JPH0131032Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial field of application This invention relates to an apparatus for producing a soft iced beverage at a relatively low temperature by mixing shaved ice with a liquid substance such as syrup, honey, or fruit juice.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, as a semi-frozen iced beverage, there is, for example, semi-frozen iced beverage made from fruit juice as a main ingredient, which is produced by putting fruit juice and milk into a refrigerator and cooling and stirring. As another example, an apparatus is known that produces syrup and water by adding carbon dioxide gas and freezing the syrup and water while stirring in a refrigerator, as well as producing foam.

However, in both of these methods, a liquid beverage is agitated and cooled in a refrigerator to partially freeze it, so even if it is foamy and soft, there will be ice particles present when you eat it. While you can feel the coldness in your mouth,
The texture of these frozen particles often caused discomfort.

Problems to be solved by the invention The inventor of the invention of this application previously disclosed the software disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 141754/1986 as a solution to the problems of the conventional iced beverage manufacturing apparatus as described above. We proposed an ice cream manufacturing device.

The outline of this device is a high-speed rotating blade that is installed inside a container and mixes a liquid substance such as syrup inside the container with shaved ice put into the container, and also crushes the shaved ice into fine particles. a mixing mechanism having a drive motor that rotates the ice cubes at high speed; a cutting case equipped with a slit in which a cutting blade is exposed; and a shaved ice injection chute that opens above the container; It has a rotor plate provided in a cutting case that cuts together with a cutting blade, and is equipped with an ice cutting mechanism installed on a machine stand above the mixing mechanism, We succeeded in solving the problem.

However, in this manufacturing device, the shaved ice that is shaved by the ice-shaving mechanism and thrown into the container from the ice input chute tends to concentrate at a certain point on the liquid level in the container and fall. After being poured into the container in a state of high speed, the mixing mechanism's high-speed rotating blades combine with the liquid to form a spiral, descending from the center of the container and rising from the outside. It flows as a stream, and outside air is drawn into this swirling stream and descends into the container. On the other hand, as the amount of shaved ice increases, the viscosity increases and the swirling flow slows down, and the fine crushed ice pieces stay above the container and form a partition wall, which causes the air that descends to form bubbles. A problem arises in that part of the material other than the one being used stays near the rotary blade, creating a space and causing the rotary blade to spin idly, impeding the grinding and mixing functions.

As a means to solve this problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-52815
There is a method disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, in which a circular rod-shaped body is erected at the center of rotation at the top of the rotary blade, thereby restricting the position where the vortex is generated and preventing the formation of the above-mentioned cavities. be. This method is effective when the viscosity is relatively low, but when the viscosity becomes high, the flow becomes sluggish, resulting in the formation of cavities as described above.

Therefore, the purpose of this invention is to solve the problems of the device according to the above general proposal, to reliably crush ice pieces with the rotating blade without creating a space near the rotating blade in the container, Another object of the present invention is to provide a soft iced beverage manufacturing device that can sufficiently mix with a liquid substance.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, this invention has the following features in the device according to the above-mentioned proposals:
The mixing mechanism is characterized in that the upper part of the rotating shaft of the rotary blade extends upward to near the opening of the container, and its horizontal cross section is square.

Function In the soft iced beverage manufacturing apparatus as described above, the shaved ice formed by the ice cutting mechanism and thrown into the container from the input chute is evenly scattered by the rectangular part at the top of the rotating shaft and mixed. When crushed by the rotating blade of the mechanism and mixed with the liquid in the container, the external air drawn in by the vertical swirling flow generated in the container becomes bubbles, and the viscosity increases. As the flow slows down, the fluid tends to stay near the rotating blade, but due to the pressure difference with the outside air from the gap created by the rotation of the upper part of the rectangular rotating shaft, it rises to the center of the container and stays near the rotating blade. There is no problem in grinding and mixing.

Example The embodiment shown in the drawings will be described.

