Self-making bread method, bread machine and bread ingredient box thereof

Abstract

The self-making bread method includes: weighing a certain amount of ingredients according to a bread recipe and placing them in a bread ingredient box; putting the bread ingredient box into the corresponding containing region of the top portion of the bread machine; using the jagged ring of the bottom portion of said containing region to open the thin film of the bottom portion of the bread ingredient box, so the ingredients will fall into the mixing container in the bread machine; controlling the water delivering mechanism inside the bread machine to deliver a certain amount of water into said mixing container; starting the mixing device inside the bread machine, which mixes the ingredients into an appropriate dough; turning off the mixing device; energizing the electric heating tube in the bread machine, to bake the dough inside the mixing container into bread.

Claims

1. A bread machine comprising: a housing defining an inner space; a transversal plate dividing the inner space into a lower working region and an upper containing region, and having an ingredient opening; a main body disposed in the upper containing region, the main body having a hollow bottom, and adapted to receive a bread ingredient box with a bottom film, the hollow bottom of the main body defining a bottom opening substantially corresponding to the ingredient opening, the hollow bottom of the main body having a jagged ring, the jagged ring having a plurality of teeth vertically arranged along the jagged ring on the hollow bottom; a mixing container in the lower working region; and an electric heater around an outer wall of the mixing container; wherein when the bread ingredient box is pressed against the jagged ring, the teeth of the jagged ring pierce the bottom film of the bread ingredient box, so that ingredients in the bread ingredient box fall through the bottom opening and the ingredient opening into the mixing container.

2. The bread machine according to claim 1, further comprising a removable box, wherein the main body is part of the removable box.

3. The bread machine according to claim 1, wherein the pierced bottom film hangs in a tongue shape.

4. The bread machine according to claim 1, wherein the jagged ring has one of a rectangular shape, a round shape, an oval shape and a polygon shape.

5. The bread machine according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of teeth are arranged in a U shape along the jagged ring.

6. The bread machine according to claim 1, further comprising an upper cover covering the housing.

7. The bread machine according to claim 6, wherein the upper cover includes a pressing foot for pressing the bread ingredient box when the upper cover is in a closed position.

8. The bread machine according to claim 1, wherein the electric heater is in the lower working region.

9. The bread machine according to claim 1, further comprising a front door.

10. The bread machine according to claim 1, further comprising a mixing device in the mixing container, the mixing device having a mixing shaft and mixing blades.

11. The bread machine according to claim 10, further comprising a water delivering mechanism having a water pump.

12. The bread machine according to claim 11, further comprising a microcomputer controller for controlling the mixing device, and the water delivering mechanism.

13. The bread machine according to claim 12, further comprising an identification mechanism in the housing, for automatic identification of an ingredient mark of the bread ingredient box when the bread ingredient box is placed inside the upper containing region, the identification mechanism for providing an ingredient information to the microcomputer controller.

14. The bread machine according to claim 1, further comprising: an electromagnet disposed in the upper containing region; and a retaining shelf supporting the jagged ring, the retaining shelf extending into the upper containing region, driven by the electromagnet, and adapted to assist the piercing of the bottom film of the bread ingredient box.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is the sectional structural view of the bread ingredient box being put into the bread machine of the present invention.

(2) FIG. 2 is the perspective structural view of jagged ring and the cleaning box.

(3) FIG. 3 is the sectional structural view of the bread ingredient box.

(4) FIG. 4 is the sectional structural view of the bread ingredient box when it is pierced by the jagged ring.

(5) FIG. 5 is the sectional structural view of the bread machine when the water is added.

(6) FIG. 6 is the perspective structural view of the bread ingredient box of another embodiment corresponds to the jagged ring.

(7) FIG. 7 is the sectional structural view of the bread ingredient box of FIG. 6.

(8) FIG. 8 is the sectional structural view of FIG. 6 when the bread ingredient box is put into the bread machine of another embodiment of the present invention.

(9) FIG. 9 is the perspective structural view of the jagged ring, electromagnet, retaining shelf and the mixing container of FIG. 8.

(10) FIG. 10 is the sectional structural view of FIG. 8 when the ingredient mark is identified.

(11) FIG. 11 is the sectional structural view of FIG. 8 when the bread ingredient box is pierced by the jagged ring.

