Egg Breaking Machine

The present invention relates to an egg breaking machine. In particular, the egg breaking machine allows for the breakage of a plurality of egg shells and the captive retention of the shells while the egg contents are dumped.

Eggs are used in great quantity by commercial food operations. Restaurants typically buy eggs in cartons, or shipping flats, containing thirty eggs. These shallow cartons hold the eggs in five rows, with six eggs in each row. The egg sits within a formed indentation in the carton. The upper half of the egg is usually exposed and unprotected.

Breaking the egg's shell by hand presents several problems. First, it is a labor intensive job to remove each egg from the carton, break it, dump the contents, discard the shell, and repeat the process. Second, those cracking the eggs are subject to cuts from the broken egg shells. Therefore, a need exists for an apparatus and method of breaking an egg which addresses these problems.

The present invention relates to an egg-breaking apparatus comprising a pan with raised side portions for holding a plurality of eggs with the upper portions of the eggs extending above the raised side portions of said pan, guide means movable relative to said pan, said guide means having an upper and lower surface and a plurality of apertures formed therethrough, said guide means hingedly connected to the pan such that the upper ends of the eggs extend through said apertures and above the upper surface of said guide means, and cutting means rotatably attached to said pan to slide across the upper surface of said guide means for cutting off the upper portions of the eggs above said guide means.

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and for further details and advantages thereof, reference is not made to the following Detailed Description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of the egg breaker holding an egg flat containing thirty eggs sitting inside the pan;

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 provides a side view of the optional rotary design; and

FIG. 4 provides an end view of the optional rotary design.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown the invention that is an egg breaking machine which is used for breaking thirty eggs or less at a time. Most restaurants buy eggs by the case containing thirty eggs per layer. In FIGS. 1 and 2, thirty eggs 1 are held in place by an egg holder 2 that is situated inside of a rectangular-shaped pan 3 with raised side portions. On one side of the pan, there is attached a pan handle 4 and adjacent to the pan handle is attached a hinge 5. The hinge 5 connects the pan 3 to the upper section of the rectangular-shaped egg support guide 6. The egg support guide 6 has holes 7 in it to allow the egg tops 8 to fit through. When breaking eggs 1, one of three hole sizes 7 may be used to fit the size of eggs, either small, medium or large, which are being broken. With the eggs 1 and egg holder 2 placed inside the pan 3, then the guide 6 is placed down over the egg tops 8. A connecting rod 9 is attached to pan 3 opposite the end to which the hinge 5 is attached. The rod 9 is slip fitted at one end of the pan into a hole in the cutter pivot post 10. The opposite end of the rod 9 is connected to the support beam 11.

A rectangular-shaped egg cutter 12 is attached to the support beam 11. The egg cutter 12 is made of a rectangular-shaped metal plate with an edge 13 and side walls. The egg cutter's 12 edge 13 can cut off egg tops 8. An egg cutter handle 14 can be attached to the support beam 11 opposite the egg cutter. The handle 14 is held, and the pan handle 4 is held in the other hand; then the egg cutter 12 is pushed by hand by means of handle 14 over the top of the egg support guide 6 thereby cutting off a small top section of each egg 1. The pan handle 4 can be designed to hold to the end of a table that will make it unnecessary for the operator to hold the pan handle 40 to prevent the egg breaker from sliding when in use. After a small top section of the eggs 1 have been cut off, the operator then detaches the egg cutter assembly 11, 12 and 14 from pan 3 by sliding of disconnecting support beam 11 and rod 9 from cutter pivot post 10. When placing the egg cutter assembly 11, 12 and 14 in a separate container, the egg shell tops will easily slide off the egg cutter 12. Then turning the egg breaker upside down will allow the egg yokes and whites to fall into a selected container. To prevent the yokes of each egg 1 from breaking, a utility pan can be placed firmly against the top of the support guide 6. Then the egg breaker can be turned upside down with the utility pan, and when lifting the egg breaker, the egg yokes and whites will gently fall into the utility pan.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a rotary feature which can be added to the egg breaking machine to facilitate each of use. The egg breaking machine is mounted between two "A" support frames 15 or like means fitted with stabilizing rubber feet or suction cups 16. Rotary support members 17 connect the "A" frames or end support means to the opposite ends of the pan 3. This rotary design feature allows easy rotation when "dumping" egg yokes and whites into the selected container 18. The rotary feature facilitates ease of use because the operator is no longer required to life the egg breaking machine, but rotates the machine instead. A crank arm 19 or motor can be installed for this purpose. The egg support guide 6 is locked in place with a latch mechanism 20 attached to the cutter pivot post 10. This prevents egg shells from falling out of the egg holder 2 when rotating the egg breaking machine 180 degrees for dumping the egg yokes and whites. The egg breaking machine is then rotated another 180 degrees to its original upright starting position and becomes locked in place to begin another egg cutting cycle. The rotary feature allows the operator greater egg efficiency with less effort. Additional features will entail a complete motorized version which will automatically cut the egg shells and dump the egg yokes and whites.

Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in the foregoing Detailed Description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications, and substitutions of parts and elements without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the present invention is intended to encompass such arrangements, modifications, and substitutions of parts and elements as fall within the scope of the invention.