AU638590B2

AU638590B2 - Apparatus for moulding a composite food item

Info

Publication number: AU638590B2
Application number: AU81100/91A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Remo Dellagiacoma; Luigi Incampo; Umberto Saba
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-08-21
Filing date: 1991-07-17
Publication date: 1993-07-01
Anticipated expiration: 2011-07-17
Also published as: AU8110091A

Description

1 638590 P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: APPARATUS FOR MOULDING A COMPOSITE FOOD ITEM e S The following statement is a full description of this invention, S including the best method of performing it known to the Applicant:- *0 This invention relates to composite food items of the kind comprising a thick outer shell of one foodstuff and an enclosed filling of a different foodstuff. Typical of such items is the traditional Italian speciality known as an "arancina", or arancine in the plural, comprising 5 an outer shell of compressed pre-cooked rice and a savoury filling of variable composition, and the invention is described primarily with reference thereto hereinafter. However it will become apparent that the invention is applicable to physically similar foodstuffs of other compositions.

Hitherto arancine have been formed by hand. Thus, the cook has compressed and shaped a lump of cooled, cooked rice with his hands, hollowed out the shaped lump with his fingers, filled the hollow interior with the filling material, and remoulded the filled shell to close it about the filling and, usually, render it more or less egg shaped.

That prior process outlined has been a tedious and timeconsuming chore, owing to the painstaking care needed to produce arancine of good appearance and uniform size and weight. Indeed close uniformity is not practicable, rendering traditionally formed arancine unsuitable for sale as a commercial product.

An object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for the forming of arancine and similar composite food items which reduces the

QOC

10 time and effort needed hitherto. Another object is to provide means for i producing standardised arancine of substantially uniform size and weight, suitable for sale for subsequent home cooking or for use as a fast food take-away item.

The invention consists in apparatus for moulding a composite food item comprising a female mould adapted to hold a charge of shell material, a forming die comprising a male core piece adapted to enter the said mould and penetrate any such charge of shell material therein, to form a recess in the material able to receive a quantity of filling material, and a vented compactor head adapted to substantially close 20 the mouth of said mould to compress the shell material and define an *0 end surface of the compressed shell material encircling the recess teats.

therein, and a vented capping die adapted to enter the mouth of said mould after removal of the forming die to re-form part of the shell material so as to close said recess and encapsulate any filling material therein.

3 In power driven or automated embodiments of the invention the mould may be detachably located on a base structure and the dies carried by an indexing press mechanism also mounted on said structure, whereby each die may be brought into register with the mould and then moved in a guided manner into its operative position in or on the mould.

By way of example, two manually operable embodiments of the above-described invention are described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a quarter-sectioned side elevation of a mould, being a 10 component of an exemplary apparatus according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a quarter-sectioned side elevation of a forming die, being a further component of the said exemplary apparatus.

Figure 3 is a quarter-sectioned side elevation of a capping die, being a further component of the said exemplary apparatus.

15 Figure 4 is a sectional view of the mould of figure 1, drawn to a larger scale, with the forming die of figure 2 in place thereon at the end of the formation of an empty shell of an arancina.

9*O 15 Figure 5 is a view similar to figure 4, but showing the mould of figure 1 and the capping die of figure 3 at the end of the formation of the arancina.

arancina.

4 Figure 6 is a side elevation of a bench top apparatus according to the invention incorporating a mould and dies having functional moulding parts conforming with those of the embodiment of figures 1 to The embodiment of the invention illustrated by figures 1 to comprises a cup shaped mould 5, a forming die 6 and a capping die 7.

As may best be seen from figure 1 the forming die 6 comprises a compactor head 8, a core piece 9, which is co-axial with the head 8 and projects downwardly therefrom, a peripheral stop flange 10 projecting radially from the top of the head 8 and a handle knob 11, which is also 10 co-axial with the head 8 but projects upwardly therefrom. The compactor head 8 is in the form of a piston with a substantially flat bottom surface adapted to enter the upper part of the cavity defined by a 6 the mould 5. It has four equally-spaced vent passages 12 around its a •circumference.

The core piece 9 is shaped to conform with the size and shape of a recess suitable for retaining the filling material of an arancina. That is S to say it tapers downwardly like the tip of an egg, and has a length and breadth to suit the volume of filling to be enclosed within the rice, or other foodstuff of the shell. Also, it conforms to the shape of the cavity in the mould 5 so that the shell has a substantially constant wall Sthickness throughout.

The mould 5 is a cup-like body with the inner side of its rim bevelled at 13 to facilitate the entry of the compactor head 8 during manual operation. The mould 5 has two diametrically opposite outlets 14 located at a predetermined position from its rim through which surplus rice or other shell material may be expressed under pressure from the compactor head 8. The upper part of the mould cavity below the bevelled section of the rim which accepts the compactor head 8 is a parallel sided cylinder, whilst the lower part is ovoid to suit the traditional egg shape of an arancina. A vent hole 15 is provided at the bottom of the mould cavity to facilitate removal of the finished product.

