JP2001197867A - Sushi rice feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a Sushi rice feeder set easy to disassemble and assemble, capable of easily cleaning (washing). SOLUTION: Each member directly contacts with Sushi rice such as a hopper part 2, a rolling part 3 and a stage part 5 is unitized in this Sushi rice feeder, and detachably attached to the device body 10 by means of a one-touch type holding means (snap on) 104, 105.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sushi rice feeding apparatus for feeding sushi rice in the form of a plate for making, for example, laver rolls. The present invention relates to a sushi rice supply device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to produce a large amount of seaweed rolls, various seaweed roll forming apparatuses have been proposed in which the manufacturing process of seaweed rolls is automated. One example is disclosed in JP-A-10-179.
No. 062. This molding device rolls sushi rice into a feeding means such as a hopper into a plate shape with a roller or the like, cuts it into a predetermined length using a cutter or the like, and then places it on a laver sheet with a conveying means such as a conveyor. By transporting and winding in a rod shape by a wrapping mechanism, the forming of the laver is automated.

[0003] Another example is a configuration in which sushi rice is simply supplied onto a laver sheet without using a wrapping mechanism, and when the sushi rice is supplied onto the laver sheet, an operator manually operates a tool or the like. It is also known that the pieces are lined up and wound into a bar shape using a makisu or the like.

[0004]

In any case, in this type of food manufacturing apparatus, for sanitary control, for example, at the end of a day's work, the apparatus is disassembled and its components are cleaned. However, the conventional apparatus has the following problems.

[0005] That is, in the above-mentioned laver winding forming apparatus, the hopper, the rolling section, the conveying section, the cutter and the like are the main components, but since these members are screwed to the apparatus body, Its disassembly and assembly is not easy.

Further, even when disassembled, each part is disassembled more finely than necessary, so that not only is it troublesome to clean the parts, but also small parts such as screws are lost during cleaning. Was sometimes done.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to disassemble and assemble easily by unitizing parts which come into contact with sushi rice. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive sushi rice supply device which can be easily cleaned and can be cleaned.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a hopper for feeding sushi rice while stirring it, and rolling the sushi rice fed from the hopper to form a plate having a predetermined thickness. Section, and a stage section on which sushi rice rolled by the rolling section is placed, and in a sushi rice supplying apparatus incorporating these members in an apparatus body having driving means, the hopper section, the rolling section and the Each member of the stage section is unitized, and is detachably attached to the apparatus main body by one-touch locking means.

The one-touch locking means is preferably a snap-lock which is easily available, is inexpensive and is widely used, but other one-touch locking means may be employed.

[0010] Even if the hopper is unitized, a hopper body formed in a funnel shape and a hopper table detachably attached to the lower portion of the hopper body are taken into consideration in terms of cleanability and workability of assembly. It is preferable that the unit can be disassembled into each unit member of the stirring shaft that is detachably supported in a substantially U-shaped bearing groove formed in the hopper base.

For the same reason, the rolling section includes a feed unit having two feed rollers supported in parallel on a first frame having bearing plates at both ends, and a second frame having bearing plates at both ends. A rolling unit that supports two rolling rollers so as to face the feed roller, and a pair of side plates that are disposed along both ends of each of the rollers and that define a conveying width of the sushi rice, the feed unit It is preferable to be able to be disassembled into each unit member of a guide unit detachably provided between the rolling unit and the rolling unit.

Further, according to the present invention, one of the feed unit and the rolling unit is driven by a driving means in the apparatus main body, and the sushi rice compact is discharged on the discharge side of the rolling section. A cutter for cutting can be provided, and according to this, the number of parts can be reduced.

[0013] A front panel may be further provided for the rolling section. In this case, it is preferable that the front panel is also locked to the apparatus main body by the one-touch locking means. According to this, it is possible to easily disassemble all of the rolling section simply by removing the front panel. it can.

[0014]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a sushi rice supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an assembled state.

The sushi rice supply device 1 includes an apparatus main body 10.
A hopper 2 detachably attached to an upper portion of the apparatus main body 10, and a rolling section which is detachably mounted inside the apparatus main body 10, and rolls sushi rice fed from the hopper 2 into a plate-like body having a predetermined thickness. 3, a cutter 4 for cutting the sushi rice rolled from the rolling section 3 into a predetermined length, and a stage section 5 on which the sushi rice from the rolling section 3 is placed.

