FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to food processing machines. Particularly, the present invention relates to food processing machines used to prepare extrudable foods. Still particularly, the present invention relates to domestic electric appliances used for making string hoppers and other extrudable products.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Automatic home food processing machines with extruding devices have been common in use for past many years. Earlier, the dough mass was prepared manually and fed in to the feeder portion of the smaller food processing machine. In later stage, the flour, water and other ingredients are put into a chamber inside the machine and the dough is prepared automatically and the same is extruded in desired shapes like noodle or pasta. Many developments have been made in the domestic extrudable food processing appliances in the past many years.
In the existing devices, the extrusion part is designed and mounted in horizontal direction. So, the delivered food sheet or noodle has to be collected carefully otherwise results in deformation in shape which affect the texture. Also, the delivered food products may get entangled and stick with each other which results in wastages. It is very difficult to provide a collection chamber in the delivery portion of the machine especially with horizontal extruders.

■ Many of the existing food processing devices consists automatic dough making chambers. Even though it eliminates the disadvantages of making the dough manually, it has some other disadvantages. As this dough making is done by electrical motors and components, the heat generated during the . process may affect the quality of dough. The dough residuals may tend to adhere to inner walls and comer of the working chamber which may results in fungus attack.
Moreover, many food processing devices need at least minimum quantity of dove to process and some processing machines produces excessive quantity of food than acquired thus it leads to food wastage. Furthermore, most of the existing machines are not capable of both mixing and preparing string hoppers, as actuators and gears tends to increase the overall machine and complicated for domestic purposes.
However, machines of the existing type are not equipped with efficient means to produce the food products with perfect shape, quality and consistency. There are many prior art patents available which discloses various methods and apparatus to produce extrudable food products. .
United States Patent number 5,409,365 filed on Oct 12, 1994 discloses a noodle machine with a housing which has an upper opening and a horizontally mounted working chamber to prepare the dough. The dough is squeezed out and delivered by a horizontal extruder. This machine delivers

the product in horizontal direction and there is no collection chamber is provided which is disadvantageous.
International patent application WO2014/096989 published on 26 June 2014 discloses a device and method for preparing extrudable food products capable of extruding as much as mixed materials in the working chamber through the extrusion die, so as to minimize the waste of food. This device consists a separate driving arrangement with stirring arrangement to prepare the dough. This consumes high power and the cost of the machine increases due to the additional attachments.
Taking into consideration the known art, exemplified above, the present invention proposes a method and device to produce extrudable food products with minimum cost and wastages, which is cost-effective and robust in construction while being simple and effective in operation.
OBJECTIVE OF THE INVENTION
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a convenient string hopper making machine for effective mixing and quality preparation of string hoppers.
Another main objective of the present invention is to provide weighing means to measure flour powder quantitatively to reduce food waste.

Still another main objective of the present invention is to provide a non-stick and well-organized string hoppers during production.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to implement a fully automated based preparation of string hoppers in minimum time and reduce human efforts.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to manufacture the said machine in simple construction, compact and cost efficient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to
provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.
According to the main aspect of the present invention, a string hopper making machine comprises of a flour compartment, an oil and water compartment, a control unit, an agitating and pressing assembly, a machine base compartment and a delivery unit characterized in that said flour compartment comprises of a weighing means and said agitating and

pressing assembly further comprises of a linear actuating means and at least a rotational means which is movably mounted on the linear actuating means through plurality of magnets.
According to another aspect of the present invention, said machine further comprises of outer body, switching means and indication lights. Said flour compartment comprises of flour container, door, door opening means, flour opening plate, stepper motor and actuating rod. Here to fore said oil and water compartment comprises of water container, oil container, water inlet means, oil inlet means, cap opening means and solenoids. Said control unit comprises of inter active touch display.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, said line aractuating means comprises of main motor, screw rod, cage, shaft, bearing slot, shaft hole, agitator and magnets. The rotating means comprises of stepper motor, spur gear and bearing. Said machine base compartment comprises of mixing cabinet, column supports, delivery support plate, column base plate, blocking plate, actuating motor, seal container and flour hole. The delivery unit comprises of circular delivery plate and mini motor. Furthermore said control unit is connected to the flour compartment, an oil and water compartment, agitating and pressing assembly, machine base compartment, a weighing means and delivery unit.

These and other advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1a and 1b depicts the isometric representation of string hopper making machine and its main embodiments according to the main aspect of the present invention.
Figure 2a and 2b depicts the isometric and exploded view of agitating and pressing assembly and its embodiments in accordance to another main aspect of the present invention.
Figure 3a and 3b depicts the cross sectional exploded view of weighing means arrangement in accordance to still another main aspect of the present invention.
Figure 4a and 4b depicts the front and exploded view of delivery unit in accordance to the present invention.