In FIG. 1, 1 indicates a machine base, and this machine base 1 has a base plate 2 and a plurality of columns 3 erected thereon, and a flat plate part 6 of a frame 5 is detachably attached to the upper end of this column 3. and this frame 5
is an inverted conical cutting case 7 in the part other than the flat plate part 6.
It is equipped with

Center boss 8 of cutting case 7 in frame 5
The upper end of a cylindrical shaft housing 10 is fixed to the back surface of the
is arranged and supported vertically, its upper end passes through the center hole 9 of the boss 8 and projects upward, its lower end passes through the housing 10 and projects downward, and a pulley 12 is fixed to the lower end. Further, an electric motor 14 is attached to a support arm 13 extending laterally from the housing 10, and a belt 16 is stretched between a pulley 15 attached to a motor shaft of the motor 14 and a pulley 12.

The cutting case 7 is provided with a through hole 17, and a cutting blade 19 is attached to the through hole 17 so that the degree of protrusion into the cutting case 7 can be adjusted and the cutting blade 19 can be attached and detached.
Continuing from this, a shaved ice charging chute 18 is provided in the cutting case 7.

Further, the boss 22 of the transfer rotor 21 is slidably fitted into the upper end of the rotating shaft 11 that protrudes upward through the center hole 9 of the boss 8 into a center hole 23 bored on the lower surface thereof, and is attached and detached with a bolt 24. Possibly fixed. The transfer rotor 21 includes several blade plates 25 extending radially from the boss 22 and whose lower surfaces are substantially parallel to the surface of the cutting case 7, an annular plate 26 connecting the tips of the blade plates 25, and the annular plate. 26 has a flange 27 extending outward from the lower end periphery and a hopper 28 which is removably fixed with a set screw or the like. A waterproof cover 30 is attached to the upper surface of the flat plate portion 6 around the hopper 28.

The above-mentioned portion is an ice cutting mechanism common to such previously proposed devices, but in this embodiment, an ice block storage chamber 35 is removably attached to the flat plate portion 6 with bolts or the like (not shown). This storage chamber 35 has a cylindrical transparent peripheral wall 36 and a lid 37 detachably attached to the peripheral wall 36. A funnel-shaped wall 38 whose opening communicates with the hopper 28 is fixed inside the peripheral wall 36. has been done.

Next, the mixing mechanism will be explained.

An engagement protrusion 41 is provided on the base plate 2 below the input chute 18, and a cylindrical container stand 42 that engages with the engagement protrusion 41 is removably placed on the base 2. . A rotary shaft 45 is arranged vertically and supported by a central boss 44 of an intermediate partition wall 43 provided on the inner periphery of the container stand 42, and a boss 4 is provided at the upper end of the rotary shaft 45.
4 and protrudes upwardly through the central hole, and its lower end similarly passes through the central hole and protrudes downwardly, to which an upper coupling ring 47 is fixed.

Below that, a lower coupling 48 which can be engaged with and disengaged from the coupling 47 is rotatably supported by the base plate 2.

On the other hand, inside the machine 1, an electric motor 50 is installed on the board 2, and a belt 50 is installed between the pulley 51 attached to the motor shaft of the motor 50 and the coupling 48.
2 is stretched.

The upper part of the rotating shaft 45 extends to the upper part of the container 57 and has a rectangular cross section, and the lower part has a mixing rotary blade 53 in the upper stage and a knife-shaped cutting rotary blade 54 in the lower stage, respectively. Fixed at intervals. The inner circumference of the upper end of the container stand 42 and the outer circumference of the lower end of the container 57 are screwed together in a watertight manner. In the above, a control circuit (not shown) is provided that rotates the motors 14 and 50 in conjunction with each other.

In this embodiment, the substrate 2 is formed of an upper aluminum plate 60 and a lower metal plate 61, and a soft cover plate 63 is provided at the outlet of the chute 18 to prevent the contents of the container 57 from scattering to the outside. It is attached removably to prevent it from happening.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

First, the lid 37 is removed, a large amount of cube-shaped ice A, for example, is put into the storage chamber 35, and the lid 37 is closed.

