APPARATUS FOR MAKING AN EDIBLE CONTAINER

DESCRIPTION Field of the invention

The present invention relates to the food field and, in particular, it relates to the production of an edible container, for example made with dough for pizza, for use in a pizzeria, in a fast-food as well for household use. In particular, the edible container can be stuffed as desired by a user.

Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for making the above described edible container as well as an apparatus for carrying out this method. Description of the prior art

In the prior art many common types of edible containers are known, adapted to contain inside warm food or cold food, such as for making a snack food.

Among the many manufacturing methods, manual methods and automatic methods are used. In particular, in the first case, an edible container is obtained, for example with dough for pizza, starting from a circular shape of dough that is wrapped around itself for creating a cone adapted to be stuffed or folded according to various methods, as described in US4753813A1.

With reference to a pizza cone as disclosed in

US4463021, the use of an edible cone is described that can be conveniently handheld while the food product is eaten.

The pizza cone can be stuffed by ingredients such as those used to prepare a conventional pizza such as, for example, mozzarella or other cheese, tomato sauce, various sauces, delicatessen, olives and the like. Other edible cones that can be stuffed with warm food are described in EP0313791 and WO2005/039296. It is advantageous that the pizza cone to be stuffed

is produced directly on demand by a customer, or in any case not too earlier, in order to keep an ideal fragrance that improves the taste.

A direct production on demand of the edible container, of the known types, has the drawbacks of a high waiting time, since a customer has to wait for the time for cooking the dough and for completing the other preparation steps. To avoid long waiting time that may negatively influence the customer satisfaction, the pizza cones are prepared beforehand, and then heated when they are stuffed, loosing however the fragrance of just cooked dough, like in a pizza product.

Summary of the invention

It is, therefore, a feature of the present invention to provide an apparatus for making an edible container that is easy to use and is adapted to be prepared on demand .

It is also a feature of the present invention to provide an apparatus for making an edible container that is structurally easy and practical to used.

A further feature of the present invention to provide an apparatus for making an edible container that is adapted to achieve quick cooking time and good cooking quality such that the edible container has optimal organoleptic characteristics.

Ii is also a feature of the present invention to provide an edible container that has a shape that is that can be easily stuffed on demand and easily eaten as well as that has good aesthetic features. It is finally a feature of the present invention to provide a method for making an edible container that achieves the above objects and features.

These and other features are achieved by an apparatus for making an edible container comprising: - a female element that is adapted to receive a quantity

of dough,

- a male element that is adapted to couple to said female element such that said male element and said female element have reciprocally facing surfaces, said reciprocally facing surfaces defining a mould space that is filled with said dough;

- heating means associated with at least one among said female element and said male element for cooking said dough; whose characteristic is that at least one among the reciprocally facing surfaces of said female element and/or of said male element has a succession of protrusions and recesses, such that said mould space has a not uniform thickness, thus speeding up the cooking of said dough. In particular, the dough that penetrates in a recess faces substantially three sides of a mating heating surface, as well as the dough about a protrusion faces substantially three sides of a mating heating surface.

In particular said succession of protrusions and recesses causes a corrugated surface.

In this way, the mould elements comprise in said mould space protruding corrugated elements adapted to uniformly release the heat and to assist cooking said edible container once inserted said male element. In particular, said male element has a shape that is substantially prismatic, having two bases connected by lateral faces, and said female element has prismatic inner faces that are antithetic to said male element, and has an opening that is substantially rectangular, at one of said lateral faces, through which said male element is inserted.

Alternatively, said male element has a shape that is substantially pyramidal, and said female element has inner faces with pyramidal shape that are antithetic to said male element, and has an opening that is substantially

rectangular, at the base, through which said male element is inserted.

Preferably, said male element has smooth walls adapted to minimize the adhesion with the product present in said moulding space.

Advantageously, said apparatus comprises actuating means for actuating said male element and/or said female element, allowing to them a mutual matching for making said edible container. In particular, said actuating means comprises an arm pivotally connected to a fixed support, said arm parrying said male element at one of its ends, wherein said arm allows said male element to engage precisely and easily with said female element. Preferably, said fixed support is integral to a base support to which in particular also said female element is fastened.

