WO2018173027A2

WO2018173027A2 - Multifunction grinder for solid materials, especially food

Info

Publication number: WO2018173027A2
Application number: PCT/IB2018/054805
Authority: WO
Inventors: Oriana Irina BATISTA; Emmanuel Batista; Javier Torres
Original assignee: Centro Gendiagnostik
Current assignee: Centro Gendiagnostik
Priority date: 2018-05-30
Filing date: 2018-06-28
Publication date: 2018-09-27
Anticipated expiration: 2020-11-30
Also published as: WO2018173027A3

Abstract

The invention refers to a device being formed by two coupling compartments which can work together or individually, depending on the user's purpose. The first compartment located at the upper part of the device allows cutting the solid material into fragments, by using different knives arrangements depending on the type of food and the desired size of the fragments. The second compartment located at the lower part of the device allows continuing with the food grinding operation with the purpose of increasing the efficiency regarding quantity, grinding or mashing uniformity throughout the device, and level of homogeneity of the grinded, mashed or milled material and detachment or removal thereof. The device may feature manual or automatic actuation.

Description

MULTIFUNCTION GRINDER FOR SOLID MATERIALS, ESPECIALLY

FOOD

OBJECRT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention may be included in the technical field of separation by grinding or milling with knives or cutting elements in a rotating arrangement, and it particularly refers to a solid material multifunction grinder, especially intended for food although not limited to that use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is well known that food of different types, as well as other solid materials, are grinded by little efficient devices which only allow partial grinding of the whole content without achieving an homogeneous grinding of the entire content of a container.

Some solutions are known from the current state of the art, comprising mechanisms such as individual knives, horizontal knives systems or others which only reach part of the content to be grinded in a container. In addition to that, a difficulty also arises when the grinded material is adhered to the container knives or walls, thereby being necessary to use the hand or other object in order to remove all the grinded material, thus increasing the risk of contamination.

At the end, only part of the material or food is grinded in a non-homogeneous manner, and it is necessary to perform the grinding in small quantities in repeated times, which results in a great time consumption. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention refers to a device being formed by two coupling compartments, which may operate together or individually, depending on the user purpose. The first compartment, located at the upper side of the device, allows cutting the solid material in pieces, by using different knives arrangements depending on the type of food and the intended size of the pieces. The second compartment, located at the lower side of the device, allows continuing with the food grinding operation with the purpose of enhancing efficiency regarding quantity, grinding or mashing uniformity throughout the device and level of homogeneity of the grinded, mashed or milled material and detachment or removal thereof.

Thus, the two compartments are arranged vertically and sequentially for grinding or fragmenting solid material, mainly food, including grains, from a bigger into a smaller size. The system is designed for being manually used, but it is also considered to include automation elements, preferably featuring electrical actuation, so as to control aspects such as the time the solid material stays in each compartment, the movement of the valves connecting both compartments and synchronization of the operation of the different parts thereof. The device may have different sizes depending on the quantity of the material to be cut, grinded or mashed.

As it has been indicated before, the device of the invention comprises a first compartment where food is placed. With that purpose, this container is covered by a lid in the central part of which there is a thread into which a knives system is embedded being attached to the thread by means of a screw. The knives are arranged in such a way that they rotate in two or more directions so as to achieve a higher level of grinding. However, for that food requiring a bigger cut, the system may include a lower number of knives which are also arranged in a single direction. At the top of the lid there is a crank which allows manual actuation of the knives. Some disks are arranged at the left and right inner side of the second compartment, said disks being driven by a gear, so as to exert an inward pressure, and rotating over its axis. The main object of the present invention is to provide an entire and homogeneous grinding of the solid material in little time. While the first compartment makes a more mechanical and thick digestion of the material, the second compartment allows an entire and homogeneous grinding of the material.

