Food preparation appliance housing with optimized means of setting up a food preparation accessory.

Abstract

The invention relates to a food preparation appliance housing, comprising an accessory housing, a female coupling member (6) housed in a base of the accessory housing and accessible from an access opening, a device for rotating the female coupling member about an X-axis, said female coupling member having a drive housing (7) for receiving a shaft of said accessory by engaging in said drive housing (7) in the direction of the X-axis when said accessory is placed in the accessory housing by insertion from said opening, said shaft having, in a cross-sectional plane, a regular polygonal shape with N sides, N being an integer,The drive housing (7) comprises a first cavity having, in a transverse section plane, a regular polygonal shape complementary to that of the shaft, and a second cavity (20) identical to the first cavity (18) and rotated relative to it, along the X-axis, by an angle between 120° / N and 240° / N. Figure for the abbreviation: Fig. 7,

Description

Title of the invention: Housing for a food preparation appliance with optimized means for installing a food preparation accessory. Technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of food preparation appliances, more particularly to a housing for a food preparation appliance receiving a removable food preparation accessory. The invention aims to facilitate the assembly of the food preparation accessory with the housing. A particular application of the invention relates to a food preparation appliance of the screw mincer type or of the screw press type. State of the art

[0002] Those skilled in the art are aware of food preparation appliances of the screw mincer type, which comprise a housing receiving a removable food preparation accessory comprising a hollow accessory body, a rotating member forming an extrusion screw housed in the hollow accessory body, and a multi-blade knife driven in rotation with said extrusion screw, said food preparation accessory making it possible to de-texturize food, for example meat, by transporting it along the extrusion screw and cutting it using the multi-blade knife, before pushing it through a die in order to extract chopped food. The accessory body forms a chamber supplied with food from a chimney which opens into said chamber. The rotating member is driven in rotation in the chamber by means of a rotation drive device which can be either manual, of the crank type, or automated, of the electric motor type.The rotational drive device is arranged in the housing and rotates a female coupling member which is arranged in a bottom of an accessory housing of said housing, said female coupling member comprising a drive housing which has in a transverse sectional plane a non-cylindrical shape receiving a shaft arranged at one end of the culinary preparation accessory, said shaft having in a transverse sectional plane a shape complementary to that of the drive housing. Generally, this non-cylindrical shape is a square or a hexagon.

[0003] A disadvantage is the time required to couple the shaft of the rotating member with the female coupling member. In fact, the female coupling member is located in the bottom of the accessory housing of the housing and is therefore not visible when the food preparation accessory is assembled with the housing, the user may have difficulty inserting the shaft into the drive housing and may have to proceed by trial and error. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present invention makes it possible to mitigate this drawback by implementing a housing for a food preparation appliance which comprises: - an accessory housing configured to receive a food preparation accessory, - a female coupling member housed in a bottom of the accessory housing and accessible from an access opening to said accessory housing, - a device for driving the female coupling member in rotation about an axis of rotation X.

[0005] According to the invention, the female coupling member comprises a drive housing for receiving a shaft of the culinary preparation accessory by engaging said shaft in said drive housing in the direction of the axis of rotation X, when placing said culinary preparation accessory in the accessory housing by insertion from said opening provided on said housing.

[0006] Furthermore, according to the invention, the shaft comprises in a cross-sectional plane a regular polygonal shape with N sides, N being an integer. Remarkably, the drive housing comprises a first imprint having in a cross-sectional plane a regular polygonal shape complementary to that of the shaft and a second imprint identical to the first imprint and pivoted relative to said first imprint, along the axis of rotation X, by an angle between 120° / N and 2407N.

[0007] The presence of the first imprint and the second imprint facilitates the introduction of the shaft into the drive housing, since the user can more easily match the shaft with one of the two imprints by rotating the shaft in one direction or the other, around the X axis, this rotation being reduced by at least a third compared to housings according to the prior art.

