Mochi pounding machine

Abstract

To provide a small and lightweight mochi-pounding machine which can be relatively easily introduced even in a small-scale restaurant or the like. [Solution] The mochi pounding machine 10 comprises a stainless steel bowl 13 for containing glutinous rice, a plastic pestle 12 placed above the bowl, and drive mechanisms 15, 16, 18 for vertically reciprocating the pestle between a bottom dead point close to the bottom and a top dead point a specified distance away from the bottom dead point. In a plan view, the pestle is placed at a position offset from the center of the bowl. The bowl is detachable and rotatable from the front opening of a structural frame 11. A bowl presser 20 for preventing the bowl from floating up is placed protruding inward from a side panel of the structural frame.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a mochi pounding machine that is particularly suitable for commercial use. [Background technology]

[0002] Mochi, an indispensable part of Japanese food culture, has been made since ancient times by pounding glutinous rice in a mortar with a pestle until the rice grains lose their shape. In recent years, various household mochi-pounding machines that use a rotating blade or screw attached to the bottom of the container to knead the rice have been proposed and are commercially available.

[0003] Restaurants that serve mochi (rice cakes) must prepare mochi that remains soft even when it cools down, and to do this they must use the mortar and pestle method, pounding the rice many times while adjusting the moisture content. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2004-215523 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Although household mochi-pounding machines have the advantage of allowing ordinary households to easily enjoy pounding mochi, the mochi tends to harden quickly when it cools, resulting in inferior taste and texture, and it is less appealing than the Usuki method.

[0006] Therefore, restaurants and other establishments that serve mochi need to use a mortar and pestle method to pound the mochi, but relying on the task of pounding the pestle by hand is not practical. A method of pounding the mochi with a machine has been proposed (Patent Document 1), but this is a large-scale device configuration, and the mortar is made of wood or stone, just like traditional mortars (paragraph 0017 of Patent Document 1), so it is heavy and difficult to adopt in small restaurants and other establishments.

[0007] Therefore, the problem that this invention aims to solve is to provide a small, lightweight rice cake pounding machine that solves the above concerns and problems and can be relatively easily introduced even in small restaurants and other establishments. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve this problem, the present invention as defined in claim 1 is a rice cake pounding machine comprising a bowl for holding glutinous rice, a pestle provided above the bowl, and a drive mechanism for vertically reciprocating the pestle between a bottom dead point close to the bottom and a top dead point a predetermined distance away from the bottom dead point, wherein the pestle is provided at a position offset from the center of the bowl when viewed in a plane.

[0009] The present invention as claimed in claim 2 is characterized in that in the mochi pounding machine as claimed in claim 1, the pestle is made of plastic and the bowl is made of stainless steel.

[0010] The present invention as claimed in claim 3 is characterized in that, in the rice cake pounding machine as claimed in claim 1 or 2, it has a structural frame with an open front, and the bowl is detachable and rotatable from the front of the structural frame.

[0011] The present invention as claimed in claim 4 is characterized in that, in the rice cake pounding machine as claimed in claim 3, a bowl holder for preventing the bowl from floating up is provided protruding inward from the side panel of the structural frame. Effect of the Invention

[0012] According to this invention, a small and lightweight mochi pounding machine is provided that can easily make mochi that is soft and delicious even when cooled, just like the mochi made with the traditional pestle / mortar method. The mochi pounding machine according to this invention has a relatively simple device configuration, so it can be made small, and because the pestle is made of plastic and the mortar is made of stainless steel, it can be made lightweight, so it can be easily introduced even in small restaurants. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is a front view of a mochi pounding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] This is a side view of the rice cake pounding machine. [Diagram 3] This is a plan view of this mochi-making machine (cover omitted). BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THEINVENTION

[0014] The structure and operation of a rice cake pounding machine according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to Figs.

[0015] This mochi pounding machine 10 has a plastic pestle 12 that vertically reciprocates within a structural frame 11 between the top dead center (position shown by a solid line in Fig. 1) and the bottom dead center (position shown by an imaginary line in Fig. 1), and a stainless steel bowl 13 that is placed on the bottom surface 11c of the structural frame 11j. The bowl 13 is formed into a concave spherical shape, and corresponds to a wooden or stone mortar that has been used for pounding mochi since ancient times. In a plan view, the pestle 12 is positioned off-center of the bowl 13 (Figs. 2 and 3).

[0016] The structural frame 11 comprises a top plate 11a that essentially closes the top surface, side plates 11b, 11b that partially close the front sides of both sides, a bottom plate 11c that essentially closes the bottom surface, and a back plate 11d that partially closes the center of the width of the back surface, and the front surface is open.

[0017] A punch rod 14 fixed integrally to the upper end of the punch 12 extends vertically upward through a rod hole (not indicated by a reference number) and rod guides 15, 15 formed in the top plate 11a of the structural frame 11. A geared motor 16 is installed on the top plate 11a. One end of a lifting arm 17 is rotatably connected to the upper end of the punch rod 14, and the other end of the lifting arm 17 is rotatably connected to the tip of a rotating arm 18 fixed to the output shaft of the geared motor 16.

