Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02260824 1999-01-18
Cake Mould ~
The present invention concerns a cake mould, which is suitable for containing a
substance to be baked, at least comprising a bottom plate and a wall positioned basically
5 perpendic-llar to the bottom plate, the wall being flexible and detachably attached to the
bottom plate by means of fastening means, said fastening means comprising first
fastening organs which are provided at the bottom plate according to a pattern, as well
as second fastening organs that are provided at the wall, wherein by mutual cooperation
of the fastening organs the wall basically follows the pattern of the first fastening
lo organs.
A mould of the above mentioned type is, for example, known from US-A-4,965,424.
Said mould is particularly suited for microwave ovens. A disadvantage of said mould
when used as a cake mould, is that the substance to be baked can flow easily out of the
5 mould through the space between the bottom of the wall and the bottom plate. The
present invention aims to provide a solution to said problem.
To this end the present cake mould referred to at the beginning is characterised that the
wall of the cake mould is equipped with supplementary sealing means to establish an
20 adequate sealing between the wall and the bottom plate.
The bottom plate contains the first fastening organs, which are provided in the bottom
plate according to a certain pattern. The wall is flexible and, if not combined, it is
primarily straight. In addition to this, the wall is provided with the second fastening
2s organs which can cooperate with the first fastening organs.
~MENDE0 SHEElr
CA 02260824 1999-01-18
When attaching the first fastening organs to the second fastening organs, the wall will
be bent and shaped according to the pattern of the first fastening organs. The pattern of
the first fastening organs thus determines the final shape of the cake mould. Since the
wall is commonly straight if not combined, yet can take any shape, it is the same for
5 every desired shape. Subsequently, by providing different bottom plates with different
patterns of the first fastening organs, cake mould bottoms of different shapes are
possible due to the flexible wall. In practice, this means that the cake mould can be
supplied by means of one or more bottom plates, whether or not by using different
patterns of the first fastening organs, in combination with a sufficient amount of -
o universal- walls. After using the cake mould, the wall can be removed easily from the
bottom plate and, if desired, can be applied again to the same or another bottom plate.
The sealing means are preferably flexible sealing lips which extend from the bottom of
the wall. If the wall and the bottom plate are combined, the sealing lips can be bent
5 towards the inside, so that the substance to be baked is poured or placed onto the lips
and thus the substance is prevented from flowing away.
In a particular embodiment the first fastening organs comprise slot elements, whereas
the second fastening organs comprise flexible lip elements extending from the bottom of
20 the wall. These lip and slot elements cooperate by putting the lip elements through the
slots and bending them subsequently.
In another embodiment the first fastening organs comprise flexible lip elements which
are basically perpendicular to the plane of the bottom plate, whereas the second25 fastening organs comprise slot elements which are close to the bottom of the wall.
Again, the lip elements are to be put through the slots and bent in order to establish the
connection between the bottom plate and the wall.
A~lYD~o SJlEET
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CA 02260824 1999-01-18
The lip elements preferably alternate with the sealing lips.
Both the bottom plate and the wall can be made of durable materials, e.g. aluminium,
involving simply one requirement, i.e. the wall is to be flexible. For the sake of user-
s friendliness, the bottom plate and the wall are preferably made of disposable material.
Advantageously, the disposal material is to be selected from the group which includes
cardboard, plastic or laminate. These materials are generally inexpensive and using them
provides a very user-friendly cake mould.
o Adventageously, the disposable material, that is, the relevant side that comes into
contact with the substance to be baked, is covered with an anti-adhesive agent. As a
result, the wall and the bottom plate can be removed easily from the cake after using
them, without requiring the cake mould to be greased before usage.
5 Although the wall is flexible and thus can be bent in every desired shape, it is preferred
that the wall, after shaping it into the appropriate form, basically keeps this desired
shape, not only as a result of combining the first and the second fastening organs, but it
should also be able to do so in itself. To this end, the wall is preferably equipped with
one or more facets, in which said facets are advantageously made by corrugation. Thus,
20 when bending the wall, the corrugations can be bent similarly and, as a consequence, the
wall basically stays in the desired shape. As a result, the complete cake mould is also
more stable.
