High volume dough piece production method
AssigneeNabisco Brands, Inc.
InventorAlbert A. Pinto
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Dough pieces are produced in high volume by a plurality of dual extruders spaced across a conveyor and each having a pair of extrusion nozzles aligned in the direction of conveyor travel. A cut-off mechanism severs the dough extrusions to deposit dough pieces on the conveyor. The speed of the conveyor is related to the speed of the cut-off mechanism so that the dough pieces produced by each extruder form a single uniformly spaced line. The extruders are fed from a common supply through individual inlets and means are provided to balance the flow through the nozzles.
Claims3
A method for producing dough pieces, comprising the steps of:
- feeding dough to a pair of extruder nozzles at respective extrusion stations spaced a predetermined distance from one another above a conveyor;
- extruding dough at substantially the same rate through said extruder nozzles;
- cutting off sections of dough being extruded through said nozzles to form at each nozzle a series of discrete dough pieces, dough pieces being cut off substantially simultaneously at said nozzles;
- depositing said dough pieces on said conveyor so that dough pieces formed at either one of said nozzles are spaced from each other on said conveyor by a distance equal to two-thirds of said predetermined distance;
- and
- continuously driving said conveyor at a speed so related to said predetermined distance and to the rate of dough piece formation that a line of equally spaced dough pieces is formed on said conveyor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.