(12) FIG. 12 is the sectional structural view of FIG. 8 when the water is added.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(13) Embodiment 1

(14) The structure of the bread ingredient and the bread machines of an embodiment are showed in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3.

(15) Please refer to FIG. 1: the bread machine of the present embodiment has a housing 1 with an open front side and an open top portion. The front side of the housing 1 has a door 2 opening outward. The open top portion of the housing 1 has an outer cover 101 opening upward. The inner surface of the outer cover 101 has a pressing foot 1011. The top of the inside of the housing 1 has a transverse insulation plate 102. Said transverse insulation plate 102 divides the inner space of the housing 1 into a working region 103 whose side surface straightly opposite the door 2 and a containing region 104 whose top end straightly opposite the outer cover 101.

(16) The working region 103 has a mixing container 3 with an upward opening. The bottom portion of the working region 103 has a mixing device 4. The shaft of the mixing device 4 stretches into the mixing container 3 from the bottom of the mixing container 3, the top end of said shaft is installed with mixing blades. The lower portion of the working region 103 in the housing 1 surrounds the working region 103 and an electric heating tube 5 is disposed therein.

(17) The transverse insulation plate 102 has an opening corresponding to the mixing container 3, so the bottom portion of the containing region 104 has an ingredient opening. The inside of the containing region 104 has a rectangular cleaning box 7. Please refer to FIG. 2, the main body 701 of the cleaning box 7 is a box with an upward opening, the bottom portion of the main body 701 has an opening 702 corresponding to the opening of the transverse insulation plate 102. The bottom portion of the main body 701 has a jagged ring 8, the bottom plate 801 of the jagged ring 8 is rectangular and has a rectangular opening 802 corresponding to the bottom portion of the bread ingredient box 9, the two long sides and a short side along said opening 802 are continuously disposed with a row of upward extending sharp teeth 803. The bread ingredient box 9 is in the cleaning box 7. The teeth 803 of the jagged ring 8 face the thin film 902 of the bottom portion of the bread ingredient box 9. The water delivering mechanism 6 is disposed inside the housing 1 and behind the containing region 104. The water delivering mechanism 6 delivers the water into the mixing container 3 inside the working region 103.

(18) Please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3: the bread ingredient box 9 has a closed rectangular side wall 901, the bottom end of the side wall 901 draws inward and forms an inverted trapezoidal structure. The top portion of said side wall 901 is closed by the top plate 903. The ingredients weighed by the factory according to the bread ingredients are filled in the inverted bread ingredient box 9, that is an inner space 904 formed by the side wall 901 and the top plate 903, then the bottom end of said side wall 901 is closed with the thin film 902.

(19) The side wall 901 and the top plate 903 of the bread ingredient box 9 can be made of hard oiled board or metal board. The thin film 902 can be made of aluminum foil or other papers which can resist high temperature. The flavors in the bread ingredient box 9 are salt, sugar and spice, and so on. In another embodiment of the bread ingredient box, the side wall 901 can be a closed round structure, closed oval structure or closed polygon structure. Of course, correspondingly, the cleaning box 7 and the jagged ring 8 of the bread machine can be round, oval or polygon.

(20) The process of self-making bread by the above bread machine are showed in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

(21) Please refer to FIG. 1, after the operator obtains the bread ingredient box 9, please refer to FIG. 1: firstly the operator opens the outer cover 101 of the top portion of the housing 1 of the bread machine, the bread ingredient box 9 is put into the cleaning box 7 of the containing region 04 of the housing 1.

(22) Then the operator closes the outer cover 101 of the top portion of the housing 1 of the bread machine, please refer to FIG. 4: the pressing foot 1011 of the outer cover 101 presses the bread ingredient 9 toward the jagged ring 8 of the bottom portion of the cleaning box 7 inside the containing region 104. The teeth 803 of the jagged ring 8 are arranged as U character shape, the teeth 803 pierce the thin film 902 of the bottom portion of the bread ingredient box 9,then the ingredients of the inner space 904 of the bread ingredient box 9 push the pierced thin film 902 due to their own weight, so the pierced thin film of tongue shape hangs down, finally the ingredients fall into the mixing container 3 of the working region 103 inside the housing 1.

(23) The operator operates the water pump switch on the operation panel of the bread machine by hand. Please refer to FIG. 5: according to the water amount determined by the ingredient of the bread ingredient box 9, the water pump 601 of the water delivering mechanism 6 inside the bread machine is controlled to deliver the corresponding amount of water into the mixing container 3.

