As is known, currently the cooling of food and drink products, such as drinks in a bottle, carton or can, takes place through refrigerating apparatuses equipped with a door and with many shelves inside of them.

Whilst satisfactorily carrying out their function, these refrigerators for cooling food products and in particular drinks have some drawbacks.

For example, drinks containers (bottles, cans, cartons) are difficult to identify from the outside being arranged one behind the other even if the refrigerator has large windows so as to be able to view the goods inside of it.

Also for this reason, so as to be able to gain access to containers or to identify them, very often the door of the refrigerator is opened with a consequent immediate heating of the air inside of it and the clouding of the windows which make it even more difficult to identify the products inside the refrigerator.

Moreover, these refrigerators can normally only be accessed from a single side and not on other sides and, consequently, allow only one person at a time to access the containers arranged inside of them.

For the aforementioned reason, moreover, these refrigerators are arranged in corners or are rested against a wall, thus remaining far from places which are frequently passed by people.

Moreover, the cooling of the drinks placed inside of them is obtained through the cooling of the surrounding air and consequently a certain time lapse is necessary to give the drink the optimal temperature.

The task proposed of the present finding is that of eliminating the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art.

In this task, an important purpose of the finding is to realise a machine for cooling food and drink products and the like which allows products to be accessed from any side and that this accessibility is immediate without having to open doors or similar for the purpose.

Another purpose of the finding is to realise a machine which allows drinks to be cooled quickly, since they are in direct contact with the ice produced by it.

A further purpose of the finding is to realise a machine for cooling food products which allows all of the different make containers contained inside of it to be visualised.

A further purpose of the finding is to realise a machine for cooling food and drink products which has the possibility of being able to be arranged in central areas of a room where people frequently pass and therefore can function as a good advertising means.

The last but not least purpose of the finding is to realise a machine for cooling food products which gives the possibility for many people to be able to help themselves simultaneously and, moreover, to be able to cool, as well as drinks possibly also the glasses inside which they shall be poured, in very short time spans.

This task, as well as these and other purposes are achieved by a machine for cooling food and drink products and the like through the production of granular ice, characterised in that it comprises a framework supporting a tank containing a predetermined amount of granular ice suitable for cooling food or drink products or the like housed in said tank, a device for continuously producing said granular ice and for transporting it inside said tank, at least one reservoir for containing a predetermined amount of water to be transformed into ice and at least one circulation pump connected to said reservoir for transferring said water from said reservoir to said device for producing said ice.

Also forming object of the present patent for an invention is a procedure for cooling food and drink products and the like through the production of granular ice characterised in that it consists of producing granular ice until a tank is filled to a predetermined level of recovering from said tank the water produced from the melting of said ice at the same time as it is produced and of reforming further ice with said water.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention shall become clearer from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of a machine for cooling food and drink products and the like through the production of granular ice according to the finding, illustrated for indicating and not limiting purposes in the attached drawing in which: - the single figure is a schematic side view of the machine according to the finding.

With particular reference to the single quoted figure, the machine for cooling food and drink products and the like through the production of granular ice comprises a framework 2 which supports, in its upper part, a tank 3 of whatever configuration, circular or parallelepiped, for containing a predetermined amount of granular ice 4 suitable for cooling food and drink products or the like which are housed in the tank, which can for example be bottles 5.

The machine comprises, moreover, a device for continuously producing granular ice, generically indicated with 6.

The device 6 is moreover suitable for allowing granular ice to be transported inside the tank 3.

At the bottom of the tank 3 a reservoir 7 is foreseen for containing a predetermined amount of water to transform into ice.

In the machine described as an example, the reservoir can have a capacity of about 40 litres, but there is not reason why there cannot be many reservoirs for many tanks or many reservoirs for a single very large tank.

The machine also foresees a circulation pump 8 which, on one side is connected to the reservoir 7 and on the other side to the device for producing ice 6, in such a way as to take water from the reservoir to feed said device.