Next, the container 57 is removed from the substrate 2 together with the container stand 42, and an appropriate amount of liquid substance B such as syrup is poured into the container 57. The container 57 is then moved so that the upper coupling ring 47 engages the lower coupling ring 48.
is mounted and supported on the substrate 2 together with the container stand 42. After completing the preparations in this way, turn on the switch. As a result, the control circuit is activated, and the motor 14 of the ice-shaving mechanism is first started to cut the ice block A with the cutting blade 19, and the shaved ice C thus formed is placed in the container as shown by the arrow. It is poured into the liquid B in 57. Then, the motor 50 of the mixing mechanism is started, and the high-speed rotating blades 53 and 54 generate the shaved ice.
and the liquid substance B in a spiral shape, and its center is drawn down in the container 57 to generate air bubbles, while
The shaved ice C is made to flow as a vertical swirling flow rising on the outside, thereby pulverizing the shaved ice C into finer pieces and mixing it with the liquid B. When a predetermined amount of soft ice beverage is formed in this way, the motor 14
stops first to stop supplying the shaved ice C, and then the motor 50 stops.

In this embodiment, as described above, the ice block storage chamber 35
is installed, but it goes without saying that this may be omitted and this part may be used as in the previously proposed device.

In this way, the shaved ice C is atomized and mixed into the liquid substance B to produce a soft ice drink containing air bubbles.
The coupling rings 47, 48 are disengaged and removed from the base plate 2, and the beverage in the container 57 is transferred to another cup and served.

The finished beverage is soft and has an extremely pleasant texture without the presence of ice particles, and has a quality intermediate between that of conventional cream and sherbet. Furthermore, since the fine particles of shaved ice in the beverage are surrounded by bubbles, they do not melt easily and are kept sufficiently cold during the time it is poured into a cup and eaten.

Effects of the invention This invention is as described above, in which the upper part of the rotating shaft of the rotating blade of the mixing mechanism is extended upward to near the opening of the container, and its horizontal cross section is square in the soft iced beverage manufacturing apparatus. Therefore, before the shaved ice that is put into the container from the ice input chute of the ice cutting mechanism falls to the liquid surface, it is hit by the rectangular surface at the top of the rotating shaft and scattered inside the container, causing it to fall in a concentrated manner in certain places. is prevented. Also, during the mixing action, the viscosity increases and the air that tends to stay near the rotating blade rises along the rotating axis and is dissipated to the outside, so this stays inside the container and forms a space. Therefore, crushing and mixing by the rotary blade can be performed extremely efficiently, and a good soft iced beverage can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view showing an embodiment of the invention in its operating state. 1... Machine stand, 2... Board, 3... Support, 5...
Frame, 6... Flat plate part, 7... Cutting case, 1
1...Rotating shaft, 12, 15...Pulley, 14...
Electric motor, 16...Belt, 17...Through hole, 1
8... Shaved ice injection chute, 19... Cutting blade, 2
1...Transfer rotor, 25...Rotary blade plate, 42...
Container stand, 45... Rotating shaft, 47, 48... Coupling, 50... Electric motor, 51... Pulley,
52... Belt, 53, 54... Rotating blade, 57...
…container.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A rotary blade provided in a container that mixes a liquid substance such as syrup in the container with shaved ice put into the container and crushes the shaved ice into fine particles, and a drive motor that rotates this rotary blade at high speed. a cutting case having a mixing mechanism having a cutting blade, a cutting case having a slit facing a cutting blade, and a shaved ice injection chute opening above the container; In a soft ice beverage manufacturing apparatus comprising a rotary vane plate provided in a cutting case for cutting, and an ice cutting mechanism installed on a machine stand above the mixing mechanism, the rotating blade of the mixing mechanism A soft iced beverage manufacturing device characterized in that the upper part of the rotating shaft extends upward to near the opening of the container, and its horizontal cross section is rectangular.