Another object of the present invention is to remove of the fragmented and mashed material from the compartment into compartment two. Also, a resistant material can be adapted in the second compartment for the food to be isolated from the rest of the container, as in the second compartment there is not any knives arrangement.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 . It shows a bottom view of the rings making up the knives system of the grinder in its unidirectional rotation configuration, as well as required top views and a three-dimensional view of the central axis and the operation crank. It also projects the pieces coupling.

Fig. 2. It shows a bottom view of the rings making up the knives system of the grinder in its bidirectional rotation configuration, required bottom views and the whole system coupling. Fig. 3. It shows a front three-dimensional view of a breakdown of the rings making up the unidirectional model in the order they are arranged, as well as the suspension system between them.

Fig. 4. It shows a three-dimensional front view of the coupling of the rings of the unidirectional model. Fig. 5. It shows a three-dimensional view of the ring container and the cross- sectional cuts thereof, and a front view of the bottom side of the ring container. It also shows a three-dimensional perspective of the axis coupling plus the crank under the upper side of the ring container.

Fig. 6. It shows views of the three-dimensional section of the ring container, with rings inside thereof, and the arrangement of the ring fixing disk with its corresponding views. Fig. 7. It shows a three-dimensional and top view of the casing of a knives arrangement for a unidirectional rotation configuration.

Fig. 8. It shows three-dimensional views of the ring container fitted with the knives arrangement, and of the knife container in its actual front shape.

Fig. 9. It shows a three-dimensional front view of the ring container coupled to the food container.

Fig. 10. It shows a profile view of the grinding piston movement of the second step.

Fig. 1 1 . It shows a three-dimensional view of the grinding piston container, an inner view of the piston container from the top view, a profile view of the piston arrangement with the crank system and a profile view of the piston with respect to rear gearing.

Fig. 12. It shows the inner top view of the mechanism of the lower grinder and top view of the mechanism. Fig. 13. It shows the profile views of the inner mechanism of the device, actual profile view, front and bottom views of the mechanism door and top and profile views of the food receiving tray. Fig. 14. It shows a three-dimensional front view of the ring container and food container variant for primary grinding, with a thread for coupling thereof to the secondary grinding system.

Fig. 15. It shows an actual profile view of the grinding system being totally assembled.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

The following is, with the help of the figures referred above, a detailed description of an exemplary embodiment of the object of the present invention.

Figure 1 shows an exploded view of the rings making up the knives unidirectional rotation system, which is the one being used for the explanation of the whole concept in subsequent figures.

The coupling takes place starting from the axis 12 gear 1 , which is a single solid piece together with the suspension disk 2. The piece 3 is a cogged solid ring which couples to the axis gear 1 at the inner circumference and to the gears 4 at the outer circumference thereof. The gears 4 rotate around small axes attached to the upper and lower side of the ring 5. The gears 4 and the ring 5 form one single piece. It is a ring with moving gears. The gaps 6 are small cavities at the upper side of the ring 5, these having certain depth for a piece to be able to fix the ring 5 position as static with respect to the movement of the other rings. The piece 7 is another cogged solid piece at the inner and outer circumference thereof, with the same function as the piece 3, which differs in that the inner coupling takes place with the gears 4 and the outer coupling with the gears 8 of the ring 9. The gears 8 and the ring 9 form a single piece. Like the piece 3, it has upper cavities 10 so as to fix the ring static with respect to the movement of those being around it. The gears 8, in turn, are coupled with the cogs to the ring 1 1 , which is the outermost ring of the unidirectional arrangement. Subsequently, a view of all the components being coupled is shown from a top view. The piece 13 is a crank being threaded to the upper part of the axis. This allows rotation of the central gear which transfers movement through the rings. The piece 14 is an auxiliary piece for assembling the rings. The tip of the axis is inserted into the orifice of the auxiliary piece 14 thus allowing assembling thereof.

