Article dispensing – With article treatment – With cooling or heating
Patent
1996-01-22
1998-05-19
Noland, Kenneth
Article dispensing
With article treatment
With cooling or heating
221 70, A24F 2714
Patent
active
057526230
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a dispensing machine for dispensing items of hot food, comprising a freezer compartment for storing the items to be dispensed, a heating compartment, a dispensing location and a transport mechanism for conveying items from the freezer compartment, via the heating compartment, to the dispensing location, the transport mechanism comprising a flexible transport web to which the items to be dispensed are secured and driving means for advancing the web from the freezer compartment to the dispensing location.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
A dispensing machine as described above is known from GB-A-996,039. In this machine, an oven that is open from above and below is located inside the freezer compartment. The transport mechanism includes a wheel with a polygonal circumference positioned next to the top of the oven and allows an item that is to be dispensed to drop under its own weight into the oven when the wheel is rotated. After the item has been heated, it is severed from the transport web and allowed to fall under its own weight into the dispensing location.
In the above machine, it is essential that the polygonal wheel be dimensioned such that its sides are of the same length as the distance between food items on the transport web. Consequently, the machine cannot readily accommodate food items of different size. A more serious disadvantage is that the web can only be indexed by a distance equal in length to one side of the polygonal wheel as a result of which the heating compartment is obliged to be very near, or within, the freezer compartment, which is undesirable.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The present invention therefore seeks to provide a hot food dispensing machine in which the transport mechanism can permit a wide separation on the web of the individual food items so that the freezer compartment and heating compartment can be distant from one another.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided a dispensing machine for dispensing items of hot food, comprising a freezer compartment for storing the items to be dispensed, a heating compartment, a dispensing location and a transport mechanism for conveying items from the freezer compartment, via the heating compartment, to the dispensing location, the transport mechanism comprising a flexible transport web to which the items to be dispensed are secured and driving means for advancing the web from the freezer compartment to the dispensing location, characterised in that the web carries code markings indicating the positions of the food items on the web and in that a code reader is provided to read the code markings, the driving means for advancing the web being operated in dependence upon the output of the code reader.
The heating compartment in GB-A-996,039 is located within the freezer compartment. This is unavoidable in the latter patent because the indexing movement of the web is very short and the items must remain frozen until such time as they are to be dispensed.
In the present invention, by contrast, any length of web can be used between items and the web is simply advanced first until such time as the item is located in the heating compartment, then until such time as the item is separated from the web and dispensed.
In GB-A-996,039, the items are permanently secured to the web and are dispensed by cutting off a length of web with the food item secured to it. This requires the dispensing location also to be located near the heating compartment.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the food items are releasably secured to the web, being for example lightly glued or stapled to the items. In this way pulling of the web away from the surface of the items can be used to separate the items from the web at the dispensing location allowing the web to be wound onto a take-up reel while the items slide under their own weight to the dispensing location. The dispensing location can therefore be positioned at will within the machine.
It is advantageous
REFERENCES:
patent: 3224361 (1965-12-01), Ojelid
patent: 3340789 (1967-09-01), Simjian
patent: 3817422 (1974-06-01), Raitt
patent: 3984030 (1976-10-01), Morini
patent: 4146150 (1979-03-01), Low et al.
patent: 4519523 (1985-05-01), McElwee
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