DESCRIPTION SCRAPING ELEMENTS FOR A PASTA MACHINE FOR

DOMESTIC USE

It is well known what the cycle for obtaining homemade pasta is.

The dough obtained from wheat flour, egg and water is ready to be worked with domestic machines equipped with a couple of smooth rollers and a couple of rollers for cutting.

It is clear that in general the reference to domestic machines can be understood also as a reference to professional machines. The reference to a domestic machine below can also be understood as referring to a machine for professional use.

It is well known that said machines, in addition to the rollers, are also structurally fitted with scraping elements for preventing the pasta remaining stuck to the rollers, which would impair production.

To establish the necessary pressure against the rollers, the blades are metallic in order to be absolutely accurate and at the same time elastically yielding. It is well known that in order to prevent rubbing between the metals, between the blades and the rollers, generally the end part of the blade is made with resin (compatible with foodstuffs). In fact the rubbing between the metals would release micro-particles of metals into the pasta being processed, which could be made worse if the surface of the rollers is nickel-plated or chrome- plated, then said micro-particles would be made partly of heavy metals that in general pose a risk to people's health.

One of the drawbacks of said solution is the difficulty of applying the resinous material only to the edges of the blades.

Another drawback is the fact that the resinous material wears out more easily compared to metal, especially when the machine, if motorised, continues to move the rollers in periods of inactivity between one insertion and another of the pasta (to be rolled or cut). The drawback is more serious if the resinous material comes into contact with the surface of the rollers which instead of being steel with a nickel coating is treated with anodised aluminium.

Another drawback of the metal blades, with or without a resin coating at the ends of the edges, is the fact that said blades cannot easily be removed, making it impossible to get inside them to clean off the remains of the pasta that is stuck on.

The purpose of this patent is to create scraping elements entirely made of a resin, including the ends in touch with the rollers, that can be easily taken apart without requiring any special equipment, but just using the touch of a finger.

Said scraping elements, made preferably of an elastic resinous material, are composed of slats, with C-shaped grooves, where the ends of the flanges are pointed in a cutting form.

The length of the slats is the same as the length of the rollers on which they have to be applied.

The internal spacing between the flanges and their internal configuration is made in such a way that only the pointed ends are forcedly made to rest against the cylindrical rollers.

The flanges of said scraping slats are continuous in the case where the resting is against the continuous surfaces of the rollers; they are affected, on the other hand, by spaces that make a succession of teeth with the same space and width of the circular grooving of the cutting rollers against whose bottom surfaces of the grooving they act.

To reinforce said slats on the outside in the middle of the base supporting the flanges, a round steel rod is partially sunken.

The positioning of said slats with the pointed ends of the flanges against the rollers, is carried out by placing the ends of the round steel rod of which said slats are fitted in the concave housings in the special protruding parts of the walls of the internal casings of the sides that support the rollers.

Usefully, the retention of the slats, made in such a way that they are free to rotate around the axis of the round steel rod, provides the correct positioning of the scraping ends of the flanges with respect to the roller also in the case said roller needs to be spaced with respect to the one opposite to modify the rolling thickness.

Another advantage coming from the scraping elements of the patent comes from the fact that the flanges of the slats can be both continuous and spaced by creating a succession of teeth according to the configuration of the scraping elements, also the configuration of the scraping elements is symmetrical and in exactly the same way, facilitating the installation phase. Another important characteristic of the above-mentioned scraping elements is the fact that the scraping action acts for both directions of the rotation of the roller on which they are put, facilitating and improving the cleaning of the roller in both rotation directions. The cleaning action of the cutting roller, especially the profiled ones, has been considerably improved, both for the reason mentioned above of the possibility of the scraping action of the elements in both rotating directions, and because of the action on the vertical shoulders of the rollers, eventually for the shifting

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along the main axis of said scraping elements with respect to the roller on which the relative scraping element is attached.

What has been explained above is evident from an examination of the attached table of drawings. Fig. 1 shows a pasta machine for domestic use with a pair of rolling rollers and two pairs of cutting rollers.

Fig. 2 shows the layout of a pasta machine for domestic use fitted with just one pair of rollers for rolling, where we can see the scraping slats positioned against the rollers just under where the pasts flows in the rolling stage.

It is clear that the friction between the rollers and the slats is metal upon metal.

