WO2004037005A1

WO2004037005A1 - A tool for stuffing shellfishes

Info

Publication number: WO2004037005A1
Application number: PCT/IB2003/004603
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giovanni Ruda
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-10-25
Filing date: 2003-10-20
Publication date: 2004-05-06
Anticipated expiration: 2005-04-25
Also published as: ITMO20020306A0; ITMO20020306A1; AU2003274398A1

Abstract

The instrument (1) for stuffing bivalve shellfishes, comprises a tank (2) suitable for containing a material, generally in the form of a paste, for stuffing bivalve shellfishes, a delivery means (3, 5, 15, 15a, 16) of said stuffing material that can be associated with said tank (2), said delivery means comprises a delivery element (16) that can be associated with an outlet opening (14) of said tank (2) and ending in a delivery end (19) having a shape and dimensions such as to enable it to be inserted between the valves of the shell of a bivalve shellfish without damaging the shell and the shellfish.

Description

Instrument for stuffing shellfishes

This invention concerns an instrument for stuffing shellfishes, specially a manual or motor-driven instrument for stuffing bivalve shellfishes, for example mussels, without having to open them beforehand.

The traditional system for opening bivalve shellfishes, specially mussels, consists of opening the shellfish with a knife beforehand, thus breaking the hinge that unites the two valves of the shellfish, or causing the valves to open through heat, thereby killing the shellfish. In both cases, after stuffing the shellfish, a binding of the valves of the shell must be provided to keep them closed during cooking,' inasmuch as they are no longer able to keep^' shut spontaneously. This involves a significant expenditure of time and labour. The object of this invention is to provide an instrument that enables bivalve shellfishes to be stuffed without having recourse to forced opening of the valves of the shell or opening of the shell through heat. According to this invention an instrument for stuffing bivalve shellfishes is supplied, comprising a tank suitable for containing a material, generally in the form of a paste, for stuffing said bivalve shellfishes, a delivery means of said stuffing material that can be associated with said tank, characterised in that said delivery means comprises a delivery element that can be associated with an outlet opening of said tank and terminating in a delivery spout having 'a shape and dimensions that are- such that it can be inserted between the valves of the shell of a bivalve shellfish without damaging the shell and. the shellfish. According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, said delivery element comprises a hollow cylindrical element with a first end having the shape of the mouthpiece of a flute with a delivery opening for delivering said stuffing material. The end of the delivery element opposite said first end is equipped with a coupling means, in order to be able to be coupled with the outlet opening of the tank means.

According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, said delivery means comprises a piston means, slidingly associated inside said tank means.

The piston means serves to exert pressure on the stuffing material contained in the tank means to force the material to emerge from the outlet opening of the tank means, penetrate the delivery element and emerge from the delivery opening of the delivery element to be inserted inside the shell of a bivalve shellfish.

According to a further preferred embodiment of this invention, said piston means is manually actuated. Manual actuation of the piston means may be achieved by means of a push rod actuated by means of a crank and gear drive.

According to yet another preferred embodiment of this invention, said push rod is actuated by a motor drive means.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the attached drawings, which illustrate some exemplifying and not limiting embodiments thereof, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of a first embodiment of a manually actuated instrument according to the invention for stuffing bivalve shellfishes; Figure 2 is a raised view of the delivery element of an instrument according to the invention;

Figure 3 is the cross-section III-III of Figure 2;

Figures 4, 5, 6 illustrate the parts making up the instrument in Figure 1; Figure 7 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a manually actuated instrument according to the invention;

Figure 8 is an exploded view of the instrument in Figure 7;

Figure 9 is a perspective view of a version of the instrument in Figure 7; Figure 10 is a view of a further embodiment of a motor- actuated instrument according to the invention. Figures 1 to 6 show a first embodiment of an instrument 1 according to_. the invention for stuffing bivalve shellfishes. The instrument 1 comprises a tank 2, for example with a cylindrical shape, having an open end 2a through which a plunger 3 can be inserted into the tank 1 and can be slidingly coupled with it. The tank 2 can be inserted into a supporting frame 4 wherein a rod 5 slides, that takes a plate 6 to one end to push the plunger 3 and make it slide inside the tank 2. The rod 5 is actuated to run by steps by a guide lever 7 hinged on the support frame 4 and having an end 8 that engages in a push element 9 coupled with the rod 5 in such a way as to be connected to the rod when it is pushed by the guide lever 7 in the direction of the arrow F and to be free to slide along the rod 5 in the direction opposite the direction of the arrow F. A return spring 10 is placed on the rod 5 between the guide- element 9 and a crosspiece 11 of the frame 4 to bring back the guide element 9 to its initial position after each advance of the rod 5.

