Title of Invention	"A DEVICE USEFUL FOR AUTOMATIC DISPENSING OF CHUTNEY, SAUCE AND OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS"
Abstract	A device useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products characterized by a conical bottom vessel (1), having a bottom opening and removable fixed cover plate (2), a solenoid being fixed to the bottom of the said cover plate, the said solenoid being provided with actuating shaft (5) extending thought the bottom opening of the vessel (1), a piston (6) fixed to the aid shaft by lock nut (7)) being provided close to the bottom of the said vessel (1), the said piston being provided with an air vent tube (11) and a split pin vertical movement stopper (8), an annular tube (9) concentrically enclosing the said piston (6) and extending below the bottom of the vessel (1) by nut (10) being provided at the bottom opening of the said vessel (1), the said tube also being provided with radial inlet ports in the inside of the bottom of the said vessel (1), the end of the said extended shaft (5) being provided with a collector cup (12) to cover the bottom of the annular space below the bottom of the vessel (1).

Title of Invention

"A DEVICE USEFUL FOR AUTOMATIC DISPENSING OF CHUTNEY, SAUCE AND OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS"

Abstract

A device useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products characterized by a conical bottom vessel (1), having a bottom opening and removable fixed cover plate (2), a solenoid being fixed to the bottom of the said cover plate, the said solenoid being provided with actuating shaft (5) extending thought the bottom opening of the vessel (1), a piston (6) fixed to the aid shaft by lock nut (7)) being provided close to the bottom of the said vessel (1), the said piston being provided with an air vent tube (11) and a split pin vertical movement stopper (8), an annular tube (9) concentrically enclosing the said piston (6) and extending below the bottom of the vessel (1) by nut (10) being provided at the bottom opening of the said vessel (1), the said tube also being provided with radial inlet ports in the inside of the bottom of the said vessel (1), the end of the said extended shaft (5) being provided with a collector cup (12) to cover the bottom of the annular space below the bottom of the vessel (1).

Full Text	The present invention relates to a device useful for automatic dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products. The device of the present invention is particularly useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products while serving snack foods such as dosa, idli, chapati, poori etc. The quantity dispensed by using this device is uniform in quantity under hygienic conditions in an intermittent/continuous manner. The chutney may be produced from numerous recipes using a variety of ingredients viz., fried-bengal-gram, groundnut, coconut as base material and adjuncts such as curry leaves, coriander leaves, spices, salts etc. The device of the present invention is therefore useful as an accessory to traditional food machinery for serving chutney or sauce along with the snack foods. In India dosa, idli, chapathy and poori are the largely consumed snack foods. The tedious operation involved in the preparation of these snack foods, has affected the large-scale production. All these snack foods are consumed with some side dishes like chutney or sauce and non-availability of proper dispensing units has increased the human drudgery and unhygienic conditions in the mass feeding centers of snack foods. All the preparatory operations of these snack foods are carried out manually besides serving side dishes, which has become a deterrent in large-scale production and catering services. Attempts to produce and market pre-cooked Indian snack foods are being made by some agencies with no success. The major problems are the non-availability of suitable machinery for the production of traditional foods and gadgets for dispensing side dishes like chutney and sauce on a large scale. In case a device is made available for dispensing of the side dishes like chutney, sauce and curries, it would increase the convenience on the part of catering these snack foods on large-scale. Hitherto the process of serving of chutney, sauce and other similar side dishes are done manually. In manual serving the device consists of a stainless steel spoon and a container. The server uses the spoon for serving the side dish. The drawbacks of manual serving of the side dishes like chutney, sauce and other products are: 1. There is a variation in the quantity served. 2. Manual serving using open vessel and spoon leads to contamination and hygiene problems. 3. The process is labour intensive and human drudgery is very high. The main object of the present invention is to provide a device useful for automatic dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products in uniform quantities. Another object is to provide hygienic conditions through mechanized operation. Still another object of the present invention is to reduce manual drudgery. Yet another object is to increase productivity as an adjunct to automatic machines for making dosa, chapati and the like. Still another object is to provide a device capable of working with a wide range of conventionally prepared chutnies and sauces. The device of the present invention overcomes most of the drawbacks of the existing method of manual serving of chutney, sauce and other similar products. In the drawing accompanying this specification, figure 1 represents an embodiment of the device of the present invention useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products. In an embodiment the device useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products comprises of: a conical bottom vessel (1), a cover plate (2), a solenoid (3) mounted below the cover with suitable fasteners and rubber gaskets (4) to minimize the vibrations, an actuating shaft (5) with one end connected to the solenoid and the other end connected to a piston (6) with a locknut (7), a split pin (8) for connecting the actuating shaft and the piston, an annular tube (9) is connected to the bottom of the vessel through a nut (10), an air vent tube (11), a collector cup (12) is bolted to the actuating shaft with a locknut (13) and suitably positioned with proper sealing arrangement (14) at the bottom of the barrel, a photo-sensor (15) is fitted below the collector cup and the whole cycle of operation will be controlled by an electronic timer (16). The cover plate and top portion of the vessel may have additional means such as bolts and nuts for fixing. The vessel may preferably be in conical shape and made of stainless steel. This however, does not restrict the invention as any alternate shape or material can be sued. The conical or trapezoidal bottom assists flow of material as well as reduces the hold-up volume of chutney and hence preferred over flat bottom in the vessel construction. The cover plate may be provided with radial slots, which helps to fasten the cover plate with the appropriate bolt and nut arrangement on the vessel. The cover plate may also be made of the same material as that of the vessel. As said above, stainless steel is being the preferred material. The gasket preferred and employed may be of food grade rubber. Accordingly the present invention provides a device useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products characterized by a conical bottom vessel (1), having a bottom opening and removable fixed cover plate (2), a solenoid being fixed to the bottom of the said cover plate, the said solenoid being provided with actuating shaft (5) extending thought the bottom opening of the vessel (1), a piston (6) fixed to the aid shaft by lock nut (7)) being provided close to the bottom of the said vessel (1), the said piston being provided with an air vent tube (11) and a split pin vertical movement stopper (8), an annular tube (9) concentrically enclosing the said piston (6) and extending below the bottom of the vessel (1) by nut (10) being provided at the bottom opening of the said vessel (1), the said tube also being provided with radial inlet ports in the inside of the bottom of the said vessel (1), the end of the said extended shaft (5) being provided with a collector cup (12) to cover the bottom of the annular space below the bottom of the vessel (1). In another embodiment of the present invention wherein a split pin may be sued for controlling the stroke length of the actuating shaft and the piston attached to it, inside the annular tube. In still another embodiment of the present invention wherein the device may be provided with an air vent tube, one end of which opens in to the annular space below the piston and the other end opens to the atmosphere. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the bottom end of the shaft being provided with a collector cup having a peripheral gasket for sealing the outlet. In another embodiment of the present invention, device may be provided with a photo¬sensor located close to the bottom opening to sense the user's plate. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the device may be provided with an electronic timer capable of actuating the solenoid. Automatic dispensing units for food materials like chutney, sauce and other products is hitherto not known. We propose a device useful for automatic dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products for the first time according to this invention. The invention is based on our finding that chutney, sauce and similar products can be dispensed in known quantity under hygienic conditions using a specially designed discharge mechanism controlled by a timer and a photo sensor. This dispenser can be an useful attachment to food processing equipment that could produce snack foods like dosa, idli, chapathies, poories etc. The following example is given by way of illustration of the present invention and therefore should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention. The working of the dispenser is explained below with particular reference to dispensing of chutney made out of fried bengal-gram as a base material. Example 1 Chutney is prepared by grinding fried bengal-gram, chillies and salt along with other minor ingredients of individual's choice for taste. Water is added in required quantity to get the desired consistency of chutney mix for easy flow. The chutney thus prepared is charged into the vessel and is closed by fastening the cover plate. When the user brings the plate near the discharge barrel against the photo sensor (the light radiation falling on the photo sensor will be blocked by the plate), the solenoid valve would get energized and would pull up the piston away from the port drilled on the barrel. At this position of the piston, the chutney would get filled in to the annular space of the barrel through the ports. When the solenoid valve gets demagnetized after the set time, the piston comes down and closes the ports. At the same time the dispenser would discharge the chutney contained in the barrel through the collector assembly. The time of opening/closing of the valve port is controlled by an electronic timer depending upon the quantity of chutney to be dispensed. The whole cycle of operation would be completed within the time duration set by the electronic timer. The main advantages of the present invention are: 1) The chutney, sauce and other similar products can be automatically dispensed under hygienic condition without contamination. 2) Uniform quantity of chutney/sauce can be dispensed irrespective of the variation in the hydraulic head in the conical vessel. 3) The quantity dispensed can be varied. 4) The device is versatile and can efficiently handle different varieties of chutnies and sauces. 5) Dispensing of the chutney/sauce can be started or stopped at will by the signal to the solenoid through photo-sensor. 6) Operation and maintenance is easy and cost effective too. We Claim: 1. A device useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products characterized by a conical bottom vessel (1), having a bottom opening and removable fixed cover plate (2), a solenoid being fixed to the bottom of the said cover plate, the said solenoid being provided with actuating shaft (5) extending thought the bottom opening of the vessel (1), a piston (6) fixed to the aid shaft by lock nut (7) ) being provided close to the bottom of the said vessel (1), the said piston being provided with an air vent tube (11) and a split pin vertical movement stopper (8), an annular tube (9) concentrically enclosing the said piston (6) and extending below the bottom of the vessel (1) by nut (10) being provided at the bottom opening of the said vessel (1), the said tube also being provided with radial inlet ports in the inside of the bottom of the said vessel (1), the end of the said extended shaft (5) being provided with a collector cup (12) to cover the bottom of the annular space below the bottom of the vessel (1). 2. A device a claimed in claim 1 wherein a solenoid is fixed to the bottom of the cover plate through a rubber gasket. 3. A device as claimed in claims 1-2, wherein an air vent tube is provided, the one end of which opens in to the annular space below the piston and the other end opens to the atmosphere 4. A device as claimed in claims 1-3, wherein a collector cup is provided having a peripheral gasket for sealing the outlet. 5. A device useful for automatic dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products substantially as herein described with reference to the Fig-1 of the drawing accompanying this specification.

