GB2148251A - Beverage dispensing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A pulpy fruit juice dispensing apparatus (10) has stainless steel containers 12 with faucets (14) which can be disconnected for cleaning. To keep the pulpy fruit juice continuously well mixed, each container 12 has paddles 18 on a shaft 19 which can be decoupled into two parts by virtue of a coupling 32 for cleaning. A heat pump (33) is provided for continuously cooling the fruit juice. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Beverage dispensing apparatus This invention relates to a beverage, more particularly pulpy fruit juice, dispensing apparatus.

By "dispensing" is meant dispensing on a drinkby-drink basis (into a drinking vessel such for example as a cup, beaker or glass) as and when required, as distinct from automatic dispensing into bottles or cans on a production line.

Non-pulpy beverage dispensing apparatuses are well known, which store non-pulpy beverages and comprise means for gently stirring the beverages and also means for keeping them cool.

It is also known to prepare whole fruit, pulpy fruit juice beverages on a drink-by-drink basis, which is costly.

However, it is not known, or is believed not to be known, to prepare pulpy fruit juice beverage in bulk and to dispense such pulpy fruit juice drink-by-drink (into cups, beakers, glasses or the like for immediate consumption) because, inter alia, of the difficulty of keeping the pulp well mixed with the juice and preventing the pulp from settling, and perhaps difficulty in dispensing a pulpy liquid.

According to the invention there is provided a beverage dispensing apparatus comprising at least one container for containing the beverage in bulk, at least one dispensing means associated with the or each respective container for dispensing the beverage therefrom, means for continuously stirring the beverage in the or each container and means for cooling the beverage in the or each container, characterised in that the apparatus is adapted for dispensing at least one pulpy fruit juice, in that the at least one dispensing means is at least one faucet which can dispense pulpy liquid and which can be disconnected from the at least one container for cleaning of the container and of the faucet, in that the stirring means is adapted for continuously stirring the pulpy fruit juice to keep the pulp from settling and well mixed with the juice, and in that the stirring means can be removed from the container for cleaning of the container and of the stirring means.

The invention will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure l is a sectioned side elevation (on line I-I of Figure 2) of a beverage dispensing apparatus embodying the invention; Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the aforesaid beverage dispensing apparatus embodying the invention; Figure 3 is a plan view of the apparatus of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view of a container and faucet of the apparatus of Figures 1 to 3; and Figure 5 illustrates a modification.

Referring to Figures 1 to 4 of the drawings, the illustrated apparatus 10 is a beverage dispensing apparatus adapted specially for dispensing pulpy fruit juices. The apparatus comprises a thermally insulating cabinet 11, in an upper part of which stainless steel containers 12 are arranged in two staggered rows 13A, 13B,with row 13B behind row 13A, the containers 12 being "staggered" in the sense that, as shown clearly in Figure 3, which is a plan view, the central axis of each container 12 in the front row 13A is located halfway between the centre axes of the two adjacent containers 12 in the rear row 13B and vice versa.Each container 12 is associated with a corresponding faucet 14 which is connected to the respective container 12 by a pipe 15A or 15B, the pipes 15A connecting the containers 12 in the front row 13A to their faucets 14 being correspondingly shorter than the pipes 15B connecting the containers 12 in the rear row 13B to their faucets 14. Figure 4 shows more clearly how each faucet 14 engages a screw-threaded coupling 16 at the front end of the pipe 15 (A or B) and the rear end 15C of pipe 15 also makes a screw coupling with the container 12, so that the faucet 14 and pipe 15 can both be disconnected from the container 12 for cleaning purposes, which is particularly important in view of the fact that the apparatus is adapted for use with pulpy fruit juices, so that pieces of pulp can be expected to need cleaning out at regular intervals, for example, daily.The faucet 14 and pipe 15 are both of relatively large internal diameter, in orderto avoid presenting any obstruction to the pulp in the fruit juice.

Inside each container 12 is a respective stirring mechanism 17 comprising paddles 18 on a shaft 19.

The shaft 19 extends through a bush 20 which is centrally supported at the top of the container 12 by three arms 21, the radially outer ends of which rest upon the upper rim of the container 12. The upper end of each shaft 19 is fitted with a respective bevel gear 22 which engages a corresponding bevel gear 23 on a drive shaft 24A or 24B (that is, drive shaft 24A for the front row 1 3A of containers 12 and drive shaft 24B for the rear row 1 3B of containers 12). The drive shafts 24A and 24B are chain-driven by virtue of being fitted with sprockets 25A and 25B respectively, driven by a chain 26 from an output sprocket 27 of a speed-reduction gear box 28 driven by an electric motor 29 (Figure 1). Also shown is a control box 30 of electric motor 29 and a power cable 31.