AA~ENDED SHEE~,
CA 02260824 1999-01-18
W O 98/02045 PCTnNL97/00342
The invention is explained in more detail below by means of the drawing annexed, in
which:
figure 1 shows a complete cake mould according to the present invention;
figure 2 shows a part of the wall of the cake mould with the second f~ctening
s organs;
figure 3 shows a part of the bottom plate of the cake mould with the first fastening
organs;
figure 4 shows an incomplete version of the cake mould;
figure S shows an incomplete version of the cake mould in another embodiment;
o figure 6 shows a top view of an embodiment of the bottom plate; and
figure 7 shows a top view of another embodiment of the bottom plate.
The drawings are purely s~lem~tic and not drawn to scale. Particularly for purposes of
clarity, some dimensions have been represented in a greatly exaggerated manner.
Whenever possible, corresponding parts in the figures are indicated with the same
5 reference number.
Figure 1 shows the cake mould 1 according to the present invention, which comprises
bottom plate 3 with wall 2 ext~n(1ing basically perpendicular to bottom plate 3. Wall 2 is
made of flexible material. If desired, both wall 2 and bottom plate 3 can be made of
20 disposable material, e.g. cardboard. Wall 2 is equipped with second the fastening
organs, i.e. Iip elements 4. This wall 2 including its lip elements 4 is shown in greater
detail in figure 2. In order to attach wall 2 to bottom plate 3, the first and second
fastening organs need to cooperate. To this end, lip elements 4 are to be put through slot
elements 6 in the bottom plate, after which the lip elements are bent back at the lower
25 side of bottom plate 3. Figure 3 shows bottom plate 3 with slot elements 6 in more
detail. Wall 2 preferably has several facets which are shaped by means of corrugation
and by subsequently bending corrugations 5.
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W O 98/02045 PCTANL97/00342
-5-
By corrugation and by subsequently bending wall 2 into the desired configuration, the
wall basically keeps its desired shape. In order to stiffen wall 2 even more, it is
preferably equipped with a corrugation line 11, so that the top of wall 2 can be bend
outwardly along this line 11.
Figure 4 shows the way in which wall 2 can be attached to bottom plate 3. Wall 2 is
flexible and is a primarily straight strip, if not combined. Bottom plate 3 is provided
with a pattern of the first fastening organs, shaped as slot elements 6. In order to attach
wall 2 to bottom plate 3, lip elements 4 and slot elements 6 need to be combined by
o putting lip elements 4 through slot elements 6, after which they are bent at the lower
side. For this purpose, as is shown is figure 4, wall 2 is bent, in order to basically match
the pattern of slot elements 6 in bottom plate 3.
Figure 5 shows a cake mould bottom similar to the one in figure 4, only differing in the
5 fact that wall 2 is equipped with supplementary sealing means, shaped like flexible
sealing lips 9. These sealing lips 9 can be bent inward when ;lttz~ching wall 2 to bottom
plate 3, so that the substance to be baked ends onto lips 9 instead of flowing away
between wall 2 and bottom plate 3. Although this is not clear from the embodiment
shown, the width of sealing lips 9 at the position at which they are actually bent, is
20 preferably equal to the distance between lip elements 4.
Although the cake mould according to the present invention can have a common form,
e.g. applying bottom plate 3 as shown in figure 5, it is also possible to have a cake
mould in a so-called fantasy shape. This is illustrated in figure 6, which shows bottom
2s plate 3 in the form of a guitar. Due to the fact that wall 2 is flexible and when combined
with the fastening organs of bottom plate 3 is shaped according to the pattern of bottom
plate 3, wall 2 can extend perpendicular from the bottom plate 3 in a shape similar to the
pattern.
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W 098/02045 PCTnNL97/00342
The outer edge 8 of bottom plate 3 may be shaped according to the pattern of the first
fastening organs 6, as indicated by reference number 8A, though it may also takeanother, for example, rectangular shape, as indicated by reference number 8B.
5 Wall 2 need not be of one piece along the contour of the cake mould 1, yet make include
several parts. In order to prevent openings in wall 2, the wall ends with its lip elements 4
overlap so that at least one slot cooperates with 'double' lip elements 4. The same
measure may be taken for closing the ends, as shown in figure I by means of reference
number 7.
After using cake mould 1, wall 2 can be removed easily from bottom plate 3 by folding
lip elements 4 back into their original position and taking them out of the slots.
The advantage of the cake mould according to the present invention is that this cake
mould can be supplied in almost any desired shape, considering the fact that the wall is
universal, while the pattern of the fastening organs in the bottom plate determines its
final shape. By using different bottom plates, the shape of the cake mould may vary.