(24) The operator operates the mixing switch on the operation panel of the bread machine by hand. Starting the mixing device 4 inside the housing 1, then the ingredients in the mixing container 3 are mixed into an appropriate dough.

(25) According to the mixing time determined by the ingredient of the bread ingredient box 9, after the operator operates the mixing switch to close the mixing device 4, then operates the heating switch according to the heating time and power-supply determined by the ingredient of the bread ingredient box 9, the electric heating tube 5 in the working region 103 is energized, then the electric heating tube 5 heats the dough in the mixing container 3, so said dough is baked into bread.

(26) Then the operator operates the heating switch and stops energizing the electric heating tube 5, opens the door 2 to fetch the bread from the mixing container.

(27) Opens the outer cover 101 and fetches the cleaning box 7, jagged ring 8 and the unsealed bread ingredient box 9 from the containing region 104 of the housing 1. Discards the unsealed bread ingredient box 9, then washes the cleaning box 7 and the jagged ring 8 to clean away the remnant ingredients, then puts the cleaning box 7 and the jagged ring 8 back into the containing region 104 of the housing 1 to prepare for the next operation.

(28) As an improvement of the bread machine of the present embodiment, the bread machine of another embodiment has a microcomputer controller. The operator can input the code of the bread ingredient of the selected bread ingredient box 9 on the operation panel of said bread machine by hand, so the microcomputer controller of the bread machine will automatically extract the control process of the internal memory corresponding to the bread ingredient. After the outer cover is closed, the ingredients in the bread ingredient box 9 will fall into the mixing container 3. The microcomputer controller of said bread machine automatically controls the water delivering mechanism inside said bread machine according to the water amount determined by the corresponding ingredient, then the corresponding amount of water is delivered into the mixing container 3 by the water delivering mechanism; then the microcomputer controller of said bread machine automatically controls the mixing device 4 according to the mixing time determined by the corresponding ingredient, the ingredients and the water in the mixing device 4 are mixed into an appropriate dough; then the microcomputer controller of said bread machine automatically controls the electric heating tube 5 according to the power-supply and the baking time determined by the corresponding ingredient, the dough in the mixing container 3 is heated by the electric heating tube, so said dough is baked into bread.

(29) Embodiment 2

(30) The bread ingredient box of another embodiment of the present invention and the corresponding structure of jagged ring are showed in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7.

(31) The bread ingredient box 9 has a closed rectangular side wall 901, the bottom end of the side wall 901 draws inward and forms an inverted trapezoidal structure. The top portion of said side wall 901 is sealed with a top plate 903. The edge of a side of the top plate has ingredient mark of the present bread ingredient box 9 has a row of code holes 9031. A side in the side wall 901 has an insulation plate 904 of inverted V character shape, said insulation plate 904 divides the inside of the side wall 901 into two regions 905,906 which are larger and smaller. The ingredients weighed by the factory according to the bread ingredient are filled in the larger region 905 of the bread ingredient box 9, the larger region 905 is formed by the surrounding of the side wall 901, top plate 903 and the insulation plate 904; and the corresponding amount of fruits and nuts are weighed and filled into the smaller region 906 of the bread ingredient box 9, the smaller region 906 is formed by the surrounding of the side wall 901, top plate 903 and the insulation plate 904. Then the thin film is sealed on the bottom end of said side wall 901. The thin film 902 is sealed on the portion 907 of the smaller region 906, it will be especially described in the following description.

(32) The side wall 901, top plate 903 and the insulation plate 904 of the bread ingredient box 9 can be hard oiled board or metal board. The thin film 902 can be made of aluminum foil or other papers which can resist high temperature. The flavors in the bread ingredient box 9 are salt, sugar and spice, and so on, the fruits and nuts can be walnut kernel, raisin and almond, and so on.

(33) The bottom plate 801 of the jagged ring 8 is rectangular, which has a rectangular opening 802 corresponding to the bottom portion of the larger region 905 of the bread ingredient box 9, and has an oval opening 804 corresponding to the bottom portion of the smaller region 906 of the bread ingredient box 9. The two long sides along the rectangular opening 802 and a short side close to the oval opening 804 are continuously disposed with a row of upward extending sharp teeth 803; the two arc sides along the oval opening 804 and a straight side close to the outer side are continuously disposed with a row of upward extending sharp teeth 805.