Fig. 3 shows the layout of a pasta machine for domestic use with a single pair of rolling rollers as in fig. 2. It is equipped with corresponding scraping slats where the above-mentioned slats are fitted at the ends with a resinous cover in order to prevent metal scraping metal. It is clear that with this solution you avoid the release of metal particles that can be quite toxic if said particles are from heavy metals. Fig. 4 is again the layout of a pasta machine for domestic use with a single pair of rolling rollers made according to the patent, where the scraping elements are made of an elastic resinous material.

It can be seen that said scraping elements are composed of slats with C-shaped grooving, whose flanges finish with both ends sharpened, resting on the rollers. It can be seen that in the middle on the outside of the base of the slats from which the flanges rise up, there is a partially sunken round steel rod with the end housed in the concave seat on the relief parts of the interior casing in the

side that carries the rollers.

Fig. 5 shows the layout of the structure carrying two cutting roller with the scraping elements applied, with the relative round steel rods held in the concave seat of the relief parts of the interior casing in the side that carries the rollers.

Fig. 6 shows a side view of a cutting roller with the slat applied with the ends of the scraping flanges, fitted with a round steel rod whose ends are to be put into the special concave housings in the relief parts protruding from the interior casings in the sides that carry the rollers.

Fig. 7 is the view from below, corresponding to the cutting roller, the slat with flanges that have pointed ends and a round steel rod shown in fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is the side view of just the slat with flanges made of a resinous material present in fig. 7 and fig. 8. ■

Fig. 9 is the perspective view corresponding to fig. 6.

Fig. 10 is the perspective view corresponding to fig. 8.

Figs. 11a, l ib, l ie, Hd, l ie are the layouts of the sequence for assembling a scraper element composed of a slat with flange fitted with a round steel bar between a roller (in the specific case it is a rolling roller) and the corresponding relief emerging from the internal casing (not shown) of the roller carrying side.

Figs. 12a, 12b, 12c, 12e are layouts of the inverse sequence of the phases shown in figs. 11a, l ib, l ie, Hd, He for a scraper element composed of a slat with flange fitted with a round steel bar between a roller (in the specific case it is a rolling roller) already installed and the corresponding relief emerging from the internal casing (not shown) of the roller carrying side.

Fig. 13 is the prospective view of the round steel bar that

applied centrally to the outside of the base of the slat with the flanges whose ends are to be connected to the concave housings of the reliefs in the internal casings of the roller-carrying side of the pasta machine for domestic use. We should remember that what has been described earlier does not exclusively apply to a pasta machine for domestic use, complete with base and with sides that rise up from the base; but also for machines without their own base, but with its own sides, roller shims , with reliefs emerging from casings inside the sides capable therefore of being completed with scraping elements as described and portrayed earlier, and are installed in a cantilever way on other machines with a structural base to support them.

From the diagrams it emerges that a common pasta machine for domestic use 1 includes a base 4 from which rise out two box sides 2, 3 carrying rollers 5, 6, 7 with upper cover plates 15, 16, 17, 18 with function also as spacers against the internal casings 14 of the sides 2, 3.

Common pasta machines for domestic use, in order to avoid that during the rolling of the pasta there remain pasta residue sticking to the rollers, are fitted now with solid elastic steel slats 19, 20 or else said slats 19, 20 are completed with a covering 11, 13 made of a resinous material at the ends in order to avoid direct contact between the metals.

According to the patent in the place of the steel scraping slats previously described, scraping elements are used that are preferably made of an elastic resinous material composed of slats 12 with C-shaped grooving where the end parts of the flanges are pointed cutters.

The length of the slats 12 corresponds to the length of the

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rollers 5, 6, 7 on which they are applied, whose length corresponds to the spacing of the opposite surfaces of the internal casings 14 of the sides 2, 3 carrying the rollers of the pasta machine.

To reinforce the slats on the inside, in the middle of the base, supporting the flanges, a round steel rod 8 has been partially sunk.

The assembly of said slats 12, with the pointed ends of the flanges against the roller 5, 6, 7, is carried out by placing the ends of the round steel bar whose above-mentioned slats 12 are fitted with concave housings 9 on the reliefs protruding from the walls of the internal casings 14 of the sides 2, 3 that support the rollers 5, 6, 7.

The sequence of the assembly and removal stages is carried out by the push of a finger, also by the operator himself, according to the arrows in the various flanges 11 and in the various flange 12.