Description

The present invention concerns a machine for forming a sheet of fresh pasta, known as clough sheeter machine.

A prior art clough sheeter machine, for example a table-top clough sheeter machine for household use, comprises a supporting structure, which rests on a worktop and supports a pair of cylindrical rollers, known as sheeter rollers, having axes horizontal and mounted in a rotating arrangement. The axes of said two sheeter rollers are parallel to each other and the respective cylindrical lateral surfaces are opposite and at a short distance from each other, forming a continuous gap. A sheet of fresh pasta of given thickness is formed by passing a dough through said gap.

Rotation control means, for example manually operated, determine the rotation of the sheeter rollers in mutually opposite directions of rotation.

Adjustment means of the distance between the axes of said sheeter rollers allow the distance between the respective opposite cylindrical lateral surfaces, i.e., the width of said gap, to be adjusted, according to the desired thickness of the sheet of pasta.

In the aforesaid prior art dough sheeter machine, the sheeter rollers are shaped with respective smooth cylindrical lateral surfaces, so as to form a corresponding sheet of fresh pasta having two smooth opposite surfaces.

The sheet thus formed is then subjected to a cutting operation, by means of suitable cutting means, to form, for example, strips of pasta, such as tagliatelle or noodles. The strips of pasta cut from the sheet also have smooth opposite surfaces.

The fresh pasta with smooth surfaces lends itself well to cooking, but its surface shape is not particularly suitable to retain the sauce with which the pasta is tossed after being cooked.

The document US 5,545,426 A discloses a forming machine of a sheet of plastic material, comprising two opposite cylindrical rollers. These rollers have a smooth cylindrical intermediate portion and respective cylindrical axial end portions provided with annular grooves. During forming of the sheet in the aforesaid machine, the mix is compressed between the two cylindrical rollers also at their axial end portions and the mix is pushed into the annular grooves of these rollers. In this way, the margin portions of the sheet of plastic material are thinned and elongated laterally with respect to the remaining part of the sheet. However, the sheet thus formed has smooth surfaces on both the respective faces and has no rough or course part of surface.

The document US 2005/0170031 A discloses a device for the production of a strip of dough. In particular, the device allows the dough to be processed so that bubbles of different type, present in the dough, are maintained therein. The device comprises a plurality of pairs of rollers opposite each other and which delimit respective gaps, of decreasing size in the direction of feed of the dough between said pairs of rollers. Each roller is profiled on the circumference by means of a plurality of slots, which help to convey the dough through said gaps and allow the bubbles to remain in the dough.

In particular, each roller has a plurality of grooves alternated with respective ridges, so that, viewed in section along an axial plane, the roller has a double lateral profile with a sinusoidal trend. The bosses have an annular or helical trend and convex top profile. The aforesaid device allows a dough to be worked, forming a sheet of fresh pasta grooved on its surface, but does not allow a sheet having at least a part of coarse or rough surface grooved on its surface to be formed.

In the present description, the expression "sheet of fresh pasta having at least a part of coarse or rough surface" designates a sheet of fresh pasta, in which at least one side of the sheet has at least one area of the surface having an evident surface roughness without lacerations or cuts in the sheet.

An object of the present invention is to provide a machine for forming a sheet of fresh pasta, which allows pasta formats more suitable for retaining the sauce, with which the pasta is tossed after being cooked, to be obtained from this sheet.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheeter roller of a machine for forming a sheet of fresh pasta, which allows pasta formats more suitable for retaining the sauce, with which the pasta is tossed after being cooked, to be obtained from this sheet. In view of these objects, the present invention provides a machine for forming a sheet of fresh pasta, namely sheeter machine, the essential feature of which forms the subject-matter of claim 1.

Other advantageous features of the present invention are described in the dependent claims.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of an example of embodiment, with reference to the drawing which shows important details for the invention, and to the claims. The features illustrated here must not necessarily be considered to scale and are represented in such a manner that the particular characteristics according to the invention are clearly highlighted.

In the accompanying drawing:

- Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of the machine for forming a sheet of fresh pasta, in particular for household use, according to an example of embodiment of the present invention, wherein said machine is illustrated in the step of forming a sheet of fresh pasta;

- Fig. 2 is a front elevation view of the machine of Fig. 1;

- Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the machine of Fig. 1;

- Fig. 4 is a view in an enlarged scale and in a section along the line A-A of Fig. 3;

- Fig. 5 is a three-quarter perspective view of the machine of Fig. 1 from above;

- Fig. 6 is a three-quarter perspective view of the machine of Fig. 1 from below;

- Fig. 7 is a view of the machine similar to that of Fig. 3, but illustrated without a sheet of fresh pasta;

- Fig. 8 is a sectional view along the line B-B of Fig. 7;