(34) In the bread ingredient box of another embodiments, the structure of the side wall 901 can be a closed round, closed oval or closed polygon shape. Of course, the structure of the jagged ring 8 of the bread machine can also be the corresponding round, oval or polygon shape.

(35) Please refer to FIG. 8: the bread machine of the present invention has a microcomputer controller and a housing 1 with an open front side and an open top portion. The opening of the front side of the housing 1 has an outward opening door 2. The opening of the top portion of the housing 1 has an upward opening outer cover 101. The inner surface of the outer cover 101 has a pressing foot 1011. The top portion inside the housing 1 has a transverse insulation plate 102. The transverse insulation plate 102 divides the inner space of the housing 1 into a working region 103 whose side surface straightly opposite the door 2 and a containing region 104 whose top end straightly opposite the outer cover 101.

(36) The working region 103 has a mixing container 3 with an upward opening. The bottom portion of the working region 103 has a mixing device 4. The shaft of the mixing device 4 stretches into the mixing container 3 from the bottom portion of the mixing container 3, the top end of said shaft is installed with mixing blades. The lower portion of the working region 103 in the housing 1 surrounds the working region 103 and an electric heating tube 5 is disposed therein.

(37) The transverse insulation plate 102 has an opening corresponding to the mixing container 3, so the bottom portion of the containing region 104 has an ingredient opening.

(38) In the housing 1, a water delivering mechanism 6 and an identification mechanism for automatically identifying the ingredient mark of the bread ingredient box 9 are disposed on the rear portion of the containing region 104. The water delivering mechanism 6 can deliver the water into the mixing container 3 in the working region 103. The identification mechanism is composed of a row of light emitting diodes 11 disposed on the outer cover 101 and a row of light receiving elements 12 disposed on the outer side of the containing region 104. The position of a light emitting diode 11 corresponds to the position of a code hole 9031 on the top plate 903 of the bread ingredient box 9 and the position of a light receiving element 12.

(39) The front side out of the containing region 104 has an electromagnet 13. The free end of the valve rod of the electromagnet 13 is connected to the retaining shelf 14 which stretches into the containing region 104, the jagged ring 8 is disposed on the retaining shelf 14.

(40) Please refer to FIG. 9, the bottom plate 1401 of the retaining shelf 14 has an opening 1402 corresponding to the opening of the insulation plate 102. The two sides of the front portion of the bottom plate 1401 are respectively disposed with a supporting foot 1403, the upper end of each supporting foot 1403 is hinged with a supporting point of the middle of a lever 1405, the front end head of each lever 1405 is fixed with the corresponding end head of the arched supporting shelf 1404, the rear end head of each lever 1405 is connected to a hook head stretches inward. The two sides of the rear portion of the bottom plate 1401 are respectively disposed with a spring supporting rod 1406. The bottom plate 1401 of the retaining shelf 14, the levers 1405 of the two sides of the supporting shelf 1404 and the two spring supporting rods 1406 are in the containing region 104.

(41) A rectangular cleaning box 7 is disposed upon the bottom plate 1401, that is between the space of the levers 1405 by the two sides of the supporting shelf 1404and the two spring supporting rods 1406. The cleaning box 7 has an opening faces upward, its bottom plate has an opening corresponding to the opening of the transverse insulation plate 102. The spring rods 1406 by the two sides of the bottom plate 1401 of the retaining shelf 14 support the edge of the cleaning box 7. The jagged ring 8 is placed upon the bottom plate in the cleaning box 7, which is supported by the inward extending hook head of the rear end head of the levers 1405 by the two sides of the supporting shelf 1404. If the bread ingredient box 9 is placed in the cleaning box 7, then the teeth 803 and 805 of the jagged ring 8 will face the thin film 902 of the bottom portion of the bread ingredient box 9.

(42) The process of operating the present bread machine for self-making bread are showed in FIG. 8, FIG. 10, FIG. 11 and FIG. 12:

(43) After the operator obtains the bread ingredient box 9, please refer to FIG. 8: firstly the operator opens the outer cover 101 of the top portion of the housing 1, then puts the bread ingredient box 9 into the cleaning box 7 inside the containing region 104 of the housing 1. Each light emitting tube 11 on the outer cover 101 are far away from the light receiving elements 12 corresponding to the outer side of the containing region 104.