Figure 2 is a display view of the set of rings making up the bidirectional rotation system (in rotating directions being opposite to each other). The pieces 1 and 2 of the axis are also used in this arrangement. The ring with inward and outward cogs 3 is coupled to the pieces 1 and 2, in the same way as in the unidirectional concept. The gears 4 of the ring 5 are coupled to the ring 3 cogs at the outer circumference thereof. The set of gearing piece 4 and ring 5 is the same as in the unidirectional concept, as well as the cavities 6 in the upper area. The gears 4 couple to the gears 14 of the ring 15. It has cavities 16 at the upper area thereof so as to fix the piece. In this case, two rings are provided having moving gears: gears 4 and the ring 5, with gears 14 with the ring 15. Since there is a gear reciprocally found between both rings, there is a high possibility of movements affecting the coupling of said rings, so in this case it is crucial to keep the coupling of these two rings as fixed, by fusing them in a single piece if possible. A ring can be kept fixed with respect to the other using guiding bars 73a and 73b which are part of the upper solid piece of the ring 5. The guiding bars 73a and 73b would be arranged in contact to the inner areas of the guiding bars 74a and 74b, respectively which belong to the ring 15, thus the gears 4 coupled to the gear 14 in the movement thereof, will not lose the contacting position of the gears between both rings. That is, the rings will keep a fixed position with respect to one another. The ring 15 comprises cavities 16 for fixing the position thereof. The gears 14 of the ring 15 are in turn coupled to the cogged solid ring 17 inside thereof. The cogged solid ring 17 with its outer cogs is coupled to the gears 18 of the ring 19. The gears 18 of the ring 19 are coupled to the gears 21 of the ring 20 and use a system for fixing the reciprocate position the same as that of the rings 5 with the ring 15, by using the guides 73a with 74a and 73b with 74b, around each gear, for thus fixing the rings positions. The ring 19 comprises cavities 75 allowing it to fix the ring position with respect to the system. The ring 20 comprises cavities 22 allowing it to fix the ring position with respect to the system. It is preferably that the rings 19 and 20 are made in one single piece so as to avoid movements. The gears 21 couple to the cogged ring 23 inside thereof, which is the outermost piece of the ring arrangement. The rings system is shown completely coupled to each part being mentioned. The bidirectional configuration when coupling all its elements, must be of the same size as the unidirectional configuration, which means that the components of the bidirectional configuration must be smaller. Except for the first components such as the axis 12 and the ring 3, which are kept the same.

Figure 3 is a view of the coupling, in steps, of the unidirectional knives system. It shows the axis 12 in the centre, with the ring 3 situated above this at the disc thereof. The axis is provided with knives 29 underneath the disc thereof. The ring 5 is placed above the ring 3. The ring 5 is provided with knives 28 and the gears 4 thereof are shown. The ring 7 with its knives 27, is placed above the ring 5. Then, the ring 9 is placed on top of that, wherein its gears 8 and knives 26 can be seen. The cavity 10 is also observed at the upper part thereof. The ring 1 1 is placed above the ring 9, with its knives 25. The whole system is positioned above the auxiliary assembling piece 14. The way each piece is placed with respect to the other is shown in detail in the ring 1 1 and 9, where the upper projection 24 is part of the ring 1 1 . The upper projection 24 is positioned above the ring 9 causing the ring 1 1 to rest its weight on the ring 9.

Figure 4 is a view of the elements of figure 3, finally coupled and mounted above the auxiliary assembling piece. Figure 5 projects sections of the views of the knives rings container. The element 31 would be the lid of the knife container. The attachment is achieved through a threading mechanism with the piece 30. It also shows a view of the axis with respect to the piece 31 . It is emphasized that the axis 12 along its length, has an octagonal section, that is, such that while threading the crank 13 there is a section that can be firmly held so as to thread the piece 13 easily without rotation of 12.