The apparatus main body 10 has a metal casing made of, for example, stainless steel, and has a drive unit such as a motor (not shown) incorporated therein. An operation unit 101 for setting an initial position and the like of the stage unit 5 is provided on a side portion of the apparatus main body 10.

In the upper part of the apparatus main body 10, there is formed an inlet 102 for introducing sushi rice fed from the hopper 2 into the apparatus main body 10. On both sides of the upper part of the apparatus main body 10, snap locks 104, 104, which are one-touch locking means for locking the hopper 2, are provided, respectively. A drive gear 103 connected to a drive unit (not shown) is exposed on the upper front surface of the apparatus body 10.

An opening is formed in the front surface of the apparatus main body 10, and the rolling section 3 is inserted into the inside.
On both sides of the front surface thereof, snap-in locks 105, which are one-touch locking means for locking the inserted rolling portion 3, are provided.
105 is provided.

A mounting table 106 protrudes from the front side of the opening of the apparatus main body 10. U-shaped guide rails 107 are attached to both sides of the mounting table 106. The stage unit 5 is slidably inserted along the guide rails 107. This mounting table 10
A drive gear 108 connected to a drive unit (not shown) is exposed on the surface of the drive gear 6. The stage 5 is reciprocated by the drive gear 108.

At a position above the opening of the apparatus main body 10, a thickness adjusting section 109 for sushi rice to be formed is provided. The thickness adjusting section 109 can be rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the apparatus main body 10. That is, the thickness adjustment unit 10
Numeral 9 is rotatable by 90 degrees from the horizontal state shown in FIG. 1 so as to be substantially vertical in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 1 (see FIG. 2).

A substantially U-shaped gripping piece 109a is provided on the distal end side of the thickness adjusting section 109. Thickness adjustment unit 10
An adjustment knob 109b for adjusting the position of the gripping piece 109a is provided on the base side of 9. That is,
Although not shown, a feed screw shaft is attached to the adjustment knob 109b, and the gripping piece 109 is attached to the feed screw shaft.
The female screw on the a side is screwed.

The hopper 2 is made of a metal plate such as stainless steel, for example.
A stirrer 22 is provided for stirring the sushi rice charged therein, and a hopper table 23 for rotatably supporting the stirrer 22 is provided.

The hopper main body 21 has a mortar-shaped charging portion 210 formed at an upper portion thereof, and a lid 24 is detachably mounted on the charging portion 210. At both ends at the lower portion of the hopper main body 21, locking claws 211, 211 as mates with the above-described snap locks 104, 104 are provided, respectively.

In this embodiment, the stirring section 22 has three stirring shafts 22a to 22c. Gears 223a to 223a are provided at one end of each of these stirring shafts 22a to 22c.
223c are provided respectively. Further, each of the stirring shafts 22a to 22c is provided with three stirring arms 222 projecting in the radial direction at predetermined intervals in this embodiment.

The hopper base 23 is open at the top and is shaped to fit into the bottom opening of the hopper body 21. Semi-circular bearing grooves 23a to 23c are provided on both upper side edges of the hopper base 23, and both ends of the stirring shafts 22a to 22c are bridged in the bearing grooves 23a to 23c. It is.

On one side of the hopper base 23, there are three gears 231a corresponding to the gears 223a to 223c.
To 231c are provided. That is, the hopper 2
Is assembled, the gear 231a meshes with the gear 223a, and the gear 231b meshes with both of them as an intermediate gear between the gears 223a and 223b. Similarly, the gear 231c meshes with both of the gears 223b and 223c as an intermediate gear.

When the hopper 2 is placed on the apparatus main body 10, the gear 231a is driven by the drive gear 1 on the apparatus main body 10 side.
Meshes with 03. Therefore, the rotational driving force of the driving gear 103 is: gear 231a → gear 223a → gear 231b →
It is transmitted from gear 223b → gear 231c → gear 223c. The apparatus main body 10 is provided at the bottom of the hopper base 23.
An opening 232 communicating with the sushi rice introduction port 102 is formed.

