JPH0889180A - Device for molding food - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain a device for eliminating a fear of dropping a different material and maintaining shape retention of a food by always bringing the device into contact with the outer periphery of the food during operation in the case of wrapping the outer periphery of a food material in a semisolid state in the different material and molding. CONSTITUTION: This device for molding a food is equipped with four arms 3 which are pivoted by a pivoting part 2 on the top and is fixed to ring-shaped side face belt 11 on the bottom, two top face belts 12 which are crossed at the upper part of the ring-shaped side face belt 11 and attached to the ring- shaped side face belt 11 at both the ends, a cylinder 6 which makes the arms 3 hold and release the outer peripheral side face of the food material and an air-tight chamber 14 lifts and lowers the arms 3 all at once and forms the top of the food material by the top face belt 12 when the arms 3 are connected at the center.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for molding foods, and in particular, the outer peripheral surface of a food material in the form of a semi-solid solution,
A food molding device as a single device used to manufacture foods that are wrapped by a material of a certain thickness and then molded into the entire shape in that state, for example, foods before fried croquette, one by one. , Or a food forming apparatus configured as a series of conveyor lines including these single devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Strictly speaking, as a conventional apparatus used for molding foods as described above, there is no such automatic apparatus because it is a manual process. However, if you want to mention something that is a little closer to this in function, there is an ice cream disher. As is well known, this is a scoop-shaped tool for scooping a certain amount of ice cream contained in a container and taking it out to the outside of the container.
The procedure for using this tool is to scrape off the part of the ice cream placed on the main body of the hemisphere straight out to secure a fixed amount, and then operate the reversing mechanism mounted on the grip to operate the hemisphere. This is a method of taking out the entire amount of ice cream in the main body to the outside of the main body. It is extremely effective when the food is a simple homogeneous product such as ice cream, because it is extremely easy and easy to operate, rarely fails, and is performed with peace of mind.

[0003]

As described above, when the material to be treated is a simple uniform substance such as ice cream, it can be treated by the above conventional apparatus, but the material to be treated is Consists of a composite composition, and in the case where a distribution state of the composite composition in a state of being completed as a food, particularly a distribution state in which a constant depth is maintained with respect to the depth from the surface is required, However, the conventional apparatus described above cannot perform the processing at all. In particular, the food to be the subject of the present invention, that is, the outer peripheral surface of a semi-solid solution food material, etc., is wrapped with a different material over a certain thickness, and then the entire shape is molded in that state and completed. In the case of food products, it is impossible to expect the desired results with the conventional device.

The present invention has been made in view of the current state of the art as described above. After enclosing the outer peripheral surface of a food material in the form of a semi-solid solution with a material of a certain thickness, the whole state is maintained in that state. In the case of food products that are shaped and completed, the operation of wrapping the foreign material on the entire peripheral surface, especially on the top surface of the material, is performed very naturally and reasonably, and the body is always in operation during the wrapping operation. As a work for achieving close contact between the material and the dissimilar material, thereby eliminating the risk of the dissimilar material peeling off from the main body material, and for strengthening the wrapping of the dissimilar material with the top surface portion of the material. , For example, by eliminating the need to press down with a solid material from above, thus preventing the shape of the food material from being flattened, and by constantly contacting the outer peripheral surface of the food during the food manufacturing operation And its object is to provide a molding apparatus of the food that can be achieved holding.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a food forming apparatus, which is formed as a series of conveyor lines with a plurality of single units for food processing, on the way of conveyor transportation from upstream to downstream. By interposing the food forming apparatus according to the present invention as a single device for food processing in the conveyor line, a food forming apparatus capable of achieving the object of the food forming apparatus according to the present invention as an object in the conveyor line is provided. It is to be realized.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the food forming apparatus of the present invention, in order to simultaneously perform the operation of clamping or releasing the outer peripheral side surface of the food material from the radial direction, A plurality of arms that are pivotally supported near each upper end by a pivotal support arranged in a ring shape, and the lower end is fastened at a substantially equal interval on one elastic lateral side band, A plurality of stretchable top strips that are bridged in a state of intersecting each other across the top surface of the circular region surrounded by the annular side strips, and both ends of which are attached to the annular side strip. , A power supply means for causing the plurality of arms to perform the operation on the outer peripheral side surface of the food material at the same time, the arm and an annular side surface band and a top surface band of the arm, and the power supply means Elevate all together Lifting and lowering control means that is provided to enable the work to be performed and to hold an arbitrary stop position, and the annular side surface that is provided at the lower end of the arm and moves toward the center to clamp the food material. With a claw provided with an inclined surface that generates a component force that pushes upward the food material scraped toward the center in cooperation with the belt, the top of the food material pushed upwards A plurality of top bands are stretched in tension to provide a configuration for shaping the top shape of the food material.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the annular lateral band is in a substantially natural state in which it is not subjected to a tensile force when the arm completes the movement toward the center to clamp the food material, and the arm is released. When it is opened in the direction of, it is in a state of being forcedly stretched against the pulling force in the contracting direction, while the top band moves toward the center for the arms to clamp the food material. Is completed, there is an excess in the length of the top band and there is a slack in the shape of a semicircle upward, and when the arm is opened in the direction of release, the excess part of the length is It is desirable that the respective lengths of the annular side surface band and the top surface band are set so as to be resolved and in a substantially natural state.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a food forming apparatus configured as a series of conveyor lines, which comprises a plurality of single units for food processing, on the way of conveyor transportation from the upstream side to the downstream side. The food forming apparatus described in 1 or 2 may be provided as a part of the single device.

