General Mills, Inc.

Michael P Waldherr

James N Weinstein

Steven A Stein

William C Bornhorst

Philip K Zietlow

Derong Wang

Muan Zhu

Gregory C Vargas

Christopher J Field

Edward Lee

Jonathan M Griebel

Thomas G Cremers

Craig E Gustafson

James M Olive

Michael L Johnston

Shuiyuan Liang

Mary K Cartstensen

Stephen J Green

Lloyd J Zoubek

Niclas M Scher

The present invention provides a dumpling producing method and a dumpling producing device. The method comprises the following steps: cutting a mechanically sheeted dough sheet of a unidirectional texture into dumpling wrappers of a pre-defined shape, filling the stuffing into the dumpling sheet, and wrapping the dumpling wrapper along a fold line at an angle of 0 to 20 degrees to the texture orientation of each dumpling wrapper to produce the dumplings. The device comprises: a cutting mechanism consisting of a cutting unit and a rotating unit, wherein the rotating unit is configured to cause an angle formed between the texture orientation of the dumping wrapper and the fold line to be within 0 to 20 degrees.

Dumpling producing method and device

The present utility model provides a mold set used for dumpling or dumpling-like food product formation comprising a pair of jaws, the closure of which is configured to clamp a dough pad over a filling thereby forming a raw product of the dumpling or dumpling-like food product, wherein the jaws in a closed condition can be driven to simulate the human action of compressing a filling pocket of the dumpling or dumpling-like food product.

Mold set, compressive device and dumpling forming machine

A method and system for processing at least one rope of aerated confectionery foam. The method includes extruding at least one rope of aerated confectionery foam from an extruder. The rope is conveyed from the extruder to a rotary cutter. An anti-sticking agent, such as powdered starch, is applied to the rope as the rope is conveyed from the extruder to the rotary cutter. Finally, the rope is cut into pieces with the rotary cutter. In one preferred embodiment, the rotary cutter is operated to perform at least 5,000 cuts per minute.

Method for processing an aerated confectionery foam rope

Food product

A system for processing at least one rope of aerated confectionery foam. The system includes extruding at least one rope of aerated confectionery foam from an extruder. The rope is conveyed from the extruder to a rotary cutter. An anti-sticking agent, such as powdered starch, is applied to the rope as the rope is conveyed from the extruder to the rotary cutter. Finally, the rope is cut into pieces with the rotary cutter. In one preferred embodiment, the rotary cutter is operated to perform at least 5,000 cuts per minute.

System for processing an aerated confectionery foam rope

A method for processing at least one rope of aerated confectionery foam. The method includes extruding at least one rope of aerated confectionery foam from an extruder. The rope is conveyed from the extruder to a rotary cutter. An anti-sticking agent, such as powdered starch, is applied to the rope as the rope is conveyed from the extruder to the rotary cutter. Finally, the rope is cut into pieces with the rotary cutter. In one preferred embodiment, the rotary cutter is operated to perform at least 5,000 cuts per minute.

Method and apparatus for processing an aerated confectionery foam rope

An apparatus (,) for forming open ended, cone-shaped snack products includes a rotary cutter (,) having opposed, counterrotating rollers (,) each formed by multiple cutting discs (,) axially spaced on a mandrel (,) by spacers (,). A dough sheet formed by a sheet forming device (,) is conveyed to a slitting device (,) which slits the dough sheet into multiple pairs of dough strips. The dough strips are conveyed on a conveyer (,) towards the rotary cutter (,). The first dough strips of each pair pass over the end of the conveyor (,), and twisted 90&deg; as they pass over sheaves (,) and pass between stationary guides (,) to the first roller (,) while the second dough strips of each pair pass over the end of the conveyor (,), are twisted 90&deg; as they pass over sheaves (,) and pass between the stationary guides (,) to a second roller (,). The pair of dough strips are drawn under tension through the nip of the rollers (,) in a face to face stacked orientation. The snack products are cut and shaped by cavities (,) in the cutting discs (

