JP2001095510A - Food shaping apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a food shaping apparatus capable of effectively molding a shaped product having high commercial value without been exposed to the observation of a customer, capable of taking out the formed product in the apparently same action as in the case of a cook, and at the same time downsized and usable in a narrow space. SOLUTION: This apparatus is formed by placing a screw conveyor 8 in a boiled-rice container-shaped vessel 1 in such a manner that a food (a) supplied from a hopper 7 built in the vessel is compressed and sent from the lower part to the upper part, and by serially placing a molding mechanism 9 for the food (a) on the upper part of the screw conveyor 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automated food molding apparatus for molding a molded article having a predetermined shape, size and hardness, for example, as a pre-process for gripping rice balls and nigiri sushi.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a molding device such as a rice ball is supplied with a predetermined amount of cooked rice into a molding die recessed in a turntable, and the rice is pressed by a press head in the molding die and molded. With a lower mold inserted into a mold formed by penetrating the turntable in the vertical direction, a predetermined amount of cooked rice is supplied into the mold, and this is supplied to the upper mold and the lower mold. And a predetermined amount of cooked rice conveyed intermittently by the intermittent conveyor belt conveyer are compressed from the left and right by a pair of two molding dies, and pressed by the press head from above. A device configured to be formed by compression is known.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned molding apparatus, the rice is formed by compressing the cooked rice from above by a press head and by compressing the cooked rice from above and below using both upper and lower dies. Furthermore, in the above-described molding apparatus, the rice is compressed from both left and right sides and the upper part by a pair of two molding dies and an upper press head, so that the rice is formed into a predetermined shape and size. In order to form the cooked rice so that it does not collapse, the compression force must be increased.However, in this case, the cooked rice is over-compressed and hardened, or the cooked rice has a different density between the surface and the inside of the cooked rice. It becomes difficult to obtain a molded product of cooked rice density, and as a result, the commercial value is reduced.

[0004] The above-mentioned molding apparatus has been developed in response to the recent shortage of craftsmen and demands for low production cost. However, customers still do not want mechanization.
This is a major factor that hinders the further spread of molding devices.

[0005] As a countermeasure, a large number of molded articles are molded using a molding apparatus in a place invisible to the customer, and the molded articles are put into a stocker or the like and brought to a store.

However, according to the above-described method, there is a problem that time elapses from the production of the molded article to the eating of the molded article, and the taste is lowered, and the quality is deteriorated.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has a rice bowl or the like supplied from a hopper provided in a container in a basket-type customer container from the bottom to the top. By forming the forming mechanism connected to the upper part of the screw conveyor arranged to compress and convey to, it can be miniaturized, easy to move and transport, can be used in narrow places,
Moreover, the density of cooked rice etc. is constant, it is hard to collapse softly,
A high-quality molded product with good texture and taste can be quickly molded, and at the same time, it can be taken out from the tub-type container. The purpose is to provide.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention compresses and conveys food such as cooked rice supplied from a hopper provided in a container from a lower portion to an upper portion in a tub-shaped container. The food molding mechanism is connected to the upper part of the screw conveyor arranged so as to perform the food molding.

[0009]

[Effect] Rice cooked into a hopper housed in a box type container is compressed and transported from a lower part to an upper part by a vertical screw conveyor, and is formed by a compression molding mechanism in a molding mechanism connected to the upper part of the screw conveyor. By being pressed into the forming hole while being compressed, the cooked rice or the like is compression-molded into a predetermined shape in cross-section, and by cutting a molded product extruded upward from the forming hole into a predetermined length, a predetermined size, It is cut and molded into molded products of shape and hardness.

[0010] Since the molding mechanism is built into the tub, if the molded article formed as described above is taken out from the upper opening of the tub, the craftsman looks apparently cooked rice in the tub. It looks like the same operation as molding and taking out, diapers,
It is possible to eliminate the customer's resistance to the mechanization of molding sushi balls and the like.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A diaper forming apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a cooked rice compression conveying screw conveyor, a compression molding mechanism, and a cutting mechanism of the same apparatus, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same apparatus, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a part of the rice-rice compression molding mechanism and the cutting mechanism of the above apparatus, and FIG. 5 (A) is a perspective view of a triangular diaper. FIG. (B) shows a perspective view of a circular diaper.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a tub-shaped container 1 having a bottomed cylindrical shape is provided with a well-known heat-insulating material in a gap 4 between an inner wall 2 and an outer wall 3 having an upper end continuously provided. It is formed by filling the material 5 and having a heat retaining function.

Further, the upper part of the tub-type container 1 is formed in an opening 6 and the outer wall 3 is formed by printing a wood grain pattern or the like, or by attaching an exterior sheet (not shown) on which the pattern is printed, so that the outer wall 3 has an external appearance. It is formed in a design that closely resembles a traditional obi.

As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, inside the tub-type container 1, a hopper 7 for bringing in cooked rice from the center to the rear, and a screw conveyor 8 for compressing and conveying the cooked rice in the front.
In the upper part of the screw conveyor 8 for compressing and conveying, a mechanism 9 for forming a diaper is incorporated.

The hopper 7 is, as shown in FIG.
The central portion is formed at a valley bottom, and the valley bottom is formed in an arc shape with a curvature slightly larger than the outer diameter of a screw blade 14b of the screw conveyor 14 described later. Also,
The hopper 7 is mounted on the hopper 7 so that the ends of the inclined plates 10, 10, which are inclined upward and extend outward from the upper end opening of the hopper 7, are tightly fitted to the inner surface of the inner wall 2 of the tub 1. It is formed separately from the mold container 1 and is detachably incorporated in the container 1.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, a cylindrical body 11 is vertically mounted on a front part of the hopper 7 so as to be detachable, and one lower side of a vertically long hole 12 in the cylindrical body 11 is horizontal. Hole 13
Thus, the hopper 7 communicates with one side of the lower portion inside the hopper 7.

A screw conveyor 14 is provided in the center of the hopper 7 at a lower portion thereof, a rear portion of the conveyor shaft 14a is supported on a rear wall 7a of the hopper 7 via a bearing 15 so as to be rotatable and detachable. The front end of the screw conveyor 14 is inserted into the horizontal hole 13 described above. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a pair of two horizontal rice-supporting and stirring blades 16, 1 are provided at predetermined intervals on the left and right sides of the upper portion of the screw conveyor 14.
The hopper 7 is rotatably mounted on a front wall 7b and a rear wall 7a of the hopper 7 in a freely detachable manner.

The single screw conveyor 14 described above
The pair of cooked rice supporting and stirring blades 16 and 17 are rotated in a predetermined direction via a gear case 18 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 by a driving source (not shown) to move the cooked rice a in the hopper 7 horizontally. The liquid is supplied to the lower part of the vertically long hole 12 through the hole 13.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cooked rice screw conveyor 8 has a lower portion of the conveyer shaft 8a penetrating through the bottom wall 11a of the cylindrical body 11 and a lower end of the screw shaft. A gear shaft 20 rotatably supported by the shaft 19 and a coupling 21 and the like are detachably connected to each other. The cooked rice conveyer screw conveyor 8 is linked to a drive shaft of a drive source by a motor or the like (not shown) by a gear transmission mechanism 44. And rotated clockwise in FIG.

The molding mechanism 9 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in the figure, the cylindrical portion 22 is vertically extended downward from the center of the back surface, and the same shape as the diaper to be molded is formed on the upper part of the center of the molding block 23 which is detachably fitted and fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical body 11 as described above. A forming hole 24 penetrating in the direction and communicating with the inside of the cylindrical portion 21, and a tapered hole 25 formed in the cylindrical portion 22 so as to communicate with a lower portion of the forming hole 24.

The tapered hole 25 is gradually expanded from the upper end to the lower end, and the lower end diameter is set to be the same as the inner diameter of the above-described vertically elongated hole 12. Is pressed into the upper molding hole 24 while being gradually and smoothly compressed, and a compression-shaped cooked rice b (diaper) having a predetermined shape is compression-molded in the molding hole 24, and the compression is performed. The formed cooked rice b is pushed upward from the forming hole 24.

