Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUN~ OF TEIE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
This invention relat~s to an ice shaver which slices or ~have~
cube ice to make ~haved ice.
Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, there has been known an ice shaver of this
type as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4,055,099 and the known ice
shaver is illustrated for the most part in a prior art example
shown in Fig. 1 whereas Fig. 2 shows an ice shaver according to
the pcesent invention. Referring to Fig. 1, st~uts 2 standing
uprightly at fou~ corners of an aepartus bed 1 suppoLt at their
upper ends a table 3 and an inverted conical shaver casing 4 is
mounted to the table 3. In the circumferential surface of the
casing 4, a slit 5 is formed in which a shaving blade 6 is
exposed. A rotary shaft 7 pro~rudes from ~he lower center of the
shaver casing 4 and rotary blades 8 rotatable in substantially
contacting relationship with the inner circumference of the shaver
casing 4 are fixed to the rotaIy sha~t 7. Upper ends of the
rotaEy blades 8 are connected together by a connecting ring 9 to
which a frusto-conical hoppeL lO is mounted. There are also see~
a shaved ice discharge chute 11, a moto~ 12 for driving the rotary
shaft 7, and a belt 13 extending between the output shaft of ~he
motor 12 and a pulley secured to the rotary shaft 7. A
water-~roof cover 1~ surround6 the outer circumferential periphery
of the ho~per 10 and the entire top is covered with a cover 15 to
which a lid 16 is openably mounted.
Incidentally, where a great amount of shaved ice must be made
at a time so as to be served foL many consumeLs, the conventional
ice shaver of the above construction has difficulties in quickly
meeting the demand.
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A countermeasure to solve this problem has thus
been proposed and known, as disclosed in Japanese
Utility Model Publication No. 56-20786. Illustrated in
Fig.1 is the proposed ice shaver which has a case 18
juxtaposed laterally of the main unit of ice shaver,
whereby shaved ice pieces delivered through the chute
11 are stocked in the case 18 and as necessary spooned
out of the case 18 for services. This ice shaver can
solve the aforementioned problem and supply quickly
shaved lce to many consumers but disadvantageously, it
requires a horizontally extending large space which is
occupied by the case 18. In order to eliminate the
necessity of the large horizontal space, the case 18
has to be reduced in size, raising an unsolved problem
that a great amount of shaved ice can not be stored in
the case 18. Further, the shaved ice becomes thinned
during storage, raising another problem that a great
amount of shaved ice is fused within a short period of
time.
In another ice shaver disclosed in Japanese
Utility Model Publication No. 56-53253, cube ice made
by an icing mechanism provided in the shaver is stored
in a reservoir and then transported through a transport
pipe from the reservoir to an ice shaving mechanism so
as to be shaved thereby. This ice shaver can reduce
the degree of fusion of ice as compared to the former
proposed ice shaver but the whole size is more in-
creased so that the shaver should ~e installed station-
arily for operation at a given site, raising a problem
that movement of the ice shaver is in fact impossible.
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SUM~l~RY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to
` solve the problems encountered in the prior art ice
shavers and provide a compact and easy-to-move ice
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shaver which can supply a great amount of shaved ice as
ne~essary and can prevent the loss of i~e due to its fusion.
To this end, according to this invention, apparatus for
making ice shavings comprises
an upper horizontal annular table extending around a
casing which has an inverted conical wall disposed beneath
the table, the wall being formed with a slit in which a
shaving blade is mounted with the tip of the shaving blade
protruding beyond the slit into the casing;
rotary blades fixed to a rotary shaft which passes
through a central hole in the bottom of the casing and
extends upwards beyond the central hole, the blades having
upper ends on which a hopper is mounted;
a drivs mechanism disposed under the casi~g for rotating
the rotary shaft; and
an ise-cube reservoir comprising a drum which is
detachably mounted on the table, the drum having a top end on
which an openable lid is detachably mounted;
wherein the drum comprises an inner funnel with upper
and lower sections, wherein the lower section is of a
substantially steeper gradient than the upp~r section; and
wherein the lower section of the inner funnel extends
into, and is in contact with the upper end of, the hopper,
whereby khe rotary motion o~ the rotary blades and of
ice-cubes in the casing can be transmitted to ice-cubes on
the inner funnel.
In this apparatus, many ice-cubes can be stored in the
reservoir, and the rotary blades are driven to shave the
cubesO During this procedure, the ice-cubes stored in the
reservoir slide successively on the funnel-like wall surface
and drop into the shaver casing spontaneously and
sequentially, and the cubes present within the shaver casing
are rotated by means of the rotary blades against the knife
and are converted to shavings.
This motion is successively transmitted to some of the
cube ice blocks present within the reservoir to permit
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individual ice blocks not to mate with each other but to move
independently. Since the individual cube ice blocks in
motion are supported on the funnel-like wall surface, the
spontaneous and sequential dropping of the individual ice
blocks can be effected very smoothly in accordance with a
decrease in the number of ice blocks present within the
shaver casing, which decrease is due to shaving of ice blocks
and discharge of shaved ice pieces.
In this manner, a great amount of shaved ice can be made
at a time and even when a great amount of shaved ice is
needed at a tire, this demand can be met quickly.
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Further, cube ice stocked in the reservoir takes
the form of a block or lump which is relatively large
in size and therefore, the loss of the cube ice due to
fusion can be lessened con~iderably. The cube ice
reservoir to be placed above the shaver casing does not
occupy a laxge lateral space and movement of the ice
shaver can be done without difficulties.
Another object of this invention is to provide an
ice shaver by which the user can readily ~now the
approximate quantity of cube ice which has not been
shaved yet and remains in the cube ice reservoir.
This object can be accomplishe~ by an embodiment
of the invention wherein the drum of the cube ice
reservoir is made of a transparent ma~erial. Thanks to
1~ the transparency of the drum, cube ice stored in the
reservoir can always be watched externally through the
drum and when the quantity of cube ice present within
the reservoir decreases as the ice shaving operation
proceeds, fresh cube ice can be supplemented by opening
the openable lid.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the accompanying drawings :
Figure 1 is a front view, partly exploded, showing
a prior art ice shaver ; and
Figure 2 is a front view, partly exploded, showing
an ice shaver according to an embodiment of the in-
vention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERP~ED EMBODIMENT
Referring now to Fig.2, there is illustrated an
ice shaver embodying the invention whieh is identical
to the prior art ice shaver of Fig.1 for the most part.
Memhers identical to those of Fig~1 are designated by
identical reference numerals and will not be described
herein. The following description will principally be
given of different members which are not seen in Fig.l.
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A cube ice reservoir generally designated by 20 is
comprised of a cylindrical drum 21. The drum 21 has an
upper opening portion 23 to which an openable lid 24 is
detachably mounted, and a funnel-like wall 22 having an
opening which opposes the hopper 10 extends from an
inner lower portion of the drum 21. The drum 21 of the
above construction is de~achably mounted on the table
3. The reservoir 20 may be made of any materials but
preferably the drum 2] may be transparent and the whole
of the reservoir may be made of a synthetic resin.
When making shaved ice with this ice shaver, the
lid 24 is dismounted and many cube ice blocks 30 are
charged into the reservoir 20. The lid 24 is then
remounted. As in the case of the prior art ice shaver,
the motor 12 is operated by turning on a switch, not
shown, and cube ice blocks 30 are rotated within the
shaver casing 4 by means of the rotary blades 8 so as
to be shaved or sliced by the shaving blade 6. Shaved
ice made in this way is discharged through the chute 11
to the outside of the ice shaver.
Because of many cube ice blocks precedently
stocked in the reservoir 20, a great amount of shaved
ice can be made at a time. During this procedure, cube
ice blocks 30 present within the shaver casing 4 are
rotated by the rotary blades 8 on a horizontal plane
within to casing 4. This motion is successively
transmitted to the overlying stack of cube ice 30, and
cube ice blocks 30 present within the reservoir 20 are
gradually brought into the motion. Since the ice
blocks 30 are supported on the surface of the fun-
nel-like wall 22, individual ice blocks 30 will not
mate wîth each other but will descend one by one toward
the center OL the funnel-like wall 22 gradually and
automatically, eventually smoothly dropping into the
shaver casing 4 through the hopper 10 in accordance
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with a decrease in the number of ice blocks present
within the shaver casing, which decrease is due to
shaving of ice hlocks by the shaving blade 6 and
discharge of shaved ice pieces. When the number of ice
blocks 30 stocked in the reservolr decreases as the
shaving proceeds, fresh cube ice can be supplemented
properly because the progressive decrease can always be
watched externally through the transparent drum 21.
Although a particular preferred embodiment of the
invention has been disclosed in detail for illustrative
purposes, it will be recognized that variations or
modifications of the disclosed apparatus, including the
rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the
present invention.
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