The capping die 7 comprises a body 16 also in the form of a piston adapted to enter the mouth of the mould 5 but having a concave bottom surface, for example, a surface which is generally part spherical but for a flat top 17 (see figure The die body 16 is vented by, for example, two vent passages 18. The capping die 7 is provided with a 6*000 0.0 handle knob 19 and stop flange 20 corresponding in construction and function to those components of the forming die 6.

S

il Oi The operation of the apparatus may now be described with 0 particular reference to figures 4 and A charge of pre-cooked rice or other shell material 21 may be placed in the cavity of mould The forming die is then partly inserted into the mould to form a recess in the charge and then compress same while expressing surplus material 22 from the mould by way of outlets 14. The stop flange S" determines the extent to which the forming die may enter the mould and S...i thus the dimensions of the formed shell. The forming die 6 may then be retracted from the mould, with air entering the cavity to enable that retraction by way of vents 12.

The filling material 23 may then be placed within the partly formed shell, and the capping die 7 advanced into the mould cavity to finish 6 shaping the shell and to encapsulate the filling, as seen in figure 5. The capping die may then be retracted, and again the retraction is facilitated because of the vents 18.

It should be noted that the stopping point of the under side of the head 8 is always above the outlets 14. The lower rim of the capping die 7, on the other hand, will always stop below those outlets so as to cut them off and prevent the escape of shell material under pressure through them. However, if necessary, shell material may be expressed through the capping die's small vents 18 to adjust for small excesses of filling, and also attain a proper final compression.

4040 The mould 5 may then be inverted to turn out the arancina, which may stand stably by virtue of the flat base produced by the flat 17 on the S" capping die's bottom surface.

The arancina may then be finish cooked, for example by a brief, 15 deep fry in hot oil.

,ool• o The embodiment illustrated by figure 6 comprises a bracket 24 able to be secured to the edge of a table or bench top 25 by a clamping screw 26, a lever arm 27 fulcrummed to the bracket 24 by a fulcrum pin 28, a mould 29, a forming die 30 and a capping die 31. The s 20 mould 29 may be the same as mould 5 and the only difference between 000404 the dies 6 and 7 and dies 30 and 31 may be the replacement of the handle knobs of the former by clevis plates 32 whereby the dies and 31 may be freely suspended from the handle lever 27 by means of clevis pins 33.

For preference there is sufficient friction at the fulcrum for the lever 27 to remain in the elevated position shown in broken outline in figure 6, notwithstanding the weight of the two dies hanging from it, while leaving it readily movable by hand. If desired the fulcrum pin 28 may be a bolt furnished with a wing nut and washer to enable the frictional restraint to be adjusted.

It will be apparent that the mould 29 may be manipulated and the dies 30 and 31 raised and lowered to mould arancine in the same way as described above in respect of the first mentioned embodiment.

0 6 0 *b 4CP

Claims

1. Apparatus for moulding a composite food item comprising a female mould adapted to hold a charge of shell material, a forming die comprising a male core piece adapted to enter the said mould and penetrate any such charge of shell material therein to form a recess in the material able to receive a quantity of filling material, and a vented compactor head adapted to substantially close the mouth of said mould to compress the shell material and define an end surface of the compressed shell material encircling the recess therein, and a vented 10 capping die adapted to enter the mouth of said mould after removal of 4**6 the forming die to re-form part of the shell material so as to close said s. recess and encapsulate any filling material therein.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 including means to limit the extent to which the forming die may enter the mould.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2 including means goes*: to limit the extent to which the capping die may enter the mould.

4. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said mould has outlets extending from the mould cavity near the top thereof but at least partly below the point reached by said compactor head at the limit of the forming die's movement into the mould.

Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said mould has outlets extending from the mould cavity near the top thereof which are closed by the capping die before it reaches its position of maximum insertion into the mould.

6. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the capping die is shaped to produce a flat on the end of the shell formed by it.

7. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising an upstanding bracket adapted to be secured to a table or bench top and a lever fulcrummed on said bracket and wherein the said dies are suspended from said lever.

8. Apparatus for moulding a composite food product substantially as described herein with reference to figures 1 to 5 or 10 figure 6 of the accompanying drawings. Applicants UMBERTO SABA, LUIGI INCAMPO REMO DELLAGIACOMA Date 16 July 1991 Attorney ROBERT G. SHELSTON F.I.P.A.A. Aof CARTER SMITH BEADLE C RLD J ABSTRACT Apparatus for moulding a composite food item, whereby an item of substantially uniform size and weight is produced, comprises: a female mould 29) defining an open topped cavity adapted to hold a charge of mouldable edible shell material, and having two outlets (14) extending from near the top of the cavity through the wall of the mould; a forming die 30) comprising a male core piece adapted to enter the mould and penetrate any such charge of shell material therein to form a recess in the material able to receive a quantity of filling material, 10 and a vented compactor head in the form of a piston with a flat do& bottom surface adapted to substantially close the mouth of said mould, S to compress the shell material and express surplus material through those outlets; and 6. I a capping die 31) in the form of a piston with a concave bottom surface and vent passages (18) adapted to enter the mouth of said mould after removal of the forming die to close the mould outlets and re-form the upper part of the shell material, so as to close said recess s and encapsulate any filling material therein.