DESCRIPTION

Field of application of the invention

The present invention is generally suited to be applied to the sector of machines for making pasta and similar products and, in particular, its subject is an extruder for extruding pasta of the type with solid cross section, meaning not hollow, as described in the preamble of claim 1.

Background of the invention

Several types of extruders for extruding pasta and similar products are known.

In particular, the document EP 1747726 describes a machine for the domestic preparation of homemade pasta.

Said machine is provided with a plate having a plurality of holes through which the dough is extruded by means of a screw mechanism in order to obtain pasta.

An obvious disadvantage posed by this extruder lies in that it allows the preparation of one type of pasta only, with solid cross section, like spaghetti, tagliatelle or similar shapes.

Other examples of extruders are known, provided with two coupled elements for making pasta with hollow cross section.

For example, the document GB2073089 describes a pasta extruder constituted by two disc-shaped elements that are coupled in order to define the passage through which the dough passes to obtain hollow tubular pasta.

Even those extruders can produce one type of pasta only.

The document US4516926 describes an extruder similar to the one described in the previous example, in which the disc-shaped element positioned upstream is replaced by a plurality of arms that extend radially from a centre hub. On each arm of the upstream element a corresponding cylindrical element is fixed, which is intended to be inserted in a corresponding opening in the downstream element so as to define the sections through which the dough passes.

Even in this case the extruder described allows only one type of pasta to be produced. Description of the invention

The main object of the present invention is to provide an extruder that can make different types of pasta with solid cross section, meaning not hollow, such as linguine, tagliatelle, square and round spaghetti, etc.

It is another object of the present invention to allow the use of different shaping tools to produce non-hollow pasta in different shapes, while at the same time maintaining the dosing tool fixed and stable on the extruder.

Another special object of the invention is to provide an extruder that makes it possible to produce different types of non-hollow pasta while at the same time reducing the cost of the extruder and that makes it possible to obtain the different pasta shapes desired through the combined use of a single dosing tool and various shaping tools.

Another object of the invention is to provide an extruder for extruding non-hollow pasta that has a long operating life.

It is another object of the invention to provide an extruder that is particularly strong and reliable, and at the same time can be easily cleaned by disassembling its elements. These and other objects that are described below are achieved, according to claim 1, by an extruder for extruding pasta provided with a universal dosing tool having a plurality of extruding openings suited to form pasta with solid cross section starting from a piece of dough, combined with a second disc- shaped element, called shaping tool, suited to be coupled with the first universal dosing tool and provided with a plurality of second holes aligned with the holes of said dosing tool. The wall of the shaping tool is positioned so that it adheres to the wall of the universal dosing tool and the two walls, having the holes arranged in the same way, remain coupled during the use of the extruder; the extruding openings and, therefore, the size of the pasta are defined by the holes provided on the wall of the shaping tool.

The universal dosing tool and the shaping tool are coupled, without welded joints or glued parts, and are supported by known fastening ring nuts.

The universal dosing tool and the shaping tool are coupled with each other by means of a fixed joint centring system with one or more seats or projections positioned in the internal area of the shaping tool that, when the walls of the dosing tool approach each other, are coupled with the corresponding projections or seats present in the front part of the dosing tool.

This coupling system allows the dosing tool and the shaping tool to be correctly fastened to each other while the dough passes through the extruder and the non-hollow pasta is extruded.

The combination of the universal dosing tool and the shaping tool is suited to guarantee that the first holes provided in the universal dosing tool are aligned with the second holes provided in the shaping tool.

Said universal dosing tool and said shaping device both comprise lateral edges that are such that once said shaping tool has been fitted in the dosing tool the two edges form a single edge with standard thickness so as to allow the extruder to be connected to the machine using the known ring nuts.

The shaping tool and the dosing tool, furthermore, may comprise a series of holes arranged according to any preferred order.

The arrangement of the holes in the dosing tool must correspond to that of the holes in the shaping tool. Thanks to this particular configuration it will be possible to obtain an extruder that is capable of making non-hollow pasta in different shapes, by simply changing the shaping tool.

The size and shape of the pasta will correspond to the size and shape of the holes made in the wall of the shaping tool.

Said shaping tools are, therefore, extractable from the dosing tool and are provided with holes in different shapes and sizes, so as to make non-hollow pasta in different shapes, like linguine, tagliatelle and spaghetti of various types.

