US2309133A - Apparatus for and methods of molding frozen comestibles - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 26, 1943. B. H. MOORE 2,309,133-

APPARATUS FOR AND METHODS OF MOLDING FROZEN COMESTIBLES Filed Aug. '7, 1940 1 g x I n INVENTOR. BARTRAM H. Mame:

Patented Jan. 26, 1943 UNITED STATES 1*? OFFICE APPARATUS FOR AND METHODS OF MOLD- ING FROZEN COMESTIBLES My invention is an improved apparatus and method for molding, from ice cream or other frozen comestible, a hollow brick or shell, with perfect end surfaces, directly in a vendible carton having a closure at one end and at the other end an open mouth adapted to be capped with a detachable closure.

The cavity or recess formed in the brick has an open mouth at the open end of the carton so that a comestible filler, such as contrasting ice cream, ice sherbet, nuts or fruits, may be poured into the hollow shell at the same end of the carton into which was poured the frozen comestible forming the shell.

My invention obviates any need to invert the carton for the introduction of either the outer layer or the filler of the brick. The composite brick may be marketed to the consumer in the original carton in which it was moulded without the handling and waste incident to the present practice of initially forming a hollow shell in an inverted open ended metal casing and subsequently transferring such shell to a paper carton.

In accordance with my invention, a paper carton of usual type and preferably having a permanently closed end, is partially filled with a soft or partially frozen comestible. There is then inserted in the fictile comestible a chilled hollow mold-core having a closed bottom and a displacement such that its insertion causes the level of the contents of the carton to rise to the top thereof and against the under surface of a mold disk surrounding the top of the core and adapted to temporarily cap the carton. disk contains vents for the egress of air and excess comestible and is surrounded by a rim forming a collar, which engages the periphery of the carton, and an annular lip projecting above the disk and forming therewith a basin preventing any overflow onto the exterior surface of the carton.

The carton thus filled and capped is placed in a refrigerant or hardening room until the contents are frozen hard and frost-bonded to the metal surfaces of the mold members in contact therewith. The freezing generally results in fur- .ther expansion of the comestible and extrusion of portions thereof through the disk vents. To loosen the frost-bond between the mold and frozen shell, water may be flowed over the exposed surfaces of basin and core without marring the outer surface of the carton. The mold may then be readily turned relatively to the carton to cut off any lumps projecting through the Such vents and permit the mold to be withdrawn from the carton without marring of the surface of the comestible.

The cavity left in the brick may be filled with any desired filler, which may, if desired, be frozen in place to facilitate slicing and serving of the composite brick.

The characteristic features and advantages of my improvements will further appear from the following description and the accompanying drawing in illustration thereof.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a side elevation, with parts broken away, showing my improved mold partially displacing the fictile contents of a carton; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing my improved mold in a carton and taken on the line 22 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 3 is a top plan view, with parts broken away, of the mold and carton shown in Fig. 2.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawing, soft ice cream I is poured directly from a freezer into a usual type of cylindrical carton 2 which may be lined with a removable wax paper liner, if desired. When the carton has been partially filled, the semi-solid mix therein is partially displaced by the insertion of an inner mold-core of any desired shape or cross section and consisting in the embodiment illustrated of a hollow tube 3 having its bottom end closed by a disk 4. The open upper end of the tube is surrounded by a disk 5 which may be formed integrally therewith or attached thereto by soldering, welding, or the like. The disk 5 contains apertures or vents 6 and is surrounded by a rim forming a lip 'l projecting wardly above the disk 5 and a collar 8 projecting downwardly from the disk 5 and closely encircling the top of the periphery of the carton 2. Preferably the tube 3 is substantially the length of the chamber of the carton, but the tube may be made of lesser length when it is desired that the bottom of the recess formed by the tube be closed by a wall of ice cream of substantial thickness.

Preferably the carton Was initially filled so full that the volume of the open space remaining therein approximated the volume or displacement of the tube 3, so that when the tube is fully inserted in the carton and the collar 8 is telescoped over the exterior surface of the carton, the contents of the carton are caused to rise sufficiently to engage the inner face of the disk 5; any excess being extruded through the vents 6. After the contents of the carton are well frozen, water is poured in the basin and well formed by the lip 1, disk 5 and tube 3 to break the frost bond between the frozen contents and the metal surfaces in contact therewith. This permits the mold to be turned to shear off the rivet-like extrusions projected through the vents during the filling or hardening operations so that the mold may be removed and the end surface of the frozen shell is smooth and perfect.

The cavity left in the shell by the removal of the tube 3 may be wholly or partially filled with any desired filler. If the cavity is only partially filled with a contrasting filler, its upper end may be plugged with a comestible similar to the shell. The carton may then be capped with a usual type of flanged closure and marketed after or without hardening of the filler in a refrigerant or hardening room.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A device of the character described comprising a mold having a core surrounded at one end by a vented closure member having a peripheral lip forming therewith a basin communicating with the interior of said core and said basin communicating with the interior of the mold through the vent in said closure.

2. A device of the character described comprising a hollow core closed at one end and having at the opposite end thereof a disk provided with a perimetral rim forming a lip and collar extending in opposite directions from said disk and substantially coaxial with the axis of said core.

3. A device of the character described comprising a hollow core closed at one end and adapted for immersion in a fluid comestible to displace a portion thereof, a disk surrounding the other and open end of said core and containing a vent between the periphery of said core and the periphery of said disks for the egress through said vent of fiuid comestible displaced by said core between the periphery of said core and the periphery of said disk.

4. The combination with a vendible paper carton having a closed bottom and an open top, of a device having a hollow core projecting into said carton and surrounded at one end by an apertured disk having a peripheral rim forming a collar fitting said carton and a lip projecting above said disk and forming therewith a basin communicating with the interior of said core through the open top thereof and communicating through the apertures of said disk with the interior of said carton between the wall of said core and the Wall of said carton.

5. The method of forming a comestible hollow shell which comprises confining the bulk of the area of inner and outer surfaces of a hollow mass of a fluid comestible whose volume is expansible by chilling and leaving small spaced areas of a surface of said mass unconfined, extruding a portion of the mass at the unconfined portions of the surface thereof by chilling said mass until it expands its volume, and shearing said extrusions from said mass.

BARTRAM H. MOORE.

Images