GB2135178A

GB2135178A - Baking apparatus for use in making waffles

Info

Publication number: GB2135178A
Application number: GB08304500A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Walter Snow
Original assignee: Allied Bakeries Ltd
Current assignee: Allied Bakeries Ltd
Priority date: 1983-02-18
Filing date: 1983-02-18
Publication date: 1984-08-30
Also published as: GB2135178B; GB8304500D0

Abstract

A method and apparatus for manufacturing a food product, and in particular waffles, in which batter is cooked in a mould to define the shape of the product. In order to be able to manufacture the product in a continuous manner and to avoid problems with aligning mould parts and in removal of the cooked product there is provided a plurality of two-part moulds (3) which are hingedly secured together in which the bottom mould halves (21) define an endless conveyor having upper and lower passes (5, 7). Guide means (47, 49) are provided to control the opening and closing of the mould halves and means (69) is provided for heating the bottom mould halves during their conveyance on the upper run, and means (71) is provided for heating the top mould halves during their conveyance on the lower run. Removal of the waffle from the open mould is aided by injecting air into the bottom mould half (21) from a manifold (63). The conveyor is moved in incremental steps between the successive stations. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Baking apparatus for use in making waffles The present invention relates to baking apparatus for use in making waffles.

Two basic types of waffle are known, the savoury waffle and the sweet waffle. The savoury waffle contains only a small amount or no, sugar and, therefore, has only a short shelf life, whereas the sweet waffle contains considerably more sugar, typically equal weight of flour and sugar and has a long shelf life.

Waffles have been made by hand using waffle irons but two machines have been developed for manufacturing waffles automatically. The known machines were both developed for manufacturing waffles of the savoury type and attempts to fuliy automate the manufacture of sweet type waffles using the known machines have proved unsuccessful. Generally the reason for this is the high proportion of sugar in the mix which leads to problems with the waffles sticking to one half or the other half of the waffle iron. The only solution to this has been to manually remove any waffles stuck to the iron using a fork. Because of the intricate shape of the waffle irons removing stuck waffles can prove difficult and to date automatic removal has not proved possible.

One of the known machines comprises a conveyor defining an oval track in a horizontal plane which carries waffle irons disposed side by side. Each waffle iron has two halves which are hinged together and which are profiled so that the completed waffle has square shaped recesses formed in either side.

Eight rectangular waffles are produced from each waffle iron. One half of the iron rests or is secured fixedly to the conveyor and the other half is provided with a lug which co-operates with a guide bar which raises and lowers the upper waffle iron as the waffle iron moves with the conveyor. When the upper half of the iron is raised sufficient batter is injected into the lower mould to just fill it and the upper half is lowered to close the mould. The iron then passes into and through a baking oven. On emerging from the oven the upper half of the iron is raised by the guide bar and the cooked waffles are removed manually, following which the cycle repeats with the injection of more batter. Successful operation of the machine is dependent upon the waffles being easily and quickly removed.

The other known machine comprises a lower track conveyor made up of links pivotably connected.

Each link carries one half of a waffle iron. The conveyor passes through loading, baking and unloading stations.A transfer device is disposed above the lower conveyor and has "put down" and "pick up" stations. As each of the links passes a loading station, batter is injected into the lower half of the waffle iron or mould and following that the upper half of the waffle iron is located on top of the lower half, so as to close the mould, by the "put down" device of the transfer device. The iron then passes through a baking section and on emerging from the baking section the upper half of the waffle iron is removed by the "pick up" station of the transfer device. The lower half of the link falls away as it passes around end pulleys of the conveyor and the completed waffle passes to a cutting and packaging station.The individual mould parts forming the upper half of the waffle iron are conveyed to the "put down" station by the transfer device. The machine operates on a continuous cycle. Each half of the waffle iron is profiled such that the completed waffle has square recesses in either side. Successful operation of the machine depends on the waffles separating cleanly from the moulds thus it will be appreciated that the machine is not readily suitable for making continental type waffles which are prone to sticking.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the problems experienced with existing machines and so provide apparatus for making waffles of either the traditional or continental type. It is a further object to provide apparatus in which the waffles can be removed from the mould automatically.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for manufacturing waffles comprising a plurality of moulds disposed one behind the other, each mould having a top half hingedly connected to a bottom half, which bottom mould halves define an endless conveyor having upper and lower passes, means for driving the endless conveyor, at least one guide rail extending around at least part of the conveyor path, and lever means co-operating with the top mould halves and the guide rail to open and/or close the top mould halves, means for heating the bottom mould halves from the under side during at least part of their conveyance on the upper pass and means for heating the top mould halves during at least part of their conveyance on the lower pass, the top mould halves being closed during their conveyance on the upper pass after the injection of batter into the moulds and being opened during their conveyance on the lower pass for removal of the cooked waffles.

