DESCRIPTION

Technical field

The present invention relates to a device for the preparation of ice cream cones and wafers, and more specifically it deals with a machine suitable for the preparation of small quantities of cones and wafers, specifically developed for being associated with a counter for the sale of ice cream, jam, yogurt, creams, or other foods similarly suitable for being served in edible containers.

Prior art

The production of cones or wafers is usually made at an industrial level, and the products delivered to the ice cream shops are already packaged; machines for the production of big quantities of ice cream cones are described, for example, in US

4600591 or in US 5516540.

In some cases, consumers much appreciate handicraft cones or wafers, which can be realized using different mixes of ingredients, each featuring its own taste and appearance characteristics.

For example, in the handicraft production of ice cream cones, mixes are used which result in cones with the taste of mint, chocolate, coffee, and others .

This is the reason why cone manufacturing machines suitable for a limited production have been developed and are specifically dedicated to a handicraft use, like, for example, that described in Italian patent no. 1234256, suitable for the production of two cones at a time.

Reduced-dimensions machines are also known for cooking wafers, including, for example, that described in US 6321639, which allows to simultaneously cook two wafers.

Notwithstanding this, ice cream shops are usually very sensitive to the problem of space, and very often there is a physical impossibility of installing both a cone machine and a wafer machine. Furthermore, there is a trend toward serving ice creams also in the big spaces of shopping centers, where the shop or laboratories don't have a back where to install both devices.

Objects and brief description of the invention

Therefore, the main aim of the present invention is providing an easy-to-use and compact device that allows to produce small quantities of both ice cream cones and wafers. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the present invention allows to produce both ice cream cones and wafers, with reduced overall dimensions and without requiring a support counter.

This aim is achieved by a device that conforms to the enclosed claims.

The advantages of this invention will be apparent, together with its technical characteristics, from the following detailed description of one example of embodiment, without restricting the scope of the invention .

Brief description of accompanying drawings

Figure 1 shows the present invention as seen from the operator side. The wafer manufacturing device (5) is shown, its movable cover (52) being in the opened position, so as to also show the lower half (54) of a wafer cooking mould located above the base (51) . The cone manufacturing device (1) is shown, its movable cover (13) being in the raised position, and the movable half-mould (16) in the closed position. The figure also shows, in the lower section of the counter (7) , the extractable drawer (9) and the front board of the power supply and control assembly (3).

- Figure 2 shows the cone preparation device (1) , its movable cover (13) being in the raised position and the movable half -mould (16) in the open position. The figure shows the handle (19) used to lift the movable cover (13) and to lock said movable cover (13) in its closing position. The figure also shows the lever (17) used to move the movable half-mould (16) to the open position and the pneumatic piston (20) used to hold the movable cover (13) in its raised position.

- Figure 3 shows the wafer manufacturing device (5) , its movable cover (52) being in the open position, so as to also show the lower half (54) of a wafer cooking mould located above the base (51) . The upper-half (55) of the wafer cooking mould is shown disassembled from the movable cover (52) ; an electrical resistor (56) is interposed between said movable cover (52) and said upper-half (55) of said wafer cooking mould, to heat the mould, and at least one thermally insulating element (58) and a counterplate holding at least one sensor used to control the temperature of said upper-half (55) of said wafer cooking mould are interposed between said electrical resistor (56) and said movable cover ( 52 ) .

Detailed description of an embodiment of the invention

The present invention consists of a counter (7) , the upper-section of which accommodates a device (1) for the preparation of ice cream cones and a device (5) for the preparation ^' of wafers.

The lower section of said counter (7) accommodates a power supply and control assembly (3) which is common to device "1" and to device "5" .

A withdrawable housing (9) is located below said ice cream cone manufacturing device (1) to collect the cones.

In an advantageous embodiment, said withdrawable housing is made of a transparent material, so as to show the quantity of cones accommodated therein. In an even more advantageous embodiment of the invention, a window is located in the front section of the counter (7) , through which those who are in front of the counter (7) can see the cones located inside said housing (9) made of a transparent material.

The upper section of said counter (7) accommodates a cone manufacturing device (1), comprising at least one mould (11), in which one or several recess (12) are cut to determine the external shape of the cone, and at least one movable cover (13) holding one or several cores (14) to determine the internal shape of the cone. Said movable cover (13) can be raised and lowered manually through a handle

(19) , which comprises means (23) to lock said movable cover (13) in a closing position, the manual raising of said movable cover (13) being made easier by the action of a pneumatic piston

(20) .

The mould (11) consists of a fixed half-mould (15) and a movable half-mould (16), and the latter can be moved from an opening position (a) up to a closing position (b) by a crank mechanism (18) operated by an operator via a lever (17); said mould (11) can be replaced by another mould capable of manufacturing cones of different shapes.

The u^per-section of said counter (7) also accommodates a wafer manufacturing device (5) , comprising a base (51) and a movable cover (52) . The movable cover (52) rotates around an axis (53) substantially coincident with the rear edge of the base (51) .

The lower-half (54) of a wafer cooking mould is fixed above said base (51) . The upper-half (55) of a wafer cooking mould is fixed below said movable cover (52); both said halves of a wafer cooking mould are heated by separate electrical resistors (56) put in contact with the inner side of the two halves of the wafer mould and can be replaced by others featuring different patterns and suitable for manufacturing wafers of different appearances. There are at least two electrical resistors to heat the wafer mould, one for each half of said mould; said electrical resistors are held, on the side where they are not in contact with the half-mould, by counterplates , each counterplate being capable of holding one sensor for temperature control purposes .

One or several thermally insulating elements (58) can be inserted between the movable cover (52) and the counterplate (57) .

The lower section of the counter (7) accommodates a power supply and control assembly (3) , comprising the controls to separately switch-on both the cone preparation device (1) and the wafer preparation device (5) . The power supply and control assembly (3) also includes controls to separately adjust the cooking temperature and time for both the cone preparation device (1) and the wafer preparation device (5) .