At a second end 12 opposite the first end 2a, the tank 2 is equipped with a substantially cylindrical and hollow appendage 13 ending with a delivery hole 14, through which the stuffing material contained in the tank 2 can be made to emerge.

A flexible pipe 15 can be connected to the delivery hole 14, which flexible pipe 15^' can in turn be connected to a delivery element 16 that is suitable for inserting the stuffing material inside a bivalve shellfish. The delivery element 16 comprises a substantially cylindrical hollow body 17 equipped at a first end with a connector means

18 to connect the delivery- element 16 to the flexible pipe 15, or directly to the delivery opening 14 of the tank 2. The end

19 of the delivery element 16 opposite the connector means 18 is shaped like a flute mouthpiece and has two smoothed areas 20, 21 that are opposed to one another and converge in a tip 22.

On one of said smoothed areas 20, 21 there is an opening 22a that communicates with the inside of the delivery element 16, through which the material for stuffing shellfishes is made to emerge .

The angles of tilt of the smoothed areas 20, 21 in relation to a longitudinal axis of the cylindrical body 17 have been chosen so as to permit easy insertion of the tip 22 of the delivery element 16 between the two valves of a bivalve shellfish, removing them by a sufficient amount to permit the stuffing material to be inserted, but without damaging them, in such a way that they can spontaneously close again after said stuffing material has been inserted.

Between the flexible pipe 15 and the delivery element 16 an adjustment valve 15a can be interposed, for example a tap valve, to adjust or stop delivery of the stuffing material. Figures 7 and 8 illustrate a version of the instrument according to the invention, wherein the tank 2 is inserted into a support element 23 comprising two side walls 24, a bottom 25 and a rear wall 26 through which the rod 5 passes^' and is supported. On the rod 5 a rack 27 is obtained that engages with a gear drive 28 actuated by a crank 29 fixed to the inlet shaft 31 of said gear. Rotating the crank 29, for example clockwise, enables the rod 5 to be advanced inside the tank 2 in such a way as to push the plunger 3 towards the second end 12 of the tank 2 to force the stuffing material to emerge form the delivery hole 14. By turning the crank 29 in the opposite direction to the previous direction the rod 5 is made to emerge from the tank 2 to be able to insert the stuffing material into the tank 2. In the embodiment shown in Figure 9, the rod 5 is equipped with a worm-screw thread 30 that engages in a mother screw obtained in the rear wall 26 of the support element 23. The crank 29 is fixed to the free end of the rod 5. By turning the crank 29 the rod is rotated 5, which, thanks to the interaction between the worm-screw thread 30 and the mother screw obtained in the rear wall 26, can travel forwards or backwards inside the tank 2. Figure 10 illustrates a further embodiment of an instrument according to the invention that is similar to the embodiment illustrated in Figures 7 and 8.

In this further embodiment, the input shaft 31 of the gear drive 28 is for example connected by means of a reduction gear 32 to the output shaft 33 of an electric motor 34 that can for example be actuated by pedal controls 35, 36, to start up and stop said motor.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1, 4, 5, 6, the instrument according to the invention is used in the following_, manner : The tank 2 is filled with the stuffing material, the latter being inserted through the open end 2a of the tank 2. The plunger 3 is then inserted into said open end 2a and the tank 2 is inserted into the support frame 4, after the rod 5 has been taken to its most retracted position illustrated in Figure 4 and the delivery element 16 is located at ^' the delivery opening 14 both by mounting the delivery element 16 directly on the appendage 13 of the tank 2, for example by means of a threaded coupling or by interposing between the delivery hole 14 and the delivery element 16 a joining pipe, which may be equipped with the delivery valve 15a.

To execute the stuffing of a bivalve shellfish this procedure^' is followed: the^' tip 22 of the delivery element 16 is introduced between the two valves of the shellfish, by slightly removing them from one another until the opening 23 is inside the shell of the shellfish. At this point the guide lever 7 is actuated to make the rod 5 travel forwards that pushes the plunger 3 inside the tank 2 thereby forcing the stuffing material to pass through the delivery hole 14, through the joining pipe 15 and the delivery element 16 until it emerges from the opening 23 and is deposited inside the bivalve shellfish.

When shellfish stuffing has finished, the tip 22 of the delivery element 16 is extracted therefrom in such a way that the valves of the shellfish can close again spontaneously so that any' binding is required to keep them united to prevent accidental emerging of the stuffing material before cooking of the shellfish, or during cooking itself. In fact, as the introduction of the stuffing material with. the instrument according to the invention does not damage the valves of the shell and does not kill the shellfish contained therein, during cooking the valves open spontaneously in a progressive manner and the shellfish contained therein closes again around the stuffing material enveloping it and' preventing it from emerging.

