AU593129B2 - Ice shaver - Google Patents

Description

x:I-< 1 I- I i 593129 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1952 C O M P L E T E S P E.C I -F.I-CA T I 0 N

(ORIGINAL)

,t Application Number Lodged Complete Specification Lodged Accepted Published Priority Related Art 3 September 1986

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i Name of Applicant :CHUBU INDUSTRIES, INC.

Address of Applicant :463, Oaza-Moritada, Kuwana-shi, Mie-ken, Japan Actual Inventor/s :Toshio ANDO Address for Service F.B. RICE CO., Patent Attorneys, 28A Montague Street, Balmain N.S.W. 2041 Complete Specification for the invention entitled: ICE SHAVER The following statement is a full description of this invention inclading the best method of performing it known to us:if -la BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to an ice shaver which slices or shaves cube ice to make shaved ice.

Description of the Prior Art

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S•Conventionally, there has been known an ice shaver *nn 10 of this type as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,055,099 So and the known ice shaver is illustrated for the most **ar part in a prior art example shown in Fig.l 1. Referring r. to Fig.l, struts 2 standing uprightly at four corners of an apparatus bed 1 support at their upper ends a table 3 and an inverted conical shaver casing 4 is mounted to the table 3. In the circumferential surface 0, of the casing 4, a slit 5 is formed to which a shaving blade 6 is exposed. A rotary shaft 7 protrudes from the lower center of the shaver casing 4 and rotary blades 8 rotatable in substantial contact relationship with the inner circumference of the shaver casing 4 are fixed to the rotary shaft 7. Upper ends of the rotary blades 8 are connected together by a connecting ring 9 to which a frusto-conical hopper 10 is mounted. There are also seen a shaved ice discharge chute 11, a motor 12 for driving the rotary shaft 7, and a belt 13 applied between the output shaft of the motor 12 and a pulley secured to the rotary shaft 7. A water-proof cover 14 surrounds the outer circumferential periphery of the hopper 10 and the entire top is covered with a cover 15 to which a lid 16 is openably mounted.

Incidentally, where a great amount of shaved ice must be made at a time so as to be served for many consumers, the conventional ice shaver of the alove construction has difficulties in quickly meeting the demand.

-2 A countermeasure to solve this problem has thus been proposed and known, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-20786. Illustrated in Fig.l is the proposed ice shaver which has a case 18 juxtaposed laterally of the main unit of ice shaver, whereby shaved ice pieces delivered through the chute 11 are stocked in the case 18 and as necessary spooned out of the case 18 for services. This ice shaver can solve the aforementioned problem and supply quickly shaved ice to many consumers but disadvantageously, it requires a horizontally extending large space which is occupied by the case 18. In order to eliminate the necessity of the large horizontal space, the case 18 has to be reduced in size, raising an unsolved problem that a great amount of shaved ice can not be stored in the case 18. Further, the shaved ice becomes thinned during storage, raising another problem that a great amount of shaved ice is fused within a short period of time.

In another ice shaver disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-53253, cube ice made by an icing mechanism provided in the shaver is stored in a reservoir and then transported through a transport pipe from the reservoir to an ice shaving mechanism so as to be shaved thereby. This ice shaver can reduce the degree of fusion of ice as compared to the former proposed ice shaver but the whole size is more increased so that the shaver should be installed stationarily for operation at a given site, raising a problem that movement of the ice shaver is in fact impossible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of this invention is to solve the problems encountered in the prior art ice shavers and provide a compact and easy-to-move ice r-

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-3shaver which can supply a great amount of shaved ice as necessary and can prevent the loss of ice due to its fusion.

Accordingly the present invention comprises an ice shaver comprising: a shaver casing having an upper horizontal annular table, and an inverted conical wall coaxially disposed beneath and mounted to said table, said wall formed with a slit to which a shaving blade, mounted to said shaver 10 casing, is exposed such that the tip of said shaving blade protrudes into said slit; rotary blades fixed to a rotary shaft which passes 4.,e through a lower center hole of said shaver casing to extend upwards beyond the lower center hole said rotary 15 blades disposed within said inverted conical wall and having upper ends to which a hopper is mounted; and a drive member, disposed under said shaver casing, for rotating said rotary shaft, wherein a cube ice reservoir comprising a drum is 20 detachably mounted above said table, said drum having a top end to which an openable lid is detachably mounted and an inner lower funnel-like wall feeding said hopper.

