Automatic baking apparatus and mixbag therefore

• US 5,146,840 A
• Filed: 08/23/1991
• Issued: 09/15/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Viking Enterprises Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Heden-Team AG
• Inventors: Hedenberg, Rolf P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hornsby, Harvey C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Spisich, Mark
• Application Number:
  US07/751,672
• Time in Patent Office: 389 Days
• Field of Search: 99/325-328, 99/341, 99/348, 99/352, 99/353, 99/426, 99/449, 99/342, 366/69, 366/130, 366/143, 366/145, 366/146, 366/149, 366/219, 366/240, 366/341, 366/349, 366/602, 222/94, 222/98, 222/100-102, 206/219, 206/221, 383/38, 426/128, 426/233, 426/392, 426/394, 426/405
• US Class Current: 99/328
• CPC Class Codes: A21B 7/005 in combination with mixing or kneading devices
• CPC Class Codes: A21C 1/00 Mixing or kneading machines for the preparation of dough
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 31/55 the materials to be mixed being contained in a flexible bag submitted to periodical deformation
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 81/3266 separated by a common rupturable seal, a clip or other removable fastening device

Abstract

An automatic baking apparatus for making food products in piece form from dough-like substances which apparatus has holding means adapted to be fixed to the top and bottom edges of a flexible sealable mixbag (100) containing dry ingredients and water. The baking apparatus has upper and lower drums (230,232) and means for moving the drums, and the mixbag has male protrusions (134, 134a) at the upper and lower edges so that the mixbag (100) can be attached respectively to the upper and lower drums (230, 232). The holding means on the upper and lower drums is in the form of a female groove (234, 234a) commensurate in shape with the male protrusions (134, 134a) on the mixbag so that the mixbag male protrusions can be detachably interlocked with the female grooves on the drums. In this way the mixbag is attached to the drums for a kneading process in the baking apparatus and after the kneading process is completed, the mixbag is rolled up onto the lower drum (232). Furthermore, the mixbag (100) has a specially shaped permanent seal (104, 116) in the lower portion thereof which permits dry ingredients located above this specially shaped permanent seal to more easily burst a burstable seal (108, 119). Furthermore, the mixbag has two machine readable indicia (121a, 121b) to be read by scanning means (270) in the baking apparatus, the first indicia (121a) informs the baking apparatus that the particular mixbag is suitable for operation in the baking apparatus, and the second indicia (121b) programs into the baking apparatus the receipt for the ingredients contained in the mixbag.

Claims

1. A flexible sealable mixbag adapted to contain dry ingredients and water for making a food product in piece form from dough-like substances by kneading and baking in a baking apparatus, the mixbag having top and bottom edges each having a width and two longitudinal sides extending between said top and bottom edges defining two opposed faces having top and bottom portions;

a permanent seal in the bottom portion and along the two longitudinal sides; and

at least one male protrusion along the width at the top portion of said mixbag and projecting from the plane of said face, which male protrusion is adapted to engage with at least one commensurately shaped female groove in the outer periphery of a top drum in the baking apparatus for detachably holding said mixbag onto the drum during a kneading operation.

2. The mixbag as claimed in claim 1 wherein the faces of said mixbag are of different longitudinal lengths so that one face is longer than the opposite face at the top portion of said mixbag;

said at least one male protrusion is provided across the top portion of each face and each male protrusion is adapted to detachably fit into the commensurately shaped female grooves in the top drum of said baking apparatus.

3. The mixbag as claimed in claim 2 wherein the bottom portion of said mixbag also has a male protrusion across the bottom width thereof and this male protrusion is also adapted to detachably fit into a commensurately shaped female groove in a bottom drum of said baking apparatus.

4. The mixbag as claimed in claim 3 further containing a second permanent seal attaching the two flat faces together at the bottom portion of said mixbag above said bottom permanent seal, said second permanent seal extends between said two longitudinal side permanent seals in a curvilinear path being concave towards the top of said mixbag.

5. The mixbag as claimed in claim 3 further containing a second permanent seal attaching the two flat faces together at the bottom portion of said mixbag above said bottom permanent seal, said second permanent seal extends between said two longitudinal side permanent seals in two declining linear paths, each path starting from each longitudinal side permanent seal and joining at the approximate mid-section of the bottom portion of said mixbag.