The rolling unit 3 includes a rolling unit 31 for rolling sushi rice supplied from a hopper to a predetermined thickness, a feed unit 32 disposed opposite to the rolling unit 31,
The apparatus includes a guide unit 33 provided between the rolling unit 31 and the feed unit 32, and a front panel 34 which is attached to the apparatus main body 10 after these units are inserted into the apparatus main body 10.

Referring also to the cross-sectional view shown in FIG. 3, the rolling unit 31 includes a U-shaped frame 310 having bearing plates at both ends, and a spiral roller 311 and a rolling roller 313 are provided between the bearing plates. Are supported in parallel with each other.

In this embodiment, the spiral roller 311 is made of, for example, a synthetic resin material such as a fluororesin, and the spiral roller 311 has a spiral direction opposite to that of the spiral roller 311 from the center to both ends. A spiral groove is formed. One end of the spiral roller 311 has a spiral roller 31
1 is provided with a gear 312 for transmitting a rotational force.

In this embodiment, the rolling roller 3
Reference numeral 13 denotes a cylindrical body having a large number of rectangular irregularities formed at regular intervals on its outer peripheral surface, and a gear 314 to which a rotational force is transmitted is provided at one end. Frame 31
0 is provided with an intermediate gear 316 for connecting the gears 312 and 314 of the rollers 311 and 313, so that the rollers 311 and 313 are in the same direction, that is, both clockwise or counterclockwise. Rotate clockwise.

The frame 310 of the rolling unit 31 includes:
A rod 315 is attached so as to be parallel to each of the rollers 311 and 313. During assembly, the rod 315 is captured by the gripping piece 109a of the thickness adjusting unit 109.

The feed unit 32 also includes a U-shaped frame 320 having bearing plates at both ends. Between the bearing plates, a pair of cylindrical feed rollers 321 and 321 are provided with the spiral roller 311 and the rolling roller 313. It is supported to face. In this case, each feed roller 321, 3
It is preferable that the section 21 is formed in a gear shape in cross section, but it may be a simple cylindrical body, and its shape is not particularly limited.

Gears 322 and 322 for transmitting a rotational force are provided at one end of each of the feed rollers 321 and 321, respectively.
Are connected via an intermediate gear 323 provided in the main body.
Therefore, the feed rollers 321 and 321 rotate in the same direction. In addition, a bearing groove 325 for holding the rotating shaft of the spiral roller 311 is provided in an upper portion of the frame 320.

According to this embodiment, the cutter unit 4 for cutting sushi rice is provided at the front of the feed unit 32 (downstream in the sushi rice transport direction). For this reason,
Guide frames 40 for the cutter are provided on both sides of the frame 320 so as to protrude, respectively. In each of the guide frames 40, a guide groove 401 for slidably guiding the plate-shaped cutter body 42 is formed in a diagonal slit shape.

A drive arm 41 for driving the cutter body 42 is attached to the frame 320. Although FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view, the drive arm 41 is shown as a simple arm. However, in practice, the drive arm 41 is disposed along bearing plates on the left and right sides of the frame 320, and one end of each of the arms is connected to the arm. It is formed in a portal shape connected by a rod 410.

The drive arm 41 has a central portion pivotally supported by the rotation shaft of one of the feed rollers 321. The other end of the drive arm 41 (opposite to the arm rod 410) has the cutter body 42. A U-shaped engagement groove 411 that slidably engages the end is formed. Note that a rod 421 that engages with the engagement groove 411 is provided at an end of the cutter body 42.

The arm rod 410 of the drive arm 41 is
It is vertically driven by a drive unit (not shown) in the apparatus main body 10. As a result, the drive arm 41 swings about the rotation axis of the feed roller 321, and the cutter body 42 moves up and down along the guide groove 401 in accordance with the swing, and the plate-shaped rolled sushi rice is rolled in the rolling section 3. Disconnect.

The guide unit 33 has a guide frame 331 formed in a U-shape by bending both ends thereof in the same direction at right angles. Side plates 332 and 332 are attached to both wings of the guide frame 331. .

Each side plate 332 has a length extending from immediately below the sushi rice inlet 102 formed in the apparatus main body 10 to a portion below the rolling roller 313 of the rolling section 3. The width is substantially equal to the length of the feed roller 321, which defines the sushi rice conveyance width.

