Oh, patents! Oh, Foodini!

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Ready to tap into a databank of food prints? Ready to print your own chocolate letters, and dinosaur spinach quiche? If you are, then you are ready for Foodini, the 3D food printer, manufactured by Natural Machines. 

For savory or sweet prints, Foodini offers a way of 3D printing freshly prepared ingredients, into mouth-watering, artistic, and impressive-looking designer food prints. The video included below shows designer Foodini printed dinosaur spinach quiche. 

The Natural Machines Inc., 3D food printer invention is recited in the following 13-member patent family:

• WO2014190168A1 - Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology
• AU2014268446 (A1) - Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology
• BR112015028981 (A2) - Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology 
• CA2913013 (A1) - Apparatus, method and system for manufacturing food using additive manufacturing 3D printing technology 
• CN105407746 (A) - Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology
• EP3074206 (A1) - Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology
• HK1221876 (A1) - Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology 3D
• JP2016525885 (A) - Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology
• KR20160009067 (A) - Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology
• MX2015015889 (A) - Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology 
• RU2015151458 (A) - Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology
• SG11201509519X (A) - Manufacturing food using 3D printing technology
• US2016135493 (A1) - Apparatus, method and system for manufacturing food using additive manufacturing 3D printing technology

Since the prior art of melting modules for plastic, in 3D printed manufacturing, is ill-suited for the extensive palette of edible ingredients, the Natural Machines Inc., invention comprises automated means of heating food capsules according to an inventive algorithm that takes into account various parameters such as the specific contents of the capsule, the temperature of the ingredients and the speed of heating required. The invention also comprises automated means of selecting several food capsules from their stations, and changing the capsules, using an inventive fetch (and return) tool that is connected to a telescopic extrusion arm. Finally, the invention also includes processing, information storage, and controlling means, so that the machines might be used without human intervention.

The US patent abstract for this invention is included below, together with the patent  Figure 7A. Figure 7A shows a blueprint drawing of the fetch tool, returning a food capsule to an empty food capsule station, after extrusion in the additive manufacturing (AM) process. The tool will then be ready to fetch another capsule, that will, in turn, be used for extruding another additive layer of ingredients in the 3D food printing process.

A 3D printer system that uses the AM method to print a product using a plurality of materials, each of which is contained in a respective capsule. The capsules are removably inserted into respective capsule holders, each of which includes a heating device for adjusting the temperature of the material, and is releasably held in one of a plurality of stations. A tool fetches individual capsules from and deposits them to their stations, and holds individual capsules for printing the product using a telescopic extrusion apparatus. A memory stores capsule-identifying data, a processor provides position coordinates for positioning of the tool, and a controller moves the tool to the position coordinates. The capsule holders include heating systems for controlling the rheological behavior of the materials based on algoritlmls executed by the processor.  [Abstract US2016135493] 

References

Natural Machines

https://www.naturalmachines.com/