Full Text

The present invention relates to a device useful for automatic dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products.
The device of the present invention is particularly useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products while serving snack foods such as dosa, idli, chapati, poori etc. The quantity dispensed by using this device is uniform in quantity under hygienic conditions in an intermittent/continuous manner. The chutney may be produced from numerous recipes using a variety of ingredients viz., fried-bengal-gram, groundnut, coconut as base material and adjuncts such as curry leaves, coriander leaves, spices, salts etc. The device of the present invention is therefore useful as an accessory to traditional food machinery for serving chutney or sauce along with the snack foods. In India dosa, idli, chapathy and poori are the largely consumed snack foods. The tedious operation involved in the preparation of these snack foods, has affected the large-scale production. All these snack foods are consumed with some side dishes like chutney or sauce and non-availability of proper dispensing units has increased the human drudgery and unhygienic conditions in the mass feeding centers of snack foods. All the preparatory operations of these snack foods are carried out manually besides serving side dishes, which has become a deterrent in large-scale production and catering services.
Attempts to produce and market pre-cooked Indian snack foods are being made by some agencies with no success. The major problems are the non-availability of

suitable machinery for the production of traditional foods and gadgets for dispensing
side dishes like chutney and sauce on a large scale. In case a device is made available
for dispensing of the side dishes like chutney, sauce and curries, it would increase the
convenience on the part of catering these snack foods on large-scale.
Hitherto the process of serving of chutney, sauce and other similar side dishes are
done manually. In manual serving the device consists of a stainless steel spoon and a
container. The server uses the spoon for serving the side dish.
The drawbacks of manual serving of the side dishes like chutney, sauce and other
products are:
1. There is a variation in the quantity served.
2. Manual serving using open vessel and spoon leads to contamination and hygiene
problems.
3. The process is labour intensive and human drudgery is very high.
The main object of the present invention is to provide a device useful for automatic dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products in uniform quantities. Another object is to provide hygienic conditions through mechanized operation. Still another object of the present invention is to reduce manual drudgery. Yet another object is to increase productivity as an adjunct to automatic machines for making dosa, chapati and the like.