[0008] Preferably, this angle is 1807N. This arrangement makes it possible to reduce by half the rotation to be carried out to bring the shaft into correspondence with one of the two prints by carrying out a rotation of the shaft in one direction or the other, around the X axis, whatever the direction of rotation chosen, in comparison with the housings according to the prior art.

[0009] According to one embodiment of the housing of the food preparation appliance which is the subject of the invention, the regular polygonal shape is a triangle, a square, a pentagon or a hexagon, preferably a square or a hexagon, more preferably a hexagon. In other words, N is preferably an integer between 3 and 6, preferably 4 or 6, more preferably equal to 6.

[0010] According to one embodiment of the housing of the food preparation appliance which is the subject of the invention, the rotation drive device comprises an electric motor driving the female coupling member in rotation. The electric motor may be in direct engagement with the female coupling member or be in indirect engagement, via a transmission, for example a transmission belt or a gear. An alternative embodiment remains conceivable with a crank manually actuated by the user, said crank driving the female coupling member in rotation along the X axis.

[0011] According to one embodiment of the housing of the food preparation appliance which is the subject of the invention, the bottom of the accessory housing comprises a first assembly member configured to lock the food preparation accessory in the accessory housing when the shaft of said food preparation accessory is engaged in the drive housing of the female coupling member. This ensures that the food preparation accessory is properly held in the accessory housing of the housing. Preferably, the first assembly member is of the bayonet type, with variants remaining possible, for example a quarter-turn screwing.

[0012] The invention also relates to a food preparation appliance comprising a housing having any of the aforementioned characteristics. The food preparation appliance comprises at least one food preparation accessory comprising a shaft comprising in a cross-sectional plane a regular polygonal shape with N sides, N being an integer. The shaft engages in the first indentation or in the second indentation of the female coupling member of the housing, when inserting said food preparation accessory into the accessory housing of the housing, from the access opening.

[0013] According to one embodiment of the food preparation appliance which is the subject of the invention, the food preparation accessory comprises a body provided with an end through which the shaft opens, said end comprising a second assembly member complementary to the first assembly member on the housing, the first assembly member and the second assembly member being able to cooperate when the shaft is pushed into the drive housing.

[0014] According to one embodiment of the food preparation appliance which is the subject of the invention, the food preparation accessory comprises a body which includes a food introduction chimney. This chimney makes it possible to convey the food into the food preparation accessory for processing.

[0015] According to one embodiment of the food preparation appliance which is the subject of the invention, the food preparation accessory comprises a conveying screw coupled with the shaft. This conveying screw allows movement of the food during its processing or for the purpose of carrying out said processing by means of said food preparation accessory, in order to extract from said food preparation accessory the processed food or the dry matter remaining after processing.

[0016] According to a first embodiment of the food preparation appliance which is the subject of the invention, the food preparation accessory is a screw mincer accessory, the conveying screw being an extrusion screw. In addition, the food preparation accessory comprises a knife mounted on the shaft.

[0017] According to a second embodiment of the food preparation appliance which is the subject of the invention, the food preparation accessory is a screw press accessory, the conveying screw being a pressing screw. In addition, the food preparation accessory comprises a filtration member configured to separate the juice from the dry matter during the pressing of the food. According to one embodiment, the filtration member is arranged below the pressing screw. Brief description of the figures

[0018] The following description highlights the features and advantages of the present invention. This description is based on figures, among which:

[0019] [Fig. 1] illustrates a housing of a food preparation appliance, seen from the front;

[0020] [Fig.2] illustrates a culinary preparation accessory engaged with an organ female coupling and with an assembly part, on the housing of the food preparation appliance;

[0021] [Fig.3] illustrates the female coupling member and the housing assembly part of a food preparation appliance, from a different viewing angle than that of [Fig.2];

[0022] [Fig.4] illustrates in isolation the female coupling member of the apparatus housing of culinary preparation;

[0023] [Fig.5] illustrates the food preparation accessory of [Fig.2], without the elements of the food preparation appliance housing;

