GB2243106A

GB2243106A - Method of and mould for use in producing edible wafers

Info

Publication number: GB2243106A
Application number: GB9106761A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Bernd Bohrer
Original assignee: MARTIN BRAUN BRACKMITTEL und E
Current assignee: MARTIN BRAUN BRACKMITTEL und E
Priority date: 1990-04-02
Filing date: 1991-03-28
Publication date: 1991-10-23
Anticipated expiration: 2011-03-28
Also published as: DK25591D0; FR2660161A1; ES2033202B1; BE1004255A5; NL9100323A; GB9106761D0; GB2243106B; DE4010605A1; ITTO910216A1; ITTO910216A0; IT1245027B; GR1001282B; DE4010605C2; DK25591A; GR910100093A; LU87887A1; CH681766A5; ES2033202A1; FR2660161B1

Abstract

Thin wafers (12) of chocolate or other edible material are moulded by locating flexible mould plate (14), provided with perforations (16) corresponding to the outline of the chocolate wafers, onto a planar lower part (22), filling the perforations with liquid mass and raising of the mould plate (14) for the removal of the wafers from the perforations. The mould plate e.g. of polycarbonate, is substantially stiff in tension and compression and the perforations enlarge towards the lower part (22). The mould plate is fixed by magnetic means (32, 36) to the lower part before the removal of the wafers and the liquid mass is filled to excess into the perforations, the excess mass being subsequently wiped off the upper side of the mould plate. This method allows a mechanical filling in coating apparatus with simple, if so desired manual, removal of the wafers. Decorative printing may be transferred to the wafer from a foil (26). <IMAGE>

Description

METHOD OF AND MOULD FOR USE IN PRODUCING WAFERS The present invention

relates to a method of producing wafers of edible material, for example pri.nted-on chocolate wafers, and to a mould for use in production of such wafers.

In a known method, a mould plate (upper mould part) consists of a rubber template which has mould cavity perforations and which is held only by its weight on a foil and thus on a lower support part of metal. Simple mechanical filling is not possible in this method. The rubber template must also be taken off before complete solidification of the mass, or else wafers moulded from the mass cannot be detached free of breakage from the perforations and with a circumferential surface perpendicular to the plate surface. The not yet completely solidified wafers could be deformed during removal from the mould.

In another known method, there is used a high upper mould which is only partly filled for the production of thin wafers. For this purpose, each individual perforation must be filled by means of a corresponding metering device. A simple removal from the mould, in particular by hand, is not possible due to the stiff upper mould. Instead, each individual wafer must be held on the foil by an appropriate dye during the mechanical raising of the upper mould.

An upwardly open folding mould of stiff mould halves, which are articulatedly connected with each other, is known from DE-GM 1 748 873. The mould construction is relatively complicated and thin wafers cannot be produced with this mould. In addition, DE-PS 29 40 939 discloses a centrifugal or shaking mould for the production of hollow chocolate bodies, wherein the mould halves are constructed to be stiff in bending and held against each other by magnets. This mould, too, is not suitable for the production of thin wafers. There is thus a need for a method and apparatus which may enable simple, optionally mechanical, filling, of mould cavities as well as simple removal of moulded articles without risk of damage. 5 According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of producing wafers of edible material, comprising the steps of placing a flexible mould plate on and fixing the plate to a support member, the mould plate being substantially stiff in tension and compression and provided with a plurality of mould cavity perforations which each have the outline shape of a wafer and which enlarge in direction towards the support memberfilling each mould cavity perforation with a liquid mass of material in excess of the capacity thereof, wiping the upper side of the mould plate to remove excess material, and raising the mould plate relative to the support member to remove moulded wafers from the mould cavities.

In a preferred example of the method, the mould plate, provided with the perforations corresponding to the outline of the wafers, is deposited on the support member optionally with the interposition of a foil which can be provided with markings such as printing. The perforations are filled with chocolate mass or similar mass and subsequently the mould plate is raised for removing the wafers from the perforations. The perforations preferably enlarge conically towards the support member. The fixing means serve for fixing the mould plate to the support member before the removal of the wafers. The liquid mass is filled to excess into the perforations and the excess mass is removed after the filling by wiping off from the upper side of the mould plate.

