a state as possible. Finally, the apparatus is to be made simple in construction so as to ensure that after a cooking process no remnants of pasta are left within the chambers.
This object is achieved in a first embodiment of the invention by constructing the valves in the inlet region of the cooking chamber and in the outlet region of the draining chamber in the form of shut-off flaps that slide transversely with respect to the input and output directions in a linear motion, while spaced apart from the associated chamber wall in which the opening is disposed, and by moving the shut-off flaps into the closed position at the end of the linear motion by means of a lever mechanism that presses the flap against the opening of the associated chamber in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the opening. In respect of the apparatus for portioning a predetermined amount of long-stemmed pasta product, the problem is solved in accordance with the invention in that the products are stored horizontally in at least one funnel-shaped container, that a dosing plate of adjustable height is provided at the bottom of each funnel-shaped container, that the stored products are divided into portions by separating out a desired amount thereof with a separation plate disposed above each dosing plate, and that a delivery vessel that can b
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Alitecnica S.A.
Simone Timothy F.
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