In this way, the rotation of the arm, arranged at a determined distance from the female element, about its axis, allows bringing easily and with precision the male element into the female element. Therefore, once cooked, the edible container can be extracted from the mould space of the female element, simply raising the arm that is integral to the male element. In this case, it is possible to extract the edible container and to stuff it or to carry out this step directly when the edible container is still in the mould space in order to keep, during the stuffing step, a temperature optimal of the whole assembly. Advantageously, said female element comprises two mould elements coupled with respect to each other forming said female element that is adapted to receive a quantity of dough, releasing means are provided to open said mould elements and to extract said edible container consisting of said dough.

_ C _

In an alternative exemplary embodiment, said male element has an outer surface having a succession of protrusions and recesses adapted to improve cooking of said edible container. Advantageously, said protrusions and recesses of said male element have curved shape, in particular a circular shape that is concentric shape with reference to the rotation axis of said arm. In this way, with the extraction of the male element, the cooked dough doesn't meet any undercut portions of the male element, and can be drawn easily away.

Always advantageously, said protrusions and recesses of said female element have curved shape, in particular a shape concentric to the rotation axis of said arm. This way, with the extraction of the male element, the cooked dough follows the male element, in order to exit without being torn from the female element, since the dough doesn't meet any undercut portions of the female element.

According to another aspect of the invention, an edible container comprising a plurality of walls made of edible dough defining a hole and an opening to enter said recess, said walls having irregular thickness consisting of a succession of protrusions and recesses.

In particular, said edible container has a shape that is substantially prismatic with two of said walls forming two bases and other walls forming lateral faces.

In an advantageous exemplary embodiment, said edible container has said protrusions and recesses arranged according to curved lines. In particular said edible container has a substantially conical shape with a vertex and an opening opposite to the vertex, and, with reference to an axis of said cone passing through said vertex, said lines lay in planes parallel to a plane passing through said axis. According to a further aspect of the invention, a

method for making an edible container comprises the steps of: - prearranging a female element that is adapted to receive a quantity of dough, - prearranging a male element that is adapted to couple to said female element, said male element and said female element have respective reciprocally facing surfaces, said reciprocally facing surfaces defining a mould space that is filled with said dough; - heating at least one among said female element and said male element for cooking said dough; whose characteristic is that at least one among said reciprocally facing surfaces of said female element and/or of said male element has a succession of protrusions and recesses, such that said mould space has irregular thickness, thus speeding up the cooking of said dough. Brief description of the drawings

The invention will be made clearer with the following description of an exemplary embodiment thereof, exemplifying but not limitative, with reference to the attached drawings wherein:

- Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of the mould elements in an open configuration;

- Fig. 2 shows a front view of the mould elements of Fig. 1 in closed configuration as well as the moulding space;

- Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the mould element in an open configuration and the male element that is brought into the moulding space; - Fig. 4 shows a perspective view of the mould element and the male element of Fig. 3 in the closed configuration;

- Fig. 5 shows the step of introducing the dough into the moulding space; - Fig. 6 shows the step of introducing the male element

in the mould elements;

- Fig. 7 shows a cross section of the cooking step of the dough in the moulding means;

- Fig. 7A shows a particular of Fig. 7 depicting the corrugated surface that accelerates the cooking of the dough;

- Fig. 8 shows the extraction step of the male element from the mould element;

- Fig. 9 shows the successive step of Fig. 8 with the extraction of the edible container of dough from the mould elements;

- Fig. 10 shows the edible container extracted from the mould elements of Fig. 9;

- Figs.11 and 12 show two exemplary embodiments of the corrugated surfaces present in the mould element, according to the invention;

- Fig. 13 shows a cross sectional view of further exemplary embodiment of the apparatus for making an edible container with structural features that improve the use;

- Fig. 14 shows a cross sectional elevational front view with respect to Fig. 13, of the apparatus for making the edible container, according to the invention;

- Fig. 15 shows a perspective view of the apparatus shown in Figs.13 and 14, in open configuration where a wavy surface of the male element is shown, according to the invention, adapted to improve cooking the dough;

- Fig. 16 shows a perspective view of the apparatus of Fig. 15, in a coupled configuration during the cooking of the dough;

- finally, Fig. 17 shows the edible container, according to the invention, produced by the apparatus of Figs. 15 and 16.

