Dropper assembly for liquid feed and method of feeding liquid composition to a freezing chamber
US5664422A · kind A · utility
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 9, 1996 |
| Grant date | Sep 9, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 9, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA23G2200/00
- WIPO fieldFood chemistry
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
A dropper assembly for feeding liquid composition to a freezing chamber comprises a tray having a plurality of feed elements that are designed to provide regulated discharge of the liquid composition from the tray and to feed the liquid composition into the freezing chamber in uniformly sized drops. The feed elements each comprise a projection that is downwardly disposed in relation to the tray. The tray has a bottom wall with a plurality of orifices, each orifice associated with a corresponding projection. The projection has an inlet opening associated with the corresponding orifice in the tray and an outlet opening where droplets are formed and released. The dimension of the inlet opening is greater than the dimension of the outlet opening. The narrowing taper of the flow channel that extends from the inlet opening to the outlet opening promotes regulated accumulation of liquid composition to facilitate regulated discharge and formation of uniformly sized droplets. An inventive method is also provided for feeding liquid composition to a freezing chamber to form uniformly sized beads of frozen product. The inventive method utilizes the novel dropper assembly.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.