[0024] [Fig.6] illustrates a plan view of a shaft of the food preparation accessory intended to be engaged in the female coupling member of [Fig.4], said shaft comprising in a cross-sectional plane a regular polygonal shape with N sides, N being equal to six on said [Fig.6];

[0025] [Fig.7] illustrates a plan view of the female coupling member of [Fig.4], showing in a cross-sectional plane the shape of a drive housing intended to receive the shaft of the food preparation accessory;

[0026] [Fig.8] illustrates the same view as [Fig.7] and highlights the presence of a first impression and a second impression on the drive housing;

[0027] [Fig.9] illustrates a sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of a pre-accessory screw mincer type culinary preparation;

[0028] [Fig. 10] illustrates a sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of a screw press type food preparation accessory. Detailed description

[0029] In the remainder of the description, unless otherwise indicated: the term appliance designates a food preparation appliance according to the invention; the term housing designates a housing of a food preparation appliance according to the invention; the term accessory designates a food preparation accessory of the food preparation appliance according to the invention.

[0030] In the remainder of the description, the terms "horizontal", "vertical", "lower", "upper", "longitudinal", "transverse", "high", "low", "front", "rear" ... which could be used, will be used in consideration of the position of the device resting on a work surface, in a usage situation, with the housing as illustrated in [Fig.l].

[0031] Furthermore, the same references are used to define the same characteristics on the various variants.

[0032] With regard to [Fig.l], the housing 1 comprises a base 2 allowing said housing 1 to be placed on a table or a work surface. The housing 1 comprises an opening 3 on the front face, this opening 3 allowing access to an accessory housing 4 on the housing 1. The accessory housing 4 comprises a bottom 5 on which opens a female coupling member 6 which reveals a drive housing 7 in said bottom 5, said female coupling member 6 being illustrated in more detail in FIGS. 3, 4, 7 and 8. This female coupling member 6 is driven in rotation about an axis X, for example by means of an electric motor 8 and a transmission belt 9 as shown diagrammatically in [Fig.l]. The transmission belt 9 could be replaced by other transmission systems, for example gears. Alternatively, the electric motor 8 could be directly connected to the female coupling member 6.

[0033] The housing 1 comprises an assembly part 10 which constitutes the bottom 5 of the accessory housing 4, said assembly part 10 being illustrated in Figures 1 to 3. This assembly part 10 comprises a first assembly member 11 of the bayonet type, which receives a second assembly member 12 of complementary shape, arranged at one end 13 of a body 14 of a culinary preparation accessory 15, as illustrated in [Fig. 5], which allows the assembly of the culinary preparation accessory 15 with the housing 1 when introducing the pre- cooking preparation 15 in accessory housing 4.

[0034] With regard to [Fig. 5], the culinary preparation accessory 15 comprises a shaft 16 which opens at the end 13 of the body 14. This shaft 16 comprises in a transverse section plane a regular polygonal shape with N sides 17a, 17b, 17c, 17d, 17e, 17f, as illustrated in [Fig. 6]. In this [Fig. 6], the regular polygonal shape is preferably a hexagon (N=6), variants however remaining conceivable with a triangle (N=3), a square (N=4), a pentagon (N=5), for example. This shaft 16 is intended to engage in the female coupling member 6 when mounting the culinary preparation accessory 15 in the housing 1, as will be specified in the remainder of the description.

[0035] To facilitate the introduction of the shaft 16 into the drive housing 7 of the female coupling member 6, said drive housing 7 comprises, in a transverse section plane illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8, a star-shaped shape defining a first imprint 18 having a first regular polygonal shape with N sides 19a, 19b, 19c, 19d, 19e, 19f and a second imprint 20 having a second regular polygonal shape with N sides 21a, 17b, 21c, 21d, 21e, 21f, the second imprint 20 being identical to the first imprint 18 and pivoted relative to said first imprint 18, along the axis of rotation X, by an angle of 180° / N. In the example illustrated in Figures 7 and 8, the regular polygonal shape being a hexagon, the second imprint 20 is pivoted relative to the first imprint 18 by an angle of 30°. The regular polygonal shape on the first imprint 18 and on the second imprint 20 is complementary to that on the shaft 16.