[0009]

According to the apparatus of claim 1, for forming a croquette, which is an example of food, for example, a semi-finished croquette body is provided at a substantially central position of a container filled with bread crumbs to be attached to the outer peripheral surface of the croquette. A lump (one piece) of the material of the solid solution is placed and sprinkled with bread crumbs, whereby the bread crumbs are attached to the entire peripheral surface of the material. The container containing the material in this state is placed directly below the food forming device. Next, until a plurality of arms provided in the device are moved in the radiation direction by the power supply means, until the claws at the tips of the arms are positioned on the circumference capable of fully containing the entire material. Keep your arms outstretched. In this state, the raising / lowering control means capable of integrally raising / lowering the arm and the opening / closing power supply means for the arm is activated to push them down into the container below by a predetermined depth. The depth is such that the material placed in the center can be scooped up together with the bread crumbs attached to the bottom surface when all the arms are gathered toward the center as the next action. Due to this pushing down, the bread crumbs are cut into the material buried in the bread crumbs by the annular side band and the natural pressure from the upper portion by the top band acts to set the crumbs on the surface of the material.

Next, the arm opening / closing power supply means
After the ingredients wrapped in bread crumbs located in the center are sandwiched and the arms are gathered in a direction to hold them, the action of gathering the ingredients from the surroundings toward the center is performed, and then the state is maintained. Explaining the mode of action of the claw attached to the lower end of the arm at this time, when the arm moves toward the center to clamp the food material, the arm collides with the annular side band toward the center. Since the claw has an inclined surface for deriving the component force in the direction of pushing it upwards, the food material is appropriately molded to the side peripheral surface by the contraction force of the annular side band. At the same time, it is pushed upward by the inclined surface provided with the claw. As a result, the top of the food material pushes the plurality of top surface bands upward from the inside, and is moderately suppressed by the length of the top surface band and its elasticity, and together with the regulation of the total height of the food material, near the top. Is molded.

When the degree of tension of each of the annular side band and the top surface band is set as in claim 2, the annular side band is forcibly stretched when the arm is open. Because of the tension state, when the arm is lowered into the container below by the lifting control means, the operation of cutting the layer of bread crumbs can be performed effectively. On the other hand, when the arm is open, the top band is not in a slackened state but is in a natural state, not in a tension state due to the force, so when this is gently pressed from above onto the material, The external force that deforms the outer shape is not applied to the upper surface of the material, and the operation is such that the bread crumbs are lightly pressed against the peripheral surface of the material.

