More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and a machine for obtaining products of pasta containing a savoury filling, such as "tortellini","ravioli"or the like.

The known machines comprise one or more pairs of rollers which are adapted to reduce the thickness of the rolled-out pasta, coming from a rolling- out machine, up to a desired thickness. The rolled-out pasta thus obtained, called also"sheet", drops vertically, due to the gravity, inside a hollow punch device which provides to cut portions of the rolled-out pasta, which hereinafter will be simply called figures, from which there will originate, thanks to suitable and subsequent folding operations, the above mentioned products of pasta containing a savoury filling, The spaces between the various figures punched out of the sheet of rolled-out pasta must be such as to leave the said sheet sufficiently compact even after the said punching out of the figures, in such a manner that, thanks to its own weight, it can quickly drag, in a uniform manner and well tensioned, the upstream sheet of rolled-out pasta which is still to be subjected to the punching out operation.

The need of providing the mentioned spaces of pasta between the punched-out figures leads to the formation of a substantial quantity of scrap in the sheet of rolled-out pasta which is not directly used in the formation of the final products. Said scrap is consequently used again, by adding and uniting same to novel fresh dough. Practically, said scrap is cut into small pieces by suitable knives and, through conveyor belts and suction devices, it is again inserted inside the kneading machine so as to be amalgamated with the fresh dough existing at the interior of the said kneading machine, which however

leads to a consequent decrease of the elastic and qualitative properties of the final dough to be fed to the rolling-out device.

This fact constitutes a remarkable inconvenience in maintaining constant the physical and chemical characteristic features of the sheet of pasta. It will be appreciated that even small variations, for example, of the degree of humidity of the kneading can negatively influence the quality of the final product A scope of the present invention is therefore to eliminate the above inconveniences by a novel machine for the treatment of the sheet of pasta which obtains the feeding or advancement of the sheet by limiting as much as possible the cited quantity of scrap formed between the punched-out figures.

According to the present invention there is provided a machine for the treatment of alimentary paste or dough, so called"pasta", for the production of products of pasta containing a savoury filling, comprising feeding means for feeding a sheet of rolled-out pasta along a predetermined path of advancement, to a working station, characterized by the fact that said feeding means comprise a dragging device for the forced driving or dragging of said sheet of pasta along said path of advancement, said dragging device being arranged at least partially upstream of said working station, with respect to the said path of advancement.

Advantageously, according to the present invention it is possible to reduce the space between the punched-out figures, thus increasing the utilization of the surface of the sheet of pasta and consequently reducing the scrap resulting from the portions of the sheet interposed between the said punched-out figures. In fact, thanks to the forced dragging of the sheet of pasta upstream of the working station, there is no more required the action of dragging exerted by the weight of the sheet (from which the figures have been already punched-out) downstream of the working station and therefore it is no more required that the sheet maintains the consistency and weight which were instead required when the feeding of the sheet of pasta to the said working station was effected only by gravity due to its own weight.

According to a preferred embodiment, the machine for the treatment of

the sheet of pasta is characterized by the fact that the said dragging device comprises a flexible transmission member which is developed along the said path of advancement and a plurality of gripping or clamping elements for the said sheet of pasta, arranged on the said flexible transmission members and adapted to engage respective longitudinal portions of the said sheet.

The presence of the flexible transmission member for the displacement of the gripping or clamping means permits advantageously the modification of the orientation of the said predetermined advancement path, with respect to the substantially vertical path which was required by the devices of known type. In other words, according to the invention, it is possible to effect the feeding or advancement of the sheet of pasta even along a horizontal plan.

The present invention also relates to a method for the treatment of alimentary paste or dough, so called"pasta", for the production of products of pasta containing a savoury filling, comprising the step of feeding a sheet of rolled-out pasta along a predetermined advancement path to a working station, characterized by the fact that the said feeding is a forced-type feeding by which the said sheet is positively dragged along at least one portion of the said advancement path towards the said working station.

The above and other features of the invention and the advantages deriving therefrom will better appear evident from the following description which has been made with reference to the attached sheets of drawings, in which: -Figures 1 and 2 are diagrammatic side elevation views, with omitted portions, of a preferred embodiment of the machine, illustrating two phases of operation; - Figure 3 is a front elevation view, with omitted portions, of the machine according to Figures 1 and 2; - Figure 4 is a plan view from the top, with omitted portions, of the machine according to the preceding Figures.

According to Figures 1 and 2 the machine 1 comprises a pair of counter-

rotating sizing rollers, of which roller 2 is the upper roller and roller 3 is the lower roller, between which there is caused to pass a sheet 4 of rolled-out pasta in order to reduce its thickness. The said sheet 4 of rolled-out pasta is fed to the rollers 2 and 3 by a feeding station of known type (not shown).

The sheet 4 of rolled-out pasta is guided, as it comes out from the cited rollers 2 and 3, by a first lower blade 5 which also facilitates the detachment of the sheet 4 from the lower sizing roller 3.

The machine 1 also comprises a second upper blade 6 which engages the surface of the upper sizing roller 2 in order to detach from this latter possible residual portions of pasta.

The two blades 5,6 are fulcrumed on respective pins 7,8 and are elastically connected between each other by means of a helical spring 9 which causes the said blades 5 and 6 to adhere against the outer surfaces of the sizing rollers 2 and 3.

