Juicing head

Abstract

Improved juicing head of the type with juicing heads present in juicing systems, where the fruit to juice is housed in a recess of a female element and is guided to meet the head of a male element that is temporarily inserted in the recess, pressing the fruit and extracting the juice, wherein the head comprises ribs on its surface, said ribs arranged transverse to the direction of motion of the head.

Claims

1. A juicing machine comprising: a juicing head including a female element (1) and a male element (2), wherein the female element (1) includes a recess (3) defined therein and a female rotation shaft (10), wherein the male element (2) includes a male rotation shaft (9) and a head (4) disposed at a distal end of a radial extension from the male rotation shaft (9) wherein the head (4) is non-rotatable with respect to the radial extension, and a fruit or a portion of the fruit to juice disposed in the recess (3) defined in the female element (1), wherein the female rotation shaft (10) and the male rotation shaft (9) are configured in a fixed disposition to one another, and wherein when the male element (2) is moved about the male rotation shaft (9) the head (4) orbitally moves about the male rotation shaft (9), and wherein the head (4) includes ribs (5) extending from a surface of the head (4) that are disposed in an orientation transverse to the movement of the male element (2), such that when the male element (2) and the female element (1) are moved synchronously in opposite directions the head (4) is inserted temporarily into the recess (3) to press the fruit and extracting the juice.

2. The juicing machine according to claim 1, wherein a height of the ribs (5) is between 0.2 and 12 millimeters.

3. The juicing machine according to claim 1, wherein a height of the ribs (5) is between 0.4 and 0.6 millimeters.

4. The juicing machine according to claim 1, wherein a height of the ribs (5) is 0.5 millimeters.

5. The juicing head according to claim 1, wherein the ribs have a trapezoidal cross section.

6. The juicing machine according to claim 1, wherein a cross sectional angle of the ribs is smoothed.

7. The juicing machine according to claim 1, wherein the ribs are disposed on an anterior portion and a posterior portion of the head (4), leaving a cupola (6) disposed between the anterior portion and the posterior portion free of any ribs (5).

8. The juicing head according to claim 1, wherein the ribs are disposed in a parallel orientation.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) FIG. 1 shows the invention embodied as a juicing system of the type comprising two female elements and two male elements, in this case drums, arranged on shafts parallel to each other, although to simplify the figure only the female elements (1) and the male elements (2) are shown, the recesses (3)—on the sides of the female elements—meant to house in them the portion of fruit to be juiced—not shown in the figure—where due to the rotation of the female elements the fruit moves towards the heads (4) of the male elements which have a series of ribs (5) arranged transverse to the direction of motion of the head and arranged parallel to each other on the entire surface of the head.

(2) FIG. 2 uses the same references as FIG. 1 for the same elements, although the shapes thereof are different as these are different juicing systems, since this figure shows an embodiment of the invention of a juicing system where the rotation shafts of the male elements (9) and female elements (10) are not parallel but instead coincide, the female elements (1) having a frustoconical shape with the recesses (3) on their sides and the male elements (2) having a single head (4), in this case presenting two groups of ribs (5) each one comprising two lines and arranged on the anterior and posterior part of the head, leaving the cupola (6) thereof free. It can be seen that the ribs (5) are parallel to the rotation shaft (9) of the male element, in this case a drum, the head orbiting about said shaft in the case of the machine represented in the figure.

(3) FIG. 3 shows the male element of a squeezing system as that of FIG. 2 showing the housing (7) of the rotation shaft—not shown—with respect to which the head (4) describes its revolving motion, the head and the shaft joined at the base of the head (8), also showing the ribs (5) that protrude from the surface of the head.

(4) FIG. 4 shows a sequence of the passage of the head by the central part of the recess of the female element in a juicing system such as that shown in FIG. 2, although only one female element and one male element are shown, in cross section;

(5) FIG. 4A shows the head at a time in the sequence in which the head, in its synchronous rotation with the female element, is about to reach the maximum occupation point of the recess; FIG. 4B shows the moment of maximum occupation of the head in the recess; and FIG. 4C shows the moment at which the head starts exiting the recess as both the female element and the male element continue revolving.

(6) FIG. 5 shows a cross section of a juicing unit such as that of FIG. 1 in an embodiment where each male element comprises three heads and each female element comprises four recesses.

DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

(7) An embodiment of the invention is described below in a non-limiting sense and for purposes of illustration only.

(8) The invention relates to an improved juicing head of the type with juicing heads present in juicing systems where the fruit or portion of fruit to juice is housed in a recess (3) of a female element (1) and is guided by the rotation of said female element to meet a head (4) of a male element, which also rotates, that is inserted in the recess filling it, pressing the fruit and extracting the juice.

(9) In the head (4) a number of ribs (5) are arranged transverse to the direction of motion of the head, specifically parallel to the rotation shaft (9) of the male element.

(10) The ribs are distributed around the entire surface of the head parallel to each other.

(11) The ribs (4) have a trapezoidal cross section with smooth angles, to facilitate cleaning thereof, and a height of 0.5 millimetres.

(12) Two factors are present in the juicing of the fruit according to the head of the invention: on one hand, the pressure exerted by the head, which by itself extracts a large part of the juice; and on the other hand the scraping by the ribbing, which helps to extract the part of the juice still in the fruit as the ribs further compress the fruit against the recess and, due to their shape, detach the pulp remains adhered to the skin, while due to their smooth edges do not rip the skin, thereby preventing essential oils contained in the skin alveoli from falling into the juice, which could give the juice a bitter taste.