JP2010187564A - Apparatus and method for producing rice ball - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide an ingredient such as a rice ball which has an appropriate hardness so that it does not lose its shape while enclosing the ingredient in a central position of a sheet-like ingredient and has an excellent texture.
SOLUTION: A pair of belt side end standing guides 33, 33 erected in the width direction of a conveyor belt 31 on which a food material R formed in a sheet shape is placed, and a curved portion in which the upper side of the sheet food material is narrowed down. The molding apparatus 30 includes a pair of left and right side sandwiching rollers 34 and 34 that form the upper surface shaping roller 35 that presses and shapes the massive food material on the conveyor belt released from the belt side end standing guide. Constitute.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method for a rice ball having ingredients.

  Traditionally, rice balls and other foods have been wrapped in rice and other ingredients such as pickled plums and tarako. The operation of wrapping such ingredients with cooked rice is usually performed manually by a skilled worker, but has been mechanized to improve productivity.

  For example, a sheet material capable of wrapping cooked rice, a sheet material expansion device that puts the sheet material into a stretched state and a loosened state, and a press capable of forming a recess in the cooked rice placed on the sheet material The mold, a squeeze member that can squeeze the opening of the sheet material when the sheet material is in a loose state, and the rice cooked by the sheet material from the outside of the squeezed sheet material can be caught There is an apparatus provided with a nigiri type (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 7-264966 A

  However, in the apparatus of the above-mentioned patent document 1, since the forming operation of cooked rice using a sheet material, a pressing die, and a nigiri die is performed at the same location, it requires a complicated arrangement of devices in a narrow space, and productivity and maintainability. Lacks. Further, in the food forming method described in Patent Document 1, it is not easy to accurately position the ingredients at the center of the rice ball shape, and it is easy to cause variations in the compacted state and insertion position of cooked rice covering the ingredients. As a result, the ingredients may be filled in a state where the cooked rice is hard and difficult to loosen, and the form and texture of the product may be impaired.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and the ingredients are surely included in the center position of the rice ball, and it has an appropriate hardness that does not easily lose its shape, and is easy to unravel in the mouth. It aims at providing the rice ball manufacturing apparatus and the rice ball manufacturing method which can manufacture the outstanding rice ball efficiently.

  (1) The rice ball manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, which has been made to solve the above-described conventional problems, is capable of placing cooked rice formed in a sheet shape, and a flexible member that can be bent at both ends in the width direction of the conveyance direction. The formed conveyor belt, a pair of belt side end standing guides erected at a predetermined interval in the width direction of the conveyor belt, and both side ends thereof are substantially U-shaped by the belt side end standing guides. A pair of left and right side pressing rollers that form on the conveyor belt a curved portion in which the upper side of the sheet-like cooked rice is squeezed by pressing both ends of the raised conveyor belt inward and downward, and the side pressing rollers An upper surface shaping roller that presses and shapes the cooked rice on the conveyor belt in a lump shape, both ends of which are opened from the belt side end standing guide. To.

  (2) In the rice ball manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, in (1), an ingredient position regulating roller for regulating the position of the ingredient placed on the sheet-like food material is provided on the upstream side of the side pressing roller. It is characterized by that.

  (3) In the rice ball manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, in (1) or (2), a rack portion that meshes with a pinion portion of a rack-and-pinion drive mechanism is provided on the back surface in the width direction of the conveyor belt. It is characterized by.

  (4) In the rice ball manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, in the above (1) to (3), the upper surface shaping roller is supported by a roller shaft support portion via a drive motor so as to be able to be driven to rotate, and the rice rice transport speed and tools A roller drive control mechanism for controlling the rotation speed and the rotation shaft support position according to the material type condition is provided.

  (5) The rice ball manufacturing apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that, in the above (1) to (4), there is provided an apparatus having a disc body provided with an arbitrary shape hole for pressing and compacting lump rice.

