Automatically making food products such as bread, cakes and the like
First Claim
1. Apparatus for automatically making food products in piece form from dough-like substances, comprising a housing containing holding means adapted to be affixed to opposed edges of a flexible bag containing ingredients for the dough-like substance, kneading means for mechanically working the ingredients in the bag and including moving means for creating relative movement between the bag and the kneading means so that the ingredients are kneaded into a dough-like substance, heat treatment means for baking the kneaded dough-like substance, and programmable control means for controlling the sequential operation of the kneading means and heat treatment means, wherein the apparatus further comprises scanning means located adjacent the path of the bag as moved by the moving means for reading machine-readable indicia on a bag and for providing an output coupled to the control means to command operation of the control means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus for automatically making food products in piece form, such as loaves of bread, from dough-like substances, comprises a housing having holding drums (230,232) adapted to be fixed to either end of a flexible sealable bag (12) containing the ingredients. A dough preparation and baking chamber (212) has upper and lower slit openings (220,222). The bag is moved to and fro through the slit openings to perform kneading of the dough, and then baked in the chamber. The variable baking parameters dependent upon the particular ingredients and product are controlled dependent upon instructions read from the bag by a scanner (270). The instructions comprise a bar code (121) which can have a first identification portion to confirm that the bag is suitable for use in the apparatus and a second command portion to instruct the apparatus as to the baking sequence required.
90 Citations
14 Claims
- 1. Apparatus for automatically making food products in piece form from dough-like substances, comprising a housing containing holding means adapted to be affixed to opposed edges of a flexible bag containing ingredients for the dough-like substance, kneading means for mechanically working the ingredients in the bag and including moving means for creating relative movement between the bag and the kneading means so that the ingredients are kneaded into a dough-like substance, heat treatment means for baking the kneaded dough-like substance, and programmable control means for controlling the sequential operation of the kneading means and heat treatment means, wherein the apparatus further comprises scanning means located adjacent the path of the bag as moved by the moving means for reading machine-readable indicia on a bag and for providing an output coupled to the control means to command operation of the control means.
- 7. A machine method of automatically making food products in piece form from dough-like substances, comprising the steps of providing a bag containing ingredients for the dough-like substance, creating relative movement between the bag and kneading means such as to mechanically work the ingredients in the bag to knead the ingredients into a dough-like substance, and baking the dough-like substance, the kneading and baking being controlled by a stored program, wherein the method further comprises an initial step of automatically scanning the bag in its path of movement to read machine-readable indicia on the bag and commanding the stored program to control the kneading and baking steps in dependence thereon.
- 11. A flexible sealable bag containing at least the dry ingredients for making a food product in piece form from dough-like substances by kneading and baking, the bag having applied thereon first machine-readable indicia adapted to provide identification to an apparatus of the type of apparatus for which the bag is suitable and second machine-readable indicia adjacent the first indicia adapted to provide automatic commands to the apparatus determinative of selected parameters relative to the kneading and baking operations appropriate to the ingredients.
Specification