US 4,082,033 AGranted

Automatic doughnut making machine

OwnerAmos M. Festerinventor

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Abstract

A compact table-top automatic doughnut making machine for use at lunch counters, in-store bakery counters, small bakeries, and the like, where freshly cooked doughnuts are sold in moderately large volume. The machine is particularly adaptable to varying volume requirements, being adjustable to produce from about 5 dozen to 100 dozen doughnuts per hour. The machine includes a generally rectangular compact tank for containing the cooking fat or oil which is heated by automatic thermostatically controlled means. A removable insert in the tanks defines a circuitous path along which the doughnuts flow in the course of being cooked. A removable dough extruding unit is mounted over one end of the tank to form and drop rings of raw dough into the oil. The dough is moved along the surface of the cooking oil by a propulsion pump inducing a circulating flow of oil as the doughnut is first cooked on one side, turned over automatically, cooked on the other side and discharged from the machine. The machine can be readily disassembled for easy cleaning.

A doughnut making machine comprising:

(A) a vessel adapted to contain a liquid cooking medium,
(B) heating means disposed in the bottom of said vessel to heat the cooking medium,
(C) a removable guide channel insert supported within the vessel and having a horizontal bottom wall spaced above the heating means, said channel insert comprising:
(1) a plurality of elongated parallel spaced apart vertical walls defining a plurality of parallel channel segments,
(2) a plurality of arcuate vertical walls interconnecting the opposite ends of alternate parallel vertical walls and defining, with the parallel vertical walls, a serpentine flow path,
(3) a plurality of holes in said bottom wall to facilitate submersion of the insert in liquid cooking medium in said vessel,
(4) a pivoted flap closure covering each of said holes to provide a one way valve to retain said liquid medium in said submersed insert, and
(5) a propulsion pump at the upstream end of the first of said channel segments,
(D) dough expelling means movably mounted above the vessel over the upstream end of the first of the channel segments immediately downstream from said pump,
(E) power means to drive said dough expelling means,
(F) an open turn-over means pivotally mounted between two of said vertical channel walls at the approximate midpoint of said serpentine flow path,
(G) hold-back means operatively connected to said turn-over means to hold back partially cooked doughnuts when the turn-over means is in operation,
(H) an open doughnut discharge means pivotally mounted between two of said vertical channel walls adjacent the downstream end of said serpentine flow path,
(I) hold-back means operatively connected to said discharge means to hold back cooked doughnuts when the discharge means is in operation,
(J) pivotally mounted doughnut ejector means operatively connected to the hold back means of said discharge means to receive cooked doughnuts therefrom and eject them from the vessel, and
(K) power means for operating said turn-over means and discharge means in unison.

13 more elements

Abstract

Claims9