When the stuffing material contained in the tank 2 has finished, the rod 5 is retracted manually until the tank 2 can be removed from the support frame 4. The delivery element 16 is then dismantled to free the delivery hole 14 of the tank 2, in such a way as to be able to insert a pusher element therein that is not shown to push back the plunger 3 until it is extracted from the open end 2a of the tank 2. At this point the tank 2 can be again filled with the stuffing material by repeating the operations disclosed above. In the embodiments of the instrument according to the invention illustrated in Figures 7, 8 and 9, after the tank 2 filled with the stuffing material is positioned in the support element 23, delivery of the stuffing material is achieved by turning the crank 29 in such a way as to move the rod 5 inside the tank 2 to achieve delivery of the stuffing material. When the tank 2 needs to be filled again, the rod 5 is retracted by turning the crank 29 in the direction that is opposite to the previous one until it is possible to extract the tank 2 from the support element 23.

In the case of the embodiment illustrated in Figure 10, movement of the rod 5 is controlled by the electric motor 34 by using the pedal controls 35 and 36 to control motor rotation in one direction or in the opposite direction. In practice, the materials, dimensions and construction details used may be different from those indicated, but be technically equivalent to them without thereby falling outside the legal scope of protection of this invention

Claims

1. Instrument (1) for stuffing bivalve shellfishes,^' comprising a tank (2) suitable for containing a material, generally in the form of a paste, for stuffing said bivalve shellfishes, a delivery means (3, 5, 15, 15a, 16) of said stuffing material that can be associated with said tank (2), characterised in that said delivery means comprises a delivery element (16) that can be associated with an outlet opening- (14) of said tank (2) and terminating in a delivery end (19) having a shape and dimensions such as to enable it to be inserted between the valves of the shell of a bivalve shellfish without damaging the shell and the shellfish.

2. Instrument according to claim 1, wherein said delivery. element (16) comprises an internally hollow cylindrical body

(17) equipped at one end with a connecting element (18) for coupling with said delivery opening (14) or with connector means (15, 15a) with said delivery opening.

3. Instrument according to claim 1, or 2, wherein said end

(19) is shaped like a flute mouthpiece, with two smoothed areas (20, 21) that are opposed to one another and converge in a tip (22) , an outlet opening (22a) of said stuffing material being obtained in one of said smoothed areas (20, 21) .

4. Instrument according to claim 2, wherein said smoothed areas (20, 21) are tilted in relation to a longitudinal axis of the cylindrical body (17), the angle of tilt of each smoothed area (20, 21) in relation to said longitudinal axis being chosen in such a way as to enable easy insertion of the tip (22) of the delivery element (16) between the two valves of a bivalve shellfish, removing them sufficiently to enable the stuffing material to be inserted but without damaging them in such a way that they can spontaneously reclose after the insertion of said stuffing material.

5. Instrument according to claim 3, or 4, wherein said connector means comprises a flexible pipe means (15) and any valve means (15a) associated with said flexible pipe means.

6. Instrument according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said delivery means (3, 5, 15, 15a, 16) comprises a plunger means (3) slidingly coupled inside said tank (2) .

7. Instrument according to claim 6, wherein said delivery means (3, 4, 15, 15a, 16) comprises a sliding rod (5) on one end of it a thrust element (6) is fixed that is suitable for acting on said plunger (3).

8. Instrument according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said tank (2) is inserted in a support frame (4).

9. Instrument according to claim 8, wherein said support frame (4) slidingly supports said rod (5), a guide lever (7) being hinged on said frame (4), said guide lever (7) being coupled with said rod (5) in such a way as to move it forward by steps in the direction of the delivery opening (14) of the tank (2) .

10. Instrument according to claims 1 to 7, wherein said tank is inserted into a support element (23) comprising two side walls (24), a bottom (25) and a rear wall (26) that supports the rod (5) slidingly.

11.- Instrument according to claim 10, wherein said rod (5) is equipped with a toothed rack (27) that engages with a gear drive (28) .

12. Instrument according to claim 11, wherein a crank (29) is fitted on the input shaft (31) of said gear drive.

13. Instrument according to claim 11, wherein the input shaft (31) of said gear drive is connected to the shaft motor (33) of an electric motor (34).

14. Instrument according to claim 13, wherein said electric motor (34) can be actuated by pedal controls (35, 36) .

15. Instrument according to claim 10, wherein said rod (3) is equipped with a worm-screw thread (30), a crank (29) being fixed to the free end of the rod (3).