EP0538426A1 - Token- or coin-, or the like, operated apparatus for automatically frying eggs, in particular for canteens, institutions, and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

Automatic fried egg preparation device. It comprises a rotating drum (2) storing the eggs and mounted above a stationary plate (6) in which an opening (7) is provided allowing the discharge of a single egg at a time towards a funnel conical (8) whose wall (8a) can partially deviate; a flat, sliding device (11) located under said funnel and provided with a horizontal blade (11a) intended to carry the conical end of each egg (5); a rapid traction device (13) mounted opposite a return spring (14) and countering the action of the latter so as to animate said sliding device (11) and its blade (11a) with a movement of back and forth, and separating the conical end of the egg from the rest of the shell and then transporting the two separated parts of the shell to suitable discharge devices (24, 25); and a device (17) for dropping the contents of the egg, optionally via a whisk stirring device (26), into an underlying pan (20) placed on a hotplate (19). Furthermore, the device is provided with timers, detectors (10, 21) and blocks so that the aforementioned steps are carried out in the correct order, and an indication is given of the presence of eggs in the drum storage and in the pan.

Description

^•TOKEN- OR COIN-, OR THE LIKE, -OPERATED APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY FRYING EGGS, IN PRRTICULRR FOR CANTEENS, INSTITUTIONS, RND THE LIKE"

DISCLOSURE

The present invention relates to a token- or coin- or the like, operated apparatus, for automatically cooking eggs, in "fried-egg" style or as omelettes, which apparatus is particularly suitable for institutions, canteens, cafeterias, snack-bars and the like. Rs well-known, many types of apparatuses for cooking alimentary products or producing hot beverages exist presently, which are based on the principle of automatically producing, within a short-as-possible time, food and beverages ready for consumption, in order to meet the needs imposed by modern life rhythm. Most of these apparatuses known from the prior art are designed for automatic operation subject to the introduction of tokens, coins, cards and the like in order to directly deliver to the users the desired dishes or beverages, without manual interventions and/or service by specialized staff, and said apparatuses are installed at canteens, institutions, cafeterias, snack-bars, and the like.

It is well-known as well, that at present only the automatic apparatuses, of various types amd potentialities, to produce a very wide range of hot beverages, such as coffee, tea and miscellaneous infusions have gained a diffused commercial success, whilst the presently available apparatuses for automatically cooking solid food have remained limited to an extremely small number of products. The purpose of the present invention is of providing an automatically operating, coin- or token-, or the like, -operated apparatus, which is so contrived as to enable fast egg cooking, and namely, which is capable of cooking eggs in "fried-egg" style or, alternatively, as omelettes, in regular and traditional way, and under perfect hygienic conditions.

Another purpose of the invention is of providing a cooking apparatus which is structurally simple, is highly reliable and is such as to exclude wastes of useful product after eggshell separation, and also to avoid that eggshell fragments may accidentally reach the frying-pan or saucepan used for frying. Another purpose of the present invention is of providing an apparatus with small overall dimensions, suitable for use in the premises of institutions and canteens, as well as of cafeterias, snack-bars, restaurants, and the like.

These and still other purposes which are evidenced in greater detail by the following disclosure, are achieved by a token, coin, or the like, operated apparatus for automatically frying eggs in "fried-egg" style or as omelettes, inside a frying-pan, which apparatus comprises: an egg magazine having the form of a vertical-axis revolving drum, provided with equidistant vertical channels distributed along a circle which is concentric with the same drum, suitable for containing stacked eggs with their conical tip facing downwards, said drum being rotatably mounted, with possibility of intermittent rotation, into contact with a stationary plate suitable for retaining said stacked eggs, at the periphery of which stationary plate there is provided a circular opening co-axial with the axis of said vertical channels in order to enable eggs to sequentially enter egg retaining/guide means at least partially spreadablε apart and integral with said stationary plate, with, at the basis of said guide means, a planar means being associated, which is capable of horizontally sliding along a stationary plane and is arranged at such a distance from said guide means, as to cause only the conical tip of each egg to protrude outwards, said sliding, planar means being equipped with a horizontal shearing blade and with a scraper means, and being driven to perform rapid reciprocating strokes, by rapid attraction means in the one direction; and return springs in the opposite direction, so as to enable, at each attraction stroke of said sliding planar means, said shearing blade to shear off the conical tip of the egg resting on the same plane and of driving the so-separated conical portion of the eggshell to a side discharge means and, during the return motion caused by said return springs, said blade and said scraper means to drive the residual portion of said eggshell to another discharge means, while the yolk and the albumen are sent to fall, by gravity, into an underlying frying-pan placed on a heating plate.