The new extruder offers the advantage that it allows different types of pasta to be obtained with no need to change the dosing tool, by simply replacing the shaping tool with other ones having holes in different sizes and shapes.

Brief description of the drawings

Brief description of the drawings

The characteristics of the new extruder for extruding pasta will be highlighted in greater detail in the following description, with reference to the drawings attached as non- limiting examples.

The attached drawings show the two components of the extruder, a universal dosing tool A and various shaping tools D.

Figure 1 shows a side view of the new extruder.

Figures 2a and 2b show two views from two sides of the universal dosing tool A and of a shaping tool D when they are still separated.

Figures 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 3f show respective views of various shaping tools D provided with holes in different sizes and shapes for making spaghetti, square spaghetti, linguine and tagliatelle. Detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention

The extruder is described with particular reference to the enclosed figures, the reference numbers used in the description and in the claims are used to improve the intelligibility of the invention and do not constitute a limitation to the claimed scope of protection. The extruder for extruding pasta according to the invention is indicated as a whole by the reference number 1.

The extruder 1 comprises a dosing tool A provided with a plurality of holes B suited to make non-hollow extruded pasta with a kneading machine. Said dosing tool A of the extruder 1 is intended to be mounted on a machine for making pasta that can be provided with means, for example screw means, suited to compress the dough against an inlet wall of the extruder 1. The dough compressed in this way can be extruded through the extruding openings, thus becoming plastically deformed.

Said dosing tool A is provided with at least two centring elements C preferably cylindrical in shape and positioned in the centre area of the dosing tool A.

Said extruder 1 also comprises a second removable disc- shaped element D called, in fact, shaping tool, and provided with a series of holes E.

Said shaping tool D can be provided with holes E in different sizes and shapes, for example with round holes El (Figure 3a) for making spaghetti, square holes E3 (Figure 3c) for making square spaghetti, flattened semi-oval holes E6 (Figure 3e) for making linguine, flattened rectangular holes E2 (Figure 3b) for making tagliatelle and other types of pasta with solid cross section, generically S-shaped holes E4 (Figure 3d) for making pasta like the so-called caserecce, generically spiral- shaped holes E6 (Figure 3f) for making pasta like the so-called torchietti.

Said shaping tool D comprises in its internal wall at least two hollow elements M suited to facilitate the insertion and centring of the shaping tool D in the universal dosing tool A provided with corresponding centring elements C. In particular, the universal dosing tool A and the shaping tool D are coupled with each other during operation, through the coupling of the two coupling elements C and M, while they are separated from each other to facilitate cleaning. The universal dosing tool A defines the inlet wall against which the dough is compressed.

The different holes E of the shaping tools D make it possible to shape the pasta with solid cross section in the desired sizes and shapes.

Said dosing tool A and said shaping tool D are provided on their surface with a series of holes B, E arranged on a circle or more circles or at random.

The holes B, E present in the walls of the dosing tool A and the shaping tool D are positioned in such a way that once they have been coupled with each other the holes of the corresponding walls coincide.

A special characteristic of the invention lies in that both the universal dosing tool A and the shaping tool D come in a single piece, without welded joints or glued parts.

Said dosing tool A and said shaping tool D are each provided with a circular edge T, S so that, when the shaping tool D is inserted in the dosing tool A, the two edges T, S are joined without solution of continuity.

Said union between the two edges T, S makes it possible to fix the new extruder 1 to the machine and to easily disconnect the shaping tool (D) when it is necessary to wash or replace it.

This particular characteristic makes it possible to avoid the presence of discontinuous surfaces on the universal dosing tool A and on the shaping tool D, consequently ensuring more resistance and duration as well as reducing the risk of breakages. The absence of discontinuous surfaces between the universal dosing tool A and the shaping tool D makes it also possible to reduce the risk of cracks, consequently reducing the risk of fatigue failures. The above clearly shows that the new extruder 1 according to the invention achieves the set objects and in particular that it makes it possible to guarantee that different types of pasta can be obtained by simply replacing the shaping tools D provided with holes E in different sizes and shapes.

These are the schematic characteristics that are sufficient to carry out the invention for a person skilled in the art, consequently upon construction changes may be made that do not affect the substance of the innovative concept disclosed herein.

Therefore, with reference to the above description, the following claims are expressed.