S. In the ice shaver constructed as above, many cube ice blocks are stored in the cube ice reservoir and then 'e 25 rotary blades are driven for shaving ice blocks. During this procedure, some of the cube ice blocks stocked in the reservoir slide on the funnel-like wall surface so as to drop into the shaver casing spontaneously and sequentially and cube ice blocks present within the shaver casing are rotated by means of the rotary blades.

This motion is successively transmitted to some of i' cube ice blocks present within the reservoir to permit P' individual ice blocks not to mate with each other but to move independently. Since the individual cube ice blocks in motion are supported on the funnel-like wall surface, 3a the spontaneous and sequential dropping of the individual ice blocks can be effected very smoothly in accordance with a decrease in the number of ice blocks present within the shaver casing, which decrease is due to shaving of ice blocks and discharge of shaved ice pieces.

In this manner, a great amount of shaved ice can be made at a time and even when a great amount of shaved ice is needed at a time, this demand can be met quickly.

er r re r 4 Further, cube ice stocked in the reservoir takes the form of a block or lump which is relatively large in size and therefore, the loss of the cube ice due to fusion can be lessened considerably. The cube ice reservoir to be placed above the shaver casing does not occupy a large lateral space and movement of the ice shaver can be done without difficulties.

Another object of this invention is to provide an ice shaver by which the user can readily know an approximate quantity of cube ice which has not been shaved yet and remains in the cube ice reservoir.

This object can be accomplished by an embodiment of the invention wherein the drum of the cube ice reservoir is made of a transparent material. Thanks to the transparency of the drum, cube ice stored in the reservoir can always be watched externally through the drum and when the quantity of cube ice present within the reservoir decreases as the ice shaving operation proceeds, fresh cube ice can be supplemented by opening the openable lid.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the aucompanying drawings Figure 1 is a front view, partly exploded, showing a prior art ice shaver and Figure 2 is a front view, partly exploded, showing an ice shaver according to an embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to Fig.2, there is illustrated an ice shaver embodying the invention which is identical to the prior art ice shaver of Fig.l for the most part.

Members identical to those of Fig.l are designated by identical reference numerals and will not be described herein. The following description will principally be given of different members which are not seen in Fig.l.

A cube ice reservoir generally designated by 20 is comprised of a cylindrical drum 21. The drum 21 has an upper opening portion 23 to which an openable lid 24 is detachably mounted, and a funnel-like wall 22 having an opening which opposes the hopper 10 extends from an inner lower portion of the drum 21. The drum 21 of the above construction is detachably mounted on the table 3. The reservoir 20 may be made of any materials but preferably the drum 21 may be transparent and the whole of the reservoir may be made of a synthetic resin.

When making shaved ice with this ice shaver, the lid 24 is dismounted and many cube ice blocks 30 are charged into the reservoir 20. The lid 24 is then t remounted. As in the case of the prior art ice shaver, the motor 12 is operated by turning on a switch, not shown, and cube ice blocks 30 are rotated w'thin the shaver casing 4 by means of the rotary blades 8 so as to be shaved or sliced by the shaving blade 6. Shaved ice made in this way is discharged through the chute 11 23 to the outside of the ice shaver.

Because of many cube ice blocks precedently stocked in the reservoir 20, a great amount of shaved ice can be made at a time. During this procedure, cube ice blocks 30 present within the shaver casing 4 are rotated by the rotary blades 8 on a horizontal plane within to casing 4. This motion is successively transmitted to the overlying stack of cube ice 30, and cube ice blocks 30 present within the reservoir 20 are gradually brought into the motion. Since the ice blocks 30 are supported on the surface of the funnel-like wall 22, individual ice blocks 30 will not mate with each other but will descent one by one toward the center of the funnel-like wall 22 gradually and automatically, eventually smoothly dropping into the shaver casing 4 through the hopper 10 in accordance 6with a decrease in the number of ice blocks present within the shaver casing, which decrease is due to shaving of ice blocks by the shaving blade 6 and discharge of shaved ice pieces. When the number of ice blocks 30 stocked in the reservoir decreases as the shaving proceeds, fresh cube ice can be supplemented properly because the progressive decrease can always be watched externally through the transparent drum 21.

Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed in detail for illustrative purposes, it will be recognized that variations or modifications of the disclosed apparatus, including the rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the present invention.

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