Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – With stirring
Reexamination Certificate
2003-12-05
2004-09-21
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
With stirring
C099S281000, C099S285000, C099S286000, C099S288000, C099S337000, C099S453000, C099S456000, C099S483000, C099S510000, C366S204000, C366S146000, C366S249000, C366S251000, C366S331000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06792849
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a household soybean milk maker and, more particularly, to a household soybean milk maker wherein, in place of a conventional heater, a steam generator is employed to generate steam and supply the steam through guide tubes to soybean juice so that the soybean juice is heated without altering quality, which is otherwise caused in the conventional art due to the soybean liquid being in contact with the heater.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a traditional method, soybean milk and tofu are produced as described below.
First, after soybeans are cleanly washed, they are soaked in water for several hours. Then, the soaked soybeans are crushed using a pair of millstones or a mixer, and the crushed soybeans are divided into soybean juice and residue using a fine cloth or a sieve.
Thereupon, the soybean juice is received and boiled in a container such as a caldron. At this time, since bubbles are produced to overflow out of the container, it is necessary to boil the soybean juice while carefully adjusting the fire to prevent an overflow of the bubbles. After sufficiently boiling the soybean juice, by putting into the boiled soybean juice additives such as sugar, salt and the like, drinkable soybean milk is made.
When it is necessary to produce tofu, the hot soybean milk is added with a coagulant such as calcium sulphate and the like, and then stirred. Thereafter, with the lapse of several minutes, coagulation of the soybean milk proceeds, and thereby silken tofu so called a softer bean curd is prepared. By transferring the silken tofu into a draining container and pressing the silken tofu from the upper side to drain a part of the water content, tofu, that is, pressed tofu is finally made.
However, the above-described traditional method for producing soybean milk and tofu suffers from defects in that, since individual processes are separately implemented, inconvenience is caused and an entire procedure is complicated and requires a great deal of time and energy, whereby inefficiency results in. Particularly, the process for soaking soybeans into water takes a lengthy period, and it is difficult to appropriately adjust an amount of soybeans to be soaked each time. Moreover, in the traditional method, a protein content conservation factor is relatively low, and sanitary aspects of the production procedure were questionable.
In consideration of these problems, in order to ensure that soybean milk, silken tofu, and pressed tofu can be simply and conveniently made at home, the present applicant have disclosed “Household tofu making apparatus” on Korean Patent Publication No. 1999-225772 dated Oct. 15, 1999, “Household tofu making apparatus” on Korean Patent Publication No. 2000-228659 dated Mar. 15, 2000, “Household tofu maker” on Korean Utility Model Registration No. 158856 dated Jul. 16, 1999, and “Household tofu making apparatus having securely fastened blade part” on Korean Utility Model Registration No. 250843 dated Oct. 5, 2001.
Hereafter, a construction of a conventional household soybean milk maker will be described with reference to the attached drawing.
FIG. 1
is a cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional household soybean milk maker. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the conventional household soybean milk maker comprises a main body
11
which defines a space for receiving water, a cover element
12
which is openably installed on an upper end of the main body
11
, a drive motor
13
which is disposed in the cover element
12
to generate rotating force upon power application thereto, a drive shaft
14
for outputting rotating force of the drive motor
13
, a blade
15
which is connected to a distal end of the drive shaft
14
, a heater
16
which downwardly extends from the cover element
12
to radiate thermal energy upon power application thereto and thereby heat the inside of the main body
11
, a temperature sensor
17
for detecting a temperature of the inside of the main body
11
, and a sieve-like container
18
which accommodates soybeans therein and is detachably attached to the cover element
12
.
Operations of the conventional household soybean milk maker constructed as mentioned above will be described below.
After a user places soybeans in the sieve-like container
18
, the sieve-like container
18
is attached to a lower end of the cover element
12
. With water filled in the inside space of the main body
11
, the cover element
12
is assembled to the upper end of the main body
11
so that the sieve-like container
18
is inserted into the inside space of the main body
11
.
Next, as the user turns on a power switch (not shown) and thereby power is supplied, a control section (not shown) actuates the heater
16
and the temperature sensor
17
, so that the soybeans are heated to a first predetermined temperature. Then, as the drive motor
13
is operated, the blade
15
which is connected to the distal end of the drive shaft
14
breaks the soybeans accommodated in the sieve-like container
18
.
While the blade
15
breaks the soybeans, vortex flow is induced in the water received in the main body
11
by the rotating motion of the blade
15
. Due to this vortex flow, fine soybean particles which reside in the sieve-like container
18
are moved out of the sieve-like container
18
. Therefore, the soybeans broken by the blade
15
are divided into soybean juice which resides out of the sieve-like container
18
and residue which resides in the sieve-like container
18
.
Thereafter, the control section actuates again the heater
16
and the temperature sensor
17
to heat the soybean juice to a second predetermined temperature, by which soybean milk is prepared.
When it is necessary to produce tofu, the user takes out the hot soybean milk from the main body
11
. Then, the hot soybean milk is added with a coagulant and then stirred, so that the soybean milk is coagulated. Thereupon, by transferring the resultant silken tofu into a draining container and pressing the silken tofu to drain a part of the water content, tofu, that is, pressed tofu is finally made.
Nevertheless, the conventional household soybean milk maker is not free from shortcomings in that, since the heater is employed to heat soybean juice, the soybean juice is likely to be overly heated to be changed in its quality.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a household soybean milk maker wherein, in place of a conventional heater, a steam generator is employed to generate steam and supply the steam through guide tubes to soybean juice so that the soybean juice is heated without altering quality, which is otherwise caused in the conventional art due to the soybean liquid being in contact with the heater.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a household soybean milk maker including a main body which defines a space for receiving water, a cover element which is openably installed on an upper end of the main body, a drive motor which is disposed in the cover element to generate rotating force upon power application thereto, a drive shaft for outputting rotating force of the drive motor, a blade which is connected to a distal end of the drive shaft, a temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of the inside of the main body, and a sieve-like container which accommodates soybeans therein and is detachably attached to the cover element, wherein a water vessel is coupled to a lower end of the main body, a steam generator is arranged in the water vessel to generate steam upon power application thereto, and guide tubes are formed in the main body so that steam generated by the steam generator can be supplied through the guide tubes to soybean juice which is produced when the blade breaks the soybeans.
REFERENCES:
patent: 360485 (1887-04-01), Smith
patent: 4059016 (1977-11-01), Kitzinger et al.
paten
Shlesinger & Arkwright & Garvey LLP
Simone Timothy F.
LandOfFree
Household soybean milk maker does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Household soybean milk maker, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Household soybean milk maker will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3272133