- Fig. 9 is a view in an enlarged scale of the detail IX of Fig. 7;

- Fig. 10 is a sectional view along the line C-C of Fig. 9;

- Fig. 11 is a view in an enlarged scale of the detail XI of Fig. 10;

- Fig. 12 is a perspective view, in an enlarged scale and with parts omitted, of the machine of Fig. 7;

- Fig. 13 is an elevation view of a sheeter roller of the machine of Fig. 1, removed from said machine; - Fig. 14 is a view in an enlarged scale of the detail XIV of Fig. 13;

- Fig. 15 is an axial sectional view in a different scale of the detail of Fig. 14;

- Fig. 16 is a photograph of a part of sheet obtained with the machine according to the invention;

- Fig. 17 is a photograph of a ribbon of tagliatelle obtained from the sheet according to Fig. 16;

- Fig. 18 is a perspective view of a variant of embodiment of a sheeter roller of the machine of Fig. 1, removed from said machine;

- Fig. 19 is a view in an enlarged scale of the detail XIX of Fig. 18;

- Fig. 20 is a perspective view of another variant of embodiment of a sheeter roller of the machine of Fig. 1, removed from said machine;

- Fig. 21 is a view in an enlarged scale of the detail XXI of Fig. 20.

The present example of embodiment is described with reference to a machine for forming a sheet of fresh pasta, in particular in a domestic environment, although the invention is not limited to a machine of the type specified for domestic use.

The reference number 10 indicates the machine for forming a sheet of fresh pasta according to said example of embodiment of the present invention.

Said machine 10 comprises:

- a supporting structure 10.1 (Figs. 4, 12), which is resting on a work surface (not illustrated) and supports two cylindrical sheeter rollers 11, 12, wherein said two sheeter rollers, 11, 12 are configured to form a sheet S of fresh pasta and have the respective horizontal axes parallel and the respective outer cylindrical lateral surfaces 11.1, 12.1 opposite each other without contact,

- manually operated rotation control means 13 (known per se and not further described), which determine (through suitable kinematic means known per se and not illustrated) the rotation of said two sheeter rollers 11, 12 in mutually opposite directions of rotation, and

- adjustment means 14 (known per se and not further described), configured to adjust the distance between the axes of said two sheeter rollers 11, 12 and the corresponding width (according to a plane orthogonal to the axes of said rollers) of a gap F (Fig. 4) existing between the respective opposite lateral surfaces 11.1, 12.1 of said rollers 11, 12. According to the present invention, said sheeter roller 11 is shaped, at least in part, as sheeter and corrugator roller of the sheet of pasta S.

In particular, said roller 11 comprises a cylindrical helical slot 11.3 provided in at least a part of the smooth outer lateral surface 11.1 and coaxial with respect to the axis of said at least one roller 11.

Said cylindrical helical slot 11.3 is shaped so as to provide, in said at least a part of said smooth outer lateral surface 11.1 of said roller 11, a plurality of contiguous grooves, which are arranged according to respective planes inclined with respect to a plane orthogonal to the axis of said at least one roller 11 and have, in the axial direction of said at least one roller 11, a width less than the width of the part of smooth outer lateral surface 11.1 of said at least one roller 11 comprised between two contiguous grooves of the cylindrical helical slot 11.3.

In particular, in Fig. 15 the angle formed between the inclined plane corresponding to one of said grooves and a plane orthogonal to the axis of said roller 11 is indicated with alpha (a). Said angle, in the example illustrated, corresponds to 1 sexagesimal degree. Moreover, in Fig. 15 the width, in the axial direction of said at least one roller 11, of the part of smooth outer lateral surface 11.1 of said roller 11 comprised between two contiguous grooves of the cylindrical helical slot 11.3 is indicated with "d". Said width "d" is greater than the width of a groove of the cylindrical helical slot 11.3, considered in the axial direction of said roller 11 (see, for example, Fig. 14). By means of the aforesaid arrangement, said cylindrical helical slot 11.3 configures said roller 11 as sheeter and corrugator roller of the corresponding part of surface of the sheet of pasta S during forming of said sheet, so as to make said corresponding part of surface rough without causing lacerations or cuts in the sheet S.

The surface roughness of the sheet S formed by means of the machine 10 depends, in addition to the depth of the grooves of the cylindrical helical slot 11.3, also on the rotation speed of the roller 11 : by increasing the peripheral rotation speed of said roller the surface roughness effect is increased.