More particularly, said horizontally sliding planar means is constituted by a carriage guided along a stationary plane, and provided with a circular opening with a smaller diameter than eggshell, so as to allow yoke and albumen to pass through, while simultaneously retaining the larger portion of said eggshell in order to allow said blade, during its return stroke, to send said larger eggshell portion to said side discharge, while the scraper means, integral with said sliding planar means and scraping against said stationary plane, removes possible residues which may accidentally have remained stuck to the edge of the circular opening and/or to said stationary plane.

Furthermore, the rapid movements of said carriage are driven by an electromagnet installed at the side of the same carriage and associated with a timer, so as to be energized when an egg comes into contact with the same carriage . Said guide means for guiding the eggs from each egg stack, are substantially constituted by a hopper, or funnel, with a substantially cone-frustum shape, having at least a portion of its wall hinged onto the upper stationary plate and urged by a return spring, the shifting of said wall being designed to enable the larger portion of eggshell remaining between the hopper, and the sliding plane, after tip shearing, to be translated to the discharge means by the rear side of said shearing blade and said scraper means during the return stroke of the sliding planar means.

In order to facilitate the falling of said conical portion of the eggshell into said side discharge means, and to prevent it, or a portion thereof, from accidentally remaining sticking to the sliding planar means, thus disturbing the following operations, on said stationary plane a swinging hook or claw means is hingedly mounted, urged by a return spring, on said stationary plane on the side of the discharge means through which the conical portion of the eggshell is discharged, and suitable for entering, during the return stroke of said sliding planar means, a slot, or the like, purposely provided through the plane of said sliding planar means, so as to constitute a removal means for removing those portions of eggshell which may accidentally have remained sticking onto the sliding plane.

In order to prepare the fried egg in omelette form, an eggwhisk stirring means is then provided, which is substantially constituted by a small cylindrical or cone-frustum-shaped container, provided, inside its interior, with an eggwhisk actuated by a suitable drive means and with a throttle valve installed at the bottom ^"thereof, which container enters, on command, and under control by a scheduled, timer-piloted, operating program, between said stationary plane and said underlying frying-pan. Further features, characteristics and advantages of the present finding are set forth by the following disclosure in detail of a preferred, non-exclusive form of practical embodiment thereof, which is supplied by referring to the accompanying drawing table, supplied for merely indicative purpose, in which:

Figure 1 shows, in schematic form, a partially sectional side view of an apparatus for automatically frying single eggs, accomplished according to the invention;

Figures 2 and 3 show, in plan view, two details of the apparatus of Figure 1, and

Figure 4 shows a sectional view of the bottom portion of Figure 1, taken along section line IV-IV shown in said Figure 1, in said Figure 4 the eggwhisk stirring means for preparing the fried egg in the form of an omelette, being represented inserted in its operating position.

Referring to the above cited Figures, the apparatus according to the present invention is constituted by a box-shaped container body 1, inside whose upper interior portion a container drum 2 with vertical axis

2a is installed and is driven to intermittently revolve, when a suitable signal is received, by a suitable geared motor (not shown in the drawing) enslaved to a central control unit 3, suitably programmed and token, coin, or the like, operated.

In the body of the drum 2 a plurality of vertical through-channels 4 the longitudinal axes of which are parallel to the drum revolution axis 2a are provided, distributed along a circle coaxial with the longitudinal axis of said drum 2.

Inside said vertical channels 4, the eggs 5 are charged with their conical portion, viz. , tip, 5a directed downwards. The drum 2 can be made tilting or extractable, in order to enable eggs to be charged into the channels, while the latter are being kept in a horizontal or inclined position, in order to prevent said eggs from getting broken during their falling inside said channels, should the latter be kept vertical. As an alternative, the drum can be given a modular structure, with said cylindrical channels being made extractable, in order that said eggs may be easily charged to the channels while the latter are being kept in a horizontal position.

The drum 2 is so installed, as to be into slight contact with an underlying stationary plate 6 (Figure 3) which may be either circular or quadrangular suitable for supporting eggs contained inside the channels, and through which a circular opening 7 is provided at a raial distance from the axis of the drum, equal to the radius of the circle along which the vertical channels 4 are distributed. Thus, the opening ^•7 allows eggs stacked inside the channels to fall, one- by-one sequentially, and by gravity, from each channel 4. under the stationary plate 6.

