Technical Field

The invention relates to a method and a machine for production of sweet confectionery foods in general and in particular those destined to be arranged, immediately following the production process, in a predetermined orientation. In more detail, the sweet products the present invention makes particular reference to are an external cone-shaped wafer containing a sweet product, especially a cream or the like. Background Art

Confectionery products of the above type, i.e. comprising an external wafer in the form of a cone containing a sweet product, are commonly constituted by packaged ice-cream cones.

Machines are known for the production of ice cream cones comprising a carousel and a plurality of work stations arranged about the rotation axis of the carousel for realising successive work stages of the confectionery product, which is held up by the rotating carousel by means of special support seatings. When they arrive in an unloading station, the cones are expelled from the support seatings and placed, in any order, on a conveyor belt which takes them to a following packaging unit.

Owing to the conical shape thereof, the cones are laid on the conveyor practically horizontally and entirely haphazardly, and can actually move as the cones might roll on the conveyor surface, so that the cones might change position during transport.

Producer machines of the above-described type are disadvantageously incompatible with the production of cone-shaped confectionery products containing a product in the liquid or semi-liquid state. These confectionery products, immediately after they are made, contain a cream or a similar product which is still hot and thus in the liquid or semiliquid state, and cannot be laid horizontally on the conveyor belt due to the risk of the cream's exiting, which would cause irreparable damage to the sweet product as well as fouling the conveyor.

A technical aim of the present invention is to provide a method and a machine for production of confectionery products which do not suffer from the above- described drawbacks. An aim of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a method and a machine for production of confectionery products which enables a correct production of products having a conformation which is unsuitable for being laid stably on a horizontal transport plane, and more in particular a cone conformation. A further aim of the invention is to provide a method and a machine for the production of confectionery products which enable a correct production of confectionery products containing a liquid or semiliquid product, in particular cream or the like. These aims and other besides, as will emerge from the following description, are substantially attained by a method for the production of confectionery products having the characteristics expressed in claim 1 and/or in one or more of the claims depending thereon.

A further objective of the invention is a machine for the production of confectionery products of the present invention, having the characteristics expressed in claim 11 and/or in one or more of the claims depending thereon. Disclosure of Invention Further characteristics and advantages of the device of the present invention will better emerge from the detailed description that follows, made by way of non-limiting reference to the accompanying figures of the drawings, in which: figure 1 is a plan view of the machine for production of confectionery products of the present invention; figure 2 is a perspective view of a first portion of the machine of figure 1; figure 3 is a perspective view of a second portion of the machine of figure 1; figure 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of the machine of figure 1; figure 5 is a front view of a portion of the machine of figure 1, in a first operating stage; figure 6 is a front view of the portion of machine of figure 5, in a second operating stage; figure 7 is a front view of the portion of machine of figure 5, in a third operating stage; figure 8 is a front view of the portion of machine of figure 5, in a fourth operating stage; figure 9 is a perspective view of an outlet portion of the machine of figure 1; figure 10 is a section view of a confectionery product obtained according to the method of the present invention. In figure 10, 100 denotes a confectionery product obtained using the method and the machine of the present invention.

The confectionery product 100, shown in a section view to include the contents thereof, comprises a conical wafer 101 which, in the illustrated embodiment of figure 9, is provided with an inlet mouth facing upwards and a point facing downwards.

Internally of the wafer 101 is a first layer of a first food product 102 on which a second layer of a second food product 103 is arranged. By way of example, the first food product is chocolate-based whereas the second is cream-based.

Preferably, the two food products are in the liquid or semiliquid state, preferably having a creamy texture.

A coating layer is deposited on the upper surface of the second layer, preferably made of a granulated foodstuff, such as nuts.

The inlet mouth of the wafer 101 is closed by a circular lid 105. The wafer

101 is further externally covered with a covering 106 made of wrapping paper which superiorly exhibits an end flap 107 folded on the lid 105 to block the lid 105 stably on the wafer 101. In the view of figure 1, 1 denotes in its entirety a machine for realising the confectionery product 100 of figure 9.

The machine 1 comprises a conveyor device, with might also have a straight development, but preferably comprises a carousel 2 which is rotatable about an axis X and which has a plurality of support seatings 3 for containing wafers 101 with the inlet mouth thereof facing upwards. The rotation axis X of the carousel 2 is vertical.

