JPH0372257B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a method for automatically and continuously mechanically forming foods, particularly foods formed mainly from cooked rice, such as nigiri sushi and rice balls, which are formed manually in principle. The present invention relates to a material transfer device in a device for carrying out operations.

As this type of transfer device, the applicant filed a patent application in 1983.
-Described and proposed in No. 105173, this mechanism consists of a pair of left and right endless belts facing each other with a gap in the vertical direction, and a plurality of rollers for supporting and guiding each belt or rotationally driving each belt. The upper part of the gap is located near the outlet of the hopper for inputting raw materials to form a receiving part, and the lower part of the gap forms a supply part, and the gap is narrower than the upper part to compress raw materials. It consisted of:

This mechanism uses a material with low friction or a belt with surface treatment to prevent the raw material from adhering to the surface of the endless belt, but on the other hand, the belt may idle without the raw material being fed. A terrible result occurred. In addition, if the gap between the pair of belts is not narrowed at the bottom, the raw material will fall regardless of the belt feeding speed, and it will be difficult to divide the material into a certain amount after that, so the width at the bottom of the gap should be narrowed. It will be deployed. For this reason, the raw materials are subjected to strong pressure while passing through the transfer device, causing them to solidify, which may interfere with the subsequent dividing operation, or the seasonings added later to the raw materials may not soak in the raw materials, resulting in a uniform taste. It had drawbacks such as: In particular, when the raw material is cooked rice, the pressure crushes the rice grains and presses them together, which impairs visual and taste sensations.

The present invention was proposed in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and its purpose is to transfer raw materials accurately at a predetermined speed, and to avoid pressing the raw materials unnecessarily during transfer. To provide a material transfer device capable of molding food with a constant good taste without causing any trouble to the food molding device.

The present invention includes a pair of left and right guide plates that are spaced apart and fixed facing each other so as to form a food passage in the vertical direction;
An endless running member stretched so as to run along the outer surface of at least one of the guide plates, feeding pins that are erected and fixed to the endless running member at appropriate intervals, and This material transfer device in a food molding machine includes a slit-shaped pin passage formed in the guide plate to allow withdrawal, and a drive mechanism for driving the endless traveling member.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example in which the transfer device of the present invention is implemented in a sushi molding machine 1. To explain this, a hopper 2 into which raw materials are charged is fixed to a base casing 3, and the hopper 2 is fixed to a base casing 3. The discharge port 4 opens above the material transfer device 5. 6, 6 is a raw material stirring bar rotatably arranged in the hopper;
7 is a conveyor belt for sending raw cooked rice in the hopper to the discharge port 4; 8, 8 is the material transfer device 5
A pair of left and right cutters are disposed approximately horizontally close to the lower end of the material transfer device 5, and the blade edges of the cutters 8, 8 collide or contact each other approximately in the center below the material transfer device 5. It is set up like this. Reference numeral 9 denotes a turntable having a large number of forming cylinder holes 10 arranged in a substantially circular pattern, and receives raw materials sent from the material transfer device 5 into the forming cylinder holes 10 and sequentially forms them while rotating. It is something that is repeatedly discharged. Reference numeral 11 denotes a drive shaft for supporting and rotating the turntable 9, and is connected to a drive source within the base teething 3. As shown in FIG. 6, a piston 12 is disposed inside each molding cylinder hole 10, and a running roller 14 is attached to the lower end of the piston 12 via a piston rod 13.
is provided. Reference numeral 15 denotes an endless guide path fixed on the casing 3, which guides the traveling roller 14 to periodically move up and down at a predetermined position when it travels in a circle as the turntable 9 rotates. Therefore, it is formed in an endless shape with height differences. Reference numeral 16 denotes a presser foot that is movable up and down, and is used to place the sushi pieces on top of the raw rice when forming sushi, and then finally presses them in relation to the piston 12 to complete the sushi. belongs to.

The turntable 9 is rotated continuously or intermittently, and in accordance with this operation, at least the conveyor belt 7, material transfer device 5, cutter 8, and presser 16 are driven by the same drive source or by independent drive sources. When activated, sushi is automatically formed one by one.

Next, the material transfer device 5 will be explained in detail. This device includes guide plates 17 that are spaced apart and fixed facing each other so as to form a food passage 51 in the vertical direction.
17, endless running members 18, 18 stretched so as to run along the outer surface of the guide plate, feeding pins 19 erected and fixed to the endless running members at appropriate intervals, and running members. 18.

The guide plate 17 has a slit-shaped pin passage 20 that allows the feed pins 19 to enter, travel, and exit.
is provided.

A chain or a belt is used as the endless traveling member 18, and feed pins 19 are erected and fixed at appropriate positions.