Also, at the lower ends of the side plates 332 and 332,
Escape grooves 333 and 333 cut out in a semicircular shape are formed. The clearance grooves 333 and 333 are provided in the thickness adjusting section 10.
In the case where the height of the rolling roller 313 is adjusted at 9 and the gap (thickness of sushi rice) between the rolling roller 313 and the feed roller 321 is set to a predetermined value, particularly, the thickness of the sushi rice is reduced. In this case, the rotation axis of the rolling roller 313 is
32 so as not to come into contact therewith.

The front panel 34 includes a panel body 341 made of a resin plate such as a transparent acrylic plate, and a pair of locking plates formed on the back side of the panel body 341 (the side facing the apparatus body 10). 342,342
And

The locking plates 342 and 342 are arranged along the guide frames 40 and 40 for the cutter protruding from the frame 320 of the rolling section 3, and close the upper part of the bearing groove 325, whereby the spiral roller 311 is formed. Of the rotating shaft from the bearing groove 325 is prevented. In addition, this locking plate 3
Reference numerals 42 and 342 contact the guide unit 33 to hold the guide unit 33 at a predetermined inclination angle.

At both ends of the panel main body 341, locking claws 343 and 343, which are mating members of the snap locks 105 and 105 on the front surface of the apparatus main body 10, are formed. That is, the front panel 34 is locked to the apparatus body 10 by the snap locks 105, 105, and the rolling unit 3 is also locked to the inside of the apparatus body 10 via the front panel 34.

The stage section 5 has a stage body 51 made of a plate made of a synthetic resin or the like which can be inserted along the guide rails 107 of the mounting table 106.
A laver guide 52 for positioning the laver (not shown) is provided above. A drive gear 10 provided on the apparatus body 10 side is provided on the back surface of the stage body 51.
A rack gear 53 that meshes with the rack gear 8 is provided.

As described above, in the present invention, each of the hopper section 2, the rolling section 3, and the stage section 5 is
And a hopper unit 2 in it.
And the rolling part 3 are provided with a snap-in lock 1 which is a one-touch locking means.
04 and 105 are detachable from the apparatus main body 10.
Further, since the rolling section 3 has the cutter section 4 incorporated therein, cleaning (washing) can be easily performed as a whole.

The sushi rice supply device 1 is assembled as follows. In the hopper section 2, three stirring shafts 22a to 22c are set on a hopper base 23, and the hopper main body 21 is put thereon and integrated. Then, the hopper 2 is placed on the apparatus main body 10 and the two snap locks 10
Fix at 4,104. At this time, the drive gear 103 meshes with the gear 231a of the hopper base 23.

In the rolling section 3, first, the side plates 332 and 332 of the guide unit 33 are inserted so as to enter between the bearing plate of the frame 320 of the feed unit 32 and the feed roller 321. At this time, the guide frame 33
1 is arranged above the upper feed roller 321 so that sushi rice does not spill from between the sushi rice inlet 102 of the apparatus main body 10 and the upper feed roller 321.

Next, the rolling unit 31 is incorporated. In other words, the rotation shaft of the spiral roller 311 located above is fitted to the bearing 325 formed on the frame 320 on the feed unit 32 side.

After integrating the rolling section 3 in this way,
The rolling section 3 is housed in the apparatus body 10. With this storage, the rollers and the cutter unit 4 are connected to a drive unit (not shown) in the apparatus main body 10.

Next, the thickness adjusting section 109 is rotated approximately 90 degrees counterclockwise in FIG. 1 to a vertical state as shown in FIG. 2, and the gripping piece 109a grips the rod 315 of the rolling unit 31 to adjust the thickness. By rotating the knob 109b, the gap between the rolling roller 313 and the feed roller 321 is adjusted (the thickness of sushi rice is adjusted).

Thereafter, the front panel 34 is attached to the front surface of the rolling section 3 and fixed with two snap locks 105, 105. As a result, the upper portions of the bearing grooves 325 and 325 are closed by the locking plates 342 and 342, so that the rotation shaft of the spiral roller 311 is prevented from falling off, and the locking plates 342 and 325 are prevented from falling.
The guide unit 33 is held at a predetermined inclination angle by 42. Finally, the stage unit 5 is set on the mounting table 106.

Next, the operation of the sushi rice supply apparatus 1 will be described with reference to a sectional view schematically showing the internal structure of FIG.
First, the sushi rice 6 put into the hopper section 2 is appropriately loosened by the stirring shafts 22a to 22c in the hopper table 23, passes through the opening section 232 of the hopper table 23, passes through the opening section 102 of the apparatus body 10, and then the apparatus body 10 is supplied.

