Machine for automatically preparing and dispensing fruit juice
First Claim
1. A machine for automatically preparing and dispensing fruit juice from pieces of fruit stored in said machine, said machine comprising:
- (a) a compartmented support cabinet for housing a plurality of removable modules;
(b) a storage module for storing pieces of fruit in their natural state, said storage module being removably housed in said cabinet;
(c) a squeezer module for cutting and squeezing juice from said fruit and for holding juice from said fruit, said squeezer module being removably housed in said cabinet;
(d) a feed module for transferring pieces of fruit from said storage module to said squeezer module, said feed module being removably housed in said cabinet;
(e) a refrigerating module for cooling pieces of fruit in said storage module and said feed module, said refrigerating module being removably housed in said cabinet; and
(f) a control module for controlling the operation of the modules in said cabinet, said operational control module being removably housed in said cabinet.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The machine provides fresh fruit juice by storing and squeezing pieces of fresh fruit. The machine is built with a compartmented cabinet frame that allows for a module construction, each module being removable to allow for easy maintenance and assembly. The various modules that are used to assemble the machine are a storage module for storing the fresh fruit pieces, a feed module which transfers the fresh fruit pieces from the storage module to a squeezing module. After squeezing the juice from the fresh fruit pieces in the squeezing module, the residue falls by gravity into a crushing module which crushes the residue and removes the crushed residue from the machine. The machine also has a refrigerating module to keep the fresh fruit cool and a programable control module to control the modules and the overall operation of the machine. The squeezing module has a rotary portioner which transfers the fresh fruit pieces from the feeding module to a cutting unit. The cutting unit cuts the pieces of fruit so they can be squeezed by the squeezing unit. The juice then flows into a tank. The tank is equipped with a level detector and an overflow device. The squeezer module also has an internal washing unit to wash the cutting unit, the squeezing unit and the tank.
23 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A machine for automatically preparing and dispensing fruit juice from pieces of fruit stored in said machine, said machine comprising:
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(a) a compartmented support cabinet for housing a plurality of removable modules; (b) a storage module for storing pieces of fruit in their natural state, said storage module being removably housed in said cabinet; (c) a squeezer module for cutting and squeezing juice from said fruit and for holding juice from said fruit, said squeezer module being removably housed in said cabinet; (d) a feed module for transferring pieces of fruit from said storage module to said squeezer module, said feed module being removably housed in said cabinet; (e) a refrigerating module for cooling pieces of fruit in said storage module and said feed module, said refrigerating module being removably housed in said cabinet; and (f) a control module for controlling the operation of the modules in said cabinet, said operational control module being removably housed in said cabinet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification