Icing Gun System For Decorating Confectionary Articles

Abstract

An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles in which the icing material in an enclosed container is pressurized by compressed air, propelling the material up through a hose line and through the hollow handle into the gun barrel. A pressure-balanced valve arrangement in the gun includes a plunger passing out through the rear of the barrel with a convoluted flexible cylindrical bellows surrounding this plunger and extending between it and the rear of the barrel. This plunger is connected by a valve control rod to a tapered valve member movable within a nose cone and coacting with an apertured barrier for controlling the stream of icing material discharged from an interchangeable conical tip. Anti-drip clean shut off action occurs because the tapered valve member pulls back on the icing material in the nose cone whenever the trigger lever is released to shut off the flow. Toggle clamps permit ready access to the pressurizable container.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a confectionary icing gun system for use in commercially decorating candies, cakes, figurines, and other fancy confectionary articles.

Prior to the present invention, icing decorations were commercially applied to fancy confectionary articles by initially putting the icing material into collapsible paper cones. The operator manually squeezed the cone to push the icing material out through an outlet at the tip of the cone. The icing material typically is thick and viscous. Thus, it required a great deal of fatiguing effort on the part of the operator to squeeze the cone as well as to move the tip about to produce the desired decorative patterns on the articles being produced. Substantial amounts of time were consumed in delivering the icing material in buckets to the operator, removing the material from the buckets for filling the paper cones, and interruptions occurred in using one cone until fully collapsed and then replacing with a full cone, and so forth.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Among the advantages of the present invention are those resulting from the fact the it enables an operator to produce fancy decorations with much less fatigue and effort. Moreover, the operator can work without interruptions because the icing material is fed directly from the buckets in which it is delivered. In using the confectionary icing gun system as described, the operator conveniently squeezes on a trigger lever to control the stream of icing material being extruded out through the tip of the gun.

When the operator releases the trigger lever, the flow of icing material is shut off. The valve mechanism near the tip of the gun acts to pull back somewhat on the stream of icing material which was previously being extruded through the tip. Thus, advantageously, the flow of icing material is shut off cleanly without subsequent dripping occurring from the tip of the gun.

In order to propel the icing material from the supply container to the gun apparatus, a substantial pressure is applied to the icing material. The valve mechanism in the gun apparatus is advantageously pressure balanced such that the operator can readily actuate the trigger lever to control the stream of pressurized icing material. Moreover, the balancing of the valve mechanism is so effective that the flow of the pressurized material can be controlled over a wide range of flow rates, e.g. from a thin delicate stream to a thick gushing stream. These variations in flow rates are used by the operator to produce many different decorative figurines and decorative patterns.

Further advantages of the confectionary icing gun system of the present invention are that it is readily assembled and disassembled into its component parts. All of these parts can be cleaned and sterilized without injury to them.

As used herein the term "confectionary articles" is intended broadly to include cakes, tarts, candies, fancy candy dolls or figurines, candy decorations, decorative objects, Christmas tree decorations, holiday decorations, and the like.

The term "icing material" is intended to mean a fluid material used to decorate such confectionary articles. The icing material is edible and usually contains sugar with other flavorings and food elements. It usually has a thick viscous texture. After it has been applied to the confectionary articles the icing material stiffens or hardens to produce the desired attractive decorative patterns.

The various aspects, objects and advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood from a consideration of the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view and a sectional view illustrating the confectionary icing gun system as a whole;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational and partial sectional view of the gun apparatus, being a section taken on the plane 2--2 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of a clip used in the gun apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational and partial sectional view of the gun apparatus, being taken on the plane 3--3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the trigger lever and valve mechanism in the actuated position for discharging a stream of icing material from the tip of the gun;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are rear and side elevational views of a movable valve member;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged elevational view, approximately actual size, of a toggle clamp for holding the lid on the pressurized supply container. Portions of the lid and container are shown in section;

FIG. 8 is a top view of the toggle clamp of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the toggle clamp mechanism taken along the plane 9--9 in FIG. 7.

As shown in FIG. 1, the fluid icing material 10 is placed in a pressurizable chamber 12 in a metal container 14. This container includes a cylindrical bucket or pot 15 of stainless steel or aluminum having a support flange or skirt 16 adapted to stand on the floor. The bottom of the pot 15 is convex; so it can withstand internal pressurization without difficulty. There is a removable lid 18 held onto the outwardly flaring rounded rim 17 of the pot by means of a plurality of toggle clamps 20. This lid or cover is formed by a thick rigid plate of stainless steel or aluminum, and a sealing gasket 21 is seated in a groove in the underside of the cover to engage the rim 17.

In order to propel the icing material 10 out of the container 14, compressed air is fed through a supply line 22 into the chamber 12. The compressed air passes through a pressure regulator 24 having a manual adjustment handle 25 and a pressure gauge 26. The air supply line 22 is screwed into an inlet opening 27 in the lid such that the air enters the region in the chamber 12 above the fluid icing material 10, thereby pressurizing this material.

The cover 18 is equipped with a pressure relief valve 29 having a manual release knob 31. Pulling up on the knob 31 serves to discharge the pressure from the chamber 12.

There is a rigid outlet line 28 which is welded into the cover 18 and has a length to extend down near to the bottom of the bucket 15, when the cover is clamped in place. This outlet line 28 is of relatively large internal diameter, for example one inch, to facilitate the flow of the pressurized icing material up out of the container.

A flexible hose line 32 of comparable inside diameter is attached to the upper end of the rigid line 28 by a screw coupling 30. A bending stress distributing spring 33 surrounds the lower portion of the hose 32 near the coupling 30 to prevent the formation of sharp bends or kinks in the hose near this coupling.

The pressure of the compressed air in the chamber 12 above the surface of the icing material forces this fluid material up into the lower end of the line 28 and then up into the hose 32 as indicated by the flow arrow in FIG. 1. Depending upon the viscosity or fluidity of the icing material, a greater or lesser pressure of the compressed air may be used. For example, this compressed air may conveniently be supplied by a shop air compressor with a capacity ranging up to approximately 100 pounds per square inch gauge pressure (psig.). For most icing materials a pressure in the range from 15 to 65 psig. is utilized in the chamber 12, but other pressures may occasionally be used if desired.

The upper end of the flexible hose line 32 is attached by another screw coupling 34 to the lower end of the hollow handle 36 of the controllable gun applicator 40. The gun applicator is shown in FIG. 1 in use commercially applying decorative wave-like bands 44 to a cake 46 mounted on a turntable 48 which is revolved by a motor drive in the base 50 of the turntable. The operator squeezes the trigger lever 42 to increase the rate of flow of the icing material from the tip of the gun, and vice versa.

As shown in FIG. 2 there is a hose reinforcing sleeve 37 within the hose and a ferrule 38 which is crimped around the end of the hose near the coupling 34. A similar sleeve and ferrule is used with the coupling 30.

The handle 36 (FIG. 2) has a hollow bore 51 which communicates directly with the cylindrical space 52 within the barrel 54 of the gun. At the forward end of the barrel is a conical tip 58 having an opening 56 of the desired shape to produce the particular decorative pattern being made. For example, FIG. 2 shows a star-shaped opening 56. The conical tip 58 can be disconnected from the gun by unscrewing the threaded screw connection 59 at the large end of the cone to replace the cone with another having a differently shaped opening 56.

As shown in FIG. 4, in order to discharge a controllable decorative stream 61 of icing material from the tip opening 56, the operator squeezes the trigger lever 42 toward the handle 36, swinging the lever about its pivot 60 against the action of a spring 62. One end of this spring is held in an eye 63 in a bracket 65 secured to the handle. This bracket 65 has a pair of projecting parallel legs 67 which hold the pivot 60. The spring 62 passes around the pivot and its other end pushes outwardly against the trigger lever 42.

As seen most clearly in FIG. 3, above the pivot 60, there is a yoke 64 fastened to the trigger lever 42, with the two arms of this yoke 64 straddling the barrel 54. Aligned pivot connections 66 located near opposite sides of the barrel 54 pivotally attach the two arms of the yoke 64 to the forward ends of two legs of a U-shaped link 68. The two parallel legs of link 68 extend rearwardly from the respective pivots 66 to the rear of the gun. A back portion 70 of this link 68 extends across behind the gun and joins these two parallel legs together.

When the trigger lever 42 is squeezed, the yoke 64 and the two pivot connections 66 are swung forward (toward the right in FIG. 4) pulling forward on the U-shaped link 68 and causing its back portion or bight 70 to move forward. This bight 70 serves as means for actuating a pressure-balanced valve mechanism 71 positioned within the barrel of the gun, as will be explained.

The pressure-balanced valve mechanism 71 includes a plunger 80 at the rear of the barrel connected by a valve control rod 82 with a movable valve member 84 located partially within the tapered nose 88 of the gun. The valve member 84 is tapered toward the front with a generally conical configuration which converges at approximately the same angle as the interior of the nose cone 88. A knurled band 86 on the member 84 provides a grip to facilitate disassembly by unscrewing its threaded socket 90 from the threaded front end of the rod 82.

For detachably fastening the plunger 80 to the bight 70, there is a rounded socket 72 in the bight, and the plunger 80 has a rounded head 73 which engages in this socket. A U-shaped snap retainer spring clip 74, as shown also in FIG. 2A, has a slotted front end 76 which snaps into a groove 78 near the head 73 of the plunger 80. The rear part 77 of this clip fits down behind the socket 72. By pulling this clip off of the bight 70, the link 68 is conveniently disconnected from the plunger 80.

The plunger 80 passes through a central opening 92 in a breech plug 94 which closes off the rear end of the barrel 54. A ring collar 96 holds this plug 94 in place. The collar 96 has a threaded socket 98 which screws around a threaded area at the rear end of the barrel 54. The exterior of the collar 96 is knurled at 100 to facilitate assembly and disassembly. A gasket 102 of sterilizable material such as "Teflon" plastic (polytetrafluoroethylene) fits between the rim of the plug 94 and the end of the barrel 54 to seal the barrel space 52.

The breech plug 94 has a hollow boss 104 which surrounds the plunger 80, and a pin 106 extends transversely through the plunger 80. This pin 106 engages in a pair of opposed slots in the boss 104 to prevent the plunger 80 from attempting to twist during assembly or disassembly, thus protecting from torsional stresses a bellows 108 attached to the plunger 80, as described below.

For pressure balancing the valve mechanism 71, there is a convoluted cylindrical spring metal bellows 108. The back end of this bellows is soldered onto an annular shoulder 110 in the breech plug 94. The front end of this bellows is soldered onto the rim 112 of a flange 113 on the front end of the plunger 80. The annular shoulder 110 and the rim 112 have equal diameters (and their diameters are midway between the diameters of the interior and exterior convolutions) so that the effect of the pressurized icing material on the convolutions of the bellows 108 is exactly balanced out. Thus, the icing material as it pushes on the bellows 108 per se does not tend to move the valve mechanism 71 either forward or backward.

The icing material does exert a rearward force on the projected net effective cross-sectional area of the flange 113. This net effective cross-sectional area lies in the circular band larger than the rod 82 and smaller than the interior convolutions of the bellows 108.

Acting in the opposite direction, the icing material exerts a forward force on the valve member 84. This valve member, as seen also in FIGS. 5 and 6, includes a plurality of parallel guide fingers 114 extending rearwardly from a radially extending shoulder surface 116. The parallel guide fingers 114 have cylindrical exterior surfaces so that these fingers slidingly fit through a central aperture 118 in a disc barrier 120. This barrier is made of slippery sterilizable resin, such as "Teflon" plastic.

To hold this barrier disc 120 in place, the nose 88 has a threaded socket 122 which screws onto the front end of the barrel 54. The disc 120 is thereby clamped against the barrel 54 and serves as a gasket to seal the barrel chamber 52. A knurled band 124 around the socket 122 facilitates disassembly.

When the shoulder surface 116 of the valve member 84 is seated against the barrier disc 120, the flow of icing material is shut off. When the valve member 84 is moved forward as shown in FIG. 4, the icing material flows forward between the fingers 114 and through the aperture 118 into the nose 88 and thence out through the conical tip 58 to form a decorating stream 61.

As shown in FIG. 6, the roots of the fingers 114 are enlarged near the shoulder surface 116 to narrow and taper down the spaces between these fingers. Thus, a throttling action is provided as the shoulder surface 116 approaches the barrier 120, because the flow spaces between adjacent fingers 114 progressively close off. In this way the operator can effectively control the flow rate over a wide range to produce a thinner, thicker or intermediate sized stream 61.

The balancing achieved by the rearward force on the plunger flange 113 offsetting the forward force on the valve member 84 enables the operator to move the valve member 84 easily and to control its position accurately without being hampered by the large forces generated by the pressurized icing material acting on this valve member.

An anti-drip action is also achieved. When the operator releases the trigger lever 42 to shut off the flow, the conical valve member 84 is retracted within the conical nose 88. The tapering annular space 126 within the nose cone 88 around the valve member 84 is enlarged by retraction of the valve member, as can be seen by comparing FIG. 2 with FIG. 4. The enlargement of the region 126 during shut-off motion effectively pulls and sucks the icing material back into the tip 58. The stream is shut off cleanly and neatly with no dripping, which is very desirable from aesthetic and cleanliness viewpoints.

The toggle clamps 20 each include a notched block 130 (FIG. 9) screwed onto a threaded stud 132 mounted in the cover. A dog-leg shaped toggle lever 134 has a finger hole 136 and is pivoted on a thrust pin 138 passing through vertical slots 139 in the block member 130. The toe 140 of the lever 134 pushes down against a bearing plate 142 located in the notch 144 of the block 130. This bearing plate is held in place by a retainer pin 146.

The thrust pin 138 is fastened in a pair of parallel C-shaped clamp elements 148 whose ends curve in beneath the bucket rim 17. A spacer pin 150 holds the two C-shaped clamp elements parallel. To distribute the clamping pressure under the rim 17, there is a curved rod segment 152 welded onto the lower ends of the clamp elements 148. This rod segment is curved, as shown in FIG. 8, to nest in the curve beneath the rim.

To release the clamps 20, the handles 134 are swung up so that the toe 140 slides along and off of the bearing plate 142, thus releasing the cover. If it is desired to tighten the clamping action of any clamp, an L-shaped retainer 149 (FIG. 7) is temporarily removed by loosening a screw 151. The block 130 is now freed to be screwed one or more turns further onto the threaded stud 132, thereby tightening the clamp. Conversely, unscrewing the block 130 from its stud 132 loosens the clamp 20. When the clamp tightness is properly adjusted, the L-shaped retainer 149 is replaced.

The gun handle 36 is angled fowwardly as it meets the barrel 54 for a comfortable grip and to aid in forward flow of the icing material toward the aperture 118. A hand rest or skirt 154 surrounds the handle beneath the barrel and is attached to the bracket 65.

Referring again to the toggle clamps 20, they can be constructed in an alternate manner. The notch in the block 130 is widened so that the two C-shaped clamp elements 148 can be placed immediately adjacent to the opposite sides of the lever 134. By placing the clamp elements 148 adjacent to the lever 134 the bending stress on the thrust pin 138 is reduced. This alternate construction thereby strengthens the clamps 20.

Claims

1. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles with icing material comprising a pressurizable container adapted to hold the icing material, said container having a removable cover, clamp means for releasably clamping the cover onto the container, an applicator gun having a tip opening for discharging the icing material onto the confectionary articles to be decorated, a flexible hose line connectible between the pressurizable container and the gun for feeding icing material to the gun, a manually operable trigger on the gun, a movable valve member which is exposed to the pressure of the icing material and is actuatable by said trigger for controlling the flow of icing material out of said tip opening, and a second movable member in opposed relationship to said valve member and connected to said valve member, said second movable member being exposed to the pressure of the icing material for balancing out the effect of the pressure on said valve member, whereby the valve member is

2. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles with icing material comprising a pressurizable container for holding the icing material having a removable cover, means for releasably clamping the cover onto the container, an applicator gun having a tip opening for discharging the icing material onto the confectionary articles to be decorated, a flexible hose line connected between the pressurizable container and the gun for feeding icing material to the gun, a manually operable trigger on the gun, and valve mechanism in the gun operable by said trigger for

3. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles as claimed in claim 2, in which said gun has a hollow barrel communicating with said tip opening and said valve mechanism includes a movable valve member located near the front of the barrel for controlling the flow of icing material from said barrel out of said tip opening, a plunger located near the back of the barrel and a control rod interconnecting said valve member and said plunger, whereby the pressure of the icing material on said movable valve

4. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles as claimed in claim 3, in which said hollow barrel has an opening therein at the back, said plunger extends out through said opening and is movable forward and backward through said opening, a flexible bellows is interconnected between said plunger and the body of the gun, a fixed barrier is located near the front of the barrel having an aperture therein, and said movable valve member coacts with said aperture to control the flow of icing

5. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles as claimed in claim 4 in which said movable valve member has a plurality of guide fingers extending through said aperture, said guide fingers having spaces between them through which the icing material can flow in passing through

6. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles as claimed in claim 3, in which said hollow barrel has a nose tapering in a forward converging direction toward said tip opening, a barrier extending across the barrel near the larger back end of said tapering nose, said barrier having an aperture therein, said valve member being movable forwardly within said tapering nose away from said barrier for increasing the flow of icing material through said aperture to said tip opening, and vice versa, said valve member being retractable against said barrier for shutting off the flow, and said valve member also tapering in a forward converging direction within said nose, whereby the space around said tapering valve member and within said tapering nose increases when said valve member retracts against said barrier, thereby sucking the icing material back into said space to prevent dripping of the icing material from the tip opening to provide a clean shut off when the valve member is

7. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles as claimed in claim 1, in which said gun has a hollow handle connected at an intermediate location with said hollow barrel, said flexible hose line is connectible with the lower end of said handle, said movable valve member is positioned in the forward portion of the barrel in front of the location where the handle connects with the barrel, said second movable member is positioned in the rear portion of the barrel behind said location, and said second member is connected to said valve member by a

8. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles as claimed in claim 1, in which a rigid outlet line extends through said cover, said line commencing near the bottom of said container when the cover is clamped in place, and said flexible hose line being connectible to said

9. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles as claimed in claim 7, in which said manually operable trigger is a lever extending down near the handle and having a pivot mounting below the barrel, a yoke is attached to the upper end of said lever having its arms straddling said barrel, a U-shaped link has two parallel legs extending along opposite sides of said barrel with a bight extending behind said barrel, and said bight of said U-shaped link is operatively connected with said second

10. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles as claimed in claim 9, in which the back of said barrel is closed by a removable plug having an opening therethrough, said second movable member is a plunger extending through said opening, the bight of said U-shaped link is detachably attached to said plunger, and a flexible convoluted cylindrical bellows is positioned within the rear of said barrel, said bellows surrounding said plunger and being attached at one end to said plug and

11. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles as claimed in claim 6, in which the smaller forward end of said tapering nose is threaded, and said tip opening is located in a cone removably screwed onto

12. An icing gun system for decorating confectionary articles with icing material comprising a pressurizable container for holding the icing material having an out-turned rim and a removable cover, means for releasably clamping the cover onto the container, an applicator gun having a tip opening for discharging the icing material onto the confectionary articles to be decorated, a flexible hose line connected between the pressurizable container and the gun for feeding icing material to the gun, a manually operable trigger on the gun, valve mechanism in the gun operable by said trigger for controlling the flow of icing material out of said tip opening, said means for releasably clamping the cover onto the container including a member mounted on the cover having slots therein directed toward the cover, a dog-leg shaped lever pivotally mounted by a thrust pin extending through said slots, said lever having a free end adapted to be manually swung into a toggled position and having a toe-shaped end on the opposite side of said thrust pin from said lever and being engageable down toward the cover to exert a force upwardly on said thrust pin in a direction away from the rim of the container, and C-shaped clamp means having one end engageable beneath said rim of the container and having the other end pivotally connected to said thrust pin for pulling the cover down firmly against the container when said lever is swung into its toggled position.