Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention refers to honey wafer biscuits, their
production and their filling as well as to an apparatus for
filling such wafer biscuits with honey.
In recent years the food industry has launched a
variety of new, partly artificial products; in spite of that,
up to now it has not been possible to put bess' honey on the
market which is packed in an easily edible form. This has
been caused, on the one hand, by the fact that it is necessary
to have the honey available in portions or alternatively in
blocks in an edible coating, and that, on the other hand, the
filling of such honey in portions is most difficult in view
of the extreme stickiness and viscosity of honey.
It is an object of this invention to produce an edible
honey wafer biscuit which is suitable for mass production,
which can be sold simply and safely packed, and which can be
stored for a long time period.
Furthermore, it is an object of this invention to pro-
vide a device by means of which wafer biscuits can be filled
in a perfectly satisfactory manner with portions of honey and
by means of which especially, honey can be cut off in exact
portions from a rod of honey.
According to this invention a honey wafer biscuit is
made from an ed~ble wafer biscuit top portion, an edible wafer
biscuit bottom portion, bees' honey embedded between the top
and the bottom part, and edible adhesive at the joints between
the top part and the bottom part. The honey wafer biscuit
can be made in the form similar to a chocolate plate from
individual bars, i.e. in the shape of a square or a circle,
whereby small chambers are formed, which are filled with
honey.
Furthermore, the applicant proposes to obtain the
honey transport from the honey container to the discharge
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station in the form of a rod, and also to cut the rod by
pneumatic or hydraulic means so as to obtain exact portions
of honey.
The composition of the wafer biscuit material is
important. A special material composition for a satisfactory
honey wafer biscuit is the following:
5 kg flour (type 550),
200 gr nurupan (baking addition means) or
alternatively 100 gr dried egg yoke,
14 gr natron,
20 gr salt,
70 gr fat (dissolved palmin),
7 1 water.
Wafer biscuit material of this composition has been
proven as well insofar as it ~oncerns the requirements of
; taste as also in its impermeability for honey and its dura-
bility though minor deviations from the above quantities can
also be considered as being suitable for this invention.
The wafer biscuit, after the baking of the upper part
and the lower part, is filled with bees' honey, preferably
crystallized, creamy honey,, which is honey of a substantially
solid consisten~y, whereby the honey is filled into the
chambers provided, and both wafer parts are bonded to each
other by means of an edible adhesive subsequent to the filling
of a predetermined amount of honey into said chamber. Subse-
quent thereto the wafer biscuit filled with honey is packed,
whereby the completed honey wafer biscuit can be provided
with an additional layer, e.g. of chocolate before being
packed.
The filling of the small chambers of the wafer biscuit
with honey is made by means of a special honey filling appara-
tus; however, it is also possible to place the honey in
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portions packed in edible coatings within the chambers. The
coating for instance can be made of oblates or corresponding
material, which is impermeable for honey, whereby the material
encloses the honey like a cushion and is closed at the seam
parts so that the honey cushions or the like are inserted into
the recesses or chambers of wafer biscuits. The wafer bis-
cuits can be covered, e.g. on that side facing the honey
filling with a layer of grease so that the permeation of the
honey into the wafer biscuit is completely prevented, even if
viscous honey is used as a filler. The material for the
cover can also be plastic material or the like, if there is
guaranteed that said material is dissolved when being eaten,
without influencing the digestion and without resulting in
other difficulties when being eaten.
The edible adhesive preferably is mixed in powder
form with liquid honey. Preparing the adhesive with water is
not possible, because the wafer biscuits would soften. The
adhesive is applied as a sticky viscous mass, which bonds the
two wafer biscuit parts together, and then the complete wafer
biscuit is packed.
The filling of the bees' honey into the chambers of
the wafer biscuit is done by means of a filling apparatus,
which presses the honey out of a storage container and cuts
the honey in portions. Cutting the honey rod is of special
importance, because this cutting process has to be executed
very exactly and clearly in order to prevent the smearing of
the honey; this is especially true for crystallized honey.
A honey rod cutting apparatus, which is very useful for this
purpose, is preferably made in such a manner that at each
cutting station two cutting knives operate together in such a
manner that their cutting edges meet exactly for cutting
through the honey rod and are then moved apart from each other,
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while the separated honey portion drops into a recess of a
wafer biscuit which is arranged underneath. During this pro-
cess the knives are moved in a straight line towards and
apart from each other, or are moved in a circular path. In
the latter case the separating effect is even more effective.
