Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – Means making particulate material directly from liquid or... – By slinger or rotating liquid comminutor
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-02
2003-09-02
Davis, Robert (Department: 1722)
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
Means making particulate material directly from liquid or...
By slinger or rotating liquid comminutor
C264S008000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06612823
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cotton candy making machine for making a light and very sweet candy of threaded sugar generally named as cotton candy, spun candy, or candy floss.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, machines for making cotton candies have been generally known in the world. In addition, there are various types of cotton candy making machines on the market, such as a hand-operating type cotton candy making machine to be used at a temporary store at a festival and an automatically-operated cotton candy vending machine to be provided as a permanent machine at a store. The conventional automatic cotton candy vending machine (hereinafter, also simply referred to as a cotton candy making machine), for example, comprises a means for supplying granular sugar as a raw material, a rotary pot that ejects floss-like threaded sugar therefrom by heating the predetermined amount of the raw material supplied from the sugar-supplying means, and a means for positioning a floss taking-up stick (hereinafter, also simply referred to as a stick) on which floss-like threaded sugar is wound. In general, the rotary pot is coaxially placed on the inside of the basin and their openings are directed upward, so that they are supported and rotated by any devices provided below their backs. In this case, the raw material (i.e., granular sugar) is supplied into the inside of the rotary pot through a chute from above.
In such a configuration of the conventional machine, however, there is a problem that much expense in time and effort is required for maintenance. During a rotary motion of the rotary pot, a part of the raw material melted by heat flies out of the rotary pot and the inner surface of the basin is spoiled by the adhesion of such a material.
Several solutions to this problem have been proposed. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 6-343394 (1991), one such solution is to provide a cotton candy making machine in which a rotary pot is suspended from overhead for supplying a raw material into a rotary pot through a hanging device to prevent the fly-off of the raw material.
FIG. 27
is a schematic diagram for illustrating a general configuration of the cotton candy making machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 6-343394 (1991). In the figure, the reference numeral
151
denotes a rotary pot with an internal heater,
152
denotes a support tube that supports and allows a rotary motion of the rotary pot
151
,
153
denotes a driving motor for rotating the rotary pot
151
together with the support tube
152
,
154
denotes a sugar storage tank that stores a raw material (i.e., granular sugar) to be fed to the rotary pot
151
, and
155
denotes a chute that is provided as a feed channel between the sugar storage tank
154
and the support tube
152
,
156
denotes a basin that surrounds the rotary pot
151
,
160
denotes a container for reserving and supplying sticks
161
to be used for taking up floss-like threaded sugar to be provided as a cotton candy,
162
denotes a holder having a chuck
163
for holding a floss taking-up stick
161
, and
170
denotes a bag container that reserves bags
171
for packaging the resulting cotton candy.
Now, we will describe the working of the conventional cotton candy making machine constructed as above in detail.
At first, the cotton candy making machine is brought into operation when a control unit (not shown) receives an operator's instruction through a switch panel or the like (not shown). That is, the instruction permits the commencement of the process for making cotton candy. Then, the control means allows that a predetermined amount of sugar is supplied to the rotary pot
151
from the sugar storage tank
154
through the chute
155
and the support tube
152
. The granular sugar is heated by the internal heater (not shown) in the rotary pot
151
to release floss-like threaded sugar from a plurality of pores formed on the peripheral surface of the rotary pot
151
. On the other hand, the basin
156
and the rotary pot
151
are concentrically positioned and constructed so that they rotate together.
Then, one of the sticks is forced out of the stick storage tank
160
by a supplying device (not shown) and held by the chuck
163
provided on the lower end of the stick holder
162
. The chuck
163
is able to turn 90° from the rightward direction to the downward direction. The stick holder
162
is able to shift its position in the vertical and horizontal directions.
A moving device
164
moves the stick
161
from the stick storage tank
160
to a predetermined position where the stick
161
is rotated by a rotary motion of the stick holder
160
for winding the floss-like threaded sugar onto the stick
161
.
If a cotton candy is formed by taking up the predetermined amount of floss-like threaded sugar on the stick
161
, the stick
161
is further moved downward. On that occasion, a bag is pulled out of the bag storage tank
170
on a one-by-one basis for packing the cotton candy in the bag.
As the cotton candy making machine disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 6-343394 (1994) is constructed as described above, it is possible to prevent the undesired release of sugar from the rotary pot to the outside when the granular sugar is supplied into the rotary pot
151
.
In spite of such an advantage, the conventional cotton candy making machine described above has the following problems to be solved.
First, there is the problem in a maintainability of the cotton candy making machine. That is, floss-like threaded sugar released from the rotary pot may adhere on the internal wall of the basin or the like when it is not wound onto the stick. Therefore, the cleaning of the internal wall of the basin or the like takes a great deal of time after running the cotton candy making machine each time.
Second, there is the problem in the shape of a resulting cotton candy. In the conventional cotton candy making machine, as shown in
FIG. 28
, floss-like threaded sugar is released from the rotary pot
151
and concurrently a blast of hot air (indicated by the arrow C in the figure) blows in the direction of the radius of the rotary pot
151
. In this case, however, the stick
161
is placed in parallel to a peripheral surface (or a rotation axis) of the rotary pot
151
, so that the shape of the growing cotton candy twirling round the stick may be affected by the blowing hot air. In other words, there are two different portions on the cotton candy
100
. That is, one portion of the cotton candy
100
is deformed by receiving a current of the blowing hot air C and the other portion is freed from the flow of hot air C. As a consequence, the blast of hot air C makes an irregularly shaped surface of the cotton candy
100
.
Third, there is the problem in the safety of a resulting cotton candy product, especially the safety of a floss taking-up stick. Conventionally, the floss-taking up stick is provided as a hard stick made of wood or plastic material. In Japan, there was an accident that took the life of a little boy by such a wooden stick. The stick reached to his brain stem when he fell down on the ground. Therefore, there is a need to improve a material or a structure of the stick for providing a cotton candy product with complete safety.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is implemented to solve the foregoing problems. It is therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a cotton candy making machine that allows the production of a cotton candy in a preferable shape.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cotton candy making machine that can be easily kept in proper condition. Especially, a basin of the cotton candy making machine can be kept from being spoiled.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cotton candy making machine that allows a cotton candy product to be eaten with complete safety.
Here, a cotton candy making machine of the present invention, comp
Bandou Tadanori
Handa Koichiro
Davis Robert
Del Sole Joseph S.
Handa Kikaikigu Co., Ltd.
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