JP2010125355A - Rice polisher - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To polish rice efficiently in a short time with low possibilities of breaking of brown rice and damage by the polishing basket. <P>SOLUTION: A rice polisher includes a body case 10, a container 18, a polishing basket 84, a rotation shaft 16 and a stirring implement 52. The stirring implement 52 includes a holder portion 40 fixed to the rotation shaft 16, a horizontal plate portion 54 extending, outward and horizontally in the form of a flat plate, from the holder portion 40, and a blade portion 56 formed close to the outer periphery of the horizontal plate portion 54, with the front face C of the blade portion 56 directing the rotation direction being bent obliquely upward. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a small rice mill for home use that removes rice bran grains such as brown rice to make white rice.

  White rice that has been polished (and therefore has lost its koji) has a problem in that the koji adhering to its surface oxidizes over time and lowers the taste. It is known that this problem can be solved by storing the brown rice as it is and cooking the rice just before cooking. Therefore, a small rice mill for home use has been proposed so that brown rice can be easily milled at home.

Patent 2963889 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-197521) JP 2001-259443 A JP 2008-229558 A

  In Patent Document 1, a plurality of propeller blades extending in the radial direction fixed to a rotating shaft are used to stir brown rice to give centrifugal force to the brown rice and scrape the rice cake by rubbing the rice against the inner surface of the polished rice basket. Is shown (such as paragraph 0031).

  Patent Document 2 solves the drawbacks of Patent Document 1. That is, in the thing of this patent document 1, there exists a problem that a wing | blade (especially leading edge of a wing | blade) collides violently with brown rice, rice is chipped or cracked, and a germ with high nutritional value is removed from brown rice. If the rotation speed of the blades is reduced to avoid the problem, the problem arises that the rice milling time becomes longer. Therefore, in this Patent Document 2, instead of a propeller-shaped blade, a blade is provided on a disk fixed to a rotating shaft, thereby reducing the rotational speed difference between the brown rice and the blade and reducing the impact at the time of collision. It has been proposed to prevent chipping and cracking of rice, to polish rice by rubbing between brown rice, and to rub brown rice to a polished rice basket by centrifugal force and then to polish rice by friction at this time (paragraphs 0004 to 0007, etc.).

  Patent Document 3 discloses that a rod having a circular cross section is used instead of the blade in order to prevent the blade from violently colliding with the brown rice and missing or breaking the brown rice.

  In Patent Document 1, as described above, there is a problem that the blades violently collide with the brown rice and lack or break rice grains. In the case of Patent Document 2, brown rice is placed on a disk and rotated, so that a strong centrifugal force acts on the brown rice, and the centrifugal force strongly rubs the milled rice basket. For this reason, there is a problem that brown rice is easily damaged by the polished rice basket. In the thing of patent document 3, although the rod orthogonal to a rotating shaft is rotated with a rotating shaft, the up-and-down movement amount of the brown rice at this time is slight, and there exists a problem that rice milling takes a long time.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and is less likely to lack or break brown rice (rice before the milled rice), less likely to damage the rice grains with the polished rice basket, and efficiently polished rice in a short time. The purpose is to provide a rice milling machine that can be used.

  According to the present invention, the object is to provide a main body case incorporating an electric motor, a container placed on the main body case, a substantially bottomed cylindrical rice mill accommodated in the container, and an upper side from the main body case. In a rice mill provided with a rotating shaft that protrudes into the container and the rice mill and is driven to rotate by the electric motor, and a stirrer that is fixed to the rotating shaft and stirs the rice for milling that is contained in the rice mill The stirrer is formed on a holder portion fixed to the rotating shaft, a horizontal plate portion extending horizontally and flatly outward from the holder portion, and formed in the vicinity of the outer periphery of the horizontal plate portion and oriented in the rotation direction. It is achieved by a rice milling machine characterized in that the front surface is provided with a blade part bent obliquely upward.