6. The mixbag as claimed in claim 3 further containing dry ingredients in said bottom portion of said mixbag;

a burstable seal extending across said mixbag from said two longitudinal side permanent seals to hermetically seal said dry ingredients; and

at least one of said two longitudinal side permanent seals stops short of said lower male protrusion at the top portion of said mixbag so as to permit venting.

7. The mixbag as claimed in claim 3 wherein the two opposed faces each have inner surfaces and further containing water and having an adhesive band on each inner surface of said faces of the mixbag, said adhesive band on one inner surface being positioned opposite the adhesive band on the other inner surface;

a protective strip covering at least one of said adhesive bands to prevent the two faces of each mixbag from adhering to each other until said adhesive strip is removed whereby the two adhesive bands adhere to form a burstable seal, said water being located above said burstable seal and said burstable seal precluding said water from intermingling with dry ingredients located below said burstable seal.

8. The mixbag as claimed in claim 3 made of a plastic selected from a group consisting of polyamide, polyethylene and combinations thereof;

polyester, polyethylene and combinations thereof;

the plastic having low water permeability and extendibility, being flexible and resistant to puncture, and capable of supporting a burstable seal and a male protrusion.

9. The mixbag as claimed in claim 3 further containing on the outer surface of one face at least one machine-readable indicia adapted to provide information to said baking apparatus.

10. The mixbag as claimed in claim 9 further containing a second machine-readable indicia;

the first indicia being adapted to identify the mixbag as suitable for said baking apparatus and adapted to open up a memory means in said baking apparatus;

the second indicia being adapted to provide a recipe to said baking apparatus to control its kneading and baking operations.

11. Baking apparatus for making a food product in piece form from dough-like substances, comprising a housing containing holding means affixed to a top and bottom portion of a flexible sealable mixbag having two faces each having inner and outer surfaces and containing dry ingredients and water for the dough-like substance, kneading means for mechanically working the ingredients in the mixbag and including moving means for creating relative movement between the mixbag and the kneading means so that the ingredients are kneaded into a dough-like substance, and heat treatment means for baking the kneaded dough-like substance, the improvement comprising said moving means being in the form of drums having a longitudinal length located above and below said mixbag;

said holding means being at least one female groove in the outer peripheries of said drums running the longitudinal length thereof and engaging with at least one male protrusion of commensurate shape, the male protrusion projecting from said face outer surface on at least the top portion of said mixbag to detachably engage with the female groove so as to hold said mixbag to said drum during the kneading operation.

12. The baking apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein said upper drum has two substantially parallel female grooves in it and said bottom drum has one female groove in it, all grooves detachably engaging said at least one commensurate shaped male protrusions on the top and bottom portions of the same face of said mixbag thereby allowing the other face of said mixbag to define an opening at the top thereof until a second commensurately shaped male protrusion located on the top portion of said other face inner surface is detachably engaged with said second female grooves on the top drum.

13. The baking apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein the female grooves in at least one of the drums is formed of a length of material different from that of the drum, which material is affixed within a channel in the outer periphery of the drum.

14. The baking apparatus as claimed in claim 11 the improvement further comprising an auxiliary female groove formed on the outer surface of said housing which is commensurately shaped to said at least one male protrusion and allows the male protrusion on the top portion of one of the faces of said mixbag to be detachably engaged in said auxiliary female groove allowing the other face of said mixbag to define an opening at the top thereof permitting dry ingredients and/or water to be introduced into said mixbag.

15. The baking apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein said auxiliary female groove is located on the outer surface of said housing so as to be convenient to an operator and so that there is a substantially vertical expanse of housing below said auxiliary female groove such that said mixbag rests on said vertical expanse, thereby allowing said mixbag, which has two adhesive bands across its inner face surfaces and both hands are covered by a protective strip, to be filled with dry ingredients, the protective strips are removed and the two exposed adhesive bands are pushed together against said vertical expanse to form a burstable seal above said dry ingredients, then water is placed above said burstable seal.