Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – With apparatus assembly or dismantling means or with idle part
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-06
2004-08-03
Davis, Robert (Department: 1722)
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
With apparatus assembly or dismantling means or with idle part
C425S318000, C425S394000, C425S412000, C099S349000, C426S496000, C426S512000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06769898
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not Applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
REFERENCE TO A SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISK APPENDIX
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to restaurant equipment, more particularly, to manual presses for producing flat sheets of dough.
2. Description of the Related Art
The purpose of a dough press is to flatten a quantity of dough to produce, for example, a pizza crust. A typical manual dough press has two horizontal platens with opposing working surfaces. Normally, the surfaces are flat, except when special shapes are desired, for example, to create a raised crust on a pizza. The lower platen is fixed vertically, but has designed to swing out from the press so that dough can be removed from or placed on the working surface. The upper platen is attached to a mechanism that moves the upper platen vertically, while remaining aligned and parallel with the lower platen. The mechanism is manually operated by a handle that extends from the front of the press. Raising and lowering the handle respectively raises and lowers the platen. In use, the lower platen is pivoted out from the press, a quantity of unformed dough is placed on the lower platen, and the lower platen is returned to its operative position. The operator lowers the handle, putting enough pressure on the handle to flatten the dough to the desired thickness. Optionally, the dough press may contain a stop whereby the upper platen's range of travel is limited. After the dough is pressed to the desired thickness, the handle is raised, the lower platen is swung out from the press and the now-flattened dough is removed.
FIG. 2
illustrates two aspects of the platen-lowering mechanism of manual dough presses of the prior art. The upper platen
200
is attached to a shaft
202
that reciprocates within a cylinder
204
so that the platens remain aligned and parallel during operation. The shaft is driven manually by a rack and pinion, where the rack
206
is mounted vertically to the shaft
202
. The rack
206
travels vertically through a slot
208
in the cylinder wall. The pinion
210
is attached to an axle
214
that is a portion of the handle
212
. As the handle
212
is moved up or down, the pinion
210
rotates, causing the shaft
202
to reciprocate within the cylinder
204
. In order to retain the upper platen in the position desired by the operator, a counterbalance mechanism is employed. A collar
216
is tightened around the axle portion
214
of the handle
212
to which the pinion
210
is attached. This has the effect of providing enough friction to overcome the weight of the platen
200
and shaft
202
to hold the platen
200
in the vertical position desired by the operator.
There are several shortcomings to this design. The shaft/cylinder combination must be lubricated on a regular basis in order work smoothly and not bind. With the shaft
202
attached directly to the upper platen
200
, lubricant slides or is pushed down the shaft
202
and can end up on the platen
200
. Because the working surface of the platen
200
is in contact with the dough being pressed, great care must be taken to make sure that the lubricant does not find its way to the dough press surface of the platen
200
, otherwise the surface may become contaminated and, in turn, contaminate the dough.
Another shortcoming to the shaft/cylinder design is that the orientation of the upper platen
200
cannot be adjusted. In order to produce uniform and consist products, the platens must be parallel, otherwise one side of the resultant dough sheet will be thicker than the other. Because the lower platen is designed to be swung out from the machine, its main support is at the rim rather than in the center. Consequently, if too much or repeated pressure is put on the lower platen, it can eventually bend so that it is no longer parallel to the upper platen. And because the cylinder through which the shaft reciprocates is integral with the housing, the position and orientation of the shaft and upper platen cannot be adjusted to compensate for the now-tilted lower platen, rendering the machine useless.
Regarding the counterbalance mechanism, when raising the platen, the operator must overcome, not only the not insignificant weight of the platen, but the friction of the collar. In addition, the collar must be regularly adjusted as it or the axle wears. Eventually, the collar or handle must be replaced as one or the other wears out. Care must also be taken that lubricant does not contaminate the collar, and thereby reduce its effectiveness.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a manual dough press that requires less maintenance and cleaning than dough presses of the prior art in order to keep the food preparation surfaces from becoming contaminated.
Another object is to provide a manual dough press that is adjustable in order to compensate for deformations in the position and orientation of the lower platen.
A further object is to provide a manual dough press that provides a counterbalance mechanism the requires less maintenance and simpler adjustment than dough presses of the prior art.
A further object is to provide a manual dough press in which the upper platen requires much less effort to move up and down than dough presses of the prior art.
Briefly, the present invention is a dough press designed for manual operation that includes a frame with a base and housing, an upper platen with a working surface, a lower platen attached to the base and having a working surface opposed to, substantially parallel to, and spaced from the upper platen working surface, a shaft to which the upper platen is attached extending from the housing through an opening and mounted for reciprocating motion through the opening, a fixed interlocking component within and secured to the housing, a reciprocating interlocking component secured to the shaft within the housing, the reciprocating interlocking component being complementary to the fixed interlocking component and arranged for reciprocating movement within the fixed interlocking component, and a drive mechanism including a handle external to the housing for an operator to control the operation of the reciprocating movement of the shaft and the reciprocating interlocking component and the position of the upper platen relative to the lower platen.
The base and upper housing support the lower and upper platens, respectively, horizontally and in parallel and vertical alignment with each other. The base includes one or two cylindrical cavities in the front corners for accepting a cylindrical projection attached to the lower platen at its rim. The projection rotates within the cavity so that the lower platen can swing away from the base to expose the working surface.
The upper housing houses the mechanism by which the upper platen is lowered and raised. The upper platen is attached to the bottom of a shaft that reciprocates through a hole in the bottom of the upper housing. A interlocking component on the shaft reciprocates vertically within a complementary interlocking fixed in the housing. The profile of the interlocking components are such that they cannot move relative to each other except to reciprocate as described. The preferred profile is a dovetail, but other profiles providing the same function are contemplated. The interlocking component on the shaft is secured to the shaft by threaded studs extending from the interlocking component through elongated slots. The slots are oversized enough relative to the diameter of the threaded studs that the horizontal position and diagonal orientation can be adjusted to compensate for variations in the position and orientation of the lower platen.
A rack and pinion design drives the shaft vertically. The rack is mounted to the side of the shaft interlocking component and the pinion is rigidly fixed to an axle that is part of a handle that the
Athanasiadis George
Voyatzakis Andrew D
Altman & Martin
Davis Robert
Nguyen Thu Khanh T.
Somerset Industries, Inc.
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