Figure 6 shows the lower containing element 30 and the positioning of the knives rings arrangement at the centre. As in the concept of Fig. 3, the knife arrangement, its element 1 1 rests on the lower container element. Nevertheless, for this purpose the piece 14 with the axis 12 are required for keeping the rings fixed while the system is assembled, but the image is merely for illustrating the concept. The ring fixer 32 is placed, being a disk with a hole in the centre for the axis, and projections 33 at the bottom thereof. Said projections are inserted in the static ring cavities of the previous figures so as to keep their position fixed. This particular case is for the unidirectional rotation configuration. For bidirectional rotation more projections 33 are required with a different spacing and size, but the concept is the same. The disk 32 can be fixed to the lower container element 30 by different methods, not being detailed, but it can be with a similar system to that of the cavities. Figure 7 is a three-dimensional and upper view of the knives arrangement. The knives container and knives rings arrangement when these are already assembled constitutes a single piece. The first level of the grinder is the food cutter. Different knives configuration may be realized for the cutter based on the food size. That is, more or less knives. Each upper cutter can have a casing, such that the knives hide inside the casing. The casing 34 is then an arrangement for three rings having four knives 35 in the outermost cutting ring, threes knives 36 in the next inner ring and two knives 37 in the axis piece. The knives are introduced in said holes such that the system can be stored without danger.

Figure 8 is the knives rings storage for knives rings in its elements 30 and 31 , with the knives 25, 27 and 29 already assembled. This image does not show the axis since it is for demonstrating the concept, but the axis 12 must be every time the system is assembled. Actually, the element 30 has projecting flanges. These flanges 38a and 38b are fitted into the guides 39a and 39b of the food containing piece 40. This flanges and guides arrangement to be fitted must be established obstructing the movement in the rotation direction, such that the system is never released while operating.

Figure 9 shows the knife container 31 and 30 correctly coupled with the food container 40, by means of the flange 38a in the guide 39a, and flange 38b in the guide 39b. The image does not show the axis or the knives, but it is assumed that these have to be included in the operating system.

Figure 10 is a view of the rotating and extending movement of the piston system for breaking or grinding the food. Elements 43 (there are two) are axes forming a single piece with elements 41 and transmitting torque to the piston system. The axis 42 is free, allowing the pieces 41 to rotate around the hole of the rod 44. The rod 44 is coupled, at the second hole thereof, to the axis 46 which is free and attaches the piece to the rotation supports 45. The rotation supports 45 form a single piece with the front part of the piston 47. This element 47 is attached, by means of springs 50 along the area of the element, as a circular crown, with the piston striking element 48. The springs join both elements. This striking element 48 has a hollow space inside thereof, which serves as a guide. The element 47 forms in turn a single piece with the small guide cylinder 49, which while being introduced in the hollow space of the striking element 48 keeps the direction of the compressions in only axial movements. The striking element 48 smashes the food being introduced against the disk 51 by causing torque in the axis 43. The springs 50 play a second function, which is absorption of the impact energy so that the structure integrity is not affected.

