WO2003055326A1

WO2003055326A1 - Mixing device for ice-cream makers, in particular for domestic use

Info

Publication number: WO2003055326A1
Application number: PCT/EP2002/013840
Authority: WO
Inventors: Walter Procuranti
Original assignee: Nemo S.R.L.
Priority date: 2001-12-28
Filing date: 2002-12-06
Publication date: 2003-07-10
Also published as: DE60210130T2; AU2002352222A1; ES2262876T3; ATE320722T1; ITMI20012832A1; EP1465499B1; EP1465499A1; DE60210130D1

Abstract

The mixing device for ice-cream makers comprises rotation means for a mixing blade (2) inside a bowl for the preparation of ice-cream that comprises radial displacement means for a blade provided with two surfaces (4) and (5) to simultaneously increase the scraping and spreading. Respectively, of the ice-cream on at least two distinct and diamterically opposed areas of the surface of the bowl during the rotations of the blade.

Description

MIXING DEVICE FOR ICE-CREAM MAKERS, IN PARTICULAR FOR DOMESTIC USE

DESCRIPTION The present finding refers to a mixing device for ice-cream makers, in particular for domestic use.

As is known, ice-cream makers for use at home are provided with a single bowl in which the ice-cream mixture is prepared and with a single blade for mixing it .

In the case in which one wishes to prepare many flavours of ice-cream, it is necessary to proceed to the individual preparation of each flavour and to take care of cleaning the bowl at each change in ice-cream flavour.

For this reason, some ice-cream makers are provided with many removable bowls which allow the preparation of many flavours in sequence without the interruption and the hindrance of the transfer and cleaning operations of the bowls. The removable bowls are inserted in the fixed bowl and, therefore, their diameter must be less than that of the fixed bowl .

Taking into account that in these machines the delivery of coldness to the ice-cream mixture takes place by contact through the wall of the bowl, the blade, besides carrying out the function of mixing the ingredients together, must spread the mixture on the wall and scrape the mixture away from it once it has cooled.

From that which has been outlined above, it is easy to understand how, to make the cooling of the mixture efficient and fast, the scraping blade must rotate as close as possible to the wall of the bowl, whereas the spreading blade must remain at an appropriate distance from it .

For this reason, when many removable bowls are used many blades must be supplied to the user the sizes of which are related to the different diameters of the bowls.

Another drawback of domestic ice-cream makers is that the rotation of the blade and the progressive cooling of the mixture causes it to be thickened towards the centre of the bowl and in particular near to the axis of rotation of the blade.

This fact makes the mixing of ingredients less homogeneous and also makes it difficult to incorporate air into the mixture, a thing which is essential to have a good softness of the ice-cream and to avoid the unpleasant sensation of a cold and wet product .

Moreover, the presence of air helps a certain degree of thermal homogeneity of the mass to be kept, thus influencing both the quality of the ice-cream and the speed of its preparation.

For this reason, in some machines of this type different shapes of blades have been used which, however, suffer just as much from the aforementioned drawbacks,- above all in the presence of a substantially dense mass of ice-cream.

The task proposed of the present finding is that of eliminating the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art.

In this task, an important purpose of the finding is to realise a mixing device for ice-cream makers which allows the spreading of the mixture on the wall of the bowl to be optimised and at the same time allowing the scraping away of the ice-cream mixture which has cooled on the wall to be optimised.

Yet another purpose of the finding is to realise a mixing device for ice-cream makers which allows the cooling of the mixture to be made efficient and fast, allowing the homogenisation of the mixture of ingredients of the ice-cream to be optimised and promoting the incorporation of air in it, so as to have an end product with excellent softness and quality.

A further purpose of the finding is to realise a mixing device for ice-cream makers which, even using many removable bowls, allows just one mixing blade to be used, independently of the diameters of the bowls used, and therefore allows the number of accessories which the user needs to be reduced.

In this way, the user also does not have to choose which blade, with which configuration, to use for a certain type of ice-cream.

