General Mills, Inc.
Dumpling automation machine

Abstract:

The present invention provides a dumpling automation machine for preparing dumpling-like food product, comprising a pressing and cutting device for dough pad, a filling injection device and a forming assembly, wherein the forming assembly comprises: a mold assembly for supporting a dough pad injected with a filling and maintaining the dough pad in an upright position; a pre-forming assembly for pre-pressing the upright dough pad to form a pre-pressed crest; and a forming assembly for pressing the pre-pressed crest to from a crest; wherein the mold assembly is configured to successively support the dough pad in different positions along a conveyor, and wherein in a pre-forming position, pre-bending portions on the two ends of the crest are formed by the pre-forming assembly, and in a forming position, the pre-bending portions are bent to form bending portion by a bending assembly. The present invention does not need the participation of people in the forming of the dumpling-like food product, thus it can replace the traditional manufacturing mode of manual dumpling process and thus the productivity effect can be significantly increased. Moreover, the formed dumpling-like food product has a compact crest, a full pocket, a unique shape and is easy to be put into the box.