INTERMEDIATE PRODUCT AND A WAFER OBTAINED BY THIS

METHOD, AND AN ASSOCIATED MOULD

The present invention concerns a method for

manufacturing shaped wafers according to the preamble of Claim 1.

Specifically, the present invention concerns the

manufacture of wafers which are generally shaped, for

example having a generally hemispherical cup or basin

shape, rather than the usual flat form of wafers used,

for example, to produce the filled biscuits generally

known as wafer biscuits .

EP-A-0 054 229 and EP-A-0 221 033 describe solutions in

which hemispherical wafer cups are obtained by a cutting

operation from an intermediate product comprising a flat

base from which the hemispherical cups project in the

form of shaped pieces. Following the cutting operation,

preferably performed in the general plane of the base,

the hemispherical cups are separated from the base

itself which is usually discarded.

The method used to obtain the aforesaid intermediate

product usually comprises cooking in a mould, carried

out with two complementary mould parts (for example, of

cast iron) which define between them a space of

constant, or substantially constant, thickness both in

correspondence with the base and with the shaped parts.

The starting material is usually constituted by a

mixture based on water, flour or flours, sugar,

flavourings etc: the respective recipes, which may be varied according to specific requirements of use, are

widely known in the food industry and do not require

description here, particularly as they are not in

themselves relevant to an understanding of the

invention.

The mixture (wafer paste) in question is applied in such

a way that, when the two mould parts are closed, the

mixture itself occupies the aforesaid space. The mould

is then heated (the manner in which this is carried out

is also widely known in the art) until the wafer is

cooked to the desired degree. The subsequent opening of

the mould makes available the aforesaid intermediate

product from which the shaped wafers are cut .

Although fully satisfactory in relation to the problems

it was originally intended to solve (for example, for

the manufacture of pralines of the type described in EP-

A-0 064 155 or EP-A-0 086 319) , the solution described

above encounters a number of difficulties whenever it is

desired to produce thinner shaped wafers (for example,

having a thickness of 1-1.5 mm instead of a typical

thickness of approximately 2.5 mm in the case of the

pralines mentioned above) . This is found especially in

industrial applications, when high through-puts are

essential .

In the case of very thin wafers, the risk of the

intermediate product breaking on removal from the mould

increases and is, in fact, incompatible with the

reliability and yield required for an industrial

process .

The aim of the present invention is to modify the method

described in the prior art so as to make it possible to

manufacture wafers shaped, for example, as a basin and

which are very thin (approximately 1-1.5 mm or,

possibly, even thinner) .

According to the present invention, this aim is achieved

by a method having the characteristics claimed in Claim

1. Advantageous developments of the invention form the subjects of sub-claims 2 to 5. The invention also

concerns the related intermediate product having the

characteristics claimed in Claim 6 as well as the

corresponding wafer having the characteristics claimed

in Claim 7. The invention also concerns a mould for

carrying out the aforesaid method, having the

characteristics according to Claim 8. Advantageous

developments of this mould form the subjects of Claims 9

and 10.

The invention will now be described by way of non-

limitative example, with reference to the accompanying

drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows schematically the intermediate wafer

product that can be obtained according to the invention;

Figure 2 shows the final product (the shaped wafer)

that can be obtained from the intermediate product of

Figure 1 ; and

Figure 3 shows in detail the mould for carrying out

the method according to the invention.

The intermediate product P shown in Figure 1 is

constituted essentially by a sheet (which, for the

purpose of the present invention, can be considered as

being of indefinite dimensions) of wafer including a

flat base part A in which are formed shaped parts C having, in this particular embodiment, a generally

elongate basin-like shape.

To give a better idea, one is dealing with the basin-

shaped half shells intended to form the wafer shell of

the food product described in Patent Application No.

PCT/EP96/00948 in the name of the same Applicant.

The wafer C (whose characteristics can be better

appreciated from Figure 2, where the wafer itself is

illustrated alone) is obtained from the intermediate

product P by means of a cutting operation schematically

illustrated at T m Figure 1 only The cutting

operation may be carried out in accordance with the

method described in one of the European Patent

Applications Nos. EP-A-0 054 229 or EP-A-0 221 033, that

is, by a cut effected parallel to the general plane of

the base layer A.