Detailed description of some exemplary embodiments

With reference to Figs. 1 and 2 an apparatus is shown 60 for making an edible container 20 (visible in two different shapes in Figs. 10 and 17) .

More precisely, apparatus 60, according to the invention, comprises a female element 2 adapted to receive a quantity of dough 3 (shows Fig. 5 and 6) and a male element 4 (visible in Fig. 3 and 4) adapted to be coupled with play to female element 2.

In particular, female element 2 comprises two mould elements 1 that match with each other; they can have an open configuration, as shown in Fig. 1, and a closed configuration, as shown in Fig. 4 and 5.

This way, firstly, in the closed configuration, a quantity of dough 3 can be put in to prepare and cook edible container 20 and, secondly, in the open configuration edible container 20, once ready, can be extracted without breaking it and/or damaging it.

Fig. 1 shows also advantageous features of mould elements 1 that have an inner surface 6 consisting of a succession of protrusions 56 and recesses 57, so that a mould space 10, which is created in the closed configuration of the two elements 1, has not a uniform thickness, in order to speed up the cooking of dough 3. In particular in the present exemplary embodiment, the succession of protrusions 56 and recesses 57 determines a corrugated surface 6.

As better visible in Fig. 2, mould elements 1 coupled to each other form female element 2 and corresponding mould space 10. In specific, female element 2 has inner faces 6 of prismatic shape that are antithetic to that of male element 4 and has an opening 11 that is substantially rectangular, at one of the lateral faces, through which male element 4 is inserted.

Such matching leaves free mould space 10 that is occupied by dough 3 as shown then in detail.

With reference to Fig. 3, in a descriptive open configuration, male element 4 and substantially rectangular mould elements 1 are disengaged from each other. In specific, male element 4 has a shape that is substantially prismatic, having two bases connected by side faces 4a; the walls 4a are made preferably smooth in order to minimize the adhesion of the product present in mould space 10 and assist, furthermore, the extraction of the same once cooked.

The diagrammatical view shown in Fig. 3, of apparatus 60, depicts, furthermore, the features of the mutual matching between male element 4 and female element 2, where surfaces 6 and 4a are facing each other, between which a gap 10 is created that is filled with dough 3. The main feature of the apparatus is, then, that at least one among the reciprocally facing surfaces of female element 2 and of male element 4 have a succession of protrusions 57 and recesses 56, so that mould space 10 has a not uniform thickness, thus speeding up the cooking of dough 3.

Apparatus 60, according to the invention, comprises, furthermore, heating means 25 (shown in Figs. 13 and 14) associated with at least one among female element 2 and male element 4 for cooking dough 3. Fig. 5, shows the step of introducing dough 3, previously prepared according to a determined recipe, into female element 2 and, in particular, into mould space 10 made by it. Then, as shown in Fig. 6, the step of introducing male element 4 in the corresponding female element 2 is depicted. In particular this step can be made with an easy manual operation or with automatic devices dedicated, for example, for making a plurality of edible containers in series.

With reference to Figs. 7 and 7A the process is shown for cooking edible container 20. In particular corrugated

surface 6 assists a better propagation of the heat since, as shown in Fig. IA, there is an outermost surface of irradiation assisting an easier and most effective cooking of dough 3. In fact, dough 3 that penetrates in a recess, as shown in Fig. 7A, faces substantially three sides of a mating heating surface, as well as dough 3 about a protrusion 57 faces substantially three sides of a mating heating surface. The successive step, shown in Fig. 8, provides extracting male element 4 and releasing, as visible in Fig. 9, two mould elements 1 from each other for extracting edible container 20 ready for being stuffed and eaten by the user. In particular edible container 20 has, as shown in Fig. 10, a plurality of walls 21 made of edible dough defining a recess and an access opening 22 to the recess. In particular walls 21 have a not uniform thickness and consist of a succession of protrusions and recesses that repeat in negative the shape of the two mould elements 1.

With reference to Figs. 11 and 12 two solutions are shown structure that provide, alternatively, to what described in the above described apparatus, different dispositions of the protrusions and of the recesses made in mould elements 1. In detail, Fig. 11 has wavy surfaces arranged diagonally with respect to the base of the two mould elements, whereas those of Fig. 12 have a corrugated surface arranged vertically with respect to the base of the two mould elements. Fig. 13 shows a cross sectional view of an exemplary embodiment, different from that described above and depicted in the previous figures, of an apparatus 50 for making an edible container 40 (visible in Fig. 17) .