In the apparatus main body 10, the sushi rice 6 is supplied to the guide frame 331 of the guide unit 33 and the side plate 32.
Rolling unit 31 and feed unit 3 along 2,322
2 and introduced. Then, after being stretched by the spiral roller 311 and the upper feed roller 321 so as to have a uniform thickness in the axial direction, it is rolled to a predetermined thickness by the rolling roller 313 and the lower feed roller 321.

The sushi rice 6 rolled to a predetermined thickness is extruded along a receiving plate 324 (see FIG. 3) provided at a lower portion of the feed unit 32, and after being extruded by a predetermined length,
It is cut by the cutter body 42. In parallel with this, the stage 51 slides from the left side to the right side in FIG. 4 by the drive gear 108, so that the sushi rice 6 cut to a predetermined length is set in advance on the laver guide 52, not shown. It is put on the laver sheet. Thereafter, in this embodiment, a tool or the like is manually placed on the sushi rice 6 to perform a winding operation.

According to the sushi rice supply apparatus 1, the snap locks 104 and 105 provided at two places of the apparatus main body 10 are provided.
Is released, the hopper section 2 and the rolling section 3 can be easily removed from the apparatus main body 10, so that the hopper section 2 and the rolling section 3 can be appropriately disassembled and easily cleaned (washed).

Although the last winding operation is performed manually in the above embodiment, an automatic winding unit may be employed. The present invention does not exclude the use of an automatic winding unit.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Each member of the hopper, rolling section and stage section where sushi rice is in direct contact with is unitized and detachable from the main body by one-touch locking means, so that it can be easily disassembled and assembled, and can be cleaned. An inexpensive sushi rice supply device having a simple configuration is provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a sushi rice supply apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the sushi rice supply device of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a rolling section incorporated in the sushi rice supply apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view schematically showing the internal structure of the sushi rice supply device of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 sushi rice supply device 10 device main body 101 operation unit 102 opening 103, 108 drive gear 104, 105 snap lock 106 mounting table 109 thickness adjustment unit 2 hopper 21 hopper body 210 input port 211 locking claw 22 stirring unit 22a, 22b, 22c Stirring shaft 23 Hopper table 232 Opening 3 Rolling unit 31 Rolling unit 311 Spiral roller 313 Rolling roller 32 Feed unit 321 Feed roller 33 Guide unit 331 Guide frame 332 Side plate 34 Front panel 4 Cutter unit 42 Cutter body 5 Stage unit 51 Stage 52 Nori Guide 53 Rack Gear 6 Sushi Rice

Claims (6)

[Claims] The sushi rice fed from the hopper is rolled and formed into a plate having a predetermined thickness by the hopper. A sushi rice feeding apparatus including a stage on which sushi rice is placed, and each of these members being incorporated into an apparatus main body having a driving means, wherein each member of the hopper, the rolling section, and the stage is formed as a unit. And a sushi rice supply device which is detachably attached to the device main body by one-touch type locking means. 2. The sushi rice supply device according to claim 1, wherein the one-touch locking means is a snap lock. 3. A hopper body formed in a funnel shape, a hopper table detachably attached to a lower portion of the hopper body, and a substantially U-shaped bearing groove formed in the hopper table. The sushi rice supply device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: a stirring shaft that is detachably supported on the shaft. 4. A rolling unit comprising: a first frame having bearing plates at both ends and a feed unit having two feed rollers supported in parallel; and a second frame having bearing plates at both ends facing the feed rollers. A rolling unit that supports two rolling rollers so as to include a pair of side plates that are disposed along both ends of each of the rollers and that define a conveying width of the sushi rice, and the feed unit and the rolling unit The sushi rice supply device according to claim 1, further comprising a guide unit detachably provided therebetween. 5. A cutter provided in one of the feed unit and the rolling unit, the cutter being driven by a driving means in the apparatus main body and cutting the sushi rice compact on the discharge side of the rolling section. The sushi rice supply device according to claim 4, which is provided. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a front panel is further provided in the rolling section, and the front panel is also locked to the apparatus main body by the one-touch locking means. The sushi rice supply device according to any one of the above.