When the feed pin 19 is erected on the chain, a flange 22 is provided protruding from the outer surface of the pin link plate 21 of the chain, and the feed pin 19 is erected on the flange 22, as shown in FIG. 5a. Although the feed pins 19 are provided in two rows in the illustrated example, they may be provided in only one row, or may be provided in three or more rows. In this case, the slit-shaped pin passage 20 provided in the guide plate 17 is provided corresponding to the locus of movement of the row of feed pins 19.
Alternatively, the flange 22 may be formed into a bridge shape and placed across the left and right pin link plates 21, 21 of the chain, and the feed pin 19 may be erected thereon. 23 and 24 are sprockets around which the chain is routed, one of which is connected to the drive mechanism 2.
5. The feed pin 19 may have a constant thickness from the base end to the distal end, or may have a thickness that varies according to a certain ratio, but it may be formed with a bulge at the distal end and as shown in FIG. 5a. The surface in the direction in which the feed pin 19 travels may be formed to have a flat shape 26 or a concave curved surface, as shown in FIG. 5B, or it may be formed into a spherical body 27 as shown in FIG. 5b. On the other hand, the drive mechanism 25 may be mechanically connected to the drive source 28 of the turntable 9, or the drive source may be independent and electrically connected, and may be driven intermittently in conjunction with the rotation of the turntable 9. It is composed of

By configuring the material transfer device 5 in this way, the raw material sent out from the hopper 2 is narrowed to a predetermined width so as to match the forming cylinder hole 10 formed in the turntable 9, but the narrowed part If the raw material is forcibly transferred from the beginning by the feed pin 18, the raw material will not become clogged on the way, and the feed pin 19 will forcefully transfer the raw material until it passes through the transfer device 5. At the same time, the raw material is supported by the feed pin 19, and is transported at a speed matching the transfer speed without falling naturally, so that the forming cylinder hole 10 can supply a constant raw material. becomes.

The guide plates 17, 17 are preferably made of a material with a low coefficient of friction to which the raw material does not adhere, such as a fluororesin material, or a surface coated with a fluororesin.

In the figure, 29 and 29 are guide plates fixed on both sides of the discharge port 4 of the hopper 2, and 30 is a front plate that covers the raw material passage from the discharge port 4 to the lower end of the material transfer device 5 so that the raw material does not dissipate. It is removably fixed to the hotspa casing 31. Reference numeral 32 denotes a drive mechanism for operating the cutter 8 set below the material transfer device 5, which is mechanically or electrically connected to the drive source 28 of the turntable 9 and is interlocked with the rotation of the turntable 9. be activated.

In this sushi forming machine 1, when raw cooked rice is put into the hopper 2 and the drive source is turned on, the turntable 9 rotates in the direction of arrow m by the distance between the cylinder holes, and the cylinder holes 10 It stops when it is located below the center of the gap between the left and right guide plates 17, 17 of the transfer device 5. At the stop position of the turntable 9, the conveyor belt 7 and the left and right running members 18, 18 are driven, and the cooked rice is transferred to the guide plates 17, 1.
It is discharged into the gap 7. At this time, cutters 8, 8
are in a separated state as shown in FIG. Cutter 8 above 10,
8 collide instantaneously and feed one batch of cooked rice into the cylinder. Next, while the turntable 9 is rotating again in the m direction, the drive sources 25 and 32 are stopped. Therefore, the conveyor belt 7 and the running member 18
operation stops.

On the other hand, the forming cylinder hole 10 that accommodated the cooked rice moves, and the subsequent forming cylinder hole 10 moves to the left and right guide plate 1.
It is located below the center of the gap between 7 and 17.

Then, the rotation of the turntable 9 is stopped, the drive sources 25 and 32 are operated in the same manner as described above, and the raw material is accommodated in the forming cylinder hole 10. Then, the turntable 9 is rotated again and the same operation is repeated.

The cooked rice accommodated in the forming cylinder hole 10 is then transferred by intermittent rotation of the turntable 9.
In this process, the sushi is completed through the hollyhock attachment, the onion-laying work, and the compression finishing by the automatic pressing mechanism 16.

Although the above embodiment describes only a sushi molding machine, the present invention is not limited to this and can be adopted as a material transfer device for a rice ball molding machine or other food molding machines.

As described above, the material transfer device of the present invention is provided with a feed pin that protrudes in a direction substantially perpendicular to the movement direction within the material transfer path, and the feed pin is inserted into the material to be transferred, so that the material is Since the material is forcibly transferred by being hooked to the pin, the material does not get clogged on the way, and the feed pin prevents the material from falling due to its own weight.
Since the density of the material is always kept constant before it is sent to the next process, the soaking of seasonings added later will also be constant, and food products of constant quality can be molded.

In addition, since a constant amount of material is always transferred without clogging on the way, it has practical advantages such as being able to safely perform food molding operations without interrupting conventional food forming operations due to clogging.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an automatic food molding machine to which a material transfer device according to the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the material transfer device, and Fig. 3 is a - line arrow in Fig. 4 is a side view showing the upper part of the material transfer device, FIG. 5a is a perspective view showing the attachment state of the feeding pin, FIG. 5b is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the feeding pin, and FIG. 6 1 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 1. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Sushi forming machine, 2... Hopper, 5... Material transfer device, 17... Guide plate, 18... Endless traveling member, 19... Feed pin, 20... Pin passage, 21
...Pin link plate, 22 ...Flange, 2
3, 24... Sprocket.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A pair of left and right guide plates that are spaced apart and fixed facing each other so as to form a food passage in the vertical direction, and a pair of guide plates that are stretched so as to run along the outer surface of at least one of the guide plates. an endless traveling member; feeding pins erected and fixed at appropriate intervals on the endless traveling member; and a slit-shaped pin passage formed in the guide plate to allow the feeding pins to enter, travel, and exit. , a material transfer device in a food molding machine, comprising a drive mechanism for driving the endless traveling member. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the endless running member is formed of a chain. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the feed pins are formed in a row. 4. Claim 1, wherein the feeding pins are formed in a plurality of rows and a plurality of pin passages are also formed.
Apparatus described in section.