Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02286523 1999-10-18
PASTA MACHINE
This invention relates to a method and
apparatus for producing striped dough.
According to the invention there is provided
apparatus for producing striped dough, comprising:
a cutting unit for cutting a sheet of dough
into a plurality of strips to produce first
and second sets of strips;
first feeding means for feeding a first
sheet of dough to said cutting unit for
cutting said first sheet into said first and
second sets of strips;
second feeding means for feeding a second
sheet of dough into contact with said first
set of strips, whereby the strips are
arranged in spaced relationship on said
second sheet of dough; and
third feeding means for feeding a third
sheet of dough into contact with said second
set of strips, whereby the strips are
arranged in spaced relationship on said
third sheet of dough.
The apparatus may also include a pair of
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opposed calendaring or calibrating rollers for
reducing the thickness of the first sheet of dough to
a predetermined value, such as from about lmm to
2.5mm, preferably below about 2mm, prior to feeding to
the cutting unit.
The apparatus may further comprise
compression means for compressing the strips into said
second and third sheets of dough.
Also according to the invention there is
provided a method of producing striped dough,
comprising the steps of:
cutting a first sheet of dough into a
plurality of strips to produce first and
second sets of strips, respectively;
contacting a second sheet of dough with said
first set of strips, whereby the strips are
arranged in spaced relationship on said
second sheet of dough; and
contacting a third sheet of dough with said
second set of strips, whereby the strips are
arranged in spaced relationship on said
third sheet of dough.
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Said first and second seta of strips may,
respectively, comprise odd-numbered and even-numbered
strips when counted from one side of the sheet of
dough to the other side.
The first, second and third sheet of dough
may be of different colours.
The second and third sheets of dough may be
the same colour.
The invention will now be described, by way
of an example, with reference to the accompanying
drawing, in which:
Figure 1 is a three-dimensional view of a
pasta machine according to the invention;
and
Figure 2 is a fragmentary view showing a
dough cutting unit of the machine of Figure
1.
Referring to Figure 1, reference numeral 10
generally indicates a pasta machine for making striped
dough.
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The machine 10 comprises a first roller 12
for supporting a first sheet of dough 14 rolled up
into a roll, a second roller 16 for supporting a
second sheet of dough 18 rolled up into a roll and a
third roller 20 for supporting a third sheet of dough
22 rolled up into a roll.
The machine 10 further comprises a cutting
unit 24, a pair of compression rollers 26, 28 on
opposite sides of the cutting unit 24 and a pair of
take-up rollers 30, 32 for receiving the finished
product.
The cutting unit 24 (Figure 2) comprises a
pair of rollers 34, 36 provided with opposed cutting
flanges or elements 38, 40 thereon.
The operation of the machine 10 will now be
described with reference to a process for producing
two different coloured sheets of dough (yellow and
green in the present example) with coloured stripes
(red in the present example) provided thereon.
The machine is set-up so that the dough 14
on the first roller 12 is red coloured dough and the
dough on the second and third rollers 16, 20 are
yellow and green coloured dough, respectively.
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Alternatively, the sheets of dough 14, 18 and 22 are
fed from machines producing them.
The red dough 14 is thinned down to
approximately l.5mm thickness and is then fed into the
cutting unit 24, while the yellow and green dough
layers 18, 22 are fed towards the sides of the cutting
unit 24. As the red dough sheet 14 passes between the
rollers 34, 36 it is cut by the cutting elements 38,
40 into two sets of parallel strips 42, 44,
respectively being odd-numbered and even-numbered when
counted from one side of the dough sheet 14. The
strips 42, 44 are about lOmm wide. The alternating
strips 42, 44 are fed to the yellow and green dough
sheets 18, 22 respectively. Thus, the odd-numbered
strips 42 are fed towards the yellow dough sheet 18
and the even numbered strips 44 are fed to the green
dough sheet 22.
The strips 42, 44 are laid beneath the
yellow and green dough sheets 18, 22, respectively,
and the dough sheets 18, 22 and corresponding strips
42, 44 are then fed through the pairs of calibrating
or calendaring rollers 26, 28, respectively, where the
strips 42, 44 are compressed into the dough sheets 18,
22 to form striped dough sheets which are received on
the take-up rollers 30, 32, respectively.