  According to this invention, the horizontal plate part of the stirring tool hardly contributes to the movement of the brown rice, and the blade part near the outer peripheral end mainly moves the brown rice. Since the blade portion is located near the outer periphery of the horizontal plate portion, the front surface pushes up the brown rice near the inner peripheral surface of the polished rice basket upward. For this reason, with the rotation of the stirring tool, the flow of the brown rice becomes almost donut-shaped along the inner peripheral surface of the polished rice basket, so that it rises from the outer periphery of this donut shape and twists toward the inner periphery (rotating shaft side). To flow. Here, since the blade portion is near the outer periphery, the brown rice smoothly flows downward near the inner periphery of the donut shape. For this reason, the smooth flow which twists along the donut shape of brown rice arises, and the friction of brown rice is promoted.

  Thus, the friction between the rice grains is promoted, and the polished rice basket rubs with an appropriate contact pressure that is not excessive. As a result, chipping and cracking of brown rice are less likely to occur, and rice milling can be performed efficiently.

  The blade portion may be formed such that the front surface thereof is inclined obliquely in both the rotation direction and the rotation shaft side (claim 2). In this case, the centrifugal force acting on the brown rice, that is, the friction force by which the brown rice is rubbed against the polished rice basket can be changed according to the angle directed to the rotating shaft side. That is, if the angle at which the blade portion is twisted (twisted) toward the rotating shaft is increased, the force that the blade portion guides toward the rotating shaft increases, and this force reduces the centrifugal force.

  The blade portion may be a separate member from the horizontal plate portion, but may be combined with each other, but if both are formed integrally, the processing is simplified. In this case, the blade part has a folded surface in which the outer peripheral side of the blade part is folded obliquely upward with an obtuse angle substantially along a straight line (folding line) preceding the inner peripheral side in the rotation direction of the rotation shaft. (Claim 3). The horizontal flat plate portion may be a disk, and a separate blade portion may be fixed to the vicinity of the outer periphery, or the blade portion may be folded up by providing a cut in the disk.

  The horizontal flat plate portion is formed so as to extend in a substantially spiral shape in the counter-rotating direction from the holder portion (that is, from the center side) toward the outer peripheral side, and gradually decreases in width, and the portion including the outer peripheral end is folded up. It is good also as a blade | wing part (Claim 4).

  A plurality of blade portions may be provided. The plurality of blade portions may be provided near the lower end of the holder portion, that is, at a position close to the polished rice basket. However, it is preferable that the holder portions are provided at different heights and separated in the circumferential direction. In this case, the brown rice pushed up by the lower blade part is pushed higher by the upper blade part, so that the donut-like flow of the brown rice becomes thicker up and down. For this reason, effective use of the space in the polished rice basket further promotes the friction between the brown rice comrades and increases the effect of the polished rice.

  A pair of blade portions may be provided symmetrically about the rotation axis in plan view (as viewed from the direction along the rotation axis). In this case, since the weight balance around the rotation axis of the stirring tool can be equalized, the rotation becomes smooth.

  1 is a perspective view of a household food processor to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of its constituent members, FIG. 3 is a front view of a stirrer, FIG. 4 is a plan view, and FIG. Similarly, the right side view and FIG. 6 are the same perspective views. FIG. 7 is a front view showing a part of the vicinity of the attaching portion of the stirring tool, FIG. 8 is a diagram for schematically explaining the doughnut-shaped flow of brown rice, and FIGS. 9 and 10 show the food processor as a rice mill. It is explanatory drawing of the usage method in the case of using.

  1 and 2, reference numeral 10 denotes a main body case. The main body case 10 has a substantially elliptical shape in plan view, and has a container base portion 12 that is substantially circular in plan view and a motor housing portion 14 that rises from one side thereof. A rotating shaft 16 stands on the center of the container base 12. The rotation of the electric motor (not shown) accommodated in the motor accommodating portion 14 is reduced and transmitted to the rotating shaft 16.

