Improved machines for making crumpets, muffins, drop-scones, pancakes and the like

摘要

729,275. Baking-apparatus. JERSEY, D. C. DE. July 28, 1953, No. 20929/53. Class 28 (1). A machine for making crumpets, muffins, scones, pan-cakes or the like, comprises mould rings 1 fitted on an endless conveyer 2, driven intermittently to carry the rings under dough feeding means and through a cooking zone, and hot plates 4 fitted on another endless conveyer 5 driven synchronously beneath said rings during filling and cooking operations. The conveyers 2, 5 are driven intermittently through sprockets 3, 6 by a geneva star mechanism and greasing, filling, browning and separating the crumpets from the hot plates take place when the conveyers are stationary. The rings are greased by a felt pad 8, fed with oil from a reservoir 14, the pad 8 being raised and lowered by a linkage and rotated by a belt drive, Fig. 3. After greasing the rings are carried round until they engage the hot plates 4 when they are filled with dough from a hopper 9. Beneath each hopper is a casing forming a chamber 21 and containing a plunger 22 and a valve 27. Dough is drawn from the hopper 9 into chambers 21 by plungers 22 through ports 28A, 28 in the hopper 9 and valves 27 respectively. Valves 27 are then turned so that ports 29, 29A, in the valve 27 and casing respectively, coincide and the dough is expelled by plungers 22 and falls into the'rings 1 underneath. The filled rings 1 then pass through the cooking zone where burners 10 heat the hot plates. At the end of the cooking zone the rings pass beneath a reciprocating gas heated browning plate 11. After cooking, the conveyers separate and the crumpets remain on the hot plates from which they are stripped when the latter become vertical by blades 41. Synchronous action of all the parts is achieved by linkages connected with the main drive. Electricity may be used instead of gas for heating.