Next, when the arm moves toward the center, the forcible force is removed from the annular side band to return to the natural state, and the outer peripheral side surface of the food material is surrounded comfortably. It works especially well with the tip of the nail, especially on the side of food materials. On the other hand, in the top band, the arms gather toward the center, so naturally there is an extra length and there is a slack in the shape of a semicircle above,
Since the shape of the top of the food material is formed according to the shape of the slack of the top surface band, it is possible to form the food material into any shape including the height of the top.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, as to a series of conveyor lines having a plurality of sets of food processing single devices on the way of conveyor transportation from the upstream side to the downstream side. In order to provide the food forming apparatus as a part of the single device, a method of covering all the functions provided by the food forming apparatus of the present invention by installing a set of devices, and dividing the function, and dividing In some cases, a method of installing a plurality of sets of devices is adopted depending on the number. If one set of devices can cover all the necessary functions,
Although it is obvious that there is an advantage in terms of cost and space occupied by the apparatus, in the case of automatic work by a conveyor system, it is possible to use a plurality of sets of the same type of equipment and to perform a part of the function for each equipment. It is not uncommon for the system to handle each device as a single-function device to improve work efficiency.

The material forming apparatus for frying croquette by the conveyor line method, which will be taken as an example, also relates to the automatic apparatus of the above-mentioned method, that is, the method of using two sets of the same type equipment as a single-function apparatus.
Explaining this example, the bread crumbs are first supplied to the bread crumb container fed from the upstream side. In the next step, a block-shaped croquette material sorted into a certain amount is placed on a container filled with bread crumbs, and bread crumbs are attached to the upper surface of the croquette material in the next step. Next, there is a food molding apparatus of the present invention used to hold down food materials as a single device, and then the food molding apparatus of the present invention of the same type as that of the food molding apparatus is further installed, which is a croquette material. It is designed to be used as the final molding material. By arranging each of these individual devices along a series of intermittently operating conveyor lines, the croquette material forming operation can be performed continuously. The above devices are listed in the order in which they are arranged.

A) Bread crumb feeder b) Food material dividing machine c) Bread crumb feeder d) Food material pressing machine e) Food material molding machine Among the above, d) and e) are of the same type as described above. Among the functions that the device has, d) uses only the function of pressing food ingredients, while e)
Then, only the function of molding the food material is used, and the configuration is the same as that described in claim 1 or 2. However, when this is used as a single device on a conveyor line, such an arrangement method is adopted for the above reason. In this case, the food material pressing machine of d) causes the arms in the released state to be subjected only to the step of lowering it gently from the breaded material, and the food material molding machine of e), the light pressing step. The molding is performed by pressing the outer peripheral side surface in the centripetal direction subsequent to the above, and the height regulation of the top surface and molding near the top surface related thereto are performed.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a food product molding apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 6 show a food product forming apparatus as a single device. The cylindrical main body 1 has four pivotal support portions 2 arranged in a ring shape on the lower end peripheral surface. The vicinity of the upper end portion of the arm 3 is pivotally supported by the pin 2 by the pin 4 so that the arm 3 can turn around the arm 3. An upper end 5 of the arm 3 is sandwiched between a piston rod 7 of a cylinder 6 as a power supply means so as to reliably transmit power, and a claw 9 is provided at the other end (lower) 8. The claw 9 has an inclined surface 10 for contacting the outer peripheral surface of the food on the inside. The inclined surface 10 is for deriving a component force that guides the scraped food material in the upward direction when the arm 3 moves toward the center to clamp the food material.

The annular side band 11 is made by connecting a rubber-containing cloth band in a ring shape, and is attached to the inclined surface 10 of the claw 9 provided at the other end 8 of the arm 3 at four positions on the peripheral surface. It is worn. The sticking procedure for the length is that when the arms 3 gather toward the center, the annular side band 11 is in a substantially natural state with no tensile force acting, and the arms 3 are opened in the releasing direction. In this case, the tensioned state is forcibly stretched against the tensile force in the contracting direction. Crest 12
Consists of a cloth band containing rubber, and crosses the top surface of the circular area surrounded by the annular side surface band 11 to form two top surface bands 1.
2 and 12 are bridged in an intersecting state, and both ends of each are fastened to the annular side band 11. In this embodiment, the engagement position is shown as being on the annular side band 11 at the intermediate position between the adjacent claws 9, but may be engaged at the position of the claw 9. Further, the number of top bands 12 to be installed is not limited to two, and may be appropriately selected depending on the size of the food product or the width of the rubber-containing cloth band.