  Reference numeral 18 denotes a transparent glass container having a substantially bottomed cylindrical shape. One handle 20 is integrally formed on the outer periphery thereof. As shown in FIG. 7, a resin guide tube 22 penetrates through the center of the bottom of the container 18. That is, the lower end of the guide tube 22 is expanded in a flange shape, and the lower end 24 of the flange shape is engaged with a circular opening 26 formed in the container 18 from above, while a cylindrical tightening member is inserted into the circular opening 26 from below. 28 is inserted and screwed into the inner surface of the guide tube 22. That is, the male screw portion of the tightening member 28 is screwed into the female screw portion on the guide tube 22 side. The guide cylinder 22 is fixed to the container 18 by sandwiching the edge of the circular opening 26 of the container 18 between the lower end 24 of the guide cylinder 22 and the fastening member 28.

  The container 18 is placed on the container base 12 of the main body case 10. At this time, the rotating shaft 16 enters the guide tube 22. Further, a seat portion 30 formed of an annular protrusion is formed on the bottom surface of the container 18. The inner peripheral edge of the seat 30 is engaged with eight protrusions 32 (FIGS. 2 and 7) that are arranged in a circle on the upper surface of the container base 12 to position the container 18. Further, four protrusions 34 (FIG. 7) protrude from the inner peripheral surface of the seat 30 at intervals of 90 °. These protrusions 34 engage with the protrusions 32 on the container base 12 side to restrict the rotation of the container 18.

  Reference numeral 38 denotes a slice cutter. The slice cutter 38 has substantially the same structure as the agitator 52 described later, and both are different in that the former cutter blade 42 is a stirring blade in the latter. Since the other parts have substantially the same structure, the structure of the slice cutter 38 will be described below with reference to FIG. The slice cutter 38 has a holder portion 40 that is covered from above by the guide tube 22 fixed to the container 18, and a pair of cutter blades 42 fixed to the lower portion of the holder portion 40.

  The holder portion 40 has a cylindrical shape with a closed upper portion, and a small-diameter cylindrical portion 44 that descends concentrically from above is integrally formed therein. The rotating shaft 16 enters the small diameter cylindrical portion 44 when the holder portion 40 is put on the guide tube 22. The upper portion of the rotary shaft 16 and the small diameter cylindrical portion 44 are coupled by the chuck portion 46. The chuck portion 46 can be released from the coupling by picking up a knob 48 integrally provided at the upper end of the holder portion 40 and lifting it. That is, the chuck portion 46 is engaged only in the rotational direction and can be freely attached and detached in the vertical direction.

  An annular enlarged diameter portion 50 is formed at the lower portion of the holder portion 40, and a pair of upper and lower cutter blades 42, 42 are fixed to the upper and lower surfaces of the enlarged diameter portion 50. The pair of cutter blades 42 is a horizontal plate shape extending outward from the annular portion fixed to the enlarged diameter portion 50 in a substantially spiral shape, and the two cutter blades 42 and 42 are at different heights and in plan view (rotation axis) 16 (seen from the longitudinal direction). The edge on the outer peripheral side of the cutter blade 42 is a blade for cutting vegetables and the like.

  52 is a stirrer used in the present invention. The stirrer 52 is obtained by replacing the cutter blade 42 of the slice cutter 38 with a horizontal plate portion 54 and a blade portion 56. That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, the horizontal plate portion 54 extends substantially in a spiral shape in the counter-rotating direction from the upper and lower surfaces of the enlarged diameter portion 50 of the holder portion 40 toward the outer peripheral side, and gradually becomes narrower. It is formed as follows. The blade portion 56 is formed integrally with the horizontal plate portion 54 by bending the outer peripheral end side (a portion including the outer peripheral end) of the horizontal plate portion 54 obliquely upward.

  Here, the blade portion 56 is obtained by bending the front surface C directed in the rotation direction (the direction of arrow A in FIG. 4) obliquely upward while directing the rotation shaft 16 side. For example, the front surface C of the blade portion 56 has a rotation direction A and an obtuse angle θ (see FIG. 5) with a straight line B (FIG. 4) in which the outer peripheral side of the blade portion 56 precedes the rotation direction A as compared with the inner peripheral side. It is assumed that it is folded upward so as to form

  Short auxiliary blades 58, 58 that precede the blade portion 56 in the rotation direction A are integrally formed on the outer periphery of the enlarged diameter portion 50 of the holder portion 40. The auxiliary blade 56 extrudes the brown rice staying on the outer periphery of the enlarged diameter portion 50 during rice milling in the outer peripheral direction and guides it to the blade portion 56 to smooth the entire convection of the brown rice.