Still another object is to provide a device capable of working with a wide range of
conventionally prepared chutnies and sauces.
The device of the present invention overcomes most of the drawbacks of the existing
method of manual serving of chutney, sauce and other similar products.
In the drawing accompanying this specification, figure 1 represents an embodiment
of the device of the present invention useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and
other similar products.
In an embodiment the device useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and other

similar products comprises of: a conical bottom vessel (1), a cover plate (2), a solenoid (3) mounted below the cover with suitable fasteners and rubber gaskets (4) to minimize the vibrations, an actuating shaft (5) with one end connected to the solenoid and the other end connected to a piston (6) with a locknut (7), a split pin (8) for connecting the actuating shaft and the piston, an annular tube (9) is connected to the bottom of the vessel through a nut (10), an air vent tube (11), a collector cup (12) is bolted to the actuating shaft with a locknut (13) and suitably positioned with proper sealing arrangement (14) at the bottom of the barrel, a photo-sensor (15) is fitted below the collector cup and the whole cycle of operation will be controlled by an electronic timer (16).
The cover plate and top portion of the vessel may have additional means such as bolts and nuts for fixing. The vessel may preferably be in conical shape and made of

stainless steel. This however, does not restrict the invention as any alternate shape or material can be sued. The conical or trapezoidal bottom assists flow of material as well as reduces the hold-up volume of chutney and hence preferred over flat bottom in the vessel construction. The cover plate may be provided with radial slots, which helps to fasten the cover plate with the appropriate bolt and nut arrangement on the vessel. The cover plate may also be made of the same material as that of the vessel. As said above, stainless steel is being the preferred material. The gasket preferred and employed may be of food grade rubber.
Accordingly the present invention provides a device useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products characterized by a conical bottom vessel (1), having a bottom opening and removable fixed cover plate (2), a solenoid being fixed to the bottom of the said cover plate, the said solenoid being provided with actuating shaft (5) extending thought the bottom opening of the vessel (1), a piston (6) fixed to the aid shaft by lock nut (7)) being provided close to the bottom of the said vessel (1), the said piston being provided with an air vent tube (11) and a split pin vertical movement stopper (8), an annular tube (9) concentrically enclosing the said piston (6) and extending below the bottom of the vessel (1) by nut (10) being provided at the bottom opening of the said vessel (1), the said tube also being provided with radial inlet ports in the inside of the bottom of the said vessel (1), the end of the said extended shaft (5) being provided with a collector cup (12) to cover the bottom of the annular space below the bottom of the vessel (1).
In another embodiment of the present invention wherein a split pin may be sued for controlling the stroke length of the actuating shaft and the piston attached to it, inside the annular tube.
In still another embodiment of the present invention wherein the device may be provided with an air vent tube, one end of which opens in to the annular space below the piston and the other end opens to the atmosphere.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the bottom end of the shaft being provided with a collector cup having a peripheral gasket for sealing the outlet.

In another embodiment of the present invention, device may be provided with a photo¬sensor located close to the bottom opening to sense the user's plate.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the device may be provided with an electronic timer capable of actuating the solenoid.
Automatic dispensing units for food materials like chutney, sauce and other products is hitherto not known. We propose a device useful for automatic dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products for the first time according to this invention.
The invention is based on our finding that chutney, sauce and similar products can be
dispensed in known quantity under hygienic conditions using a specially designed
discharge mechanism controlled by a timer and a photo sensor.
This dispenser can be an useful attachment to food processing equipment that could
produce snack foods like dosa, idli, chapathies, poories etc.
The following example is given by way of illustration of the present invention and
therefore should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention. The
working of the dispenser is explained below with particular reference to dispensing
of chutney made out of fried bengal-gram as a base material.
Example 1