One essential characteristic can be appreciated from

Figure 1 and that is the fact that the intermediate

product P is not of uniform thickness but, on the

contrary, is thinner (1-1.5 mm or even less) in

correspondence with the shaped pares C, m comparison

with a significantly greater thickness (2.2-2.5 mm) m

the flat base part.

From this point of view, the solution according to the

invention differs from the known solutions (and, in

particular, from those adopted for praline manufacture

as described in European Patent Applications Nos. EP-A-0

064 155 or EP-A-0 086 319) , where an identical or

substantially identical thickness (for example, with a

wastage of 2.2 to 2.5 mm) is envisaged both for the base

part and the shaped part (in the form of a hemispherical

cup, in the embodiments described in the Patent

Applications referred to) .

The solution according to the invention is based on a

recognition of the fact that, on extraction from the

cooking mould, the greatest stresses in the intermediate

product P arise in the base part A rather than in the

shaped parts C.

For the time being, the Applicant is unable to provide

an explanation for the phenomenon observed: in effect,

the opposite would be expected, namely, that the more

considerable stresses would occur in the shaped parts C,

due to their intimate contact with the inside of the

corresponding, complementary shaped parts of the two mould parts .

The experiments conducted by the Applicant instead show

that the extraction of the intermediate product P from

the cooking mould (an operation often called

"demoulding") can occur without risk of breakage, even

of very thin shaped parts C, provided the base part A

has sufficient thickness (for example, approximately

2.2-2.5 mm) .

The provision of portions within the wafer sheet

constituting the intermediate product P with such

different thicknesses (the ratio between the thickness

of the base part A and that of the shaped parts C

exceeds 1.5 and is typically at least 1.6) assumes a

risk of non-uniform cooking and, hence, of non-uniform

characteristics in the sheet. It is, in fact, evident

that the thin parts generally tend to cook more than the

thick parts. However, the fact that the "useful" parts

(the shaped parts C) are the thinner parts, while the

"waste" parts (that is, the base part A) are the thicker

parts enables the characteristics and the cooking

conditions to be controlled to give the best results

desired for the useful parts without it being necessary

to worry excessively about a part which is usually

discarded. With the thickness ratios described above,

the experiments conducted by the Applicant demonstrate

that the base layer A has characteristics of firmness,

and hence of mechanical strength, such as to enable the

intermediate product P to be extracted easily and safely

from the cooking mould. Besides, the Applicant has been

able to check that, with the thicknesses indicated

above, even the base part A has acceptable organoleptic

characteristics so that it can be used in a production

cycle for food products.

Figure 3 shows schematically a cooking mould usable for

the manufacture (according to widely known criteria, as

has been said) of the intermediate product P of Figure

In practice, the two complementary male and female mould

parts, indicated 2 and 3 respectively, have structures

which reproduce complementarily (thus, positively in the

case of the half-mould 2, and negatively in the case of

the half-mould 3) the shape of the intermediate product

P.

In both of the elements 2 and 3, respective base parts

4, 5 and respective shaped parts 6, 7 can be

distinguished.

An important characteristic of the mould in question is

that the conformation of the two mould parts 2, 3 and/or

the characteristics of the associated spacer elements 8

(these too are usually formed as male and female

elements intended to engage each other when the mould 2

and the counter-mould 3 are coupled together) are chosen

so as to ensure that there is a space of constant

thickness, for example, approximately 2.2-2.5 mm,

between the base parts 4, 5 of the two coupled mould

parts 2, 3, while the shaped parts 6, 7 are separated by

a space which is shaped like the shape of the parts C

and has a constant thickness of approximately 1-1.5 mm

(or even less, depending on requirements) .

Preferably, one or both of the mould parts 2, 3 are

embossed or finished (as known per se) with a square or

rhombus motif (so-called "waffle") over their entire

surfaces .

Naturally, the principle of the invention remaining the

same, the details of manufacture and the embodiments may

be widely varied with respect to that described and

illustrated, without thereby departing from the scope of

the present invention.