US 2013/0199215 A1Published application

Method and apparatus for the manufacture of frozen food products

OwnerKarl Winkler, Patrick Robert Moninventors

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Abstract

Methods of manufacturing a frozen food product in a chamber having a tubular refrigerated wall and a partition which is movable along the chamber between upper and lower positions include multiple steps. First, after positioning the partition at its upper position, a liquid food product mix is introduced into the chamber above the partition so that the mix forms a pool of a selected depth atop the partition. The partition is then moved downward towards its lower position at a selected rate which causes the mix in the pool to flow outward under gravity into contact with the wall where it at least partially freezes to form an adherent uniform frozen mix layer on progressively lower segments of that wall. Then, the frozen mix layer is scraped from the wall to form a multiplicity of frozen scrapings, which are collected in a receptacle and dispensed as a frozen food product.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A method of manufacturing a frozen food product, said method comprising the steps of

providing a chamber having a tubular wall with upper and lower ends;
refrigerating a segment of the wall to form a chill zone therein;
partitioning the chamber with a partition having a periphery close to said wall and which is movable along the chamber between upper and lower positions therein;
after positioning the partition at said upper position, during a filling step, introducing a liquid food product mix into the chamber above the partition so that the mix forms a pool of selected depth atop the partition;
then during a coating step, moving the partition downward through the chill zone at a selected rate which causes the mix in the pool to flow outward under gravity into contact with said wall where it at least partially freezes to form an adherent at least partially frozen mix layer on progressively lower segments of said wall in the chill zone;
continuing the downward movement of the partition until the partition has exited the chill zone and reached said lower position;
scraping the frozen mix layer from said wall to form a multiplicity of frozen scrapings, and
dispensing the frozen scrapings from the apparatus as said frozen food product.

5 more elements

Apparatus for manufacturing a chilled or frozen food product, said apparatus comprising

a chamber having a tubular wall with upper and lower ends;
a refrigerating device for refrigerating a segment of said wall to form a chill zone therein;
a partition in the chamber which is movable along the chamber between upper and lower positions;
an inlet in said wall above said upper position for introducing a liquid food product mix into the chamber;
a scraping device supported by and movable with the partition, said scraping device being adapted to slidably contact said wall;
a reciprocating device connected to the partition for moving the partition between said upper and lower positions, and
a controller which controls the reciprocating device to move the partition to said upper position so that a liquid food product mix can be introduced through said inlet into the chamber above the partition so that the mix forms a pool of a selected depth atop the partition, and then moves the partition downward through the chill zone at a selected rate so that the mix in the pool flows outward under gravity into contact with said wall where it at least partially freezes to form an adherent frozen mix layer on progressively lower segments of said wall in the chill zone;
a scraping device for scraping the frozen mix layer from said wall to form a multiplicity of frozen scrapings, and
a dispensing device for removing the frozen scrapings from the chamber as said frozen food product.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.