Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – With material pressing means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-03
2001-06-12
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
With material pressing means
C099S353000, C099S372000, C099S379000, C099S380000, C099S427000, C099S450100, C425S150000, C425S383000, C425S394000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06244167
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the art of making tortilla shells and, more particularly, to a tortilla forming machine for making a tortilla shell from a ball of dough.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is, of course, well known that a ball of dough can be molded into various shapes and sizes to produce food products. Traditionally, once the desired dough was properly mixed, the dough was rolled to the proper thickness and then cut into the shape needed to produce the food product. However, this method is labor-intensive and costly with respect to retail food products and restaurant services.
Over the years, machines have been utilized to overcome this problem by mechanically forming dough into the desired thickness and shape. In this respect, U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,476 discloses a device for pressing and imprinting bread products. The disclosed device utilizes a mold cavity which is permanently attached to the upper support frame of the device, wherein the upper mold portion is pivotally interengaged with the base mold portion for forming the dough thereagainst. Accordingly, the device disclosed in the '476 patent is utilized for the production of high volumes of bread products in one size. U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,005 discloses a pizza crust forming device. As with the '476 patent, the '005 patent discloses a dough forming device with pivotal engagement; however, the mold cavity of the '005 device is produced by a recess in the lower mold portion. Further, the mold cavity is attached to the lower mold portion which inhibits the ability to change the thickness or peripheral geometry of the finished dough product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,844 discloses a dough pressing machine which utilizes linear motion between the upper and lower forming surfaces. The quantity of dough can be pressed from a dough ball into a desired thickness by controlling the stroke of the upper forming surface; however, the dough formed between the upper and lower planer surfaces will not have a controlled peripheral shape. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,949,660 and 5,074,778 also disclose dough forming machines that utilize linear motion to mold a dough ball into a desired thickness. However, the '660 and '778 patents disclose a mold cavity attached to the upper portion of the mold to control both the thickness and the peripheral shape of the finished dough product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,149 discloses a dough press for making pizza crust which also utilizes linear motion of an upper forming portion with respect to the stationary base portion. However, the '149 patent discloses a device which can be utilized to produce a dough product of more than one thickness and peripheral shape. In this respect, the mold cavity of the '149 patent is produced by the upper surface of a pizza pan and the recessed lower surface of an upper mold when the upper mold is directly adjacent the pizza pan. The mold cavity includes a disk shaped portion for the body of the pizza crust and a larger peripheral gap for the raised edge portion of the pizza crust. Accordingly, two independent components must be in proper alignment to form the dough into a pizza crust. This is accomplished by guide pins on the upper surface of the base portion which engage the outer peripheral edge of the pizza pan thereby aligning the pizza pan with the upper mold. As a result, a change in crust size requires a different pizza pan and adjustment of three guide pins so the pizza pan remains coaxial with the upper mold portion. Further, the upper mold portion must be replaced to correspond with the new pizza pan size.
As will be appreciated from the above, dough forming machines exist in the prior art; however, they are not well adapted to producing dough products of differing thickness and peripheral shape without considerable modification. Further, some machines are designed to be used to produce only one configuration of dough product. In addition, each of the devices in the prior art include a mold cavity on one of its forming surfaces which requires the molded dough to be scooped therefrom after the forming process.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a tortilla forming machine is provided which advantageously allows dough products to be produced having a uniform thickness and peripheral shape. Further, the tortilla forming machine allows changes in the thickness and peripheral shape to be accommodated quickly without requiring extensive modifications to the forming machine. Moreover, the forming machine allows for easy removal of the formed dough from the mold cavity after the forming process.
In this respect, a tortilla forming machine is provided to produce the foregoing advantages by utilizing thin rings to produce the mold cavity. Further, the ring which produces the desired mold cavity can quickly and easily be replaced with a ring of a different size to allow the dough to be made into a dough product of different thicknesses and peripheral shapes. Moreover, the sizing ring is separate from the upper and lower forming surfaces and, therefore, can be separated from the forming machine to facilitate the removal of the dough product.
It is accordingly an outstanding object of the present invention to provide an improved tortilla forming machine for molding tortilla shells of a desired thickness and peripheral shape.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a tortilla forming machine which can quickly form a dough ball into the desired tortilla shell.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tortilla forming machine that allows the tortilla shell to be easily removed from the mold cavity.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a tortilla forming machine that can be quickly and easily modified to produce tortilla shells of a different size.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tortilla forming machine that can produce a number of differently sized tortilla shells.
Yet a further object of the present invention is the provision of a tortilla forming machine of the foregoing character which is economical to manufacture, easy to manipulate with respect to forming the dough ball, and which is effective in repeatedly producing a tortilla shell of the desired thickness and peripheral shape.
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Poquito Mas, Inc.
Simone Timothy F.
Vickers Daniels & Young
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