The tank 3 also has at least one discharge pipe 9 and in particular two or more discharge pipes to take the water produced from the melting of the ice back inside the reservoir 7 so as to be able to recycle it to produce granular ice.

In order to prevent small objects or impurities from going into the reservoir 7, each pipe 9 is equipped with a gauze filter 10 or a filter of another type.

On the outside, that is on the surface opposite the one in contact with the ice, the tank 3 has heat insulation so as to guarantee as far as possible that a low temperature is maintained and therefore to restrict the melting of the ice.

The device for continuously producing ice is defined by a compressor 11 suitable for feeding a condenser 12 equipped with a fan 13.

The condenser is moreover connected, through a non-represented capillary tube, to an accumulator in turn connected to a non- represented evaporator and then once again with the compressor.

Advantageously, at the bottom the framework has deflectors 15 suitable for allowing the intake and discharge from below of an airflow suitable for engaging the condenser 12 and generated by the fan 13.

The device 6, moreover, comprises inside of it a chamber 16 in which ice is formed which from here is then collected through a non-represented volute which is made to rotate.

The volute is suitable for feeding the ice to a distributor, indicated with 18, which in turn is capable of distributing it homogeneously around the full 360° inside the tank.

For this reason, whether the tank has a circular or quadrangular configuration, the ice which is deposited in it shall always be arranged in a homogeneous and uniform manner.

The chamber 16 is, moreover, connected with an auxiliary reservoir 20 suitable for keeping the level of water in it constant.

The auxiliary reservoir 20 is connected through a pipe 21 and 22 with the pump 8.

At the bottom, the frame 2 is equipped with many swivel wheels 40 capable of transporting the machine in whatever area of a room provided it can be connected to the electricity mains.

Indeed, the machine absolutely does not need to be connected to the water mains, neither for the intake nor for the discharge of the water for forming ice.

The machine, moreover, foresees an electronic or electromechanical board 24 suitable for allowing its operation to be managed.

The electronic or electromechanical board has, moreover, the possibility of interrupting the operation of the pump 8 when the water has run out, for example in the reservoir 7.

After a predetermined time period, which can for example, according to room temperature, be 20 minutes (melting time of a part of the ice contained in the tank 3), the water coming from the melting of the ice goes back into the reservoir 7 and thus allows the machine and the pump 8 to work again.

In a technical solution, the pump has a float 30 which controls the water contained in the pump and, in case of a lack, commands the opening of a solenoid valve 31, making the water flow from the reservoir 7 into the body of the pump.

In a constructive variant, the pump is inserted into a sealed circuit which thus avoids the use of the solenoid valve and, consequently, the possible leaking of water due to a possible operating anomaly.

The machine foresees, moreover, means for purifying the water coming from the tank which can be defined by one or more active carbon filters and/or by programmed release of a water disinfectant indicated with 29.

Advantageously, moreover, the machine has a highly environmentally friendly operation since it consumes less water in the ice which is produced.

Indeed, the ice which is produced is a low-humidity ice and therefore absorbs the humidity present in the air which increases the amount of water present in the reservoir during the operation of the machine.

As stated, the tank can be of whatever size and shape and can be made out of transparent material carrying advertising names.

The machine thus becomes a supply island which can be placed in the places most frequently passed carrying advertising names of the products contained in it or other ones.

Moreover, the machine thus realised can be used for other services, such as to display fish or perishable products inside restaurants or public buildings, etc.

In practice it has been noted how the machine according to the finding is particularly advantageous for allowing food and drink products to be cooled through granular ice or flakes of ice, or other types of ice, still without any connection to the water mains for intake and discharge and being capable of working continuously so long as it is connected to the electricity mains.

For this reason the machine is transportable, since it does not have connections, in any area or display area in trades fairs, functions, etc. , becoming a useful advertising means.

The finding thus conceived is susceptible to numerous modifications and variants, all covered by the inventive concept; moreover, all of the details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials used, as well as the sizes, can be whatever according to requirements and the state of the art.