DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a machine to automatically couple alimentary mix cords.

Some types of machines to automatically braid alimentary mix cords intended to produce confectionery or bakery products and the like have already been suggested.

Italian Patent IT-1266289 discloses a machine capable of producing drawn and braided alimentary mix cords by depositing sections or rings of dough ready for the following processing steps, such as leavening and cooking, on a step-by-step conveyor belt.

The main fault of these known machine types is that they may only process one type of alimentary mix at a time.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an automatic machine for producing alimentary braids made of cords of different alimentary mix.

In accordance with the invention, such an object is achieved by a machine to couple alimentary mix cords, characterized in that it comprises a frame adapted to support drawing means for said cords, conveying means, kinking means intended to reciprocally kink said cords, cutting means intended to cause the detachment of kinked crops of said cords, said drawing means including two or more drawing devices for alimentary mix cords of a different type, each adapted to feed a cord of different type towards a single kinking device.

These and other features of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description of a practical embodiment thereof which is illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawing, in which:

figure 1 shows a side view of a machine to automatically couple two different alimentary mix cords according to the present invention;

figure 2 shows a top plan view of the machine.

With reference to the figure, it should be noted that machine 1 to couple alimentary mix cords consists of a frame 2 intended to support drawing means 3, preferably consisting of at least two drawing devices 3a,

3b for an alimentary mix 4 consisting of at least one cord 4a, 4b.

Below each drawing device 3 a, 3b, there is a horizontal belt conveyor 5a, 5b for said cord 4a, 4b, once it has exited the device 3a, 3b, on which known orienting means 6 a and 6b are provided, intended to guide the cord 4a, 4b in the desired direction. Said orienting means 6a, 6b are kept suspended on the belt 5a, 5b through suitable support means; the belt 5a, 5b interferes therewith by gentle scraping action.

The belts 5a, 5b are placed at the same height and show one edge which is connected to frame 2 and the opposite edge being free, at which sliding rollers 8a, 8b are provided.

The rollers 8a and 8b are arranged parallel to each other and both at the same height as the belts 5a, 5b; said rollers 8a, 8b are spaced from the belts 5a, 5b so as a scale 51 may be provided below said distancing space

50. If cord 4a, 4b breaks down, the latter ends on the scale 51 which stops the machine upon the detection of the broken cord weight.

The rollers 8a, 8b are intended to convey the cord 4a, 4b by centring it within the upper mouth 9b of known kinking means 9 (patent IT- 1266289), vertically mounted slightly below said roller 8a, 8b.

The kinking means 9 provide rotation means 15 intended to rotate them about a vertical axis, thus causing the kinking of cords 4a and 4b transforming them in a kinked compound 14. Slightly below the kinking means 9, a conveyor belt 10 is provided, self-propelled in a discontinuous way on a horizontal plane adapted to move the kinked compound 14 with respect to the zone placed immediately underneath the known kinking means 9. The lower mouth 9a of said kinking means 9 may advantageously include known handling means 18 intended to make said lower mouth 9a describe closed- loop, horizontal trajectories, thus allowing the formation of mix rings 11.

In an intermediate position between the mouth 9a and the belt 10, known cutting means 12 are provided, which are intended to cyclically cut the kinked compound 14 exiting from said mouth 9a, being able to approach an abutment 17, placed close to the mouth 9a consisting of a flat surface which is orthogonal to the belt 10 and parallel to the cutting edge of the means 12.

Advantageously, the drawing means 3a, 3b may be two or more

(radially arranged about a single kinking mean), according to the number of types of mix to be simultaneously used, and the kinking means 9 may also be intended to kink two or more alimentary mix cords 4a, 4b according to the desired type of kinked compound 14.

In practice, two different types of compound, for example reciprocally different in colour or flavour, may be used for the discontinuous drawing in the devices 3a, 3b. The cord 4a, 4b out from the device 3a, 3b, will deposit on the belt 5a, 5b, to roll onto the roller 8a, 8b guided by the orienting means 6a, 6b and will then be conveyed within the kinking means 9 where the rotating means 15 will cause the reciprocal kinking of the two cords 4a and

4b. At the outlet of the kinking means 9, a kinked compound 14 will thus be obtained, resulting from braiding two or more cords 4a, 4b and each of which may have different features from the other.

The drawing means 3 a, 3b may be set to different feeding speeds, therefore different cords 4a, 4b may be kinked with a different pitch.

If, for example, a braided loaf of bread is desired, with a first cord of white dough and a second cord of flavoured dough, by setting the drawing speed of the white dough cord so as to double the drawing speed of the flavoured cord, a braided loaf having the pitch of the flavoured cord twice the pitch of the white cord will be obtained. Such a technical effect is required to obtain an optimally flavoured bread-stick, the same kinking pitch would yield a too highly flavoured bread-stick and therefore not very appreciated by the consumer.

Advantageously, the producer can set different speeds according to the product to be obtained.

In a first mode of using the machine 1, the kinked compound 14 being out of the kinking means 9, may be deposited on the moving belt 10 while the mouth 9a will be substantially still, thus obtaining kinked compounds 14 which, after the intervention of the cutting means 12, will substantially be straight cords 13, i.e. in a bread-stick shape.

In a second mode of using machine 1, instead, the kinked compound 14 may be deposited on belt 10 being firstly still, and with the mouth 9a moving and describing a closed-loop, horizontal trajectory due to the handling means 18. By lowering the kinking means 9 with respect to belt 10, there is an initial leaning of the lower end of the kinked compound 14, coinciding with the belt 10 being moved so as to bring the kinked compound 14 close to the abutment 17, and thereby, after the intervention carried out by the cutting means 12, the other end of the kinked compound 14 will overlap that which was previously deposited on the belt, in order to substantially obtain dough rings 11 , then moved away from the mouth 9a, due to a subsequent step-by-step movement of the belt in the opposite direction with respect to the previous.

Actually, any material or dimension may be used, according to the needs.