The last but not least purpose of the finding is to realise a mixing device for ice-cream makers which, besides reducing its production time optimising its mixing and quality, allows easy cleaning of the blades which are made in a simple and functional manner, also so as not to increase the cost of the machine for the end user.

This task, as well as these and other purposes are achieved by a mixing device for ice-cream makers comprising rotation means for a mixing blade inside a bowl for the preparation of ice-cream, characterised in that it comprises radial displacement means for said blade to simultaneously increase the scraping and spreading, respectively, of said ice-cream on at least two distinct areas of the surface of said bowl during the rotation of said blade.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention shall become clearer from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the device according to the finding, illustrated for indicating and not limiting purposes in the attached drawings in which:

- figure 1 is a front view of the mixing blade according to the finding;

- figure 2 is a side view of the mixing blade according to the finding;

- figure 3 shows a side section view of the connection shaft of the first and second blade according to the finding;

- figure 4 is a cross-section view of the blade according to the finding; and

- figures 5 and 6 show perspective views of the association, both of the first and second mixing blade with their support shafts according to the finding.

With particular reference to the figures described above, the mixing device for ice-cream makers, wholly indicated with reference numeral l, comprises rotation means, not represented and of the conventional type, for a mixing blade wholly indicated with 2, inside the bowl, not represented, in which the ice-cream is prepared.

Advantageously, the mixing device comprises radial displacement means, wholly indicated with 3, of the blade 2 in order to simultaneously increase the scraping and spreading of the ice-cream in at least two distinct areas of the surface of the bowl during the rotation of the blade 2. The first blade 2 has at least one first and one second mixing surface which have the same angle of inclination, but which do not move in the same way.

More precisely, the first and second mixing surfaces 4 and 5 are arranged so that they converge with respect to the direction of rotation of the blade, be it clockwise or anticlockwise so as to carry out the scraping and the spreading of the ice-cream mixture simultaneously on two distinct areas of the bowl diametrically opposed to each other. The first and second surfaces 4 and 5 are joined together by an upper and lower joining element 6 and 7.

The lower joining element 7 has an inclined surface so that during the rotation of the blade this surface tends to convey the ice-cream mixture towards the centre of the bowl. The displacement means of the first blade 2 comprises a rotation shaft, wholly indicated with 12, on which, in two distinct areas, there are two tabs 8 and 9 which engage in respective seats 10 and 11 which are present on the upper joining element 6 and the lower one 7. Advantageously, the seats 10 and 11 are of a size and configuration suitable for allowing a radial displacement of the blade with respect to the rotation shaft 12 when the blade is subjected to a twisting moment generated by the icecream mixture in the bowl during its rotation therein. In particular, the seats 10 and 11 have a substantially^' triangular configuration with a curvilinear base 14 in which the shaft 12 engages, whereas the respective tabs 8 and 9 engage between the two inclined sides 16 and 17 of the seat. The mixing device also comprises a second blade, wholly indicated with 20, interacting with the first blade and arranged eccentrically with respect to it.

The second blade 20 also has a first and second mixing surface 21 and 22 which are exactly the same as each other, in that they have the same angle of inclination and they do not move in the same way in such a way as to prevent the concentration of the mixture around the rotation shaft 12. The first and second surfaces 21 and 22 of the second blade 20 are joined together by an upper and lower joining element 23 and 24 which are identical.

The second blade is associated with a misaligned portion 25 of the shaft 12.

Moreover, the second blade 20 has positioning means, generically indicated with 26, suitable for allowing displacement with respect to the shaft 12 according to the moments which are generated on the second blade itself during its rotation to mix the ice-cream mixture. The variable positioning means 6 can be made in different ways, but in particular must be suitable for allowing the positioning of the second blade in a predetermined position which can be chosen either manually or automatically. In this second case, the automatic positioning of the second blade takes place thanks to the fact that the positioning means have elastically yielding members which engage with three rigid members to assume different orientations with respect to the first blade and to the misaligned shaft, according to the movement generated on the second blade during the mixing of the ice-cream.