[0018] The punch rod 14, which reciprocates vertically together with the pestle 12, is at the highest point when the pestle 12 is at the top dead center, and is at the lowest point when the pestle 12 is at the bottom dead center. Although not shown in the figure, a sensor that detects when the punch rod 14 is at the highest point and a counter that counts the number of times the pestle rod 14 has reached the highest point during its reciprocating motion are provided.

[0019] Bowl 13 is placed on plastic bowl support 19 fixed to bottom plate 11c of structural frame 11. Bowl retainers 20, 20 to prevent bowl 13 from floating up are provided protruding inward from side plates 11b, 11b of structural frame 11. Because bowl 13 is not fixed, it can be rotated in any direction by any angle by manually turning the part that protrudes forward from structural frame 11 (see Figure 2).

[0020] Although not shown in the figure, the geared motor 16 is driven to rotate at a predetermined speed by AC 100V via a power cord and plug, and a switch for turning it on and off is provided at an arbitrary position. The ON / OFF switch can be a foot switch that can be operated by foot.

[0021] When the switch is switched from ON to OFF, the geared motor 16 continues to run for a predetermined time thereafter, and is controlled to stop the geared motor 16 when the sensor detects that the pestle rod 10 has reached the top point. Therefore, when pounding rice cakes using this device 10 is ended by switching it OFF, the pestle 12 automatically returns to the top dead center position and waits in that position for the next pounding.

[0022] In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a removably installed cover on the upper plate 11a of the structural frame 11 to protect the driving mechanism parts such as the pestle rod 14 and the geared motor 16, and reference numeral 22 denotes rubber feet attached to the bottom plate 11c of the structural frame 11 to stably install the rice cake pounding machine 10 on any floor surface.

[0023] The operation and use of the mochi pounding machine 10 constructed as above will now be described.

[0024] Put an appropriate amount of steamed glutinous rice into bowl 13, slide it sideways from the front of structural frame 11, and set it in a specified position (Fig. 2) on bowl receiver 19 that touches back plate 11d of structural frame 11. As mentioned above, pestle 12 is waiting at the top dead center at this time, so it does not interfere with the work of setting bowl 13.

[0025] When the setting is complete, switching on the geared motor 16 connected to an AC 100V outlet causes it to rotate, rotating the rotating arm 18 connected to its output shaft and causing the lifting arm 17 connected to the rotating arm 18 to move up and down, so that the punch rod 14 moves back and forth vertically together with the lifting arm 17 while being guided by the rod guides 15, 15, and the pestle 12 connected to the lower end of the pestle rod 14 also moves back and forth vertically. The bottom dead point of the pestle 12 is set at a position close to the bottom of the bowl 13 (see Figure 1), so the glutinous rice in the bowl 13 can be pounded effectively.

[0026] As mentioned above, a counter is provided to count the number of times the pestle rod 14 reaches the highest point, so that when a certain number (for example, 50 times) is counted, the switch can be automatically turned off to automatically stop pounding.

[0027] In this way, by repeatedly pounding the rice cakes with the pestle 12 while adding water as needed, it is possible to easily make rice cakes that are soft and delicious even when cooled, which is comparable to the traditional rice cakes made with a pestle and mortar. As mentioned above, the bowl 13 can be rotated by hand, so the rice cakes can be pounded evenly while visually checking the progress.

[0028] During pounding, the sticky rice may stick to the tip of the pestle 12 as the pestle 12 rises, creating a force that tends to lift the bowl 13; however, excessive lifting is prevented by the bowl retainers 20, 20 that protrude inward from the side panels 11b, 11b of the structural frame 11.

[0029] This mochi pounding machine 10 has the same basic effect as the traditional pestle / mortar system, but is small and lightweight thanks to the use of a plastic pestle 12 and a stainless steel bowl (mortar) 13. Therefore, it has the advantage of being relatively easy to install, even in a small restaurant or similar establishment, and can be placed in a corner of the kitchen.

[0030] Although the present invention has been described in detail above based on the illustrated embodiment, the present invention is not limited thereto and can be implemented with a wide variety of modifications and alterations within the scope of the invention described in the scope of the utility model registration claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0031] 10. Mochi pounding machine 11 Structural Frame 12 Pestle 13. Bowl 14 Pestle rod 15 Rod guide 16 Geared motor 17 Lifting arm 18 Rotating Arm 19 Bowl holder 20 Bowl Holder 21 Cover 22 Rubber feet

Claims

1. This mochi pounding machine is characterized in that it comprises a bowl for storing glutinous rice, a pestle provided above the bowl, and a drive mechanism for vertically reciprocating the pestle between a bottom dead point close to the bottom and a top dead point a specified distance away from the bottom dead point, and the pestle is provided at a position offset from the center of the bowl in a plan view.

2. 2. The mochi pounding machine according to claim 1, wherein the pestle is made of plastic and the bowl is made of stainless steel.

3. 3. The mochi pounding machine according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a structural frame having an open front, the bowl being detachable and rotatable from the front of the structural frame.

4. 4. The mochi pounding machine according to claim 3, further comprising a bowl retainer for preventing the bowl from floating up, the bowl retainer being provided protruding inward from the side plate of the structural frame.

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