Chutney is prepared by grinding fried bengal-gram, chillies and salt along with other
minor ingredients of individual's choice for taste. Water is added in required quantity to get the desired consistency of chutney mix for easy flow. The chutney thus prepared is charged into the vessel and is closed by fastening the cover plate.
When the user brings the plate near the discharge barrel against the photo sensor (the light radiation falling on the photo sensor will be blocked by the plate), the solenoid valve would get energized and would pull up the piston away from the port drilled on the barrel. At this position of the piston, the chutney would get filled in to the annular space of the barrel through the ports. When the solenoid valve gets demagnetized after the set time, the piston comes down and closes the ports. At the same time the dispenser would discharge the chutney contained in the barrel through the collector

assembly. The time of opening/closing of the valve port is controlled by an electronic timer depending upon the quantity of chutney to be dispensed. The whole cycle of operation would be completed within the time duration set by the electronic timer. The main advantages of the present invention are:
1) The chutney, sauce and other similar products can be automatically dispensed
under hygienic condition without contamination.
2) Uniform quantity of chutney/sauce can be dispensed irrespective of the variation
in the hydraulic head in the conical vessel.
3) The quantity dispensed can be varied.
4) The device is versatile and can efficiently handle different varieties of chutnies
and sauces.
5) Dispensing of the chutney/sauce can be started or stopped at will by the signal to
the solenoid through photo-sensor.
6) Operation and maintenance is easy and cost effective too.

We Claim:
1. A device useful for dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar products
characterized by a conical bottom vessel (1), having a bottom opening and
removable fixed cover plate (2), a solenoid being fixed to the bottom of the said
cover plate, the said solenoid being provided with actuating shaft (5) extending
thought the bottom opening of the vessel (1), a piston (6) fixed to the aid shaft by
lock nut (7) ) being provided close to the bottom of the said vessel (1), the said
piston being provided with an air vent tube (11) and a split pin vertical movement
stopper (8), an annular tube (9) concentrically enclosing the said piston (6) and
extending below the bottom of the vessel (1) by nut (10) being provided at the
bottom opening of the said vessel (1), the said tube also being provided with radial
inlet ports in the inside of the bottom of the said vessel (1), the end of the said
extended shaft (5) being provided with a collector cup (12) to cover the bottom of
the annular space below the bottom of the vessel (1).
2. A device a claimed in claim 1 wherein a solenoid is fixed to the bottom of the cover
plate through a rubber gasket.
3. A device as claimed in claims 1-2, wherein an air vent tube is provided, the one
end of which opens in to the annular space below the piston and the other end
opens to the atmosphere
4. A device as claimed in claims 1-3, wherein a collector cup is provided having a
peripheral gasket for sealing the outlet.
5. A device useful for automatic dispensing of chutney, sauce and other similar
products substantially as herein described with reference to the Fig-1 of the drawing
accompanying this specification.

Documents:

439-del-1999-abstract.pdf

439-del-1999-claims.pdf

439-del-1999-correspondence-others.pdf

439-del-1999-correspondence-po.pdf

439-del-1999-description (complete).pdf

439-del-1999-drawings.pdf

439-del-1999-form-1.pdf

439-del-1999-form-19.pdf

439-del-1999-form-2.pdf

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Patent Number

216377

Indian Patent Application Number

439/DEL/1999

PG Journal Number

13/2008

Publication Date

28-Mar-2008

Grant Date

12-Mar-2008

Date of Filing

19-Mar-1999

Name of Patentee

COUNCIL OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

Applicant Address

RAFI MARG, NEW DELHI-110001, INDAI.

Inventors:

#	Inventor's Name	Inventor's Address
1	KESTUR VENKATESH MURTHY	CENTRAL FOOD TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, MYSORE, 570 013, INDIA.
2	RANGASWAMY SUBRAMANIAN	CENTRAL FOOD TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, MYSORE, 570 013, INDIA.
3	THOTADAMOOLE RAMESH	CENTRAL FOOD TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, MYSORE, 570 013, INDIA.
4	BETTAIAH SADASHIVA	CENTRAL FOOD TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, MYSORE, 570 013, INDIA.
5	MAHEDEVAIAH NAGARAJU	CENTRAL FOOD TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, MYSORE, 570 013, INDIA.
6	ANANTHASWAMYRAO RAMESH	CENTRAL FOOD TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, MYSORE, 570 013, INDIA.

PCT International Classification Number

B65D 35/00

PCT International Application Number

N/A

PCT International Filing date

PCT Conventions:

#	PCT Application Number	Date of Convention	Priority Country
1			NA