A number of bottom mould halves are disposed side-by-side defining transverse rows of moulds.

Preferably, the bottom mould halves co-operate with transverse mounting bars whose opposite ends are secured to links of respective endless chains, each of which chain is entrained round two end sprocket wheels. The top mould halves are interconnected by a member which is pivoted by the lever means. The guide means serves to retain the top moulds in the closed position between during conveyance thereof through the heating zones. Addition slides are provided which cooperate directly with the top mould halves during the first part of their conveyance on the upper pass often initial closing of the top mould halves.

Extraction apparatus is provided for ensuring and/or aiding removal of the cooked waffles from the moulds after opening of the top mould halves. The bottom mould halves are provided with holes in the base thereof by means of which air can be injected into the mould to release the waffle. A manifold is supplied with air from an oil free air source and has distribution passages which cooperate with the holes in the bottom mould halves. As each row of moulds moves into a position below the manifold, the manifold is lowered so that axially movable plungers forming part of the distribution passages engage with respective counter bored holes in the mould allowing air into the mould. The air is only exhausted by way of the passages when the manifold is lowered to the mould.

The drive means operates to move the moulds intermittently is to perform an indexing movement, and the injection of batter into the mould and the operation of the air ejection apparatus is timed to coincide with the period when the moulds are stationary. Thus, the rows of moulds are moved sequentially between successive stations around the conveyor path.

Preferably, the bottom mould halves are preheated during conveyance on the upper pass prior to injection of the batter.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of making waffles utilising a plurality of waffle moulds defining a movable endless conveyor having upper and lower passes, the moulds having top and bottom halves hingedly connected, comprising introducing batter into the bottom mould halves on the upper pass at one station while the top mould halves are open, subsequently closing the top mould halves and heating the bottom mould halves from their undersides during at least part of their conveyance on the upper pass, heating the top mould halves during at least part of their conveyance on the lower pass and opening the top mould halves for removal of the cooked waffles.

Preferably, the method includes moving the moulds incrementally between successive stations disposed around the conveyor path, and the method includes the step of removing the waffles from the moulds by injecting air into the moulds. Preferably the moulds are pre-heated prior to injection of the batter.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for use in extracting a food product from a mould comprising a mould body for receiving the food product in uncooked liquid form, said mould body having in the end wall thereof a plurality of spaced holes, and a manifold provided with a plurality of passages - ways which are adapted to co-operate with said plurality of holes in the mould body, to enable air to be introduced into the mould at a location between the food product and the end wall by way of said holes and passageways.

Preferably, the passageways of the manifold comprises telescopic sleeves which are arranged to be engageable in counter bores of the holes in the end wall of the mould body. A cam mechanism is provided to move the manifold in a direction towards the mould body when the latter is stationary to thereby locate the ends of the telescopic sleeves in the counter bores. A cam mechanism also operates to time the opening of a valve controlling the flow of air to the manifold and hence the mould.

Conveniently the moulds comprise top and bottom mould halves hingedly connected together, with the said holes disposed in the bottom mould half. Additional air jets are preferably provided to direct air over the surface of the open mould half and thereby assist in removal of the food product.

The invention thus provides a method of extracting a food product from a mould by introducing air into the mould at a location between the food product and an end wall of the mould.

The present invention will now be described further, by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure lisa schematic end view of apparatus for carrying out the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a mould in its closed position, Figure 3 is a perspective view of the mould of Figure 2 showing it open, Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the mounting and opening means for the moulds, Figure 5 is a plan view showing part of the conveyor made up of a plurality of moulds, and Figure 6 is a partial cross-section showing the air ejection apparatus.

Referring more particularly to the drawings.

Apparatus for the continuous manufacture of waffles is shown schematically in Figure 1 and comprises an endless conveyor 1 made up of a plurality of moulds 3 disposed one behind the other and side by side.

Part of the conveyor is illustrated in plan in Figure 5.

The conveyor has upper and lower passes 5,7. A pair of chain links 9,11 define the opposite transverse sides of the endless conveyor and engage with respective sprockets defining opposite ends 13,15 of the conveyor. Extending between the chain links 9,11 are longitudinally spaced transverse mounting bars 17. These bars are co-axial with the chain link pivot points.

