Frozen food product dispensing machines having removable spigots

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10448656-B2
Application number	US-201815981504-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 16, 2018
Priority date	May 17, 2017
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

Abstract

A frozen food product dispensing machine includes a housing, a freezer barrel, a cover extending over the opening of the freezer barrel, wherein the cover defines a passage fluidly coupled to a food product volume, a spigot disposed within the passage and translatable along a longitudinal axis between a first position and a second position, the spigot including an actuator interface, and an actuator selectively coupled to the spigot by the actuator interface, wherein the spigot prevents a flow of food product through the passage when in the first position and allows the flow of food product through the passage when in the second position, wherein the actuator is configured to selectively move the spigot between the first position and the second position in response to a user input, and wherein the spigot is configured to be selectively decoupled from the actuator by rotating the spigot about the longitudinal axis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A frozen food product dispensing machine, comprising:
a housing;
a freezer barrel defining an opening;
a cover extending over the opening of the freezer barrel, the freezer barrel and the cover defining a food product volume configured to contain food product, wherein the cover defines a passage fluidly coupled to the food product volume;
a spigot disposed within the passage and translatable along a longitudinal axis between a first position and a second position, the spigot including an actuator interface;
an actuator selectively coupled to the spigot by the actuator interface; and
a user interface device coupled to the actuator to allow a user to operate the actuator to move the spigot between the first position and the second position;
wherein the spigot prevents a flow of food product through the passage when in the first position, wherein the spigot allows the flow of food product through the passage when in the second position, wherein the actuator is configured to selectively move the spigot between the first position and the second position in response to a user input through the user interface device, and wherein the spigot is configured to be selectively decoupled from the actuator by rotating the spigot about the longitudinal axis.

2. The frozen food product dispensing machine of claim 1 :
wherein the actuator interface includes a key having a major key width and a minor key width, the major key width angularly offset from the minor key width by an offset angle about the longitudinal axis;
wherein the actuator receives the key through an exterior surface of the actuator into a cutout, the cutout including:
a chamber having a chamber width; and
a slot extending between the exterior surface of the actuator and the chamber, the slot having a slot width narrower than the chamber width; and

wherein the minor key width is narrower than the slot width and wherein the major key width is wider than the slot width, such that the spigot is decoupled from the actuator by rotating the spigot about the longitudinal axis an amount equal to the offset angle.

3. The frozen food product dispensing machine of claim 2 , wherein the key has a spherical surface and two parallel flat surfaces intersecting the spherical surface, wherein the minor key width is a distance between the two parallel flat surfaces, and wherein the major key width is a diameter of the spherical surface.

4. The frozen food product dispensing machine of claim 1 , wherein the spigot further defines a first groove and a second groove extending around a circumference of the spigot, wherein the first groove is configured to receive a first resilient member, and the second groove is configured to receive a second resilient member, each configured to seal against an inner surface of the passage, wherein the passage is fluidly coupled to the food product volume by a feeding passage, and wherein the first resilient member is disposed on one side of the feeding passage and the second resilient member is disposed on an opposing side of the feeding passage when the spigot is located in the first position.

5. The frozen food product dispensing machine of claim 1 , wherein the spigot is configured to be selectively decoupled from the actuator by rotating the spigot about the longitudinal axis from a first orientation to a second orientation, wherein in the first orientation, the actuator interface engages the actuator to couple the spigot to the actuator, and wherein in the second orientation, the spigot is translatable along the longitudinal axis without the actuator interface engaging the actuator.

6. A frozen food product dispensing machine, comprising:
a housing;
a first freezer barrel defining a first opening;
a second freezer barrel defining a second opening;
a cover extending over the first opening and the second opening, the first freezer barrel and the cover defining a first food product volume configured to contain food product, and the second freezer barrel and the cover defining a second food product volume configured to contain food product, wherein the cover defines a passage fluidly coupled to the first food product volume and the second food product volume;
a spigot disposed within the passage and translatable along a longitudinal axis between a first position and a second position, the spigot including an actuator interface;
an actuator selectively coupled to the spigot by the actuator interface; and
a user interface device coupled to the actuator to allow a user to operate the actuator to move the spigot between the first position and the second position;
wherein the spigot prevents a flow of food product through the passage when in the first position, wherein the spigot allows the flow of food product through the passage when in the second position, wherein the actuator is configured to selectively move the spigot between the first position and the second position in response to a user input through the user interface device, wherein the spigot is configured to be selectively decoupled from the actuator by rotating the spigot about the longitudinal axis, and wherein the spigot is selectively rotationally fixed relative to the cover about the longitudinal axis.

7. The frozen food product dispensing machine of claim 6 :
wherein the actuator interface includes a key having a major key width and a minor key width, the major key width angularly offset from the minor key width by an offset angle about the longitudinal axis;
wherein the actuator receives the key through an exterior surface of the actuator into a cutout, the cutout including:
a chamber having a chamber width; and
a slot extending between the exterior surface of the actuator and the chamber, the slot having a slot width narrower than the chamber width; and

wherein the minor key width is narrower than the slot width and wherein the major key width is wider than the slot width, such that the spigot is decoupled from the actuator by rotating the spigot about the longitudinal axis an amount equal to the offset angle.

8. The frozen food product dispensing machine of claim 7 , wherein the spigot defines a groove extending parallel to the longitudinal axis, wherein the cover includes a pin extending into the passage and configured to extend into the groove, and wherein the pin is configured to engage the groove to selectively prevent rotation of the spigot relative to the cover.

9. The frozen food product dispensing machine of claim 8 , wherein the groove is a first groove, wherein the spigot further defines a second groove intersecting the first groove, wherein the pin is fixed relative to the cover, and wherein the spigot is selectively rotatable by aligning the pin with the second groove.

10. The frozen food product dispensing machine of claim 9 , wherein the spigot further defines a third groove intersecting the second groove, and wherein the pin is configured to travel along the third groove following rotation of the spigot to remove the spigot from the passage.

11. The frozen food product dispensing machine of claim 8 , wherein the passage is fluidly coupled to the first food product volume by a first feeding passage, wherein the passage is fluidly coupled to a second food product volume by a second feeding passage, wherein the spigot further defines a second groove configured to receive a resilient member configured to seal against an inner surface of the passage, and wherein the resilient member fluidly decouples the first feeding passage and the second feeding passage when the spigot is in the first position.

12. A spigot for use with a frozen food product dispensing machine including a freezer barrel and

Assignees

• The Vollrath Co Llc

Inventors

• Wetenkamp Ken

Classifications

• A23G9/282

  for dispensing multi-flavour ice-creams · CPC title

• A23G9/281 Primary

  at the discharge end of freezing chambers · CPC title