With reference to Figures 1 and 2, arranged below said rollers 2 and 3, the machine 1 comprises a guide element 10, which is movable between a lifted active position, shown in Figure 1, in which the sheet of pasta is supported by same during its forward or advancing movement along the predetermined advancement path P, and a lowered inactive position, shown in Figure 2, in which it does not engage the sheet of pasta 4 which moves forward along the said path P.

In proximity of the guide element 10 there is arranged a curved wall 11 which guides the sheet 4 of pasta towards two flattening rollers 12,13 of which roller 12 is the upper one, while roller 13 is the lower one.

As better illustrated in Figure 3, the flattening rollers 12,13 present respective shafts 14,15, having respective rotation axes A, B parallel to each other. Onto the shafts 14 and 15 there are keyed at respective first ends 14a, 15a, corresponding toothed wheels 16 and 17 which mesh together. The flattening rollers 12,13 are driven into rotation by a motor 18, of known type, connected to a second end 15b of the shaft 15 opposed to the cited first end

15a.

Onto the shaft 15 of the lower flattening roller 13 there are keyed, at the opposite ends 15a, 15b of same, two first sprocket wheels 19.

Always with reference to Figures 1 and 2, the machine comprises also-a shaft 20 parallel to the cited shaft 15, onto which shaft 20 at the respective first and second opposite extremities 20a, 20b there are keyed two second sprocket wheels 21. The shaft 20 presents a rotation axis C which is parallel to the cited axes A, B.

The first sprocket wheels 19 and the second sprocket wheels 21 are arranged so as to be co-planar by pairs.

The machine comprises, as flexible transmission members, two chains 22 each one of which is wound onto a respective first sprocket wheel 19 and onto a respective second sprocket wheel 21. Each chain 22 presents an active upper run 23 and a lower return run 24.

The chains 22, which are of known type, present a plurality of links 25 onto each one of which there are secured two needles 26 which are adapted to perforate and insert themselves into the sheet 4 of pasta, at the longitudinal side portions 4a, 4b thereof. The needles 26 are arranged substantially equispaced from one another.

Along the active upper run 23 of each chain 22 there are arranged parallel and in proximity to said upper run a pair of longitudinal guide plates 27,28 which serve to guide the sheet 4 of pasta. The upper plates 27 are substantially rectilinear and, with respect to the vertical plan of Figure 3, they are arranged above the longitudinal side portion 4a, 4b of the sheet 4 of pasta.

The lower plates 28 are also rectilinear but present however, in the area of the second sprocket wheels 21, respective curved portions 28a which serve to facilitate the detachment of the needles 26 from the sheet 4 of pasta.

As illustrated in Figure 3, the machine 1 comprises, arranged between the two chains 22, a plane 29 which serves for the supporting and the sliding thereon of the sheet 4 of pasta. Advantageously the said support and slide

plane 29 is made of material having a low friction coefficient.

The needles 26 constitute the means for gripping the sheet 4 of pasta.

The whole of the dragging device is indicated by reference numeral 35.

In the operation of the machine, the sheet 4 of pasta coming out of the sizing rollers 2 and 3, after having reached the desired thickness, is fed towards the flattening rollers 12,13.

As shown in Figure 1, at the beginning of the working cycle, the sheet 4 presents a leading portion 31 which, coming out of the sizing rollers 2,3, is guided to the flattening rollers 12,13 by means of the cited movable guide element 10 in its lifted position, while, during the subsequent phases, the movable guide element 10 is in its lowered position, shown in Figure 2, thus allowing the creation of a loop 32 in the sheet 4, between the sizing rollers 2,3 and the flattening rollers 12,13. The scope of the loop 32, according to the known technique, it that of compensating for possible variations and differences in the speeds between the cited sizing rollers 2,3 and flattening rollers 12,13.

A detector 33 is provided for monitoring the length of the loop 32, and consequently the said speed variations.

The flattening rollers 12,13 do not have the scope of reducing the thickness of the sheet of pasta, but they provide to eliminate any surface irregularities (such as protuberances) which could have been formed during the preceding section of the advancement path of the sheet. Advantageously the said flattening rollers present a slightly rough surface in order to better grip the said sheet 4 of pasta.

As the sheet 4 of pasta passes through the flattening rollers 12,13, the needles 26 of the two chains 22 engage the said sheet at its side longitudinal edge portions 4a, 4b. The motion of the chains 2 takes place in synchronism with the rotation of the flattening rollers 12,13.

The motion of the chains 22 is transmitted, through the needles 26, to the sheet 4 of pasta and causes same to advance along the predetermined advancement path P. In other words, the chains 22 exert onto the sheet 4 a

dragging action along the rectilinear portion of the said predetermined path P.

The sheet 4 of pasta, during the said movement, slides along the cited support and slide plane 29.

Advantageously, as illustrated in Figure 4, along the rectilinear portion of the advancement path P there is arranged a station for working the sheet 4 of pasta, which working station is diagrammatically illustrated (as a block) by reference number 34. More particularly, as for what concerns the production of pasta filled with a savoury filling, the cited station 34 comprises a plurality of knives and/or hollow punches and/or filling devices (not shown) which are apt to cut, from the sheet 4, shaped portions and to subsequently fill them in order to produce, by means of subsequent folding and/or shaping operations, the cited products of alimentary pasta filled with savoury filling.

Many variations can be made to the machine according to the inventions, without departing from the inventive principle. For example, the fixed support and slide plane 29 can be substituted by a movable conveyor belt (not shown), driven in synchronism with the chains 22. The said conveyor belt can even carry the needles 30, thus eliminating the requirement of the chains 22.