Automatic tortilla-making machines

Claim 1

In an automatic dough processing machine for making formed articles of dough, especially tortillas: a frame, a pair of rolls in said frame having their axes in parallel spaced relation in a horizontal plane and rotatable in a direction to cause their sides facing each other to move downwardly, a hopper in said frame above said rolls for feeding dough downwardly to the space between the rolls, radial cylinder means in at least one of said rolls, piston means axially moveable in said cylinder means between an outer position wherein the outer end of the piston means is substantially flush with the surface of said one roll and an inner position wherein the outer end of said piston means is spaced inwardly from the surface of said one roll a distance about equal to the thickness of the article to be formed in the machine, said rolls substantially touching where nearest each other so the dough between the rolls will be pressed into and confined to said cylinder means, a knife in said frame adjacent the surface of said one roll and located at a point about the periphery of said one roll which is spaced from the region where the surfaces of said rolls commence to separate a distance such that the action of gravity on the said piston means in a said cylinder means which is approaching said knife will urge the piston means toward its outer position and in which position of the piston means said knife can dislodge the formed dough article from the roll, and a conveyor in said frame at a level lower than that of said rolls to receive the dough articles dislodged by said knife.