Figure 5 depicts the display representation of string hopper making machine in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 6 depicts the flow chart process representation of string hopper making machine in accordance with the present invention.
Person who is skilled in the art will appreciate that element in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.
The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor :o enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly,

it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.
Figure 1a and 1b describes the isometric representation of string hopper making machine (1) and its main embodiments according to the main aspect of the present invention. The main embodiments of string hopper making machine (1) comprises of a flour compartment (21), an oil and water compartment (31), a control unit (41), agitating and pressing assembly (51), machine base compartment (81), a weighing means and a delivery unit (101). Said machine (1) further comprises of outer body (11), switching means (12), and indication lights (13a) (13b). The outer body (11) provides an overall enclosure to said machine (1), a switching means (12) is provide to operate the said machine (1) whereas it's operational sequence is displayed by the indication lights (13a) (13b).
Referring more detailed with Figure 1b, the flour compartment (21) and the oil and water compartment (31) are disposed inside the machine base

compartment (81) particularly on the opposite sides. The flour compartment (21) comprises of flour container (22), door (23), door opening means (24), flour opening plate (25), stepper motor (26) and actuating rod (27). Said oil and water compartment (31) comprises of water container (32), oil container (33), water inlet means (34), oil inlet means (35), cap opening means (36) and solenoids (37a) (37b).
The machine base compartment (81) comprises of mixing cabinet (82), column supports (83a) (83b) (83c) (83d), delivery support plate (84), column base plate (85), blocking plate (86), actuating motor (87), seal container (88) and flour hole (89). The mixing process is done in mixing cabinet (82) whereas the said machine (1) is supported by column supports (83a) (83b) (83c) (83d) and column base plate (85). The seal container (88) consists of micro holes arranged in orderly manner, said seal container (88) is interchangeable with respect to user's requirement.
The control unit (41) is disposed on the machine base compartment (81) particularly on the mixing cabinet (82). The control unit (41) comprises of an interactive touch display (42) for operating said machine (1). The control unit (41) is connected to the flour compartment (21), an oil and water compartment (31), agitating and pressing assembly (51), machine base compartment (81), a weighing means (91) and delivery unit (101).

Figure 2a and 2b describes the isometric and exploded view of agitating and pressing assembly (51) and its embodiments in accordance to another main aspect of the present invention. The main embodiments of agitating and pressing assembly (51) comprises of a linear actuating means (61) for providing axial motion to the agitator (68) and rotational means (71) for providing rotational motion. The linear actuating means (61) comprises of main motor (62), screw rod (63), cage (64), shaft (65), bearing slot (66), shaft hole (67), agitator (68) and plurality of magnets (69a) (69b). Said rotating means (71) comprises of stepper motor (72), spur gear (73) and bearing (74). The main motor (62) is operably fixated on the cage (64) whereas said cage (64) is mounted on the top surface ofthe mixing cabinet (82). Said screw rod (63) is pivotably fixated on the main motor (62) and said shaft (65) is threadably mounted internally to the outer threaded portion of the screw rod (63).
The shaft (65) is partially suspended inside the mixing cabinet (82) through the shaft hole (67). Said shaft (65) is machined partially by spur gear pattern on the top portion whereas plurality of magnetic means (69a) is disposed rigidly on the bottom portion. The agitator (68) is disposed inside the mixing cabinet (82) for mixing whereas the agitator (68) consists of plurality of magnets (69b) disposed rigidly on the inner portion of the agitator (68). Said agitator (68) is temporarily fixated on the shaft (65) of the linear actuating means (61) preferably by magnets (69a) (69b). The bearing (74) is disposed on the bearing slot (66) of the mixing cabinet (82). The spur gear (73) is

rotatably fixated on the bearing (74) whereas it is operated by the stepper motor (72). The spur gear (73) is contiguous to the shaft (65)preferably on the spur gear pattern, therefore providing rotating motion when driven by the stepper motor (72).
Figure 3a and 3b describes the cross sectional exploded view of weighing. means (91) arrangement in accordance to still another main aspect of the present invention. The weighing means (91) arrangement is disposed inside the mixing cabinet (82) whereas the weighing means (91) measures the weight of the flour compartment (21). The flour is added inside the container (22) through door (23) by pressing the door opening means (24). The flour compartment (21) is disposed in such a way that the flour enters into the mixing cabinet (82) when the stepper motor (26) actuates the flour opening plate (25).
Similarly, the water container (32) and oil container (33) are filled with water and oil through water inlet means (34) and oil inlet means (35) by pressing the cap opening means (36). The oil and water compartment (31) is disposed in such a way that the oil and water flows into the mixing cabinet (82) through the solenoids (37a) (37b) controlled by the control unit (41). The mixing cabinet (82) is also comprises of flour hole (89) wherein the mixed dove passes the said hole (89) during compression. The flour hole (89) remains closed by blocking plate (86) actuated by the actuating motor (87) during mixing and opens by actuating motion during compression. A seal container