[0036] As a variant, the angle between the first indentation 18 and the second indentation 20 is not necessarily strictly equal to 180° / N. When the angle between the first indentation 18 and the second indentation 20 is strictly equal to 180° / N, the drive housing 7 has a number of sectors equal to twice the number of sides. When the angle between the first indentation 18 and the second indentation 20 is not strictly equal to 180° / N, the drive housing 7 may have N sectors greater than 180° / N and N sectors less than 180° / N. The angle between the first indentation 18 and the second indentation 20 can thus be between 120° / N and 240° / N, preferably between 1307N and 2307N, more preferably between 140° / N and 2207N, more preferably between 1507N and 2107N, more preferably between 160° / N and 2007N, more preferably between 1707N and 1907N, more preferably between 1757N and 1857N.Thus, for example, the second imprint 20 can be offset relative to the first imprint 18 by 1757N in one direction and by 1857N in the opposite direction.

[0037] When using the appliance, the user grasps the food preparation accessory 15 and presents the end 13 of the body 14 facing the opening 3 on the housing 1, then he introduces the body 14 into the accessory housing 4 until the shaft 16 reaches the bottom 5. If the hexagonal shape of the shaft 16 corresponds with the hexagonal shape of the first imprint 18 or of the second imprint 20, the shaft 16 can engage in the drive housing 7. Otherwise, the user proceeds by trial and error and slightly rotates the shaft 16 around the X axis in one direction or the other, by an angle of rotation which is less than 30°, so that its hexagonal shape corresponds with that of one of the two imprints 18, 20, then he engages the shaft 16 in the drive housing 7. Once the shaft 16 is engaged in the drive housing 7, the bayonet system between the first assembly member 11 and the second assembly member 12 can be put in place to fix the food preparation accessory 15 in the accessory housing 4 of the housing 1.

[0038] Starting the electric motor 8 drives the female coupling member 6 and, thus, the shaft 16 of the culinary preparation accessory 15. With reference to figures 9 and 10, which illustrate two examples of embodiment of a culinary preparation accessory 15, the shaft 16 is coupled to a conveying screw 22.

[0039] In the case of [Fig.9], the food preparation accessory 15 is a screw mincer accessory, the conveying screw 22 being an extrusion screw 23 which pushes the food towards a knife 24 also coupled to the shaft 16, said knife 24 making it possible to de-texture the food before pushing it through a grid-shaped die 25, thus making it possible to exit chopped food.

[0040] In the case of [Fig. 10], the food preparation accessory 15 is a screw press accessory, the conveying screw 22 being a pressing screw 26 which makes it possible to press the food against a wall 27 to extract the juice from the food, the juice passing through a filtering member 28 to separate it from the dry matter of the food. In [Fig. 10], the filtering member 28 is implemented by the wall 27 which is perforated so as to allow the juice to pass through during the pressing of the food, while the dry matter can be evacuated through a first mouth 29, by means of the rotation of the pressing screw 26. The juice is evacuated through a second mouth 30. Other arrangements are possible for the food preparation accessory 15 of the screw press accessory type.For example, the pressing screw could extend vertically so as to press the food against a solid wall arranged around the pressing screw, the filtering member in this case being arranged below the pressing screw to filter the juice from the food which falls by gravity, while the dry matter from the food is evacuated through a first opening arranged in the lower part of the wall, just above the filtering member.

[0041] With reference to figures 2, 5, 9 and 10, the body 14 of the culinary preparation accessory 15 comprises a chimney 31 which allows the introduction of food into a chamber 32 inside which the conveying screw 22 is arranged. This chimney 31 remains accessible from outside the housing 1 when assembling the food preparation accessory 15 with this housing 1.