The support seatings 3 are arranged over a whole angular development of the carousel 2 about the rotation axis X and, in the illustrated embodiment, they are grouped in ten groups each constituted by six support seatings 3. The groups, which are angularly equidistanced about the rotation axis X, are each made up of two rows of three seatings 3, arranged side by side in a radial direction.

In an anticlockwise direction (rotation direction R), in the view of figure 1 , the machine 1 comprises: a pair of loading stations 4, 5 acting on side-by-side groups, each acting on a different row of three support seatings 3; a first filling station 6 for pouring a batch of the first food product 102 into the wafers 101; a second filling station 7 for pouring a batch of the second food product 103 into the wafers 101; a third filling station 8 for pouring a batch of granulated foodstuff (covering layer 104) into the wafers 101; a closing station 9 for application of the lid 105 on the filled wafer 101; a folding station 10 for folding the above-mentioned upper flaps 107 of the covering 106 on the lid 105; an outlet station 11 of the wafers 101 thus completed.

The carousel 2 is rotatable about the rotation axis X in order to bring the support seatings 3 through all the mentioned stations in the above-described order. The above-described stations are well visible in figures 2 and 3.

In embodiments of the invention which are not illustrated, the third filling ^" station 8 might be omitted, or one of the first two filling stations 6, 7 could be omitted, or the third filling station 8 and one of the first two filling stations 6

7 could be omitted.

The loading stations 4, 5 supply wafers 101, preferably pre- wrapped in paper, i.e. having the covering 106 already externally applied. The filling stations 6, 7, 8 pour a predetermined quantity of food product into the wafer 101 through the inlet mouth of the wafer 101. The filling of the wafer 101 might be partial or complete, according to the confectionery product 100 to be produced.

In the present invention, the first and the second food products 102, 103, are poured into the wafer 101 while in the liquid or semiliquid state, preferably in the creamy state. To realise this, the two food products might need to be heated and therefore to be at above ambient temperature, preferably comprised between 10 ⁰ C and 60 ⁰ C. In this case, given the rapidity of the functioning of the machine, the product remains in the liquid state up to when it reaches the outlet station 11, and even beyond.

The filling stations 6, 7, 8 are of a type comprising a hopper or upper tank, a plurality of dispensing nozzles (six, one for each underlying support seating 3) and an intermediate dispensing unit, where necessary powered by an electric motor.

The closing station 9 comprises a mobile support 12, rotatable about a horizontal axis 12a and vertically slidable on guides 12b. The mobile support 12 is provided with six units 12c each of which is positionable at one of the support seatings 3 in order to apply a lid 105 onto a wafer 101. The mobile support 12 assumes a removal configuration, in which it is arranged at the top of the guides 12b in order to enable the units 12c (facing upwards) to remove respective lids 105 from a same number of piles P of lids 105, and an application position in which it lowers and turns the units 12c downwards in order to apply the lids 105 on the underlying wafers 101. The following folding station 10 comprises six pressers 13 which lower towards the underlying wafers 101 in order to fold the upper flaps 107 of the above-described covering 106 of the wafers 101. A conveyor 14 is located at the outlet station 11, which is immediately downstream of the folding station 10, which conveyor 14 has the function of conveying the wafers 101 to successive work stations (not illustrated), for example packing or marking stations, or others beside. In the illustrated embodiment, figure 9 clearly shows that the conveyor 14 comprises two parallel segments, 14a, 14b, each of which receives and conveys the wafers 101 coming from a respective row of three of each group of six wafers 101 arranged on the carousel 2. The conveyor 14, during the transport of the filled wafers 101, advantageously keeps the wafers 101 in a vertical orientation, i.e. with the inlet mouth facing upwards to prevent exit of the food products 102, 103. Though the wafers 101 are closed by the lids 105, the food products 102, 103 contained thereof are still in the liquid or semi- liquid state and might drip through folds in the covering 106 should the wafers 101 be arranged horizontally or in any case in an incorrect position. A wrong positioning of the wafers 101 might also create undesired reciprocal mixing of the food products 102, 103 and the granulated foodstuff 104, causing a deterioration of the confectionery product 100 which would no longer be fit for sale.