Such exemplary embodiment is practical and of easy application.

Apparatus 50 comprises, in particular, means for actuating male element 4 and for allowing a mutual engagement with female element 2 for making edible container 40. In particular the actuating means comprises a pivot arm 23 to an ^' end which male element 4 is connected, such that arm 23 allows male element 4 to engage precisely and easily with female element 2.

As shown in Fig. 13 a support base 24 is provided to which a support portion 23' and a cooperating portion 27 are integrally connected, representing female element 2.

In particular to support portion 23' arm 23 adapted is pivotally connected to assist the introduction of a joint portion 28, representing male element 4, in mould space 10 of cooperating portion 27.

In the present exemplary embodiment the heating means comprise resistance 25 on male element 4 and resistance

25' (visible in Fig. 14) arranged in female element 2.

This way, the cooking of dough 3, and the relative production time, are improved.

Under base 24 an activation and control means 30 is provided for adjusting the temperature of the mould space 10, for setting the cooking time as well as for controlling the safety of apparatus 50. With reference to Fig. 14 a cross sectional elevational front view is shown of Fig. 13, where it is visible mould space 5. In particular, mould space 10 is obtained from the size difference between joint portion 28 and mould space 10 (visible in Fig. 13) that is made in cooperating portion 27 and determines the thickness of the walls of edible container 40 (visible in Fig. 17);

Fig. 15 shows a perspective view of apparatus 50, in an open configuration. In this configuration it is possible, then, to put dough 3 (not shown) in mould space 10 of cooperating portion 27, i.e. female element 2, and to lower

male element 4 in order to couple joint portion 28 with cooperating portion 27. This step is obtained by arm 23 that assists the mutual introduction between male element 4 and female element 2 and by an handgrip 26 made on arm 23, to operate manually the movable part of apparatus 50.

In particular joint portion 28 has an outer surface with protrusions 29 adapted to improve the cooking, and the relative cooking time, of dough 3.

In a preferred exemplary embodiment, the protrusions and recesses of male element 4 have a curved shape, in particular a shape that is concentric to the rotation axis of arm 23. This way, with the extraction of male element 4, cooked dough 3 has not undercut portions with respect to male element 4, which thus can be easily extracted. Always advantageously, the protrusions and recesses of female element 2 have also curved shape, concentric to the rotation axis of arm 23. Even in this case the extraction male element 4 is such that dough 3 does not form undercut portions with female element 2. Fig. 16 shows, instead, a coupled configuration of male element 4 and female element 2 during the cooking step of dough 3, which coats mould space 5, (visible in Fig. 14) or in a condition of stop of apparatus 50.

As shown in Fig. 16 the structure of apparatus 50 is compact and functional, suitable for an household use but also for use in an other place like a pizzeria, snack bar, fast-food, sandwich bar, pub, etc.

Fig. 17 shows, finally, edible container 40, according to the invention, which is produced using apparatus 50 described above.

In particular edible container 40 has a shape that is substantially prismatic with two walls (not shown) forming two bases and other walls 43 forming lateral faces.

In the present exemplary embodiment, edible container 40 has protrusions and recesses arranged

according to curved lines 41. Furthermore, edible container 40 has a shape that is substantially conical with a vertex 44 and an opening 42 opposite to the vertex 44. In addition, with reference to an axis of the cone passing through the vertex 44, the lines 41 lay in planes parallel to a plane passing through the above described axis.

The features of edible container 40 are, furthermore, a rougher aspect defined by stripes 41, which repeat protrusions 29 on the portion of joint 27, and the space that is available for stuffing 45, which is adapted to be filled on demand according to a determined recipe in order to provide a tasty and warm snack food. The particular shape of edible container 40, shown in Fig. 17, allows to eat the snack food without the aid of cutlery and/or a table.

The foregoing description of a specific embodiment will so fully reveal the invention according to the conceptual point of view, so that others, by applying current knowledge, will be able to modify and/or adapt for various applications such an embodiment without further research and without parting from the invention, and it is therefore to be understood that such adaptations and modifications will have to be considered as equivalent to the specific embodiment. The means and the materials to realise the different functions described herein could have a different nature without, for this reason, departing from the field of the invention. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.