Patent Application
20120031054
The present invention relates generally to an ice bagging system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a bagging system designed to bag and display for sale compressed flake nugget ice on-site at a seller's or retailer's location.
Prior art ice baggers are all designed for compatibility with cube ice and cube ice makers. Because conventional cube ice makers drop the cubes over a large area and because they drop a large quantity of ice each ice making cycle, the prior art baggers all require a large hopper to intercept the ice that is dropped from the cube ice maker. This compatibility requirement drives the size of the hopper, making them very large and expensive. The size of the hopper likewise drives the overall size of the bagging machine, making it large as well. The ice dropped by cube ice makers is also quite wet. Because of this, prior art baggers must have an added means for removing the water from the ice. If this is not done, the bagged wet ice will freeze into an undesirable block. The removal of water is typically accomplished with a large moving part, such as an auger or a rotating drum. These moving parts are themselves expensive and require expensive motors to operate them. Finally, conventional baggers are separate (physically discrete) devices from the ice makers. The baggers being separate from the icemakers evolved from two things: first, manufacturers of the baggers, who are not in the ice making business, do not want to build the ice makers; and second, because the cube ice baggers are inherently large, combining the ice maker and the ice bagger into a single device would create an unacceptably large machine.
A conventional ice bagger system typically consists of an ice cube making machine and a separate ice bagger. In such prior art bagging systems, ice cubes are produced by the ice cube making machine. The ice cube making machine makes the ice in batches, with each batch taking anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes to produce. The amount of ice dropped from each batch can be fairly large, e.g. anywhere from 6 pounds to 75 pounds. The location of the ice drop area varies from one ice machine to the next. For example, it is possible for the drop area to be located across the front of the machine, along the right-hand side, along the left-hand side, in the middle of the machine, or both the right and left hand sides of the machine. In other words, the drop area can essentially be anywhere on the bottom of the ice machine.
In order to be compatible with the majority of ice machines, a conventional ice bagger must be able to catch the ice dropped by any of those machines. That means that the bagger must contain a large hopper that is both beneath any of the possible ice drop areas and is large enough to catch up to 75 pounds of ice. Thus the hopper must be very large. For example, a conventional ice bagger is roughly 48 inches in width, equal to the standard width of a large ice maker. The conventional bagger must also have an ice drying system required to remove the water that is dropped with each batch of cube ice.
According, the present invention provides an ice bagging system that comprises a compressed flake nugget ice maker and an ice bagging device that receives compressed flake nugget ice dispensed from the ice maker. The ice bagging device includes at least one bag into which the compressed flake nugget ice is dropped. The ice bagging device is configured to seal and drop the bag of compressed flake nugget ice once a predetermined quantity of ice has been loaded into the at least one bag. An ice merchandiser supports at least the ice bagging device. The ice merchandiser is adapted to receive the at least one bag of compressed flake nugget ice dropped from the ice bagging device. The compressed flake nugget ice is dispensed from the ice maker directly to the bag of the ice bagging device as the ice is being produced by the ice maker and the at least one bag of compressed flake nugget ice is dropped directly from the ice bagging device into the ice merchandiser.
The present invention may also provide n ice bagging system that comprises an integral ice maker and bagger unit that includes a compressed flake nugget ice maker that has a small chute, and an ice bagging device that receives compressed flake nugget ice dispensed from the ice maker. The ice bagging device includes at least one bag which receives the compressed flake nugget ice directly from the small chute of the ice maker without the ice going through a hopper. The ice bagging device is configured to seal and drop the at least one bag of compressed flake nugget ice once a predetermined quantity of ice has been loaded into the at least one bag. The integral ice maker and bagger unit does not include a hopper. An ice merchandiser supports the integral ice maker and bagger unit. The ice merchandiser is adapted to receive the at least one bag of compressed flake nugget ice directly from the ice bagging device through a hole in a top of the ice merchandiser.
The present invention may also provide a method for bagging nugget ice that comprises the steps of producing compressed flake nugget ice in an ice maker; dispensing the compressed flake nugget ice directly from the ice maker to at least one bag of a bagging device as the ice is being produced; sealing the at least one bag loaded with the compressed flake nugget ice; and dropping the at least one bag loaded with the compressed flake nugget ice directly into an ice merchandiser.
Other objects, advantages and salient features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
A system according to the embodiments of the present invention produces and bags compressed flake ice (nugget ice) and dispenses said bags of nugget ice for display and sale in an ice merchandiser. The system 100 generally comprises an ice maker 104 for making nugget ice and a bagging device 108. The bagging device 108 may include a bag filling mechanism for placing the ice in a bag, a bag delivery mechanism including a bag supply mechanism, a bag opening device to open the mouth of the bag to receive the ice, and a heat sealer that seals the open mouth of the bag once the bag is filled with the ice. A control mechanism is preferably included that controls the ice maker and the bagging mechanism.
By combining the nugget ice maker 104 with the bagging device 108 into one unit, it is possible to create a bagging system that is smaller, less expensive and less complex than the prior art bagging systems. This results from three characteristics of the nugget ice maker 104. First, because the nugget ice maker 104 machines drops ice continuously from a very small area chute 110 (rather than in large batches over a large area), no large or expensive hopper is needed to catch the ice. This lowers the cost of the unit and dramatically shrinks the size needed for the bagging mechanism. Second, because the nugget ice 102 is dry when dispensed, no drying mechanism is required for bagging the ice. As a result, the cost and complexity of the bagging system is greatly reduced. And third, because the nugget ice maker 104 is typically a compact device compared to cube ice makers, it is possible to combine the bagging device and the ice maker into a single unit without creating an unacceptably large machine.
Because the nugget ice machine 104 is very compact relative to a cube ice machine and because the main components of a conventional bagger (the hopper and the drying mechanism) are eliminated, the combined unit 100 is significantly smaller than the prior art ice machine and bagger arrangements. In a preferred embodiment, the unit 100 may be about 21 inches wide. The ice merchandiser 110 may be a freezer with a glass door 120. It is designed to store bags of ice 130 and make those bags accessible to customers through the glass door 120. The merchandiser 110 may be different from conventional glass door freezers in that it preferably has a hole 150 in its top surface so that bags of ice dropped from bagging device 108 can fall into the merchandiser 110. It should also be noted that the merchandiser 110 is preferably at least as wide as the unit 100 to avoid the unit 100 overhanging the merchandiser 110. Because the maker/bagger unit 100 is so much smaller than the prior art bagging systems, it is also possible to use it with a narrower merchandiser 110. The use of a narrower merchandiser 110 is advantageous in that the merchandiser 110 is less expensive and uses less floor space in the retail location.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/333,516, filed on May 11, 2010, entitled Ice Bagging System.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61333516 | May 2010 | US |