[0042] Variants remain conceivable within the scope of the invention, in particular as regards the implementation of the culinary preparation accessory 15 which, in all cases, has a shaft 16 which has in a transverse section plane a regular polygonal shape with N sides, N being an integer, said regular polygonal shape being complementary to that of the first imprint 18 and to that of the second imprint 20 on the drive housing 7 of the female coupling member 6. This shaft 16 can be coupled to a conveying screw 22 and / or to other food processing tools, for example a knife or a mixer.

Claims

Claims

1. Housing (1) of a food preparation appliance, comprising an accessory housing (4) configured to receive a food preparation accessory (15), a female coupling member (6) housed in a bottom (5) of the accessory housing (4) and accessible from an opening (3) for access to said accessory housing (4), a device for driving the female coupling member (6) in rotation about an axis of rotation (X), said female coupling member (6) comprising a drive housing (7) for receiving a shaft (16) of the food preparation accessory (15) by engaging said shaft (16) in said drive housing (7) in the direction of the axis of rotation (X) when said food preparation accessory (15) is placed in the accessory housing (4) by insertion from said opening (3) provided on said housing (1),said shaft (16) comprising in a cross-sectional plane a regular polygonal shape with N sides (17a, 17b, 17c, 17d, 17e, 17f), N being an integer, characterized in that said drive housing (7) comprises a first imprint (18) having in a cross-sectional plane a regular polygonal shape complementary to that of the shaft (16) and a second imprint (20) identical to the first imprint (18) and pivoted relative to said first imprint (18), along the axis of rotation X, by an angle between 120° / N and 240° / N.,

2. Housing (1) of a food preparation appliance according to claim 1, in which the second imprint (20) is pivoted relative to the first imprint (18), along the axis of rotation X, by an angle of 1807N.

3. Housing (1) of a food preparation appliance according to one of claims 1 or 2, in which the regular polygonal shape is a triangle, a square, a pentagon or a hexagon, preferably a square or a hexagon, more preferably a hexagon.

4. Housing (1) of a food preparation appliance according to any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the rotational drive device comprises an electric motor (8) rotating the female coupling member (6).

5. Housing (1) of a food preparation appliance according to any one of claims 1 to 4, in which the bottom (5) of the accessory housing (4) comprises a first assembly member (11) configured to lock the food preparation accessory (15) in the accessory housing (4) when the shaft (16) of said food preparation accessory (15) is engaged in the drive housing (7) of the female coupling member (6).

6. Housing (1) of a food preparation appliance according to claim 5, in which the first assembly member (11) is of the bayonet type.

7. Food preparation appliance comprising a housing (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 6 and at least one food preparation accessory (15) comprising a shaft (16) comprising in a cross-sectional plane a regular polygonal shape with N sides (17a, 17b, 17c, 17d, 17e, 17f), N being an integer, said shaft (16) engaging in the first imprint (18) or in the second imprint (20) of the female coupling member (6) of the housing (1), when inserting said food preparation accessory (15) into the accessory housing (4) of the housing (1), from the access opening (3).

8. Food preparation appliance according to claim 7, in which the food preparation accessory (15) comprises a body (14) provided with an end (13) through which the shaft (16) opens, said end (13) comprising a second assembly member (12) complementary to the first assembly member (11) on the housing (1), the first assembly member (11) and the second assembly member (12) being able to cooperate when the shaft (16) is pushed into the drive housing (7).

9. Food preparation appliance according to any one of claims 7 or 8, in which the food preparation accessory (15) comprises a body (14) which has a chimney (31) for introducing food.

10. A food preparation apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the food preparation accessory (15) comprises a conveying screw (22) coupled with the shaft (16).

11. Preparation apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the food preparation accessory (15) is a screw mincer accessory, the conveying screw (22) being an extrusion screw (23), said food preparation accessory (15) comprising a knife (24) mounted on the shaft (16).

12. Food preparation appliance according to claim 10, in which the food preparation accessory (15) is a screw press accessory, the conveying screw (22) being a pressing screw (26), said culinary preparation accessory (15) comprising a filtration member (28) configured to separate the juice from the dry matter during the pressing of the food.