(44) The operator closes the outer cover 101 of the top portion of the housing 1, please refer to FIG. 10: the pressing foot 1011 of the outer cover 101 presses the bread ingredient box 9 toward the edge of the cleaning box 7 in the containing region 104. Each light emitting diode 11 on the outer cover 101 is close to the light receiving elements 12 corresponding to the outer side of the containing region 104. Since each code hole 9031 of the bread ingredient box 9 respectively opens or closes according to the specific code, so the light receiving elements 12 beneath the open code hole 9031 will receive the light signal corresponding to the light emitting diode 11, while the light receiving elements 12 beneath the closed code hole 9031 will not receive the light signal corresponding to the light emitting diode 11. The outputs of light receiving elements 12 are transmitted to the microcomputer controller, then the microcomputer controller will automatically identify the code of bread ingredient of said bread ingredient box 9. The microcomputer controller will automatically extract the control process of the internal memory according to the bread ingredient.

(45) Please refer to FIG. 11: the microcomputer controller controls the valve rod of the electromagnet 13 moves downward, so the hook heads of the free ends of the levers 1405 by the two sides of the supporting shelf 1404 of the retaining shelf 14 will upward support the jagged ring 8 of the bottom portion of the cleaning box 7. The U character shaped teeth 803, 805 of the jagged ring 8 pierce the thin film 902 on the bottom portion of the bread ingredient box 9 and on the thin film 907 of the smaller region 906. Then the microcomputer controller controls the valve rod of the electromagnet 13 moves upward, so the hook heads of the free ends of the levers 1405 by the two sides of the supporting shelf 1404 of the retaining shelf 14 will downward pull the jagged ring 8 of the bottom portion of the cleaning box 7, the pierced tongue shaped thin film 902, 907 are caused to move downward. The pierced tongue shaped thin film 902 hangs down due to the weight of the ingredients of the larger region 905 of the inner space of the bread ingredient box 9, the ingredients will fall into the mixing container 3 of the working region 103 in the housing 1; the pierced tongue shaped thin film 907 hangs down due to the weight of the fruits and nuts of the smaller region 906 of the inner space of the bread ingredient box 9, then the fruits and nuts will fall into the mixing container 3 of the working region 103 in the housing 1.

(46) Please refer to FIG. 12: the microcomputer controller controls the water pump 601 of the water delivering mechanism 6 in the bread machine to deliver a certain amount of water into the mixing container 3, the water amount is determined by the bread ingredient of the bread ingredient box 9.

(47) The microcomputer controller automatically controls the mixing device 4 in the housing 1 according to the mixing time determined by the bread ingredient of the bread ingredient box 9, the flour, baking powder, the flavor, the fruits and nuts and water in the mixing container 3 are mixed into an appropriate dough.

(48) The electric heating tube 5 in the working region 103 is energized by the microcomputer controller according to the heating time and power-supply determined by the bread ingredient of the bread ingredient box 9, then the electric heating tube 5 heats the dough in the mixing container 3, so said dough is baked into bread. In the baking process, the microcomputer controller controls the water pump 601 of the water delivering mechanism 6 in the bread machine to deliver a certain amount of water into the mixing container 3, so the bread is humidified, the adding time and the adding amount of water are determined by the bread ingredient of the bread ingredient box 9.

(49) After the above processes, the operator opens the door 2 and fetch the bread from the mixing container 3.

(50) The operator opens the outer cover 101, then fetches the cleaning box 7, jagged ring 8 and the unsealed bread ingredient box 9 from the containing region 104 of the housing 1. Discards the unsealed bread ingredient box 9, washes the cleaning box 7 and the jagged ring 8 to clean away the remnant flour, baking powder and the flavor. Then puts the cleaning box 7 and the jagged ring 8 back into the containing region 104 of the housing 1 to prepare for the next operation.

(51) Of course, in the bread ingredient box of other embodiments of the present invention, the thin film of the side wall, top plate or the bottom plate can also be disposed with bar code as the bread ingredient mark. Correspondingly, a bar code reader is disposed in the bread machine, thereby the bread ingredient of the bread ingredient box will be automatically identified.

(52) Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof for carrying out the invention, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.