GB2246061A

GB2246061A - A device for use in food preparation

Info

Publication number: GB2246061A
Application number: GB9015735A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Brian West
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-07-17
Filing date: 1990-07-17
Publication date: 1992-01-22
Anticipated expiration: 2010-07-17
Also published as: GB9015735D0; GB2246061B

Abstract

A device for use in decorating an article of confectionery, comprising a decorating fluid delivery nozzle support body and a delivery nozzle removably attachable thereto, by means of a bayonet-type screw fitting which converts relative rotation of the support body and the nozzle, about a common longitudinal axis, into relative translational movement along that axis to draw mutually opposed peripheral surfaces of the body and nozzle into tight sealing abutment. <IMAGE>

Description

A DEVICE FOR USE IN FOOD PREPARATION The present invention relates to a device for use in food preparation and in particular to such a device for decorating confectionery such as cake.

The commonly employed method of decorating cakes with cream involves the use of an injection nozzle provided with a passageway for delivering the cream to the decoration area from a source of supply under pressure applied manually or otherwise.

The end of the nozzle has a portion of successively diminishing cross section to provide an outlet aperture which assists and controls pressure distribution of the cream as it is being applied.

The periphery of that end portion of the nozzle is of saw tooth configuration such that decorative formations are applied to the cream as it is being forced through the outlet aperture onto the surface of the cake.

International Patent Application No. PCT/GB89/00061 discloses a cake-decorating device which is able to provide a wide variety of shapes and forms, producing a decorated cake which has more appeal to the consumer than with previously available devices. The device comprises a decorating fluid delivery head, a nozzle for dispensing the decorating fluid attached to the delivery head, the nozzle having inner and outer walls defining an annular passageway therebetween for passing said fluid received from the delivery head, said annular passageway forming an annular outlet of said nozzle between terminating edges of said inner and outer walls such that a desired decorative deposit may be applied to the cake by fluid forced through said annular outlet.

With this arrangement much more precise decorative arrangements can be applied to confectionery articles, in particular cakes, than heretofore possible. This is because the decorative fluid is applied through a constricted annular outlet between confining walls rather than through an ordinary outlet defined by a single cylindrical wall.

Thus fluid forced out of the annular passageway is distributed in both transverse directions upon the surface of-the cake and in the plane, or substantially in the plane, of the nozzle outlet passageway.

Formations are preferably provided on the terminating edges of the inner and/or outer walls in the form of saw teeth; where they are provided on both inner and outer walls the saw teeth on each edge are preferably in alignment.

This design results in the ability of the device to form individual flower arrangements on the cake with each petal corresponding to each transverse extrusion through the openings in the saw teeth along the cooperating edges, and a central clear area along the axis of the nozzle.

Advantageously the delivery head is formed of two parts, the first part being cone shaped and the second part a flat circular plate attachable to the conical part so defining between the two an internal chamber for receiving the decorating fluid for delivery to the nozzle means attached to the circular plate. The nozzle which may be one of several nozzles, is attached to the plate, in or beneath a respective aperture in the plate.

An inconvenience with such a nozzle is that changing the configuration of the outlet requires the detachment of the whole nozzle from the delivery head, and replacement with a different nozzle. Moreover, the provision of a range of different outlet configurations is achieved only by manufacturing entire nozzles to several different configurations.

The purpose of the present invention is to overcome this inconvenience in use, and to reduce the cost of providing a range of nozzles.

Accordingly, the invention provides a device for use in decorating an article of confectionery, comprising a decorating fluid delivery nozzle support body and a delivery nozzle removably attachable thereto by means of a bayonet-type screw fitting which converts relative rotation of the support body and the nozzle about a common longitudinal axis, into relative translational movement along that axis to draw mutually opposed peripheral surfaces of the body and nozzle into tight sealing abutment A preferred form of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of two separated parts of a nozzle assembly embodying the invention; Figure 2 is a diagram showing the geometry of a cam slot forming part of the nozzle support body of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is an axial section of the nozzle part of the assembly of Figure 1.

The nozzle assembly shown in Figure 1 consists of a nozzle 10 and a nozzle support body 20 which are removably fitted together by means of a bayonet-type screw fitting on the common axis 0-0. The two-part assembly is secured beneath a horizontal plate of the delivery head of a cake decorating device, not shown here but described in the above-mentioned International Patent Application, so that cake-decorating fluid under pressure enters the assembly through an open top and leaves it through an annular opening at the bottom.

