Pizza sauce dispensing devices and methods

Abstract

A pizza sauce dispenser simultaneously dispenses and spreads a precisely controlled amount of sauce onto a pizza dough base without manually handling the sauce or the dough during operation. The dispenser includes a selectively rotatable disc and an arm that selectively extends over the disc. At lease one nozzle is supported by the arm and selectively dispenses the sauce onto the dough. A control mechanism controls: (1) a selected rate and direction of disc rotation; (2) a selected pivot rate and direction of the arm; and/or (3) a selected rate of dispensing sauce through the nozzle. In use, with pizza dough placed on the disc, the disc is rotated and the arm pivoted over the dough so that the nozzle traverses a path from the outside edge of the dough to the center of the dough or vice versa. Sauce thus is deposited in a spiral or other desirable pattern.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A pizza sauce dispenser comprising: 
 a disc rotatably mounted to a base for selective rotation at a predetermined rate;    an arm pivotally mounted to the base for selectively disposing an end of the arm over the disc; and    a sauce dispensing mechanism having at least one nozzle disposed at the end of the arm and oriented toward the disc for selectively dispensing pizza sauce toward the disc.    
     
     
         2 . The dispenser of  claim 1  wherein the dispensing mechanism further includes: 
 a flexible hose extending from the nozzle; and  
 a pump, connected to the hose and operatively coupled to a reservoir, adapted to hold a quantity of sauce to be drawn by the pump;  
 wherein the pump is selectively actuated for controlling a predetermined amount and rate of sauce dispensed through the nozzle toward the disc.  
 
     
     
         3 . The dispenser of  claim 2  wherein the pump further comprises a drawback cylinder for maintaining the nozzle in a substantially clog-free and substantially drip-free state.  
     
     
         4 . The dispenser of  claim 2  wherein the dispensing mechanism further comprises a stepper motor operatively coupled to the pump for controlling a variable rate of flow of sauce through the nozzle.  
     
     
         5 . The dispenser of  claim 1  and further comprising: 
 a second dispensing mechanism having a second nozzle disposed at the end of the arm and oriented toward the disc for selectively dispensing a second pizza sauce toward the disc.  
 
     
     
         6 . The dispenser of  claim 5  wherein the second dispensing mechanism further comprises: 
 a second flexible hose extending from the second nozzle;  
 a second pump connected to the second hose and operatively coupled to a second reservoir adapted to hold a quantity of the second sauce to be drawn by the second pump,  
 wherein the second pump is selectively actuated for controlling a predetermined amount and rate of the second sauce dispensed through the second nozzle toward the disc.  
 
     
     
         7 . The dispenser of  claim 1  and further comprising: 
 a control mechanism for selectively activating, deactivating, and varying a rate of: (1) rotation of the disc; (2) pivoting of the arm; and (3) dispensing sauce through the nozzle.  
 
     
     
         8 . The dispenser of  claim 7  wherein the control mechanism further comprises a programmable logic controller for controlling activation, deactivation, and the rate of operation of the rotatable disc, pivotable arm, and the dispensing mechanism.  
     
     
         9 . The dispenser of  claim 8  wherein the programmable logic controller includes a stored program in a memory for identifying a pattern according to which sauce is dispensed on a predetermined size and shape pizza crust.  
     
     
         10 . The dispenser of  claim 9  wherein the stored program includes parameters comprising a total time and rate that sauce is to be dispensed through the dispensing mechanism, a total time and rate of rotation of the disc, and a total time, rate, and direction of pivoting of the arm.  
     
     
         11 . The dispenser of  claim 8  wherein the control mechanism further comprises a membrane-type keypad and display for sending signals to the programmable logic controller.  
     
     
         12 . The dispenser of  claim 11  wherein the control mechanism further includes the functions of: 
 counting a number of pizzas to be sauced;  
 counting a number of pizzas that have been sauced;  
 starting a saucing operation;  
 terminating a saucing operation; and  
 identifying a type and size of pizza to be sauced.  
 
     
     
         13 . The dispenser of  claim 8  wherein the control mechanism further comprises a bar code scanner operatively coupled to the programmable logic controller for identifying a set of predetermined saucing parameters for a pizza to be sauced.  
     
     
         14 . The dispenser of  claim 1  wherein the disc comprises a removable tray having a plurality of nested concentric rings, each ring having a different elevation.  
     
     
         15 . The dispenser of  claim 14  wherein a ring at a center of the disc defines a lowest elevation of the concentric rings and has a smallest diameter of the concentric rings.  
     
     
         16 . The dispenser of  claim 14  wherein an outer rim of the disc defines a highest elevation of the concentric rings and has a largest diameter of the concentric rings.  
     
     
         17 . The dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising a stepper motor operatively coupled to the disc for causing rotation of the disc.  
     
     
         18 . The dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising a stepper motor operatively coupled to the arm for causing pivoting of the arm.  
     
     
         19 . The dispenser of  claim 18 , further comprising a sensor operatively coupled to the motor and the pivoting arm to facilitate controlling a rate and direction of pivoting of the arm.  
     