  Further, the rotating shaft side of the upper and lower horizontal plate portions 54 is formed in an annular shape along the upper surface and the lower surface of the enlarged diameter portion 50. These horizontal plate portions 54 and 54 are fixed by a plurality of rivets 60 that penetrate the enlarged diameter portion 50. That is, the rivet 60 is inserted from the upper horizontal plate portion 54, and the rivet head is locked to the upper horizontal plate portion 54, while its tip (lower end) is passed through the lower horizontal plate portion 54 to crush the tip. The projection 62 has a smooth and curved surface (FIG. 7). This protrusion 62 abuts on the upper surface of a rice mill 84, which will be described later, and enables the agitator 52 to slide smoothly.

  1 and 2, 64 is a transparent resin container lid. The container lid 64 is fitted into the upper opening of the container 18, and closes the container 18 when the food processor is used to prevent the food from being scattered. The container lid 64 is integrally formed so that the food material inlet 66 protrudes upward from a position eccentric from the center. A push rod 68 (FIGS. 1, 2, 9, and 10) into which the food material is put and pushed can be inserted from above.

  A switch plate 69 is formed on the outer periphery of the container lid 64 so as to protrude outward in a tongue shape. Two plate-like protrusions 70 (FIG. 2) are formed on the lower surface of the switch plate 69. These protrusions 70 are provided with power switches 72 and 72 (FIGS. 2, 9, and 10) provided on the upper surface of the motor housing portion 14 of the main body case 10 when the container 18 is set on the main body case 10 and the container lid 64 is fitted. ). Then, by pushing down the switch plate 69, the projections 70, 70 turn on the power switches 72, 72, and the motor can be started. If the pressing force of the switch plate 69 is weakened, the power switch 72 pushes up the protrusion 70 and the power switch 72 is turned off.

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 74 denotes a grater cutter, which is used when the food is grated. Different grater blades are formed on both surfaces of the grater cutter 74 and are fixed to the rotary shaft 16 using a shaft 76 and a screw 78. That is, the shaft 76 is inserted into the guide tube 22 of the container 18 from above and fixed to the rotary shaft 16, and the screw 78 is screwed onto the shaft 76 with the square hole of the lowering cutter 74 engaged with the upper surface of the shaft 76. Insert and tighten. As a result, the lowering cutter 74 rotates integrally with the rotating shaft 16. After the cutter 74 and the screw 78 are attached in advance to the shaft 76, the shaft 76 may be engaged with the rotary shaft 16.

  In addition, since the foodstuffs, such as a radish to grind, are thrown in from the insertion port 66, and are pushed in with the pushing rod 68, the grate cutter 74 is easy to incline. Therefore, a hole 80 concentric with the rotary shaft 16 is formed in the upper portion of the screw 78, and a mandrel 82 formed in the hole 80 is provided at the center of the container lid 64, and the mandrel 82 prevents eccentricity of the lowering cutter 74 and the shaft 76. Yes.

  In FIG. 2, 84 is a polished rice basket. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, the polished rice basket 84 is formed by drawing the bottom of a substantially cylindrical metal mesh 86 toward the inner diameter side and sandwiching it between upper and lower metal plates 88, 90. A flange 92 that expands outward is joined to the edge. Here, a metal tube 94 is joined to the center of the upper metal plate 88, and the metal tube 94 enters between the guide tube 22 of the container 18 and the holder portion 40 of the stirring tool 52.

  Further, the lower metal plate 90 is folded downward in a flange shape at the center side. The folded-back flange 96 is a recess 98 in which two symmetrical positions are cut out, while the flange-like lower end 24 of the guide tube 22 is formed with two projections 100 projecting radially outward. (See FIG. 9A). When the concave portions 98 of the lower metal plate 90 are engaged with these protrusions 100, the rotation of the milled rice basket 84 is restricted.