The nozzle support body 20 has a frusto-conical wall 21 connected to a paraxial cylindrical depending wall 22 having an abutment shoulder 25 on its inner surface at the line where walls 21 and 22 meet. As shown in greater detail and to an enlarged scale in Figure 2, the inner surface of the cylindrical wall 22 has an identical pair of cam slots 23, 24 forming the female part of a bayonet screw-coupling.

The slots open out at the end face of the depending wall 22 and bend through 750 to a first straight portion 100 inclined at 750 to the axis 0-0, i.e. 150 to the transverse plane at which the two parts 10, 20 meet. The first straight portion 100 then bends through 13.50 to a second straight portion 200 of equal length, which is inclined at only 1.50 to the transverse plane.

The nozzle 10 has a frustoconical wall 12 with a half-angle a of so that it is nearly cylindrical. The wall 12 has an upper end face 13 which abuts sealingly against the shoulder 25 when the two parts are fitted together tightly; a pair of bayonet pins 11 projecting from the wall 12 near the end face 13 fit in respective cam slots 23, 24 to constitute the bayonet-type screw fitting. Clockwise rotation, viewed from the underside, of the nozzle 10 causes the pins 11 to ride along the first portion 100 and then most of the second portion 200 of the cam slot, drawing the nozzle axially first quickly and then more slowly into sealing abutment against the support body 200.The narrow angle of the second portion 200 of the cam slot locks the assembly tightly, due to the slight resilient compressibility of the two parts 10, 20, which are preferably plastics one-piece mouldings (although the nozzle 10 may be partly or wholly of metal).

The nozzle 10, as shown in Figure 3, is described in detail in the above-mentioned patent application, but briefly it includes an insert 36 including a cylindrical wall 34 and a conical wall 38 which constrain the decorating fluid 33 to flow in an annular passage terminating at an annular opening 39. The end edges 40, Lil of the inner and outer walls are toothed so that fluid emerges with a transverse component, in both radial directions; the configurations may be specially designed for specific patterns; however, even if one or both walls were to be straight-edged, the fluid pressure would still alow some radial component in the motion of the emerging fluid. The fluid enters the nozzle through apertures 36. In use, the nozzle 10 is readily replaceable with one having a different configuration, simply by unscrewing it, leaving its support body 20 in place. A range of nozzles may be provided, each being simpler and smaller than the previous type of nozzle which attached directly to the delivery head. Moreover, the insert 34, which is accessible upon disassembly of the nozzle 10, may readily be replaced.

Claims

1. A device for use in decorating an article of confectionery, comprising a decorating fluid delivery nozzle support body and a delivery nozzle removably attachable thereto, by means of a bayonet-type screw fitting which converts relative rotation of the support body and the nozzle, about a common longitudinal axis, into relative translational movement along that axis to draw mutually opposed peripheral surfaces of the body and nozzle into tight sealing abutment.

2. A device according to Claim 1, in which the elements of the bayonet-type screw fitting comprise at least one cam slot in an end wall of either the nozzle or the head, the direction of the slot being tangential to the wall but also having an axial component and a corresponding pin or pins in the other part of the device, the arrangement being such that the or each pin rides along its respective cam slot upon relative rotation of nozzle and head, and is thereby cammed axially.

3. A device according to Claim 2, in which the or each cam slot has a first portion which is inclined at an acute angle of between 600 and 800 to the axis, connected to a second, final portion which is inclined at between 850 and 890 to the axis, whereby the relative rotation in a direction such as to fit the nozzle causes initially a coarse axial movement and finally a substantially finer axial movement, which finer movement is stopped by the abutment of the said opposed surfaces.

4. A device according to Claim 3, in which the second portion is inclined at about 88.50.

5. A device according to Claim 3 or 4, in which the first and second portions are of approximately the same length.

6. A device according to any preceding claim, in which the nozzle has inner and outer walls defining an annular passageway, and one or more inlets to said passageway formed in said nozzle for delivery of decorating fluid to said annular passageway, said annular passageway forming an annular outlet between terminating edges of said inner and outer walls, whereby the fluid delivery under pressure through said inlet to said passageway is forced through said annular outlet such that a decorative annular deposit of confectionery fluid may be applied to said article.

7. A device according to Claim 6, in which said inner wall has a lower portion of gradually increasing circular cross section extending to said terminating edge thereof to provide an annular wall surface inclined in the path of travel of the fluid through said annular passageway and a constricted said annular outlet compared to the size of said annular passageway.

8. A device according to Claim 6 or 7, in which the inner surface of the outer wall is conical and has a half-angle of about 5 .

9. A nozzle substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.