Home ice cream and soft drink maker with automatic air injection

Abstract

Ice cream and soft drink producing apparatus for small establishments and residential use. It produces soft ice cream and soft drinks from a mixture of ingredients contained in the apparatus by infusion of carbon dioxide or similar gases contained in compressed form in canisters associated with the apparatus. A unique diffusion plate containing a large number of small diameter diffusion holes is positioned under the ice cream or soft drink mixture and above the inlet for the compressed gas, so that the gas, going through the diffusion plate is finely dispersed and injected into the mixture, without the need for rotating machinery such as paddles or beaters. A diffusion plate in which the diffusion holes are positioned to one side of the diffusion plate is especially effective in that it causes the ice cream or soft drink mixture to be agitated and rolled over for better exposure to the compressed gas. In one version, the diffusion plate is positioned atop a sealing ring such that the ring may cover the perimeter holes with adjustable pressure against the ring resulting in selectively controlled texture of the final product. The ice cream maker is placed in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator where the soft drink or ice cream mixture is chilled or frozen as required.