For cleaning purposes, the shaft 19 is in two parts, namely, a lower part carrying the paddles 18 and an upper part carrying the bevel gear 22, connected disconnectibly together by a coupling 32 just above the bush 20, so that the lower part of shaft 19 can be decoupled from the upper part to enable removal of the container 12 and paddles 18, together with the lower part of the shaft 19, when it is desired to clean them.

For cooling the containers 12, there is provided a heat pump 33 of generally conventional design, with an external compressor 34 (Figure 2) fan unit 75 (nearthe bottom of the cabinet 11) and internal, heat-absorbing, heat exchanger 36. The usual heatradiating heat exchanger of the heat pump 33 is not illustrated, but may be mounted externally of the cabinet 11 at the rear thereof, for example.

As shown in Figures 1 and 3, the faucets 14 are conveniently located at the front 37 of the apparatus 10. At the rear 38 of the apparatus 10 there are hinged doors 39 (shown only diagrammatically in Figure 1) so that the containers 12 can be removed and replaced, the containers 12 being mounted on runners 40 extending from the front to the back of the apparatus 10 to facilitate the removal and repiacement of the containers 12.

To use the apparatus 10, the stirring mechanisms 17 are run continuously so as to keep the pulp well-mixed with the fruit juice, and the heat pump 33 is also run continuously in order to keep the pulpy fruit juice well chilled. The containers 12, faucets 14, pipes 15 and stirring mechanisms 17 should all be clean at the start of the day, all that is required being the pouring of pulpy fruit juice in bulk into each container 12, and the replenishment as necessary of the pulpy fruit juice in each container throughout the day. That is to say, a separate apparatus of known kind, not shown, is used to prepare the pulpy fruit juice in the first place.The containers 12 are all open at the top thereof to facilitate the pouring in of the pulpy fruit juice, it being a simple matter to decouple the two parts of shaft 19, slide the respective container 20 on the runners 40 towards the rear of the apparatus and refill the container. In the case of the containers 12 in the front row 13A, it is necessary also to move the two adjacent containers 12 in the rear row 13B, but this is fairly easy. The stirring mechanisms 17 stir the fruit juices in the respective containers 12 sufficiently vigourously to keep the pulp well mixed with the fruit juice, being continuously cooled by the heat pump 33 (which is, of course, thermostatically controlled in a conventional manner) and the faucets 14 are used for dispensing the fruit juices.There may of course be different fruit juices in different containers, for example, paw-paw juice in one container, guava juice in another, pineapple juice in a third container and so forth.

At the end of the day, any fruit juice remaining in the containers is disposed of in one way or another, and the apparatus stripped down for cleaning by disconnecting the faucets 14 and pipes 15 and cleaning them, disconnecting the couplings 32 in order to separate the two parts of shaft 19 of each container 12, and extracting each container 12 with its paddles 18 and lower part of shaft 19 and cleaning them. One point not mentioned earlier is the fact that the containers 12 are spaced apart from each other so that there is air space all around them for cooling air to flow around the outsides of the containers 12 from the heat pump 33.

In a modification, shown in FigureS, each container 12' is provided with its own electric motor, housed in a one-piece housing 50 having an upper cylindrical portion 51 housing the motor and a lower part 52 which forms a close-fitting lid for the container 12'.

Figure 5 also illustrates a transparent plastic tube 53 which communicates with the inside of the container 12' so as to indicate the level of the juice in the container 12'. Finally, Figure 5 illustrates an electric cable 54 plugged into a suspended power track (not shown) above the containers 12'.

For cleaning purposes, the one-piece housing 50 can be lifted right off the container 12', together with the paddles 18' on shaft 19'. The manner of connecting the faucet (not shown) to container 12' is similar to that of Figures 1 to 4.

Claims (8)

1. A beverage dispensing apparatus comprising at least one container for containing the beverage in bulk, at least one dispensing means associated with the or each respective container for dispensing the beverage therefrom, means for continuously stirring the beverage in the or each container and means for cooling the beverage in the or each container, characterised in that the apparatus is adapted for dispensing at least one pulpy fruit juice, in that the at least one dispensing means is at least one faucet which can dispense pulpy liquid and which can be disconnected from the at least one container for cleaning of the container and of the faucet, in that the stirring means is adapted for continuously stirring the pulpy fruit juice to keep the pulp from settling and well mixed with the juice, and in that the stirring means can be removed from the container for cleaning of the container and of the stirring means.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein are provided a plurality of said containers each with its own associated faucet and stirring means.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein all of the stirring means are drivably connected to a common drive.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein each stirring means has its own associated motor.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2,3 or 4 wherein the faucets are at a front of the apparatus, the containers being removable for cleaning at a back of the apparatus.

6. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 5 wherein the containers are arranged in two side-to-side staggered rows, one row behind the other.

7. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 6 wherein each container is supported on runners.

8. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the or each container and associated stirring means are housed in a thermally insulating cabinet.