Figure 1 1 is a three dimensional view of the piston 56 container. It shows three holes, an upper one for the food to be inserted therethrough, a side one for extracting the food, a front one 52 for the piston introduction and movement. It shows the size ratio between the piston and the piston 56 container from an upper view projecting the inner elements. Behind the disk 51 there is a bearing 611 which is used as a guide for the axis that will cause the disk 51 rotation. Both contact plates 51 and 48 may have cogs or projections 53 and 54 respectively, with the purpose of providing a better grinding for the food. The plate 47 is freely coupled to the rod 44 through pieces 46a and 46b which are clearly shown in the image from upwards. The same applies for the free coupling of the rod 44 to the pieces 41 a and 41 b forming a single solid piece with the pieces 43, represented in this case with a line. It shows the upper hole of the piston container 56. The element 49 reaches, approximately, the depth of the third image in the striking piece. The piece 55 is a conical gear which passes its axis through the bearing 611 until reaching the rotating disk 51 , with which it preferably forms a single piece. It also shows an overlapping of the disk crank 57, which transmits torque to the element 43 through the crank. Finally, it shows an overlapping impossible view of the gearing elements at the bottom 58, also making up one piece with the element 43. The gearings 59a, 59b and 59c and gearing 60, all of them, are found at the bottom of the device. Figure 12 is an upper view of all the inner elements constituting the lower grinder and an upper view of the actual system. The lower view clearly shows now that the element 43 is one single piece with the gearing 58, and the disk crank 57. The piece 61 is a bearing and the use of several of them is required in the system. The bearings 61 a and 61 b allow the piece 43 in its section 43b to rotate without a risk of side movements. The same applies for the bearings 61 c and 61 d for section 43a which then forms a gearing in 58. The gearing 58 transfers the torque to the gearing 59a, which has the axis thereof between bearings 61 e and 61 f. The gearing 59a transfers movement to the gearing 59b which has the axis thereof between bearings 61 g and 61 h. The gearing 59b transfers the movement thereof to the gearing 59c having its axis between bearings 61 i and 61 k. The gearing 59c transfers its movement to the gearing 60 which forms a single piece with the conical gearing 62 and the axis between 61 k and 61 m. When the crank 57 is applied torque and rotated clockwise, the movement is transferred to the conical gearing 55 by rotating in the opposite direction to the height increase of the cogs of the plate 51 , this allowing a greater dynamics of the system for better breaking the food. The upper view shows the casing 63 which is the support of the whole system. This casing has at the sides of the extraction door 65 two small walls 66a and 66b with a small orifice in each, so as to fit the door 65 into. The element 64 is the area for coupling to the first stage of the grinder, the cutter. The elements 63, 64 and 66 constitute a single piece.

Figure 13 is the profile view of the casing with respect to some of the inner elements. It shows the access walls 66a and 66b with respect to the piston container 56. The element 64 has a hole through which the element 67 is introduced, this being a small lid, blocking the food passing from the first grinder stage. Upon removal thereof, the food falls over the channel 68 towards the upper hole of the piston container 56. Then, a real view of front side of the second grinder stage is shown. It only shows elements 63, 64 and 66. The piece 69 is the door being introduced between walls 66a and 66b. This is introduced after the food receiver 70 is arranged. The element 69 is introduced and extracted vertically. The element 70 is introduced and extracted by sliding it through the front with respect to the walls 66. It is important to note that the food receiver 70 must have a "ground" being low enough for the piston to stay above the food receiver 70 when the plates thereof strike, otherwise this piece will break.

Figure 14 is a view of the knife container formed by 31 and 30 with the flanges 38a and 38b thereof and the coupling system being used in case of using this grinding stage together with the second one. The piece 71 is this coupling piece, with guides 72a and 72b. The piece 71 differs from the piece 40 only in the fact that it can be threaded inside the piece 64. The piece 71 is open at the bottom thereof, so it must be made of a more rigid and harder material than piece 40. Figure 15 is a front real view of the grinding system totally assembled. It shows the easiness of use of the final mechanism. The crank 13 rotates in order to move the knives, which are inside the container 31 and 30. Preferably, in the bidirectional configuration the flanges 72a and 72b prevent the knives system from coming out at any time, thus providing safety. When the cutting is finished, the introduction blocking 67 in the piece 64 is removed so as to allow the food to pass into the casing 63. The crank 57 is rotated clockwise for grinding the food at the second stage. After finishing, the door 69 is slid vertically upwards along 66a and 66b and, subsequently, the food receiver is removed by means of its small flange, for receiving the grinded food. The system may also change the cranks 13 and 57 for a motor arrangement.

Claims

1 . Multifunction grinder for solid materials, especially food, comprising:

- a first container comprising in turn:

- an upper lid in the centre of which there is a thread where a knives system is embedded being attached to the thread by means of a screw, and

- a rotating actuation crank at the upper and outer side of the transparent lid linked to the knives; and

- a second compartment located at the lower part of the first compartment and being linkable to said first container through a manually- actuated horizontal door, said second compartment comprising in turn:

- a piston system for grinding connected to gearings, and;

- an outlet door located at one of the sides;

wherein the knives rotate at least in two directions.

2. Multifunction grinder according to claim 1 , comprising elements for automation of the crank rotation.