The outer cylinder 13 houses the main body 1 therein such that it can slide in the axial direction. Flange is provided on the inside of the lower end of the outer cylinder 13 and on the outside of the upper end of the main body 1 facing the outer cylinder 13 to form an airtight chamber 14 between the inner and outer wall surfaces sandwiched therebetween, and air pressure is introduced and controlled here. By this, the main body 1, the arm 3 attached thereto, and the annular side band 1
1, a lift control means for the top band 12, power supply means and the like. The outer cylinder 13 is fixed to the wall surface by a bracket 15. Although the number of arms 3 installed is four in the present embodiment, it goes without saying that the number is not limited to four.

Next, a description will be given of an operation mode in which the food forming apparatus shown in the figure performs an operation of forming a material before frying croquette as an example of the food material. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3 are a front view, a cross-sectional view, and a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in a state in which the arm 3 is released in the spreading direction. As shown in FIG. 2, in order to arrange the related positions of the two so that the container A containing the croquette material C is located directly below the food molding apparatus, the arms 3 and the like are lifted upward by the lifting control means. There is a need to do. In FIG. 2, the croquette material C is placed at the center position of the container A on the bread crumbs B stacked in a layer having a sufficient thickness, and the bread crumbs D carried from another place are further placed on the upper surface thereof. It is in a state of being covered with a predetermined thickness. The pressure air that has been introduced into the airtight chamber 14 as the lifting control means is discharged to the arm 3 that has been lifted here, and the arm 3 that is in the released state is predetermined in the layer of the bread crumbs B in the container A. To the depth of.

The predetermined depth is such that the bread crumbs attached to the bottom surface do not peel off the material C placed in the center when all the arms 3 are gathered toward the center as the next action. It is a depth that can be scooped up with bread crumbs. Further, the descending force is adjusted by the air pressure including the negative pressure in the airtight chamber 14, the spring loaded at the top of the main body 1 in the outer cylinder 13, and the weight of the lifting / lowering operation part below the main body 1. It Due to this descending, the material embedded in the bread crumbs is cut into the bread crumb adhesion region by the annular side band 11 and the top surface band 12 in the natural state is slightly pressed from the upper side to wrap all around the peripheral surface of the material C. The effect of stabilizing the bread crumbs on the surface of the material is performed.

Next, the opening / closing power supply means of the arm 3 is operated to gather the material wrapped in the crumbs located at the center in a direction to hold and hold the material, thereby moving the material from the surroundings to the center. After making the molding work gathered together, the state is maintained. The mode of action at that time is shown in FIG.
Shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. With this operation, the nail 9
The material 10 is pushed upward by the inclined surface 10 provided, and the top of the croquette material C pushes the top strip 12 upward from the inside. Therefore, the length of the top strip 12 and its elasticity cause the top to rise. It is appropriately suppressed, and the molding near the top is performed together with the regulation of the total height of the food material.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show a conveyor line type food forming apparatus which comprises a plurality of sets of unitary equipment for forming food during the conveyor transportation in the direction of the arrow from the upstream side to the downstream side. As an example of the apparatus, a croquette production line is shown, and an example equipped with the food forming apparatus of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 is shown as a single device provided on the way. Regarding the single equipment provided around the conveyor line, the bread crumb feeder a is the first one, which will be described in order from the upstream side to the downstream side. This is a device for replenishing the bread crumbs consumed and reduced to the bread crumb container A that is intermittently circulated along the line.

The next equipment is the food material dividing machine b.
Then, it is a device for cutting the constituent material of the croquette body into a predetermined size and placing it on the center position of the container A which has been carried. Next is a crumbing device c, which is a device for covering the top of the peripheral surface of the croquette material C, which is the last surface not having crumbs, with crumbs from above. Each of the two sets of single devices located on the downstream side is the food forming apparatus of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, and the upstream side is the food material pressing machine d and the downstream side is the food material depending on the function in charge. It is a molding machine e. The structures of the two sets of single devices are exactly the same, and the configuration and operation thereof have been described in detail with reference to FIGS. Further, regarding each function in charge, the food material pressing machine d lowers the arms in the released state from the top of the material sprinkled with bread crumbs and presses it from above with a moderate pressure to stably attach the bread crumbs to the periphery of the material. Only the process is performed, and the food material molding machine e performs molding by pressing from the outer peripheral side surface following the step of pressing from above and molding near the top including regulation of the height of the top surface related thereto. It was done like this.