In practice, if the second blade meets a resistance which is greater than the elasticity of the elastic members, they give way allowing the positioning of the second blade in a more inclined position and therefore subject to a lower moment value .

In the case in which the ice-cream mixture is extremely compact and hard, advantageously there is automatic inversion of the direction of rotation both of the first and of the second blade, since the motors which drive the rotation of the shaft 12 are able to invert the direction of rotation. The change in direction of rotation, for example from clockwise to anti-clockwise or vice-versa, has absolutely no influence upon the efficiency of the action of the first blade and of the second blade on the ice-cream mixture, since both blades automatically realign themselves to allow both excellent scraping and spreading of the ice-cream mixture- on the surface of the bowl . In particular, in the case of the first blade when there is a force of a certain size generated on it by the ice-cream mixture, the displacement of the blade on the shaft along the curvilinear surface of the base 14 of each seat 10 and 11 intervenes, so as to act with greater intensity on the surface to be scraped and moving away by the necessary amount to carry out the spreading operation in an optimal manner. Should the force exceed the predetermined value, the same motors which make the shaft 12 rotate invert their direction of rotation, solving the problem and perfectly adjusting the positioning of the first blade to the new direction of rotation.

The second blade, which is arranged misaligned with respect to the first blade, will follow a circular path inside the first blade due to the misalignment of the portion 25 of the shaft 12 and will take care of carrying out a perfect mixing of the ice-cream mixture, conveying it from the centre of the bowl outwards .

At the same time, should the second blade meet resistance of a certain size, it will rotate about the portion 25 by a sufficient number of turns to incline it, so as to reduce the resistance force during the automatic mixing operation, without causing any increase in strain on the motors for driving the shaft 12.

The finding thus conceived is susceptible to numerous modifications and variants, all of which are covered by the inventive concept. Moreover, all of the details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials used, as well as the sizes, can be whatever according to requirements and the state of the art.

Claims

1. Mixing device for ice-cream makers comprising rotation means for a mixing blade inside a bowl for the preparation of ice-cream, characterised in that it comprises radial displacement means for said blade to simultaneously increase the scraping and spreading, respectively, of said ice-cream on at least two distinct areas of the surface of said bowl during the rotation of said blade.

2. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to claim 1, characterised in that said blade has at least one first and one second mixing surface with the same angle of inclination, but which do not move in the same way in such a way as to carry out said scraping and said spreading on said diametrically opposed distinct areas of said bowl .

3. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that said first and second surfaces are joined together by an upper and lower joining element, at least said upper joining element having an inclined surface suitable for conveying said ice-cream mixture towards the centre of the bowl .

4. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that said displacement means comprises a rotation shaft with at least one tab engaged in respective seats present on said upper and lower joining elements, said seats being of a size and configuration suitable for allowing a radial displacement of said blade with respect to said rotation shaft when said blade is subjected to a twisting moment generated by said ice-cream mixture.

5. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that said seat have a substantially triangular configuration with a curvilinear base.

6. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that each of said- tabs engages between the two inclined sides of said seats and in that said shaft engages in said curvilinear base .

7. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that it comprises at least one second blade interacting with said blade and arranged eccentrically with respect to it.

8. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that said second blade has at least one first and one second mixing surface with the same angle of inclination, but which do not move in the same way in such a way as to prevent the concentration of the mixture around said shaft.

9. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that said first and second surface of said second blade are joined together by an upper and lower joining element which are identical.

10. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that said second blade is associated with a misaligned portion of said shaft .

11. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that said second blade has variable positioning means with said shaft according to the moments generated on said second blade by said ice-cream mixture during the rotation of said shaft.

12. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that said variable positioning means is suitable for allowing the positioning of said second blade in a predetermined position either manually or automatically.

13. Mixing device for ice-cream makers according to one or more of the previous claims, characterised in that said positioning means has elastically yielding members engaged in rigid counter members to assume different orientations with respect to said first blade and said misaligned shaft, according to the moment generated on said second blade during the mixing of said ice-cream.

14. Ice-cream maker characterised in that it comprises a mixing device of said ice-cream as claimed in the previous claims .