The movement of the cutting knives is preferably made in such
a manner that all cutting stations are operated simultaneously
so that one wafer biscuit is completely filled by one opera-
tion step. The filling of the chambers of the wafer biscuits
which,receive the honey, however, can also be done in rows,
if the decreased output is not important.
An automatic operation mode of filling wafer biscuits
with honey is obtained with a machine, with which both the
honey transport from the honqy container to the discharge
stations in the form of a rod and the cutting of the honey
rods so as to obtain exact portions is effected in a pneumatic
or alternatively hydraulic manner. Preferably intermediate
containers of honey are provided, into which by means of a
control unit honey is supplied from the storage container in
a~ hydraulic or pneumatic manner, and there is provided one
hydraulically or pneumatically operated valve each at the
output of each intermediate container, which valves are oper-
ated by a control input hydraulically or pneumatically for
cutting off the honey rod. The wafer biscuits to be filled
are moved automatically underneath the discharge positions of
the valves on transport plates or transport conveyors syn-
chronously with the control of the valve operation. With such
a device an exact and automatic operation mode is obtained.
Having thus generally described the invention, refer-
ence will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIGURE 1 shows one embodiment of the inventive ediblehoney wafer biscuit in cross section;
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FIGURE 2 shows another embodiment of the inventive
honey wafer biscuit in cross section;
FIGURE 3 shows a plan view of a wafer biscuit and
schematically the operation of the filling apparatus;
FIGURE 4 shows a lateral view of the filling apparatus
with one embodiment of a cutting knife system and a
wafer biscuit underneath;
FIGURE 5 shows the operation of the cutting knife
system according to Figure 4 schematically with closed
cutting knives;
FIGURE 6 shows the arrangement according to Figure 5
with open cutting knives;
FIGURE 7 shows a further embodiment of a cutting device
similar to Figure 4 with closed Icutting knives;
FIGURE 8 shows the cutting device according to Figure
7 with open knives;
FIGURE 9 shows a schematically drawn top view of the
cutting device; and
FIGURE 10 shows a schematic entire view of a honey
filling machine partly sectioned.
Figure 1 shows in cross section7a wafer biscuit W with
a bottom part 1 land a top part 2 including honey chambers 3
of the wafer biscuit. Bottom part 1 and top part 2 of the
wafer biscuit are bonded together by means of an edible
adhesive 4 if the honey portions have been filled in~o the
honey chambers. The chambers can also be provided with a
lining 8, 8' made of a material which is impermeable for
honey, especially if viscous honey is used; this material, e.g.
can be oblate, however, there can also be a cover of grease
applied to the inner sufaces of the wafer biscuit forming
the chambers.
The picture of figure 2 shows the bottom part 6, 7
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of the wafer congruent with the top part 2, 3 of the wafer
biscuit; top part 2, 3 and bottom part 6, 7 again are bonded
by means of an edible adhesive 4. 9 shows a honey cushion
which means a honey portion with a casing which is impermeable
for honey, e.g. made of oblate, whereby the honey portion
with oblate is available ready made and only needs to be in-
serted into the wafer biscuit. However, the cover can also be
made of plastic material or the like insofar as it is guaran-
teed that the material dissolves when being consumed without
having any adverse effect on the digestion. S means a weak
area in the wafer W which forms a predetermined site of break
when single bars are broken off. 10 indicates the pac,kage
foil or similar.
The wafer biscuit preferably is filled in one step,
as is shown schematically in figure 3. Each chamber is pro-
vided with a cutting device; the cutting devices being arranged
in one row are connected by twin axes 11, 12, and are con-
nected at both ends at 13 and 14. The connecting members 13,
14 are joined together at 15 and are moved by means of an
operation handle 16 in the direction of the arrow.
Figure 4 shows a corresponding embodiment of a filling
apparatus schematically and in cross section along I-I of
figure 3. The box-like apparatus 17 is provided with lateral
walls 18 and 19, within which a piston 20 is movably arranged
which is sealed towards the lateral walls 18, 19 by means of
seals 21. Underneath the piston 20 the honey supply 22 is
provided, which is divided downwardly into sections 24 formed
by the walls 23, which sections end in the bottom 25, 26 and
in discharge openings 27. Underneath each opening 27 a cut-
ting device 28, 29, 30, 31 is provided, which includes two
cutting elements. The two cutting elements 28, 29, and 30, 31
are moved inrthe direction of the arrow towards each other
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and apart from each other, whereby the cutting edges 29 and 31
for cutting off the honey rod hit each other exactly and
allow a sure and clean cutting through of the honey rod so
that the corresponding honey portion 5 (figure 1) falls down-
wardly into the chamber 7 (or 3) of the wafer biscuit W under-
neath.