Under said stationary plate 6 and concentric with the opening 7, a conical duct, substantially a hopper, is provided, which is constituted by a stationary portion δ and a mobile portion βa; the latter is hinged, at 8b, onto the stationary plate 6, and is urged by a return spring 3, to return back to its starting position. The outlet mouth of the conical hopper constituted by the portions 8 and βa has a diameter which is substantially equal to the diameter of channels 4, so that each egg can freely leave said hopper through said bottom hopper mouth .

Inside said hopper, a swinging lamina 10 is installed associated with a switch, which swinging lamina remains inactive when inside the hopper eggs are contained, and, on the contrary, keeps said switch switched on (^■closed") when no eggs are contained inside the hopper; when said switch is switched on ("closed"), said switch causes the drum to revolve until a subsequent channel, containing eggs, is brought into alignment with the hopper.

Under said hopper β-θa, a horizontally sliding planar means 11 is provided, which substantially is a so upwards-bent plate, as to show a horizontal portion 11a with a sharp blade-shaped end edge 11a. The distance between said shearing blade and the underlying sliding planar means 11 substantially equates the height of the conical end, or tip, 5a, of an egg.

The sliding planar means 11 substantially is a small carriage mounted guided on an underlying stationary plane 12 and translatable in both directions along the latter. With said carriage, a scraper means 24 is then associated, which scrapes against the stationary plane 12 and removes any residues which possibly remained sticking to the edge of the circular opening 17 and on the plane 12.

As shown in Figure 1, the rapid translation of the plane 11 towards the left side is accomplished by means of an electromagnet 13 directly acting on the sliding plane 11, whilst the translation towards the opposite direction is caused by a return spring 14. The electromagnet is enslaved to a timer operating according to a program based on the required excitation times .

Furthermore, the opposite ends 12a and 12b of the stationary plane 12 are partially bent downwards, so as to facilitate both resulting eggshell parts being discharged into separate containers 15 and 16 of drawer type, or the like, as is better explained in the fol lowing .

On the side of the end 12a, and hinged onto it, the swinging hook or claw means 25 is provided, urged by a return spring or the like, which means 25, during the return stroke of said sliding planar means, enters a longitudinal slot 31 provided through the plane 11 of the carriage, protruding, with its end, over the same plane and thus constituting a removing means for the conical eggshell portions separated from said eggshell, and which possibly have not fallen down into the container 15 during the leftwards stroke of the carriage.

The stationary plane 12 along which said sliding plane 11 runs is provided with the circular opening 17 co¬ axial with the axis of hopper mouth, and which has a diameter which is shorter than average egg diameter, in order to first enable the contents of each egg to be discharged after the separation of eggshell tip 5a, and then the larger portion of the eggshell to stop against said plane 12, with said larger eggshell portion being then translated and fed to the container 16 during the return stroke of the sliding planar means 11. The apparatus according to the present invention is furthermore provided, at its front side, with an inlet opening, viz., inlet mouth, substantially defined between the drawer containers 15 and 16 and the upper stationary plate 12. Inside this mouth, a sliding grid or sliding frame 18 is provided translatable over a plate 19 equipped with an electrical heating resistor. On this plate 19, a frying-pan 20 is placed. When the frying-pan is placed in a trued position relatively to the circular opening 17 provided through the upper plate 12, and provided that the token or coin was preliminarly inserted, and anyway the egg breaking cycle starting command was input to the apparatus, the end of the sliding frame or, as an alternative, the same end of the frying-pan will actuate a sensor 21 (Figure 4) which commands a pre-established frying oil amount which frying oil is contained inside an oil container 22 and an amount of salt solution contained inside the salt solution container 23 to fall into the frying-pan. Both said containers, i.e. , the oil container and the salt solution container, are installed at the side of the drum, and anyway at a higher level than the frying-pan. A timer calibrated for a time period of approximately 60 seconds (i.e., an egg cooking time period) warns the operator and actuates a device causing the sliding frame 16, with the frying-pan on it. Of course, the same timer may actuate an authomatic device which is capable to move the sliding frame 18 off the heating plate when the egg cooking time has elapsed.

Inside said inlet mouth, under the stationary plane 12, and opposite to the circular opening 17, the eggwhisk stirring means 26 can be inserted on command, in order to cook the egg in omelette form, e.g. , by means of a revolving arm, not depicted in the drawing. Said eggwhisk stirring means is constituted by a container 27 inside which the eggwhisk 28 is provided, driven by the motor means 30, and which container is provided with a bottom throttle valve 29. When the eggwhisk stirring means is inserted, the egg, instead of directly falling into the frying-pan, falls into the stirrer wherein, by means of a suitable timer also controlled by the central control unit, is mixed and homogenized and then is discharged into the underlying frying-pan inside which the egg cooking takes place. Then, the eggwhisk stirring means is disabled and is moved to a position in which it can be washed by means of a suitable jet of cold water, air-atomized water, or the like.

The operation of the above disclosed apparatus can be summarized as follows;

After drum channels 4 being filled with eggs so that the eggs of an egg stack may enter the conical hopper 8-βa, with the lowermost egg being partially protruding outwards from the mouth of the same hopper and with its conical tip 5a being into contact with the sliding planar means or carriage 11, the apparatus is ready for the sequential cooking of the eggs contained inside the various channels of the drum. In fact, inasmuch as inside the conical hopper β-βa eggs are present, the sensor-lamina 10 remains bent downwards, the switch associated with it remains switched off ("open") and hence the drum remains stationary. 0 Thereafter, a token, or coin, is introduced into the slot of the token/coin-actuated control means associated with the central control unit 3, and a frying-pan is positioned onto the heating plate by pushing the sliding frame 16, until said sliding frame ^*3 or frying-pan comes into contact with the rear sensor 21, which hence can cause oil and water-salt solution to be charged to the frying-pan and the operating cycle to be started.

The same sensor 21 (or a separate push-button) causes the electromagnet 13 to be energized and cause the translatable carriage 11 to run a rapid stroke leftwards according to the arrangement shown in Figure 1. This -rapid stroke leftwards causes the shearing blade to strike the egg orientated towards the same carriage 11, thus causing the conical tip 5a of said egg to be knocked off by a sharp horizontal cut. By continuing moving to the left, the carriage 11 drags with itself the knocked-off conical portion 5a and then, when it reaches the end portion 12a of the stationary plane 12, gets slightly tilted, thus causing the separated eggshell tip to fall down into the drawer container 15, while the swinging hook 25 enters the slot provided through the plane of the carriage 11 and favours the expulsion of the conical portion of the eggshell . While said carriage is moved to the left, still attracted by the electromagnet, the egg portion remaining inside the hopper moves downwards until said egg portion comes to stop into contact with the stationary plane 12, along the edge of the circular opening 17, thus allowing yolk and albumen to fall by gravity into the frying-pan through said opening 17. Then, the timer associated with the electromagnet intervenes by de-energizing said electromagnet, so that the carriage 11, urged to return by the spring 14, is moved rightwards and during its return stroke, the bent rear side of the shearing blade, equipped with the scraper means, drags with itself the empty residual eggshell, removing any residues from the stationary plane 12 and preventing said eggshell from coming under, and being dragged by, the carriage, and finally discharging it into the drawer container 16, after the mobile portion βa of the hopper being spread out; thereafter, the carriage 11 remains stationary in position, ready for another cycle.