The moulds 3 comprise top and bottom mould halves 19,21 respectively which are hingedly connected together by a pivot pin 23. Preferably, the moulds have a coating of low friction material. The leading end of the bottom mould half is provided with a lug 25 having a U-shaped groove 27 which serves to receive a transverse mounting bar 17. The trailing end of the mould has two lugs 29 with U-shaped grooves 31 which also serve to receive a mounting bar 17 whereby the mould is located between two adjacent mounting bars 17. The lugs 29 are transversely spaced apart by an amount equal to the width of the lug 25. Several moulds are disposed side by side, six in the preferred arrangement. Whilst Figure 5 shows the adjacent moulds slightly spaced apart, in practice, they would be in abutment with one another so avoiding any unnecessary sideways movement.

Each top mould half 19 is provided with a longitudinal rib 33 the leading end of which is recessed to define a slot 35. The slot receives a transversely extending member 37 which is secured at its ends to respective levers 39 which are pivotable with respect to the chain links about an axis 41 coincidentwith the pivot pin 23. The mounting 43 for the lever 39 is secured to the link chain. The end of each lever 39 carries a roller 45 which engages with a guide track 47,49. As shown in Figure 5, a member 37 is provided for each transverse row of moulds.

Referring to Figures 2 and 3 it will be seen that each half of the mould is provided with raised projections 51 which correspond in shape to the recesses to be formed in either side of the waffle.

The waffle to be produced is circular in outline and the bottom half mould 21 has a circular edge 53 which contains the mixture introduced into the bottom mould.

The top mould half 19 is dimensioned to fit within the circular edge 53 of the bottom mould half. A plurality of spaced holes 55 are provided in an end wall 57 of the bottom mould half. These serve to allow air to be introduced into the mould for ejection of the cooked waffle. The opposite end face of the mould 12 has a plurality counter bores 59 each of which is disposed concentrically with a respective hole 55. As seen in Figure 6, each counter bore 59 serves to receive the end of a telescopic sleeve 61 which projects from an air distribution manifold 63.

The manifold 63 is mounted for movement in timed relation to movement of the conveyor so that the sleeves 61 are brought into co-operating engagement with the counter bores 59 during the stationary period. The manifold may be moved by a pneumatic cylinder and associated valve controlling means or mechanically by a cam driven from the chain sprockets or axle thereof.

Drive means, not illustrated is provided to drive the endless conveyor. The drive is transmitted to the axle linking the chain sprockets at the leading end 15 of the conveyor. The conveyor performs an indexing movement, to enable the filling and emptying of the moulds to be accomplished during the stationary periods.

For convenience only selected ones of the moulds 3 are shown in the schematic layout of the apparatus shown in Figure 1. With the top mould halves 19 of one row in their open position shown at A with the roller 45 engaging the track 49, a descrete quantity of batter is introduced into each mould 3 from a dispenser 65. The dispenser operates to dispense batter when the moulds are stationary there under where upon the row of moulds are indexed in a clockwise direction as illustrated, so that the next row of moulds is positioned to receive batter from the dispenser. After batter has been introduced into the bottom mould. A cam operated mechanism, not illustrated, acts to move the top half moulds to the position illustrated at B whereupon the roller 45 passes along a slot 67 where the guides 47 and 49 overlap. The guide 47 thus acts to move the top mould halves 19 to the closed position.A series of burners 69 are arranged to heat the underside of the bottom mould halves during their conveyance on the upper pass 5 of the conveyor 1. The bottom mould halves are preferably preheated by burners 71 prior to introduction of the batter at A. Because the memebers 37 holding the top mould halves in their closed position are only constrained at the two ends by the guide tracks 47 on each side of the conveyor, additional longitudinal slides are provided which contact directly with the rib 33 on the top mould half to hold it in the closed position at least during part of the conveyance past the burners 69.

This avoids any tendency forthe top mouldsto lift which would result in formation of mis-shapen waffles. If any excess batter is present in the mould, then this can escape by way of two vent ports 73 provided in each of the top mould halves 19 leading to recess 75 in the bottom mould halves. Any overflow tails of batter passing down the recesses 75 may be removed by a scraper and/or an air blast system.

As the moulds pass round the end region 15 the top mould halves are heated by burners 77. The moulds are kept closed by contact of the rollers 45 with the guide track 47. On completion of cooking, the top mould halves are opened at position C where the rollers 45 once again co-operate with guide track 49 to hinge open the top mould halves. When open, the manifold 69 of the air ejection apparatus is moved into position, as previously indicated, and the air passageways of the manifold aligned with the holes in the bottom mould halves, whereupon the air connection is opened and air forced into the moulds to remove any waffles which have remained in the inverted bottom mould on opening. The ejected waffles fall onto a conveyor 81 which transfers them to a packaging station. The air ejection apparatus is illustrated more fully in Figure 6. Additional air jets 83 is arranged to play air across the open top mould to displace any waffle which might lodge on the top mould. The manifold 69 and air jets 83 are mounted on a frame which is actuated in synchronism with the drive of the conveyor and operates to lower the manifold into position when the conveyor is stationary and is raised prior to the conveyor restarting.