In the above description of the embodiments, croquette is taken as an example of food and its molding is mainly performed, but it goes without saying that it is not limited to croquette. For example, a simple substance used for forming a semi-solid solution food in which the material to be treated is of a composite composition, and the material of the central portion and the material surrounding the peripheral surface are constituted under an occupied volume of an appropriate ratio. It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to all the food forming apparatuses configured as a machine or a series of conveyor lines including these single machines.

[0026]

Since the food forming apparatus of the present invention is constructed as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

1) In claim 1, when the outer peripheral surface such as a semi-solid solution food material is wrapped with a different material having a certain thickness, the operation of wrapping the main body material and the different material on the peripheral surface is extremely performed. Naturally, the process is performed in a reasonable state, and the main body material and the foreign material are always brought into close contact with each other during the wrapping operation, thereby eliminating the risk of the foreign material coming off the main body material. Further, since the packaging work of the foreign material is performed in a shape parallel to the molding work of the food material, an unreasonable external force is applied to the food material for the packaging work, and therefore the shape of the food material is flat. It is possible to carry out rational food forming work by eliminating such things as liquefaction.

2) According to claim 2, it is possible to meet any request regarding the size and shape of the outer peripheral side surface, the forming height, the shape of the top part, etc. when forming the food material, which contributes to the development of the food industry. However, it is big.

3) In claim 3, the operational effects of the food forming apparatus of claims 1 and 2 can be utilized as they are in a conveyor line type food forming apparatus, and the effects of 1) and 2) are exhibited. In addition, it is possible to divide the effect of the food forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 into a plurality of pieces, prepare a plurality of sets of the food forming apparatus, and operate each as a single-function machine corresponding to one of the divided effects. As a result, it is possible to further exert the effect of improving the production efficiency in the conveyor line type mass production system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a food product forming apparatus according to the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a front view in a different aspect of FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VV of FIG.

6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of an embodiment of a food forming device in which the device of the present invention is provided as a single device in the middle of a conveyor line.

8 is a front view of the food product forming apparatus of FIG. 7. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 a bread crumb feeding device b food material dividing machine c bread crumbing device d food material pressing machine e food material molding machine 1 main body 2 pivotal support 3 arm 4 pin 5 one end 6 cylinder 7 piston rod 8 other end 9 claw 10 inclined surface 11 annular side surface Obi 12 top obi 13 outer cylinder 14 airtight chamber

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A peripheral portion of each food material is pivotally supported near the upper end thereof by elastically arranged pivotal portions for simultaneously clamping or releasing the outer peripheral side surface from the radial direction, and the lower end portion is elastic. A plurality of arms that are fixed on one annular lateral band at approximately equal intervals, and are bridged across each other across the top surface of the circular region surrounded by the annular lateral band. , A plurality of elastic top belts, both ends of which are both attached to the annular side belt, and the plurality of arms to perform the operation on the outer peripheral side surface of the food material at the same time. Power supply means, the arm, an annular side band and a top band provided on the arm,
Elevating control means for integrally raising and lowering all of the power supply means and capable of holding an arbitrary stop position, and an arm provided at the lower end of the arm for gripping food material When moving toward the center in order to provide a claw with an inclined surface for deriving a component force that pushes upward the food material scraped toward the center in cooperation with the annular side band, A food forming apparatus, wherein the top bands of the food material pushed upwards stretch the plurality of top surface bands in a tensioned state to form the shape of the top of the food material. 2. The annular lateral band is in a substantially natural state in which it is not subjected to a tensile force when the arm completes the movement toward the center to clamp the food material, and the arm is opened in the releasing direction. When it is, it is in a state of being forcibly stretched against the tensile force in the contraction direction, while the top band is
When the arm completes the movement toward the center to clamp the food material, there is a margin in the length of the top band and there is a slack in the upper part of the semicircle, and the arm is released. The respective lengths of the annular side surface band and the top surface band are set such that the excess portion of the length is eliminated and the state is in a substantially natural state when opened in a direction. Food forming equipment. 3. The food forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a food forming apparatus configured as a series of conveyor lines is provided with a plurality of sets of single units for food processing during the conveyor transportation from the upstream side to the downstream side. An apparatus for forming food, comprising a food forming apparatus as a part of the single device.