Patent Application
20060255070
The present invention relates to a food-processing apparatus, particularly to a food-extruding apparatus, which can transport food material to the next processing procedure.
Generally speaking, the conventional food-extruding apparatus comprises primarily a vertical charging hopper and a horizontal pump, wherein a vertical feeding screw is installed inside the charging hopper. When food material, such as dough, is poured into the charging hopper and the feeding screw is switched on, the food material will be pushed to the bottom of the charging hopper, and then the sucking force of the horizontal pump will send the food material to the next processing procedure. However, as the contained angle between the transportation direction of the food material and the sucking direction of the pump is 90 degrees, the sucking force of the pump not only cannot completely apply to the food material inside the charging hopper but also will be degraded obviously. Therefore, the conventional food-extruding apparatus cannot effectively pump the food material inside the charging hopper to the next processing procedure.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a food-extruding apparatus, which comprises an upright table; the top of the table has a charging hopper with an upward opening; the external side of the bottom of the charging hopper has a propeller pump, which can pump food material in the bottom of the charging hopper. The improvement of the present invention is that a feeding screw is installed inside the charging hopper and obliquely with respect to the central axis of the charging hopper to enable the food material inside the charging hopper to be gradually guided downward via the rotation of the feeding screw and to be fully propelled toward the next processing procedure in cooperation with the propeller pump so that the objectives of conveniently pouring food material into the charging hopper and pumping food material fully toward the next processing procedure can be achieved.
To enable the objectives, characteristics, and accomplishments of the present invention to be easily understood, preferred embodiments are to be described below in detail in cooperation with the attached drawings.
Referring to
In the present invention, as the feeding screw 13 is disposed onto the side of the charging hopper 11, and installed obliquely inside the charging hopper 11, the charged food material will not be retarded by the feeding screw 13, and thus, the charging hopper 11 has a larger space for food material charge. Further, as the lower end of the feeding screw 13 is parallel to the guidance exit 12 of the charging hopper 11, the food material can be effecfively guided downward, and in cooperation with the propelling force from the horizontally-rotating propeller of the propeller pump 20, the food material inside the charging hopper 11 can be rapidly propelled toward the next processing procedure. Therefore, the present invention can overcome the drawback of the prior art that the pumping force cannot be fully exploited owing to the perpendicular between the feeding screw and the pump.
According to a second embodiment of the present invention, a vertically-rotating propeller pump 20a is adopted, as shown in
Those described above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention but not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Any equivalent modification and variation according to the claims of the present invention is to be included within the scope of the present invention.