Dough forming apparatus and methods

Apparatus and methods of fabricating half products in the field of puffed snack piece fabrication are disclosed including a rotary cutter (16) having an opposed pair of rollers (18). At least one of the rollers (18) of the rotary cutter (16) has cavities (112) arranged in a first, central portion (110) which stamp out first pieces and cavities (118) arranged in second and third, boundary portions (114, 116) for stamping out second pieces from the remaining portions of a continuous dough sheet (14). The first pieces are of the desired shape and size for the half products, and the second pieces are of a size and shape mechanically separable from the first pieces. In first preferred forms, the first pieces have tesselated shapes allowing the cavities (112) in the central portion (110) to be in a tight, juxtapositional pattern. In other preferred forms, the second pieces have nontesselated shapes, with pockets (113) of a pyramid shape located in the central portion (110) between the cavities (112) to reduce migration of the scrap material into the cavities (112) while the first pieces are stamped from the continuous dough sheet (14). After stamping, the first and second pieces are dried in an oven (134) and then separated by a separator (136). The dried first pieces form the half product. The dried second pieces can be ground in a grinder (138) and added to the ingredients (120) forming the dough prior to or during mixing in mixer (122). The mixed ingredients (120) are cooked and extruded as dough for formation into a sheet (12) by a sheeting apparatus (124). In the preferred form, the sheet (12) is flipped and aligned into a folded continuous two-ply sheet (14) prior to entering the rotary cutter (16).

Apparatus and methods for recouping scrap dough material

An apparatus (79) for setting the nip gap between first and second rollers (30, 32) includes nip control blocks (83) movably mounted adjacent the front edges (150) of the end plates (151a, 151b) between which one of the rollers (32) is journaled. In the preferred form, each of the control blocks (83) are threadably received on a shaft (138) and include a slide surface (142) which slides on a shoe (134) mounted on the end plates (151a, 151b) and include an opposite, abutment surface (144) at a minor acute angle to the slide surface (142) and the movement direction of the control blocks (83). Contact surfaces (164) are articulately mounted to the end plates (51a, 51b) between which the other of the rollers (30) is journaled. In the preferred form, the contact surfaces (164) are formed on a thrust knuckle (160) having a semi-spherical surface (162) slideably received in a semi-spherical depression (156) of a thrust socket (154) secured in a recess (146) in the front edges (150) of the end plates (51a, 51b). The rollers (30, 32) are pivotally mounted relative to each other by pivotally mounting the end plates (51a, 51b) of the first roller (30) relative to the end plates (151a, 151b) of the other roller (32). The thrust knuckles (160) and sockets (154) allow rotary motion of the contact surfaces (164) relative to the end plates (51a, 51b) to flushly abut with the abutment surfaces (144) of the nip control blocks (83) independent of the movement position of the nip control blocks (83) and of the pivot position of the rollers (30, 32) relative to each other.

Nip gap setting apparatus for use in a dough passing device

A single continuous dough sheet (12) is conveyed by a conveyor (20) up an incline to a dough tension and drive system (38). In the system (38), the dough sheet (12) passes around a lower drive roller (40), around an intermediate drive roller (42), and around an upper drive roller (44). The dough sheet (12) extends at a downward angle to an idler roller (80) which directs the dough sheet (12) generally vertically downward in a flat condition. A wishbone pushing element (82) having a rounded V-shape forms the first face of the dough sheet (12) into a generally V-shape having two wings. The wings of the V-shape are then guided by an aligning element (96) such as laterally spaced rollers (98, 100) which roll on the opposite face of the wings to form a folded, two-ply continuous dough sheet (14). The angular relationship of the legs (84, 86) of the pushing element (82), the lateral spacing of the rollers (98, 100 ) of the aligning element (96) and the three dimensional positioning of the pushing element (82) and the aligning element (96) can be adjusted to insure that the free edges in the folded continuous dough sheet (14) are aligned relative to each other.

Method of flipping and aligning a dough sheet

A single continuous dough sheet is conveyed by a conveyor up an incline to a dough tension and drive system. In the system, the dough sheet passes around a lower drive roller, around an intermediate drive roller, and around an upper drive roller. The dough sheet extends at a downward angle to an idler roller which directs the dough sheet generally vertically downward in a flat condition. A wishbone pushing element having a rounded V-shape forms the first face of the dough sheet into a generally V-shape having two wings. The wings of the V-shape are then guided by an aligning element such as laterally spaced rollers which roll on the opposite face of the wings to form a folded, two-ply continuous dough sheet. The angular relationship of the legs of the pushing element, the lateral spacing of the rollers of the aligning element and the three dimensional positioning of the pushing element and the aligning element can be adjusted to insure that the free edges in the folded continuous dough sheet are aligned relative to each other.

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Brooklyn Park, MN, United States of America

Michael P Waldherr