As shown in figures 8 and 9, each filled and packed wafer 101 is supported, while on the conveyor 14, at opposite sides thereof such as to be automatically orientated in a vertical direction under the action of its own weight. To this end, each segment 14a, 14b comprises two parallel bands 15 which face one another and are distanced in order to define a hollow space 16 in which the lower point of the conical wafer 101 inserts. The parallel bands 15 are mobile in an advancement direction A in order to convey the wafers 101 away from the carousel 2 while they support the wafers 101 thanks to the fact that the upper part of the wafers 101 has a transversal dimension which is greater than the hollow space 16 and thus rests on the parallel sides 15. The parallel bands are preferably defined by facing parallel branches of two conveyors having parallel belts.

The machine 1 further comprises means for transfer, arranged at the outlet station 11 and acting between the carousel 2 and the conveyor 14 to remove the wafers 101 from the carousel 2 and deposit them on the transporter 14. The means for transfer primarily comprise a pusher 17 which raises the filled and packed wafers 101 from the respective support seatings 3. The pusher 17 exhibits six terminals 17a each of which intercepts the lower portions of the wafers 101 and raised them up until they are disengaged from the support seatings 3. The terminals 17a are thus destined to cross the support seatings 3 in order to realise a total disengagement of the wafers 101 from the support seatings 3.

In greater detail, the pusher 17 is mobile between an inactive position (figures 4, 5, 8) in which it is in a lowered position and enables rotation of the carousel 2, and a working position (figures 6 and 7), in which it is in a raised position in order to disengage the wafers 101 from the respective support seatings 3.

The movement direction of the pusher 17 is substantially parallel to the rotation axis X of the carousel 2 and is therefore substantially vertical. The means for transfer further comprise a tilter 18 which receives the wafers 101 raised by the pusher 17 and conveys them towards the conveyor 14. As shown in figures from 4 to 8, the tilter 18 comprises six C-shaped container elements 18a provided with an opening facing downwards in order each to receive a wafer 101. Each container element 18a exhibits a housing 19 in which a single wafer 101 can be housed. In more detail, each container element 18a is rotatable about a preferably horizontal rotation axis between a receiving position (illustrated in figures 5 and 6), in which it faces an underlying wafer 101, and a release position in which it turns the lower opening towards the conveyor 14 to release the wafer 101 towards the conveyor 4. In the receiving position, each container element 18a is arranged along a first direction, substantially parallel to the raising direction of the wafer 101, such that the pusher 17 pushes the wafer 101 into the housing 19 of the container element 18. In the release position, the container element 18a is arranged in a second inclined direction with respect to the first direction, and in particular turning the lower opening towards the conveyor 14 in order to release the wafer 101 contained in the housing 19 by force of gravity onto the conveyor 14. Activation of the pusher 17 and the tilter 18 is done by means of actuators (not illustrated), preferably hydraulic or pneumatic and possibly involving interposing of mechanical elements (not illustrated).

In embodiments of the invention which are not illustrated herein, the carousel 2 might exhibit a different number of support seatings 3, for example a single circumferential row of seatings for production of a single confectionery product 100 at each advancement of the carousel 2, or might exhibit groups of support seatings 3 having a different number of support seatings 3. In these further embodiments, the pusher 17 and the tilter 18 consequently assume different configurations, and the pusher 17 can comprise one or more terminals 17a, and the tilter 18 can exhibit one or more container elements 18a. Consequently a single segment 14a, 14b of the conveyor 14 can be included.

The present invention attains the set aims, overcoming the drawbacks inherent in the prior art. The use of a conveyor enabling the wafers to be orientated vertically by force of gravity (as shown in figure 9) enables production of articles of confectionery containing liquid/semiliquid food products, or products which are entirely melted, which otherwise would be subject to deterioration or leakage of the food products. This is especially referred to cone-shaped confectionery products which are not naturally suited to assuming a vertical position when transported. The above-described use of means for transfer further enables a rapid and efficient expulsion of the hot wafers from the support seatings of the carousel and the sending-on thereof to the conveyor, without the wafers significantly changing their orientation, thus again preventing deterioration or leakage of the confectionery products contained in the wafers.