Stamping Apparatus for Cutting Dough Products with Holes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional bagel manufacturing equipment is unsuitable for artisan dough with high water content, causing the dough to stretch or tear and leading to equipment clogging, making it difficult to produce bagel-shaped dough rings with central holes.
Innovation Solution
A stamping apparatus with multiple cutting blades configured to cut complementary open shapes and a tubular cutting blade for creating a hole, which reduces sticking and facilitates the cutting of dough products with a phased cutting approach, using air compression to eject cutout pieces without direct contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional bagel manufacturing equipment is used to process artisan dough, then the equipment can handle firm dough, but the dough stretches or tears and causes equipment clogging
Solution Approach 1:
The cutting process is divided into multiple phases: first cutting blades cut open shapes, then a tubular cutting blade cuts the hole. This segmentation allows each blade type to be optimized for its specific function, preventing dough deformation that would occur with a single closed-loop blade.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a tubular cutting blade as an intermediary tool between the first cutting blades and the final dough ring product. This tubular blade cleanly cuts the hole without the dough needing to be pulled or stretched, eliminating the harmful deformation effect.
2Productivity
If conventional closed-loop cutting blades are used, then cutting can be completed in one operation, but the dough sticks to the blades causing clogging
Solution Approach 1:
The single closed-loop cutting operation is segmented into multiple cutting stages using different blade configurations. The first cutting blades create open shapes, and the tubular blade creates the hole. This segmentation reduces the total blade surface area in contact with dough at any one time, minimizing sticking.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the hole-cutting function from the periphery-cutting function, using separate blades for each task. The tubular cutting blade is designed to minimize contact with the dough, taking out only the necessary material for the hole while reducing adhesive contact area.
3Device complexity
If a single closed-loop cutting blade is used to cut the hole, then the cutting path is simple, but the cutout piece cannot be easily ejected without manual contact
Solution Approach 1:
A finger is introduced as an intermediary element inside the tubular cutting blade. As the blade retracts, the finger pushes the cutout dough piece outward, enabling automatic ejection without manual intervention. This simple addition solves the ejection problem while maintaining blade configuration simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting system performs self-service by automatically ejecting the cutout piece through the finger mechanism. The system uses its own retraction motion to activate the ejection function, eliminating the need for external manual operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the efficient cutting of dough products with holes from dough sheets, particularly artisan dough, by minimizing sticking and ensuring clean outlines, even with high water content dough, and effectively ejecting cutout pieces without manual contact.
Implementation Method 1
air trapped within the tubular cutting blade between the finger and the cutout dough piece as the platen returns to the retracted position
Data Source
AI summary
A apparatus may be used to cut a dough product having a hole from a dough sheet. The stamping apparatus may have multiple cutting blades, depending from a platen, that are configured for cutting complementary open shapes, in phases, that together form a closed shape defining the dough product periphery. The stamping apparatus may also have a tubular cutting blade depending from the platen, configured to cut a closed shape defining the dough product hole, that is nested within one of the blades that is configured to cut an open shape. The tubular cutting blade may be retractable about a finger contained therewithin that remains in a fixed position in relation to the tubular cutting blade as the blade retracts. Air trapped within the tubular cutting blade, between the finger and a cutout dough piece that does not form part of the dough product, may become compressed during blade retraction. The compression may facilitate ejection of the cutout dough piece from the tubular cutting blade. The finger may be omitted in some embodiments.