[0022] As the upper portion of the forming mechanism 9 described above are shown in FIGS. 1-4, the compression molding rice b, and the upper portion b ₁ pushed out upwardly from a molding hole 24 is cut to a predetermined length A cutting mechanism 26 for forming a diaper C as illustrated in FIGS. 5A and 5B is formed.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the cutting mechanism 26 is formed by a pair of two shutters 27 and 28 and their driving mechanisms 29 and 30. The pair of shutters 27 and 28 are formed with thin-walled cutting blades 27b and 28b at opposite ends of plate-shaped main bodies 27a and 28a. A through-hole 31a having the same shape and size as the above-described forming hole 24 is formed in the above-described forming block 23.
Presser plate 3 detachably fixed to the upper surface of screws with screws 32 ...
1, it is disposed so as to be capable of opposing closing movement and symmetric opening movement.

The driving mechanisms 29 and 30 for opening and closing the pair of shutters 27 and 28 are configured as follows. As shown in FIG. 1, disks 35a, 36a are inserted through shaft holes 33, 34 formed through the above-described molding block 23 in the vertical direction, and are provided with eccentric pins 35b, 36b on the upper surface.
Are fixed to the upper end, and a pair of left and right rotating shafts 35, 36 formed by rotatably fitting the disks 35a, 36a into concave holes 37, 38 formed in the upper surface of the forming block 23, and , The support plate 3 horizontally extending forward from the hopper 7
9, a lower end is rotatably supported on a bottom wall 19 of the above-described tub-type container 1 via a bearing (not shown), and an upper end is formed of a pair of the above-described two rotating shafts 35 and 36 and a gear transmission mechanism. 4
A pair of left and right gear shafts 40 and 41 interlockingly connected by 2 and 43, and a drive source such as a motor (not shown), and one of the pair of gear shafts 40 and 41;
In the illustrated example, the gear shaft 41 is operatively connected to a drive shaft (not shown) by a gear transmission mechanism 45.
1 so that the pair of rotating shafts 35 and 36 are rotated in opposite directions through the gear transmission mechanism 46.
It is interlocked and connected.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the eccentric pins 35b and 36b of the disks 35a and 36a are provided on the back surfaces of the pair of shutters 27 and 28 in the left-right direction, that is, the opening and closing directions of the shutters 27 and 28. The pair of shutters 27, 28 are slidably engaged with guide holes 27c, 28c which are long and recessed in a direction perpendicular to the direction of FIG. is opposed closing as shown in state from the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 opened shown in, cutting the upper end b ₁ of the compression-molded rice b, FIG. 5
The diaper C shown in (A) and (B) is manufactured. In addition, the pair of shutters 27 and 28 are closed as shown in FIG.
Move symmetrically the opening motion, the upper end b ₁ of the compression-molded rice b from the molding hole 24 is configured to be pushed out as shown by the solid line in.

As shown in FIG. 3, a compression-molded rice detection sensor 47 is provided on one side of the tub-shaped container 1, and the upper end of the compression-molded rice b pushed out from the molding hole 24 by the sensor 47. detecting the extrusion length of b _1, a drive source (not shown) receives the detection signal is started, a pair of shutters 27 and 28 are closing. The sensor 47 is provided so as to be movable in the vertical direction.

The molding apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the diaper molding described above, but is used for molding sushi balls and other foods.

[0028]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, there is no need for a food conveying means such as a turntable or a belt conveyor, so that it is structurally simple and controls the whole food compressing and conveying mechanism and the forming mechanism. Reasonably and compactly built inside the box type container, it can be miniaturized, can be easily moved and transported, can be used in narrow places, and the food is compressed and transported by the compression transport screw conveyor, Pressed into the forming hole, it is compression molded into the prescribed shape and size, so the food is not over-compressed, the food density is constant, it has a fluffy soft feeling, and the molded product has good texture and taste Can be molded efficiently, and can be taken out of the crate-shaped container at the same time as molding. It can be taken out molded article by the same operation as you. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the feeling of resistance of customers or the like to the mechanization of food molding.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a compression conveying screw conveyor, a forming mechanism, and a cutting mechanism showing one embodiment of a food forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the same device.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a part of a forming mechanism, a cutting mechanism, and a part of a driving mechanism in the same device.

FIG. 5A is a perspective view showing a triangular diaper molded by the same device, and FIG. 5B is a perspective view showing a circular diaper moldable by the same device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cabin type container 7 Hopper 8 Compression screw conveyor 9 Molding mechanism a Food such as cooked rice

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A food forming mechanism is connected to an upper part of a screw conveyor arranged so as to compress and convey food such as cooked rice supplied from a hopper contained in the container from a lower part to an upper part. A food molding apparatus characterized by being provided.