(88) is disposed on bottom of the mixing cabinet (82) concentric to the flour hole (89).
Figure 4a and 4b describes the front and exploded view of delivery unit (101) in accordance to the present invention. The delivery unit (101) comprises of circular delivery plate (102) and mini motor (103). The mini motor (103) is operably mounted on the bottom of machine base compartment (81) preferably on the delivery support plate (84). A circular delivery plate (102) is mounted on the mini motor (103) disposed on the top portion of the delivery support plate (84). The delivery unit (101) is disposed on bottom of the seal container (88) substantially tangent to the seal container (88).
Referring in more specific, the mini motor (103) drives the deliver plate (102) during compression, such that the string hoppers are well-organized and non-stick to each other. The delivery.support plate (84) is rigidly fixated on machine base compartment (81 ^particularly on the column supports (83a) (83b) (83c) (83d).
Figure 5 describes the display (42) representation of string hopper making machine (1) in accordance with the present invention. The touch display (42) consists a series of input values such as string hoppers required, mixing period, speed and mix type. The input values are predefined set values wherein the users feeds the desire values before starting the machine. The mix type is selected by the user whereas said machine (1) varies the flow of

oil and water according to the mix type. The final data is saved and the process is started by pressing the start icon.
Figure 6 describes the flow chart process representation of string hopper making machine in accordance with the present invention. Initially the user fills the flour, oil and water in the flour container (22), water container (32) and oil container (33). The user feeds the values on the display unit (42) and transfers the relevant data to the control unit (41). Said control unit (41) measures the weight of the flour container (22) by using weighing means (91) and opens the flour plate (25) to add flour to the mixing cabinet (82). The flour plate (25) opens and the flour falls on the mixing cabinet (82), if the quantity of flour did not match with the pre-set data, then the flour plate (25) is kept opened until the desired quantity level is reached.
If the desired quantity level is reached, the flour plate (25) is closed by the control unit (41). Simultaneously, the oil and water level is poured by the solenoids (37a) (37b) in accordance with the pre-set mix type. Rotational means (71) is operated by the control unit (41) for a pre-set time period until the flour is completely meshed into dove. The blocking plate (86) is opened by the control unit (41) by operating the actuating motor (87) and linear actuating means (61) compresses the dove through the seal container (88). The delivery unit (101) is operated by the control unit (41) to receive the string hoppers from the seal container (88) to get well-organized string

hoppers. After completely one full cycle, the linear actuating means (61) rotates backwards and returns to its original position.
The present invention is manufactured as above proposed construction and efficacy is obtained. It is' found that the said machine produced a well-organized flow of string hoppers expediently in minimum time period. Since by using weighing means, the exact quantity of food is produced therefore minimalizing food wastage. Moreover, by using integrated mixing and compression, the quality of flour mixing factors increased and human efforts are reduced since the machine uses automation based preparation. Therefore, the present invention is more advantageous and effective in preparing string hoppers than conventional mixing and preparing methods.

WE CLAIM:
1. A string hopper making machine (1) comprises of a flour compartment (21); an oil and water compartment (31); a control unit (41); an agitating and pressing assembly (51); a machine base compartment (81); and a delivery unit (101); characterized in that said flour compartment (21) comprises of a weighing means (91) and said agitating and pressing assembly (51) further comprises of a linear actuating means (61) and at least a rotational means (71) which is movably mounted on the linear actuating means (61) through plurality of magnets (69a) (69b).
2. The string hopper making machine (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said machine (1) further comprises of outer body (11), switching means (12), and indication lights (13a) (13b).
3. The string hopper making machine (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said flour compartment (21) comprises of flour container (22), door (23), door opening means (24), flour opening plate (25), stepper motor (26) and actuating rod (27).
i. The string hopper making machine (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said oil and water compartment (31) comprises of

water container (32), oil container (33), water inlet means (34), oil inlet means (35), cap opening means (36) and solenoids (37a) (37b).
5. The string hopper making machine (1) as claimed in claim 1,
characterized in that said control unit (41) comprises of interactive touch
display (42).
6. The string hopper making machine (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said linear actuating means (61) comprises of main motor (62), screw rod (63), cage (64), shaft (65), bearing slot (66), shaft hole (67), agitator (68) and magnets (69a) (69b).
7. The string hopper making machine (1) as claimed in claim 1. characterized in that said rotating means (71) comprises of stepper motor (72), spur gear (73) and bearing (74).
8. The string hopper making machine (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that said machine base compartment (81) comprises of mixing cabinet (82), column supports (83a) (83b) (83c) (83d), delivery support plate (84), column base plate (85), blocking plate (86), actuating motor (87), seal container (88) and flour hole (89).

I
I
9. The string hopper making machine (1) as claimed in claim 1 l
' i
characterized in that said delivery unit (101) comprises of circular delivery plate (102) and mini motor (.103).
10. The string hopper making machine (1) as claimed in claim 1 and 5,
characterized in that said control unit (41) is connected to the flour
compartment (21), an oil and water compartment (31), agitating and
pressing assembly (51), machine base compartment (81), weighing
means (91) and delivery unit (101).