Through filling of the perforations to excess, all perforations can 1 be filled simultaneously without use of metering devices for the individual perforations. Since the mould plate is substantially stiff in tension and compression and can be fixed to the support member, there is no risk that the mould plate will displace relative to the support member during wiping-off of the excess mass. Simply by raising the mould plate, for example by lifting at its ends, the moulded wafers can be readily detached from the mould plate even after complete solidification. There are thus obtained correctly moulded wafers with little or no loss due to breakage.

The liquid mass could, if desired, be filled into the perforations by hand. However, it is possible to achieve, without substantial complication, mechanical filling of the liquid mass by means of coating apparatus with, for example, a veil box.

In order to simply and consistently remove the excess mass, the step of wiping is preferably carried out by means of at].east two, preferably successively operated, wipers, for example of metal.

The mould plate, being stiff in tension and compression and fixed to the support member, allows the p] ate and the member to be shaken together during or after the filling. By means of this shaking, a uniform distribution of the mass in the perforations as well as an elimination of possible air bubbles can be achieved.

Due to the enlarging, preferably conical, form of the perforations, the removal of the wafers from the mould plate is not restri cted to a particular instant during the cooling down period for the mass. However, in order to prevent change in shape of the wafers during removal from the mould, the removal is preferably carried out only after complete solidification of the mass.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a two-part mould for use in the production of wafers of edible material, comprising a substantially planar support member, and a flexible mould plate placeable at a lower side thereof on the support member, the mould plate being substantially stiff in tension and compression and provided with a plurality of mould cavity perforations which each have the outline shape of a wafer and which enlarge in direction towards said lower side, fixing means being provided for fixing the mould plate to the support member.

The mould plate, stiff in tension and compression, and when fixed to the support member, can in the course of production of wafers be subjected to mechanical loads, for example during wiping-off of excess mass or during the shaking of the mass, without the mould plate moving relative to the support member and distorting the shape of the moulded wafers. The construction of the perforations with enlargement towards the support member facilitates removal from the mould, particularly in the case of already completely solidified wafers. The enlargement could be, for example, a concave or convex rounding, but a conical shape has proved to be advantageous.

In order to obtain adequate flexibility as well as stiffness in tension and compression of the mould plate within the scope of the desired wafer thicknesses, the mould plate preferably has a thickness of between 1.5 and 4 millimetres, for preference substantially 2 millimetres.

In order to reliably secure the flexible mould plate to the support member by a simple method, it is proposed that the fixing means comprises magnetic retaining devices each comprising a retaining magnet in one of the mould plate and the support member and, opposite thereto, an anchor 1 in the respective other one of the plate and the member, the retaining devices being distributed over the mould plate.

It is preferred in that case if the magnet is arranged in the support member and that the anchor is provided by a magnetisable metallic element in the mould plate. By contrast to the relatively thin mould plate, there is adequate installation space for the magnet in the support member. In some circumstances, reduced manufacturing costs may result, since in the case of differently structured mould plates to be used with a single support member, the relatively expensive magnets are provided merely in the member. The magnetisable metallic elements in the mould 10 plate can be produced comparatively cheaply.

In order at the outset to exclude relative displacement of the mould plate and the support member, at least one adjusting projection can be provided on one of the mould plate and support member and can engage into a corresponding locatin.g recess in the respective other one of the plate and the member.

In order to obtain wafers with smooth, planar and optionally also printedon upper side, the support member preferably has a continuously planar support surface. Alternatively, the support surface can be structured with relief contouring so as to impart corresponding surface 20 relief to the wafers.

An example of the method and embodiment of the mould of the present invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a lower support member or part of a mould embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation,-Partly sectioned on line II-II in Fig. 1, of the lower part; Fig. 3 is an underneath view of a mould plate (upper part) of the mould; Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view, on the line IV-IV in Figs. 1 and 3, of the lower part and mould plate; and Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view similar to Fig. 4, but along the line V4 in Figs. 1 and 3.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a two-part mould, generally denoted by 10, which comprises an upper part or mould plate 14 and a support member or lower part 22 and which serves for the production of thin, preferably printed-on wafers 12, for example chocolate wafers or nougat wafers, with a thickness in the range of, for example, 2 millimetres and with practically any desired outline shape. In the illustrated embodiment, the chocolate wafers 12 have approximately fan 15. shape, as is evident from Fig. 3, which shows an underneath view of the mould plate 14.