  The flange 92 at the upper edge of the polished rice basket 84 has an outer diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the container 18, and its height is lower than the upper edge of the container 18 as shown in FIG. For this reason, the polished rice basket 84 is accommodated inside the container 18 in a state in which the lateral play is sufficiently small. At this time, a space 102 for collecting rice bran is formed between the polished rice basket 84 and the container 18. The container lid 64 is formed with a cylindrical portion 104 that engages with the inner surface of the opening of the container 18 (FIG. 3). The cylindrical portion 104 abuts on the flange 92 of the polished rice basket 84 when the container lid 64 is attached, and regulates the vertical movement of the polished rice basket 84.

  Next, how to use this food processor will be described. When cutting foods such as vegetables using this food processor, a knife cutter 38 shown in FIG. 2 is used. That is, the container 18 is placed on the container base 12 of the main body case 10, and the holder 48 is covered with the knob 48 of the knife cutter 38 on the guide cylinder 22. At this time, the rotary shaft 16 enters the small diameter cylindrical portion 44 of the holder portion 40, and both are coupled by the chuck 46.

  The container lid 64 is fitted to the container 18, and the protrusion 70 of the switch plate 69 is aligned with the switch 72 on the main body case 10 side. Then, the food material cut in an appropriate size is introduced from the food material inlet 66, and the food plate is pushed in by the push rod 68 and the switch plate 69 is pushed down. Rotates. As a result, the food material is finely cut by the cutter blade 42 of the knife cutter 38. When the cutting is finished, the container lid 64 is removed, the knife cutter 38 is removed, and the processed food material accumulated in the container 18 may be transferred to another container.

  When the radish or the like is taken down using this food processor, a grated cutter 74 shown in FIG. For this purpose, the shaft 76 is inserted into the guide tube 22 of the container 18 to be engaged with the rotary shaft 16, the square hole of the lowering cutter 74 is engaged with the upper end of the shaft 76, and then the screw 78 is attached. Tighten to shaft 76. Then, the container lid 64 is covered and the mandrel 82 at the center of the inner surface is engaged with the hole 80 of the screw 78.

  In this state, food such as radish cut to an appropriate size may be introduced from the insertion port 66, and the switch plate 69 may be pushed downward while being pushed by the pushing rod 68. The ingredients are grated by the grated cutter 74 and accumulated in the container 18. When an appropriate amount of grated processing is completed, the container lid 64 is removed, and the screw 78, the grated cutter 74, and the shaft 76 are integrally extracted from the rotating shaft 16, and then the grated food in the container 18 is transferred to another container. .

  Next, the case where this food processor is used as a rice mill will be described with reference to FIGS. In this case, the polished rice basket 84 is set in the container 18 placed on the main body case 10 (A in FIG. 9). At this time, the concave portion 98 provided on the metal plate 90 under the polished rice basket 84 is engaged with the protrusion 100 provided on the flange 24 of the guide cylinder 22 of the container 18 to restrict the rotation of the polished rice basket 84.

  Then, the stirrer 52 is put on the metal cylinder 94 of the polished rice basket 84, and the rotary shaft 16 is inserted into the small diameter cylindrical portion 44, and both are coupled by the chuck 46 (B in FIG. 9). Then, an appropriate amount of brown rice (rice before milling) is put into the container 18 (C in FIG. 9), or the cover lid 64 is put on, and then the brown rice is introduced from the inlet 66. After the push-in rod 68 is inserted into the input port 66 to close the input port 66, the switch plate 69 is pressed to start the electric motor (A in FIG. 10).

  The agitator 52 is rotated clockwise (in the direction of arrow A) in FIG. By this rotation, the brown rice in the container 18 is guided to the front surface C of the blade portion 56 and flows upward. At this time, since the brown rice moves in the same direction as the blades 56 rotate, centrifugal force acts on the brown rice. For this reason, the inner surface of the polished rice basket 84 is rubbed while the brown rice moves upward.