With reference to Fig. 1, the rotation control means 13 comprise a crank handle 13.1, which is rotated manually in clockwise direction. During rotation of the crank handle 13.1, the impression of the shape of the outer lateral surface 11.1 (or of at least a part of said surface) of said roller, provided with said cylindrical helical slot 11.3, is imprinted in a continuous sequence and dynamically on a surface of the shapable dough (and hence of the sheet S di pasta being formed), which is fed through said gap F and is placed sequentially in contact with the sheeter and corrugator roller 11, forming a sheet S, exiting from the gap F, having at least in part a rough or coarse surface. The photographs of Figs. 16 and 17 show said surface of the sheet S with evident surface roughness. In particular, Fig. 17 shows the surface roughness of a strip of tagliatelle obtained from the sheet S reproduced in Fig. 16.

In said forming operation, the sheeter roller 12 operates as counter- pressure roller with respect to the imprinting action carried out by the sheeter and corrugator roller 11.

It can be noted that the shapable dough in inserted into the gap F from the upper part of the machine 10 and the sheet of pasta S formed exits from said gap F from below. According to the arrangement illustrated in the drawing, the rough or coarse surface of the sheet S is the one facing downward and indicated by the arrow SI in Fig. 4.

As is apparent from the description above, a sheet S of fresh pasta is extracted progressively from the machine 10, through said gap F, while said two sheeter rollers 11, 12 are rotated in mutually opposite directions, in which said sheet S of fresh pasta has a surface having, at least in part, a rough or coarse shape.

The machine according to the present invention can comprise, in a variant, both sheeter rollers configured as sheeter and corrugator rollers, according to what was described and illustrated above with reference to only the roller 11. In particular, the machine according to the present invention can comprise two sheeter and corrugator rollers mutually opposite and both configured as the sheeter and corrugator roller 11 of the machine 10.

On the other hand, the machine according to the present invention can also comprise more than two sheeter rollers. In this case, one, two of more sheeter rollers can also be configured as sheeter and corrugator rollers. It can be noted that the lateral surface or the part of lateral surface of the sheeter and corrugator roller or of the sheeter and corrugator rollers can also be shaped differently to what has been illustrated, it being understood that lateral surface or part of lateral surface of each sheeter and corrugator roller is configured to produce a corrugation in the corresponding surface of the sheet of pasta S which is progressively formed, without causing incisions, lacerations or cuts of said sheet S.

According to the variant of embodiment illustrated in Figs. 18 to 21, said sheeter and corrugator roller, indicated here with 110, or 111, further comprises at least one further surface cavity, provided in said smooth outer lateral surface 11.1.

In particular, with reference to Figs. 18 and 19, said roller 110 comprises at least one surface cavity which is shaped as an axial slot 110.1. For example, the roller 110 comprises three axial slots 110.1 circumferentially offset from one another by 120 sexagesimal degrees.

With reference to Figs. 20 and 21, said roller 111 comprises at least one surface cavity 111.1 shaped as recess. In particular, said roller 111 comprises one or more longitudinal arrangements of recesses 111.1 formed in the smooth outer lateral surface 11.1.

The present invention also relates to a sheeter roller 11 of a machine 10 for forming a sheet of fresh pasta, having a smooth cylindrical lateral surface 11.1 and characterized in that comprises a cylindrical helical slot 11.3 provided in at least a part of the smooth outer lateral surface 11.1 and coaxial with respect to the axis of said at least one roller 11, wherein said cylindrical helical slot 11.3 is shaped so as to provide, in said at least a part of said smooth outer lateral surface 11.1 of said roller 11, a plurality of contiguous grooves, which are arranged according to respective planes inclined with respect to a plane orthogonal to the axis of said roller 11 and have, in the axial direction of said roller 11, a width less than the width of the part of smooth outer lateral surface 11.1 of said roller 11 comprised between two contiguous grooves of said cylindrical helical slot 11.3, so that said cylindrical helical slot 11.3 configures said roller 11 as sheeter and corrugator roller of the corresponding surface of the sheet of pasta S during forming of said sheet, allowing said corresponding surface to be made rough without causing lacerations or cuts in the sheet S.

Moreover, according to variants of embodiment of the invention, the roller 110, 111 further comprises at least one surface cavity 110.1, 111.1 provided in said smooth outer lateral surface 11.1.

Said at least one surface cavity is shaped as axial slot 110.1 or said at least one surface cavity is shaped as recess 111.1.

In particular, said roller 110 comprises, in said smooth outer lateral surface 11.1, three axial slots 110.1 circumferentially offset from one another by 120 sexagesimal degrees.

In particular, said roller 111 comprises, in said smooth outer lateral surface 11.1, one or more longitudinal arrangements of recesses.

Although manually operated rotation control means 13 of the sheeter rollers have been illustrated and described, in a variant the rotation control means of the sheeter rollers can also be of the type with an electric motor.

As is apparent from the description above, the present invention provides a machine for forming a sheet of fresh pasta, which, in a simple and efficient manner, achieves the objects described in the introductory part.