If the alternative route of frying the eggs in such a way as to produce an omelette as suitably programmed through the central control unit 3 is selected, the eggwhisk -stirring means 26 is entered into the chamber under the stationary plane 12 and over the frying-pan 20, as shown in Figure 4, and receives the falling egg through the circular opening 17; by means of the eggwhisk 26, actuated by the motor means 30, said egg is stirred and homogenized for a pre-fixed time period and then, through the throttle valve 29, the operation of which is controlled by a timer as well, falls into the frying-pan 20, inside which egg is cooked. The eggwhisk stirrer means returns then outside of said chamber, to a position in which it is washed by means of a suitable device, with water, water/air, or the like. The cooking time, adjusted by means of a timer, is approximately 60 second long, and at the end of this time period said timer signals the occurred cooking by means of pilot lights, or sound signals, or causing the frying-pan-bearing frame to be automatically translated out of contact with the heating plate. In practice, the present Applicant was able to observe that by knocking off a 6-8 mm-long portion of conical egg tip, the eggshell can be completely emptied without said eggshell having to be opened to a greater extent, or having to be also opened at its upper end, in order to compensate for external atmospheric pressure. The apparatus according to the present invention, disclosed hereinabove in a preferred form of practical embodiment thereof, can be supplied with structurally and functionally equivalent modifications and variants without departing from the scope of protection of the same invention. Thus, for example, the egg magazine can be given a structure different from a fixed, or extractable, revolving drum; also oil container can be replaced by another metered oil supply means, or it can even be omitted.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. Token, coin, or the like, operated apparatus for automatically frying eggs in so-said "fried-egg" style or as omelettes, inside a frying-pan, which apparatus comprises: an egg magazine having the form of a vertical-axis drum, provided with equidistant vertical channels distributed along a circle which is concentric with the same drum, suitable for containing stacked eggs with their conical tip facing downwards, said drum being rotatably mounted, with possibility of intermittent rotation, into contact with a stationary plate suitable for retaining said stacked eggs, at the periphery of which stationary plate there is provided a circular opening co-axial with the axis of said vertical channels in order to enable eggs to sequentially enter egg retaining/guide means at least partially spreadable apart and integral with said stationary plate, with, at the basis of said guide means, a planar means being associated, which is capable of horizontally sliding along a stationary plane and is arranged at such a distance from said guide means, as to cause only the conical tip of each egg to protrude outwards, said sliding, planar means being equipped with a horizontal shearing blade and with a scraper means, and being driven to perform rapid reciprocating strokes, by rapid attraction means in the one direction; and return springs in the opposite direction, so as to enable, at each attraction stroke of said sliding planar means, said shearing blade to shear off the conical tip of the egg resting on the same plane and of driving the so- separated conical portion of the eggshell to a side discharge means and, during the return motion caused by said return springs, said blade and said scraper means to drive the residual portion of said eggshell to another discharge means, while the yolk and the albumen are sent to fall, by gravity, into an underlying frying-pan placed on a heating plate.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said planar means horizontally sliding along said stationary plane is substantially constituted by a carriage bearing said shearing blade and said scraper means scraping against said stationary plane, said stationary plane being provided with a circular opening with a shorter diameter than of an egg, so as to allow only egg contents to flow through said circular opening, after the conical tip of the egg being separated.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, in order to facilitate the falling of said conical portion of eggshell down into said side discharge means, and to prevent it, or a portion thereof, from accidentally remaining sticking to the sliding planar means, thus disturbing the following operations, on said stationary plane a swinging hook or claw means is hingedly mounted, urged by a return spring, on said stationary plane on the side of the discharge means through which the conical portion of the eggshell is discharged, and suitable for entering, during the return stroke of said sliding means, a slot or the like purposely provided through the plane of said sliding means, so as to constitute a removal means for removing those portions of eggshell which may accidentally have remained sticking onto the sliding plane.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that in order to prepare said fried egg in the form of an omelete, an eggwhisk stirring means is provided, which is substantially constituted by a small cylindrical or cone-frustum-shaped container, provided, inside its interior, with an eggwhisk actuated by a suitable drive means and with a throttle valve installed at the bottom thereof, which container enters, on command, and under control of a scheduled, timer-piloted, operating program, between said stationary plane and said underlying frying-pan.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said attraction means are magnetic-attracting means and are constituted by an electromagnet associated with a timer so calibrated as to allow the electromagnet to be kept energized during the time periods required to empty the egg, the conical tip of which was knocked off.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said egg magazine in drum form is made tilting or extractable, or with its cylindrical channels being made extractable, in order that said eggs may be easily charged to said channels, while the latter are being kept in a horizontal position, with said eggs being thereby prevented from undergoing ruptures.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said egg retaining/guide means to retain and guide said eggs when leaving said channets, are constituted by a hopper of funnel of substantially cone-frustum shape with at least a portion of its wall being hinged onto said, upper stationaty plate and being urged by return spring means, said hinged/mobile wall portion being destined to be spread apart by the sheared, larger eggshell partially remaining inside the hopper, when said eggshell portion is translated towards the discharge means.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that inside said retaining/guide means at least one swinging lamina is positioned associated with a switch, so as to remain inactive when eggs are contained inside the hopper and, if no eggs are contained inside the hopper, to switch on ("close") said switch, to cause said revolving drum to revolve until a successive egg stack is brought into alignment with said hopper. 9. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said frying-pan positioned on said heating plate for egg cooking, can be positioned on said heating plate by means of a sliding carriage or sliding frame which can be translated until said frying-pan or said sliding frame comes into contact with a sensor capable of causing metered amounts of oil or salt in aqueous solution to be charged to the frying-pan, with said amounts being taken from suitable containers associated with the same apparatus, and of operation blocking means to be released.

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