Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – Combined
Patent
1999-01-04
2000-08-01
Simone, Timothy
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
Combined
99470, 99517, 62250, 62251, 62252, A47J 2700, A47J 3700, G07F 910, G07F 1100
Patent
active
060950366
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a hermetic sealing assembly for refrigerators in machines for vending prepackaged foodstuffs such as toasts, small pizzas and the like.
Food vending machines, particularly for warm food such as toasts, sandwiches, small pizzas, buns or the like, are currently widely used.
In these vending machines, the food is preloaded in a deep-frozen state and must be kept in that state.
Accordingly, said vending machines, in addition to having a cooking section, also have one or more refrigeration chambers for storing the food.
During normal use, the food is removed automatically from the refrigeration chambers where it is stored and is transferred for cooking and then distributed to the user.
In particular, the vending machines described herein have a rather significant drawback consisting in the formation of moisture in the refrigeration chamber (or chambers) due to the heat exchange that occurs between the inside of the chamber and the environment outside said chamber.
Moisture formation is particularly damaging, since said moisture can be absorbed by the prepackaged products, severely affecting their organoleptic and culinary characteristics.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The aim of the present invention is to provide a hermetic sealing assembly for refrigerators in machines for vending prepackaged foodstuffs such as toasts, small pizzas or the like, which allows the prepackaged food to pass from the refrigeration chambers to the vending section and/or to the cooking section without significant heat exchanges, consequently eliminating the unwanted condensation effect.
Within the scope of this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a hermetic sealing assembly suitable to also provide vending starting from the refrigeration assembly quickly, effectively and selectively.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sealing assembly which is particularly tough and can optionally be manufactured also in small sizes.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sealing assembly which does not require particular maintenance and can optionally also be applied to food vending machines which are currently in production.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sealing assembly which can optionally be associated with similar assemblies in order to meet the most disparate application requirements.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a hermetic sealing assembly which can be manufactured with conventional technologies and at low costs with respect to conventional sealing assemblies.
This aim, these objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are achieved by a hermetic sealing assembly for refrigerators in machines for vending prepackaged foodstuffs, such as sandwiches, toasts, small pizzas or the like, characterized in that it comprises a sliding plate which is moved in an axial and planar direction by actuation means and is suitable to act as a sealing element for a refrigeration chamber during food storage and as a removable support, during vending, for a stack of metallic containers which contain the prepackaged food to be dispensed, the lowermost container of said stack resting on said plate and being instead able to fall freely by gravity into a collection seat for vending when said plate is removed by axial movement; supporting means for temporarily supporting the containers stacked above the lowermost container being provided and being associated and synchronized with said axial movement.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Further characteristics and advantages of the hermetic sealing assembly according to the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a view of a plurality of identical sealing assemblies according to the invention, applied to a food vending machine;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a detail of one of the
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Josif Albert
Modiano Guido
O"Byrne Daniel
Simone Timothy
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