CA1323990C - Ice shaver - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

An ice shaver comprises a shaver casing having a horizontal annular table and mounted with a shaving blade, rotary blades fixed to a rotary shaft passing through a center hole of the shaver casing to extend upwards beyond the center hole, and a drive member, disposed under the shaver casing, for rotating the rotary shaft. A cube ice reservoir comprising a drum is detachably mounted to the table, the drum having the top end to which an openable lid is detachably mounted and an inner lower funnel-like wall.

Description

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BACKGROUN~ OF TEIE INVENTION
Field of the Invention This invention relat~s to an ice shaver which slices or ~have~
cube ice to make ~haved ice.
Description of the Prior Art Conventionally, there has been known an ice shaver of this type as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,055,099 and the known ice shaver is illustrated for the most part in a prior art example shown in Fig. 1 whereas Fig. 2 shows an ice shaver according to the pcesent invention. Referring to Fig. 1, st~uts 2 standing uprightly at fou~ corners of an aepartus bed 1 suppoLt at their upper ends a table 3 and an inverted conical shaver casing 4 is mounted to the table 3. In the circumferential surface of the casing 4, a slit 5 is formed in which a shaving blade 6 is exposed. A rotary shaft 7 pro~rudes from ~he lower center of the shaver casing 4 and rotary blades 8 rotatable in substantially contacting relationship with the inner circumference of the shaver casing 4 are fixed to the rotaIy sha~t 7. Upper ends of the rotaEy blades 8 are connected together by a connecting ring 9 to which a frusto-conical hoppeL lO is mounted. There are also see~
a shaved ice discharge chute 11, a moto~ 12 for driving the rotary shaft 7, and a belt 13 extending between the output shaft of ~he motor 12 and a pulley secured to the rotary shaft 7. A
water-~roof cover 1~ surround6 the outer circumferential periphery of the ho~per 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 foL many consumeLs, the conventional ice shaver of the above construction has difficulties in quickly meeting the demand.

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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.1 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 lce 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 in-creased so that the shaver should ~e installed station-arily for operation at a given site, raising a problem that movement of the ice shaver is in fact impossible.
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SUM~l~RY 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 "

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shaver which can supply a great amount of shaved ice as ne~essary and can prevent the loss of i~e due to its fusion.
To this end, according to this invention, apparatus for making ice shavings comprises an upper horizontal annular table extending around a casing which has an inverted conical wall disposed beneath the table, the wall being formed with a slit in which a shaving blade is mounted with the tip of the shaving blade protruding beyond the slit into the casing;
rotary blades fixed to a rotary shaft which passes through a central hole in the bottom of the casing and extends upwards beyond the central hole, the blades having upper ends on which a hopper is mounted;
a drivs mechanism disposed under the casi~g for rotating the rotary shaft; and an ise-cube reservoir comprising a drum which is detachably mounted on the table, the drum having a top end on which an openable lid is detachably mounted;
wherein the drum comprises an inner funnel with upper and lower sections, wherein the lower section is of a substantially steeper gradient than the upp~r section; and wherein the lower section of the inner funnel extends into, and is in contact with the upper end of, the hopper, whereby khe rotary motion o~ the rotary blades and of ice-cubes in the casing can be transmitted to ice-cubes on the inner funnel.
In this apparatus, many ice-cubes can be stored in the reservoir, and the rotary blades are driven to shave the cubesO During this procedure, the ice-cubes stored in the reservoir slide successively on the funnel-like wall surface and drop into the shaver casing spontaneously and sequentially, and the cubes present within the shaver casing are rotated by means of the rotary blades against the knife and are converted to shavings.
This motion is successively transmitted to some of the cube ice blocks present within the reservoir to permit ,~

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-3a-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, 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 tire, this demand can be met quickly.

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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 con~iderably. The cube ice reservoir to be placed above the shaver casing does not occupy a laxge 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 ~now the approximate quantity of cube ice which has not been shaved yet and remains in the cube ice reservoir.
This object can be accomplishe~ by an embodiment of the invention wherein the drum of the cube ice reservoir is made of a transparent ma~erial. Thanks to 1~ 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 accompanying 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 in-vention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERP~ED EMBODIMENT
Referring now to Fig.2, there is illustrated an ice shaver embodying the invention whieh is identical to the prior art ice shaver of Fig.1 for the most part.
Memhers identical to those of Fig~1 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.

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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 de~achably mounted on the table 3. The reservoir 20 may be made of any materials but preferably the drum 2] 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 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 within 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 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 fun-nel-like wall 22, individual ice blocks 30 will not mate wîth each other but will descend one by one toward the center OL the funnel-like wall 22 gradually and automatically, eventually smoothly dropping into the shaver casing 4 through the hopper 10 in accordance ` ~ ' ~ ` . . ~ ' . ::

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with a decrease in the number of ice blocks present within the shaver casing, which decrease is due to shaving of ice hlocks by the shaving blade 6 and discharge of shaved ice pieces. When the number of ice blocks 30 stocked in the reservolr 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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Claims (2)

1. Apparatus for making ice shavings comprising:
an upper horizontal annular table extending around a casing which has an inverted conical wall disposed beneath the table, the wall being formed with a slit in which a shaving blade is mounted with the tip of the shaving blade protruding beyond the slit into the casing;
rotary blades fixed to a rotary shaft which passes through a central hole in the bottom of the casing and extends upwards beyond the central hole, the blades having upper ends on which a hopper is mounted;
a drive mechanism disposed under the casing for rotating the rotary shaft; and an ice-cube reservoir comprising a drum which is detachably mounted on the table, the drum having a top end on which an openable lid is detachably mounted;
wherein the drum comprises an inner funnel with upper and lower sections, wherein the lower section is of a substantially steeper gradient than the upper section; and wherein the lower section of the inner funnel extends into, and is in contact with the upper end of, the hopper, whereby the rotary motion of the rotary blades and of ice-cubes in the casing can be transmitted to ice-cubes on the inner funnel.

2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the drum is made of a transparent material.