  Since the brown rice is fed in the rotational direction behind the blade portion 56 due to the rotation of the blade portion 56, the brown rice is convected while twisting as a whole in a donut shape as shown in FIG. That is, the brown rice pushed up by the rotation of the blades 56 convects while twisting so as to descend from the upper part of the donut shape and return to the lower part. The arrows D in FIGS. 8, 4 and 5 indicate this convection.

  At this time, since the stirrer 52 has two horizontal plate portions 54 and blade portions 56 at different heights, the brown rice transferred upward by the lower blade portion 56 is further transferred upward by the upper blade portion 56. become. That is, since brown rice is sent upward in two stages, the donut-shaped flow formed along the inner peripheral surface of the polished rice basket 84 becomes thicker in the vertical direction. For this reason, the friction of rice comrades accompanying the up-and-down movement of brown rice increases, and rice milling is promoted.

  Due to the flow (convection) of the brown rice, the straw is dropped due to the friction of the rice grains, and the rice bran is rubbed against the wire mesh 86 of the polished rice basket 84 to drop the straw. The dropped traps gather through the wire mesh 86 in the space 102 between the containers 18. In brown rice that is forced against the milled rice basket 84 with a strong force by centrifugal force or rotating blades (see the prior art), the rice grains are mechanically shaved and the koji is forcibly scraped off. According to the embodiment, the rice cake is dropped by natural convection that twists into a donut shape that is pushed up outside and then flows inward, so that the rice cake is gently and softly dropped, resulting in breakage and cracking of rice grains. It becomes difficult to do.

  When the cocoon falls, the container lid 64 and the pushing bar 68 are removed, and the polished rice basket 84 is pulled up from the container 18 (B in FIG. 10). Then, after removing the stirring tool 52, the polished white rice in the polished rice basket 84 may be transferred to another container 106 (C in FIG. 10).

Food processor perspective view Exploded perspective view of members used Front view of stirring tool Top view of stirrer Front view of stirring tool Top view of stirrer Front view showing a partially cross-sectional view of the stirrer assembly Diagram for explaining donut-shaped convection in brown rice Illustration of how to use as a rice mill Illustration of how to use as a rice mill

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main body case 12 Container stand part 16 Rotating shaft 18 Container 22 Guide cylinder 38 Knife cutter 40 Holder part 44 Small-diameter cylindrical part 52 Stirrer 54 Horizontal flat plate part 56 Blade part 64 Container lid 84 Rice basket A A arrow indicating a rotation direction B Bending line C Front of the blade (folded surface)
D Arrow indicating convection of brown rice

Claims (6)

A body case with a built-in electric motor,
A container placed on the main body case;
A substantially bottomed cylindrical rice basket accommodated in this container,
A rotating shaft that protrudes upward from the main body case and penetrates the container and the polished rice basket and is driven to rotate by the electric motor;
In a rice mill comprising a stirrer that stirs rice for rice milling fixed to the rotating shaft and contained in the rice milling basket,
The stirrer includes a holder part fixed to the rotating shaft, a horizontal plate part that extends horizontally and flatly from the holder part, and
A rice milling machine comprising: a blade portion formed near the outer periphery of the horizontal plate portion and having a front surface oriented in the rotational direction and bent obliquely upward.   2. The rice milling machine according to claim 1, wherein the front surface of the blade portion is oriented obliquely in the rotational direction and the rotational shaft side.   The blade part is formed integrally with the horizontal plate part, and the outer peripheral side of this blade part is folded obliquely upward so that it is substantially along the straight line preceding the rotation direction of the rotation shaft and makes an obtuse angle with the rotation direction than the inner peripheral side. 2. The rice milling machine of claim 1 having a raised surface that is raised.   The horizontal flat plate portion is formed in a spiral shape extending in a counter-rotating direction from the holder portion toward the outer peripheral side and gradually narrowing, and is a blade portion in which a portion including the outer peripheral end is folded up. The rice milling machine according to claim 3.   The rice milling machine according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of blade portions are provided at the holder portion at different heights and separated in the circumferential direction.   6. The rice milling machine according to claim 5, wherein a pair of blade portions are provided symmetrically about the rotation axis in plan view.

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