     
         20 . The dispenser of  claim 19  wherein the arm further comprises: 
 a vertical support secured relative to the motor and in close proximity to the sensor; and  
 a horizontal member extending from the vertical support in a generally perpendicular relationship to extend over the rotatable disc and supporting the nozzle wherein the end of the arm is the end of the horizontal member.  
 
     
     
         21 . A pizza sauce dispenser comprising: 
 a selectively rotatable disc for supporting a pizza dough base;    an arm selectively pivotable with respect to the disc; and    a first spray mechanism mounted on the arm and being selectively actuable for spraying a first sauce onto the dough base at a predetermined rate.    
     
     
         22 . The dispenser of  claim 21 , further comprising: 
 a second spray mechanism mounted on the arm and being selectively actuable independently of the first spray mechanism for spraying a second sauce onto the dough base at a predetermined rate.    
     
     
         23 . The pizza sauce dispenser of  claim 21 , further comprising: 
 a control mechanism for selectively activating, deactivating, and varying a rate of: (1) rotation of the disc; (2) pivoting of the arm; and (3) spraying sauce through the first spray mechanism.    
     
     
         24 . A pizza sauce dispenser comprising: 
 a selectively rotatable disc for supporting pizza dough; and    a spray mechanism including a stationary arm extending over the disc, the arm further having a plurality of ports serially arranged along the arm with the arm extending from a first end adjacent an outer edge of the disc to a second end adjacent a center of the disc;    wherein the spray mechanism is capable of spraying sauce onto the pizza dough through the ports selectively at a predetermined rate for a predetermined amount of time while the disc rotates below the spray mechanism.    
     
     
         25 . The dispenser of  claim 24 , wherein the ports further include: 
 an inner set of ports closest to the center of the disc, an intermediate set of ports adjacent the first set of ports, and an outer set of ports adjacent the intermediate set of ports and the outer edge of the disc.    
     
     
         26 . The dispenser of  claim 25 , further comprising: 
 a control mechanism for activating the inner set of ports for a first, smaller size pizza dough to be placed on the disc, for activating the intermediate set of ports and the inner set of ports for a second, intermediate size pizza dough to be placed on the disc, and for activating the outer set of ports, the intermediate set of ports, and the inner set of ports for a third, larger size pizza dough to be placed on the disc.    
     
     
         27 . A pizza sauce dispenser comprising: 
 a selectively rotatable disc for supporting pizza dough; and    a spray mechanism including a stationary arm extending over the disc and a slidable member that is selectively slidable along the stationary arm over the disc, the spray mechanism having at least one nozzle disposed on the slidable member; and    wherein the spray mechanism is capable of selectively spraying sauce onto the pizza dough through the nozzle selectively at a predetermined rate for a predetermined amount of time, while the disc rotates.    
     
     
         28 . A method of dispensing sauce onto an edible base, the method comprising: 
 selectively rotating an edible base at a predetermined rate;    positioning an end of an arm over the edible base; and    selectively dispensing sauce through at least one nozzle at the end of the arm onto the base while the base rotates.    
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , further comprising: 
 terminating the dispensing operation when a predetermined amount of sauce is deposited onto the edible base.    
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 28 , further comprising spraying the sauce onto the base in a spiral pattern.  
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 28 , further comprising: 
 centering the base onto a rotatable disc by correlating a diameter of the base to one ring of a nested set of concentric rings formed on a surface of the disc.    
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 28 , further comprising: 
 initiating pivoting of the arm at a location adjacent an outer edge of the base and maintaining pivoting of the arm toward a center of the base, and terminating pivoting of the arm at a location adjacent the center of the base.    
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 28 , further comprising: 
 initiating pivoting of the arm at a location adjacent a center of the base, maintaining pivoting of the arm toward an outer edge of the base, and terminating pivoting of the arm at a location adjacent the outer edge of the base.    
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the base comprises pizza dough.  
     
     
         35 . A method of dispensing two different sauces on two different pizzas with a sauce dispensing device, the method comprising: 
 selectively rotating a disc of the device with a first pizza dough thereon at a predetermined rate;    selectively pivoting an end of an arm of the device over the first pizza dough;    selectively dispensing a first sauce through a first nozzle at the end of the arm onto the first pizza dough during the rotating and the pivoting;    removing the first pizza dough from the disc;    selectively rotating the disc with a second pizza dough thereon at a predetermined rate;    selectively pivoting the end of the arm over the second pizza dough; and    selectively dispensing a second sauce through a second nozzle at the end of the arm onto the second pizza dough during the second rotating and the second pivoting.    
     
     
         36 . A method of dispensing sauce on a pizza, comprising: 
 selectively rotating a disc, with a generally circular shaped pizza dough set on the disc, at a predetermined rate; and    selectively spraying sauce onto the dough during the rotating step while moving an origin of the spraying function from a first radial location on the dough to a second radial location on the dough.    
     
     
         37 . A pizza sauce dispenser comprising: 
 means for rotating a pizza dough base at a predetermined rate; and    means for disposing at least one sauce dispensing device over the pizza dough base, the sauce dispensing device being controllable, in conjunction with the means for rotating, to dispense different types and amounts of pizza sauce onto different dough bases, free of exchanging said sauce dispensing device between said different dough bases.