In figures 6 and 5 the operation mode of the cutting
devices 28, 29; 30, 31 is schematically shown. The knife 28
has a movable fulcrum which is connected to a movable fulcrum
39 by means of a linkage 34, which extends to a rigid fulcrum
35. Correspondingly, the cutting knife 30 includes a movable
fulcrum 36, which lS connected to a rigid fulcrum 37 through
a linkage 38, which is extended to the movable fulcrum 39.
Fulcrums 33 and 39 are connected to each other by means of a
linkage 40, and the fulcrum 33 is connected to a movable ful-
crum 42 by means of a linkage 41; within fulcrum 42 a rod 43
is supported which has a fixed fulcrum 44 on its one end and
an operation handle 45 (corresponding to the operating handle
16) at its other end. Figure 6 shows the position of the
linkage system according to figure 5 with open knives.
In figures7, 8 and 9 a modified embodiment of a cut-
ting device is shown, in which the moving of the cutting
knives relative to each other is made in a circular path con-
trary to the rectilinear movement according to figures 4, 5
and 6. The cutting knives 48, 50 are continuous, which means
that they extend over essentially the entire width of the
honey container part circular in cross section, and are
pivoted at the ends through arms 47, 49 in pivot bearings.
The knives are operated through link mechanisms, which are
similarly constructed as shown in figures 5 and 6 in connec-
tion with the cutting device according to figure 4. However,
in addition means (not shown), e.g. a link motion, is required
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in order to transmit the rectilinear movement of the linkages
into a circular movement. The type of drive for the knives,
however, is not decisive for this invention, rather there are
a number of known solutions for the expert. By supporting
the knives at their ends it is obtained that the honey con-
tainer is kept free and that the honey portions, which are
cut off, can fall downwardly into the recesses of the wafer
biscuits as schematically shown in figure 8.
It is useful to make the intermediate and end walls
for restricting the individual honey rods upwardly (51, 52,
53, 54) and downwardly tapered (as shown in figures 7 and 8)
so that a wiping effect is obtained when the knives are
returned. Figure 9 shows the casing 55, which includes the
rotational bearing. 56 and 57 are connecting points of the
linkages with the cutting knives.
A further embodiment of a filling device or alterna-
tively a filling machine, which is operated pneumatically or
hydraulically, is schematically shown in figure 10. The
honey supply container of the filling machine is a honey con-
tainer 100, to which honey is supplied from a mixer 101, in
which the crystallized honey gets a creamy consistency, as its
crystals are broken by the mixing operation, During this
mixing process pollen can be mixed with the honey. The honey
container 100 is connected through a pneumatic valve 103 with
a pressurized source 104, which is connected through a pres-
surized air pipe 105 with a control unit 106; actuating the
pressure source 104 operates the valve 103 and honey is
pressed from the container 100 into the pipe 107. Pipe 107
has branches 108-111, which are connected to inlets 112-115
of intermediate containers of honey 116-119, the outputs 120-
123 of which are connected to pneumatic valves 124-127,
which include control inputs 128-131 with connecting pipes
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132-135, 136 to the pressure source 104 or 104' coupled to the
control unit. The control pressure for the control inputs
128-131 can be chosen at the same level as the pressure with-
in the inputs 112-115; however, it is sufficient to have this
control pressure smaller than that at the inputs 112-115,
because in the former case the honey rod is merely to be cut
by the pneumatic pressure, whereas in the latter case the
honey rod has to be moved through the pipes. The outputs
137-140 from the pneumatic valves 124-127 are used for dis-
charging the honey portions 141 into the wafer biscuits ~42,
143, especially, their chambers 144-147. The wafer biscuits
142, 143 are laid upon a layer, which e.g. can be part of a
continuously m~ving conveyor belt, which, however, can also
be a sort of baking tray, which is passed through the machine
on rollers 149, 150. The rollers 149, 150 preferably run on
flanges or the like, which are firmly connected to the casing
151. The casing 151 preferably holds the honey container 100
and the control unit 106 as well as the pressure sources 104,
104'; if the pressure for transporting and for cutting off
the honey rod is chosen at the same level, only one pressure
source 104 is required.