For each chocolate wafer to be cast, the mould plate 14 has a perforation 16, the outline of which corresponds to the desired outline shape of the wafer 12. As shown in Fig. 3, the mould plate has four rows of perforations alongside each other and each with ten perforations beside one another, so that altogether forty chocolate wafers 12 can be moulded. As is apparent from the detail section of Fig. 4, each perforation 16 ends at the upper side 18 and at-the underside 20 of the mould plate 14 and thus connects these sides together. Each perforation 16 enlarges in the manner of a cone in the direction towards the underside 20 in order, as will be explained in the following, to facilitate the removal of the wafers 12 from the mould. The cone angle cr- is between 50 and 150, r 1 1 k 7 preferably about 100. The plate thickness a, i.e. spacing between the upper side 18 and the underside 20, is between 1.5 and 4 millimetres, preferably about 2 millimetres. The mould plate 14 consists of a material which is substantially stiff in tension and compression, but flexible, 5 such as polycarbonate (PC).

The'lower part 22 of the mould 10 is illustrated separately in Figs. 1 and 2 and has a continuously planar support surface 24 at its upper side, onto which the mould plate 14 is deposited, optionally with the interposition of a printed-on foil 26 still to be discussed.

In order to exclude lateral displacement of the mould plate 14 relative to the lower part 22, eight locating projections 28, which protrude upwardly, are elongate in circumferential direction and which engage into complementary locating recesses 30 in the underside 20 of the mould plate 14, are provided in the region of the circumferential rims of the suRport surface 24.

To ensure that the underside 20 of the mould plate 14 will lie over its whole area against the support surface 24 or against the foil 26 and to thus avoid formation of a flashing at the lower edges of the moulded wafers 12, a plurality of two-part magnetic retaining devices are distributed over the mould 10. Each retaining device consists of a respective magnet 32 in a pot-shaped, upwardly open receptacle 34 of the lower part 22 and of a magnetis-able metal element 36, in particular an iron plate, disposed exactly opposite thereto in a downwardly open receptacle 38 of the mould plate 14. The magnet 32 ends flush with the support surface 24 and the metal element 36 ends flush with the underside 20 of the mould plate 14.

For transport of the mould 10 in a coating plant, the lower part 22 is provided at two mutually opposite sides each with respective retaining projections 40, the underside of which is coplanar with the underside 42 of the lower part 22.

The lower part 22 consists of stiff synthetic material, such as polycarbonate (PC), and is produced by a deep-drawing or injectionmoulding process.

In use of the afore-described two-part mould 10, and performance of a method exemplifying the invention, for the production of wafers 12 as printed-on decorative chocolate articles, the foil 26, provided with mirror image printing on its upper side, is first laid onto the lower part 22 and the mould plate 14 is then laid on top. If no printing is desired, the mould plate 14 is laid directly onto the surface 24 of the lower part 22. It is not necessary to fix the mould plate 14 at the lower part 22 by separate or special retaining devices, as the magnetic retain- ing devices as well as the projectios 28 provide rigid securing of the mould plate 14 and the lower part 22 together.

In the next step, perforations 16 are filled with liquid chocolate mass or a similar mass, for example nougat. This step can be performed particularly simply and rapidly, since the perforations can be filled to excess and several perforations at the same time, without using metering devices for the individual perforations. If filling is to be carried out mechanically, conventional coating apparatus with a "veil box" can be used for this purpose. This, too, delivers the liquid chocolate mass in excess onto the mould plate 14 from above, i.e. floods the mould plate 14 with liquid chocolate mass. During passage through the coating apparatus, the mould 10 abuts against a weight-loaded flap to cause a chocolate mass to run out of a supply container from which the chocolate 1 - 9 is distributed uniformly over the entire mould plate. At the same time, a part of the chocolate excess is wiped off.

In the next step, the remaining excess chocolate mass is removed by means of wipers, preferably of metal, moved over the smooth upper side 18. In order to completely remove all excess chocolate and provide a smooth upper side 44 to the chocolate wafers 12, several, preferably two, wipers can be drawn one after the other across the mould plate 14. In the case of the mechanical filling in coating apparatus, the mould 10 is simply moved through below the wipers. For uniform distribution of the chocolate mass as well as for the removal of air bubbles, the twopart mould 10 can be shaken during the filling stage or in a subsequent step. Since the mould plate 14 is substantially stiff in tension and compression and firmly secured to the lower part 22 by the magnetic retaining devices and the projections 28, problems do not arise either during the wiping of the chocolate mass or during the shaking. In particular, a momentary local separation of the mould plate 14 and the lower part 22 or of the mould plate 14 and the foil 26 is avoided, which ensures that chocolate flashings are not formed in this region.

