Foods and beverages: apparatus – Means to treat food – By isolating a fluid constituent
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-21
2001-05-22
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Means to treat food
By isolating a fluid constituent
C099S501000, C099S507000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234071
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
For their satisfying refreshment quality, fruit juices are widely consumed products with a constantly growing demand, natural juices standing out in this sense, and particularly those of squeezable fruits, such as orange, lemon, grapefruit, etc., due to the vitamin-rich properties they offer.
Now, owing to the rapid deterioration to which some of the qualities of said juices are subject, it is advisable to prepare them just at the time they are going to be consumed, in order to take effective advantage of all their properties.
To carry out squeezing directed at the preparation of juices, a variety of hand tools or electrically operated hand-held tools has been developed, the greatest progress having been made with automatic machines for obtaining juices by simple activation on demand, without the need for an operator's intervention for preparation.
The machines developed for that purpose present, however, certain defects and problems, related to an excessive functional complexity, as reflected in costs and breakdowns, and even in product quality, with the additional disadvantage in some cases of mishandling of the fruits, which causes some of the qualities, like taste, color, etc., to be affected.
In general, said machines further require manual cleaning, since either they do not provide for automatic cleaning or such cleaning is defective or inadequate, so that, given the fuss and bother and tediousness involved in cleaning on each use, thorough cleaning is only occasionally carried out, the machines meanwhile working with residues accumulated in them, which obviously adversely affects the quality of the product prepared.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Considering all those disadvantages and the advisability of eliminating them, the present invention proposes a new automatic machine for dispensing squeezed fruit juices, which has been developed with structural and functional characteristics that make them operatively highly advantageous, compared to the machines and appliances previously existing for that function.
This machine, object of the invention, consists basically of a set of mechanisms that are included in a refrigerated space inside an enclosure or frame, comprising an automatic cleaning system, formed by a pressurized water circuit that empties into projection injectors located in each and every one of the functional parts of product treatment.
The functional assembly includes a feed system formed by a loading hopper and a fruit unit proportioning separator, a squeezing system, formed by a fruit slicer and a juice extractor, a residue elimination system, formed by a crusher and an expulsion outlet with hydropneumatic system, and the integrated cleaning system, everything being controlled by a programmable electronic device.
A simple structural and functional assembly is thereby obtained, capable of developing by itself the whole process of preparation and dispensing of juices from a majority load of fruits in the supply hopper, eliminating the resulting residues of each operation and with the accomplishment each time of total cleaning of all parts in contact with the product, residues from other previous processes that might in any way affect the juice in process being completed avoided.
Since the functional assembly is included in a refrigerated space inside a closed frame, the juices that the machine dispenses directly turn out to be cold, furthermore, in optimal condition for consumption, without the need to have to adjust their temperature with ice or other means of cooling and, in any case, without having to add preservatives to the product, since it is directly dispensed for consumption after preparation.
The integrated machine unit, with the said functional assembly enclosed within a frame, makes possible, on the other hand, a connection to a water supply system and to a drain pipe, and also an independent operating arrangement, including within the frame enclosure a water tank and a residue collection container, which affords the possibility of installation of the machine anywhere, even as a self-service machine, without the need for fittings for said purpose.
Therefore, this machine, object of the invention, is a result certainly of some highly advantageous features, which give it a life of its own and a character preferable to that of the devices hitherto used for the same function of preparing juices from squeezable fruits.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4896591 (1990-01-01), Bertrand
patent: 4905586 (1990-03-01), Anderson et al.
patent: 4917007 (1990-04-01), Nelson
patent: 4922814 (1990-05-01), Anderson et al.
patent: 5249516 (1993-10-01), Pastor
patent: 5339729 (1994-08-01), Anderson
patent: 5671663 (1997-09-01), Alvarez Fernandez
Bierman, Muserlian and Lucas
Simone Timothy F.
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