By virtue of the present apparatus it is possible to produce waffles continuously and automatically.

That is to say the method and apparatus avoids the need for operators to remove cooked waffles manually from the moulds.

Claims

1. Apparatus for manufacturing waffles comprising a plurality of moulds disposed one behind the other, each mould having a top half hingedly connected to a bottom half, which bottom mould halves define an endless conveyor having upper and lower passes, means for driving the endless conveyor, at least one guide rail extending around at least part of the conveyor path, and lever means co-operating with the top mould halves and the guide rail to open and/or close the top mould halves, means for heating the bottom mould halves from the underside during at least part of their conveyance on the upper pass and means for heating the top mould halves during at least part of the conveyance on the lower pass, the top mould halves being closed during their conveyance on the upper pass after the injection of batter into the moulds, and being opened during their conveyance on the lower pass for removal of the cooked waffles.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which a number of bottom mould halves are disposed side-by-side defining transverse rows of moulds.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the bottom mould halves co-operate with transverse mounting bars whose opposite ends are secured to links of respective endless chains, each of which chains is entrained around two end sprocket wheels.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claims 1,2 or 3 in which the top mould halves are interconnected by a member which is pivoted by the lever means.

5. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the top moulds are retained in the closed position during conveyance thereof through the heating zones by the guide rail.

6. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which additional slides are provided which cooperate directly with the top mould halves during the first part of their conveyance on the upper pass after initial closing of the top mould halves.

7. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising extraction apparatus for aiding removal of the cooked waffles from the moulds after opening of the top mould halves, which extraction apparatus comprises holes in the base of the bottom mould halves by means of which air can be injected into the mould to release the waffle.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, in which a manifold is provided which is supplied with air from a source aand which has distribution passages which co-operate with the holes in the bottom mould halves.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8, in which a cam mechanism is provided to move the manifold in a direction towards the bottom mould halves when the latter is stationary to thereby locate the ends of telescopic sleeves in counterbores in the bottom mould halves.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8 or 9, in which a cam mechanism is provided to time the opening of a valve controlling the flow of air to the manifold.

11. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the drive means operates to move the moulds intermittently.

12. A method of making waffles utilising a plural ity of waffle moulds defining a movable endless conveyor having upper and lower passes, the moulds having top and bottom halves hingedly connected, comprising introducing batter in the bottom mould halves on the upper pass at one station while the top mould halves are open, subse quently closing the top mould halves and heating the bottom mould halves from their undersides during at least part of their conveyance on the upper pass, heating the top mould halves during at least part of their conveyance on the lower pass and opening the top mould halves for removal of the cooked waffles.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising moving the moulds incrementally between successive stations disposed around the conveyor path, and removing the waffles from the moulds by injecting air into the moulds.

14. A method as claimed in claims 12 and 13, further comprising pre-heating the moulds prior to injection ofthe batter.

15. Apparatus for use in extracting a food pro duct from a mould comprising a mould body for receiving the food product in uncooked liquid form, said mould body having in the end wall thereof a plurality of spaced holes, and a manifold provided with a plurality of passageways which are adapted to co-operate with said plurality of holes in the mould body, to enable air to be introduced into the mould at a location between the food product and the end wall by way of said holes and passageways.

16. Apparatus as claimed in claim 15, in which the passageways of the manifold comprisetelesco- pic sleeves which are arranged to be engageable in counter bores of the holes in the end wall of the mould body.

17. Apparatus as claimed in claims 15 and 16, in which the moulds comprise top and bottom mould halves hingedly connected together, with the said holes disposed in the bottom mould half.

18. A method as claimed in claims 15, 16, and 17, further comprising an additional air jet to dried air over the surface of the open mould half to thereby assist in removal of the food product.

19. A method of extracting a food productfrom a mould comprising introducing air into the mould at a location between the food product and an end wall of the mould.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising directing air over the surface of the open mould.

21. An apparatus for manufacturing waffles, constructed and arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

22. A method of manufacturing waffles, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

23. Apparatus for extracting a food product from a mould, constructed and arranged substantially as herein before described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

24. A method of extracting a food product from a mould substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.