After substantial or complete solidification of the chocolate mass, the moulded wafers 12 can be removed from the mould in simple manner by raising the mould plate 14 from the foil 26 or the lower part 22. Because of conical cross-section of the perforations 16, the wafers 12 readily detach from the mould plate 14. It can be advantageous if the mould plate 14 is momentarily raised merely at one end so that it bends somewhat less and loosens the chocolate wafers 12. The removal from the mould can also be undertaken by hand so that complicated automatic manipulation devices are not required.

After the detaching the wafers 12 from the foil 26, the wafers will bear the desired print image at their undersides 46 (Fig. 4). The wafers are otherwise generally flat and.have a smooth upper side 44 as well as a smooth, slightly conical circumferential surface 48 without flashings at the edges between the circumferential surface 48 and the upper side 44 or the underside 46. Practically no breakage arises.

In order to produce chocolate wafers with a surfacestructured upper side, the support surface of the lower part need merely be structured correspondingly in the manner of a relief.

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Claims

- 11 CLAIMS 1. A method of producing wafers of edible material, comprising

the steps of placing a flexible mould plate on and fixing the plate to a support member, the mould plate being substantially stiff in tension and compression and provided with a plurality of mould cavity perforations which each have the outline shape of a wafer and which enlarge in direction towards the support member, filling each mould cavity perforation with a liquid mass of material in excess of the capacity thereof, wiping the upper side of the mould plate to remove excess material, and raising the mould plate relative to the support member to remove moulded wafers from the mould cavities.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mould cavity perforations conically enlarge in said direction.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, comprising the step of disposing a foil between the mould plate and the support member.
4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the foil carries markings so arranged as to appear on the moulded wafers.
5. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of filling comprises introducing the material into the mould cavity perforations by way of coating apoaratus.
6. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of wiping comprises wiping the upper side of the mould plate with at least two wipers.
7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the step of wiping comprises moving the wipers in succession over the upper side of the mould plate.
8. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising the step of shaking the mould plate and the support member during the step of filling.
9. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising the step of shaking the mould plate and the support member after the step of filling.
10. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of raising the mould plate relative to the support member is carried out only after complete solidification of the material.
11. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the material is chocolate.
12. A method as claimed in claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
13. A two-part mould for use in the production of wafers of edible material, comprising a substantially planar support member, and a flexible mould plate placeable at a lower side thereof on the support member, the 20 mould plate being substantially stiff in tension and compression and 13 provided with a plurality of mould cavity perforations which each have the outline shape of a wafer and which enlarge in direction towards said lower side, fixing means being provided for fixing the mould plate to the support member.
14. A mould as claimed in claim 13, wherein the mould cavity perforations conically enlarge in said direction.
15. A mould as claimed in either claim 13 or claim 14, wherein the mould plate has a thickness of 1.5 to 4 millimetres.
16. A mould as claimed in claim 15, wherein the thickness is substantially 2 millimetres.
17. A mould as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 16, the fixing means comprising magnetic retaining devices distributed over the area of the mould plate and each comprising a magnet arranged in one of the mould plate and support member and an anchor arranged in the respective other one of the plate and the member and co-operable with the magnet.
18. A mould as claimed in claim 17, wherein each of the magnets is arranged in the support member-and each of the anchors comprises a magnetisable metallic element.
19. A mould as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 18, comprising at least 2D one locating projection arranged on one of the mould plate and the support member and engageable in a corresponding recess in the respective other one of the plate and the member.
20. A mould as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 19, wherein the support member has a continuously planar support surface for the mould plate.
21. A mould as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 19, wherein the support 5 member has a relief-contoured support surface of the mould plate.

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22. A mould substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
23. A wafer produced by a method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12.
24. A wafer produced with use of a mould as claimed.in any one of claims 13 to 22.

k Published 1991 at The Patent Office. Concept House. Cardifr Road. Newport. Givent NP9 I RH. Further copies rnav be obtained from Sales Branch. Unit 6. Nine Mile Point. Cxx7nfelinfach. Cross KeYS. Newport. NP1 7HZ. Printed by Multiplex techmques ltd. St Mary Cray. Kent.