  (6) The rice ball manufacturing method of the present invention is a method of manufacturing a rice ball in which the ingredients are contained by rolling the rice formed in a sheet shape with ingredients in the center while conveying the belt. A step of conveying the sheet-shaped cooked rice on which the ingredients are placed by a conveyor belt formed by a flexible member that can be bent at both ends in the conveying width direction, and both side ends of the conveyor belt are erected in a substantially U-shape. And pressing the upper surface shaping roller from the upper part of the cooked rice squeezed on the conveyor belt; And a step of shaping it into a lump shape.

  According to the present invention, the belt side end rising guide presses the both ends of the conveyor belt, whose both ends are substantially U-shaped, inward and downward, and the upper side of the cooked rice formed in a sheet shape is narrowed down. After the portion is formed on the conveyor belt, the cooked rice on the conveyor belt is pressed and shaped into a lump using an upper surface shaping roller. It is possible to supply a rice ball that has a texture that can be surely encapsulated, that is not easily deformed, and that is easily unraveled in the mouth.

1 is an overall perspective view of a rice ball manufacturing machine to which a rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. It is a top view of the same rice ball manufacturing apparatus. It is a side view of the same rice ball manufacturing apparatus. It is a principal part expansion perspective view of the same rice ball manufacturing apparatus. It is a typical side view which shows the operation | movement form of the same rice ball manufacturing apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows the same rice ball manufacturing method. It is a perspective view which shows the modification of the same rice ball manufacturing apparatus.

  The rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment is capable of placing cooked rice formed in a sheet shape, a conveyor belt formed by a flexible member that can be bent at both ends in the width direction of the conveyance direction, and the conveyor belt A pair of belt side end standing guides erected at a predetermined interval in the width direction, and both ends of the conveyor belt, whose both ends are erected in a substantially U shape by the belt side end standing guides, are inward. Provided on the downstream side of the pair of left and right side pressing rollers that form a curved portion on the conveyor belt that is pressed downward to squeeze the upper side of the sheet-shaped cooked rice, and both end sides thereof are An upper surface shaping roller for pressing and shaping the cooked rice on the conveyor belt released from the belt side end standing guide.

  With such a configuration, it can be installed even in a relatively small space with excellent maintainability, and it is difficult to lose shape, and it can supply rice balls with an excellent texture that can be easily released when put in the mouth. Yes.

  The rice ball manufacturing apparatus is capable of mass-producing packaged commercial rice balls, and includes a rice ball forming table that is an apparatus having a disc body that is pivotally supported on a base and rotates intermittently. A rice ball forming hole having a horizontal cross section such as a triangle drilled at a predetermined interval is provided at the periphery of the rice ball forming table. In this rice ball forming hole, cooked rice containing ingredients is supplied and shaped via a rice ball manufacturing apparatus, and a predetermined triangular rice ball is manufactured. Of course, the shape is not necessarily limited to a triangular shape, and may be an arbitrary shape. Depending on the shape of the forming hole, a rice ball can be appropriately formed.

  As the conveyor belt, a flat belt (flat belt) formed of a flexible member such as rubber or resin that can be bent at both ends in the width direction of the conveyance direction can be applied. The belt drive system uses a belt made of a flexible material for power transmission between parallel shafts, and there are two types that depend on friction for power transmission and one that is based on meshing teeth. A cylindrical or disk-like pulley is attached to the drive shaft, and a belt is hung on the outer periphery of this pulley to conduct power. In addition, you may make it apply the rack and pinion drive system by a pinion gear which provides a rack part along the center of the back surface of a conveyor belt irrespective of a pulley drive system, and meshes with this.

  The belt side standing up guide is a belt guide portion fixed in parallel on the traveling conveyor belt at a predetermined interval, and pushes up both side ends of the conveyor belt so that the sheet-like rice on the belt is rolled up. Thus, it has an action of bending in a substantially U shape.

  The side clamping roller is a roller portion that is disposed at a substantially central upper portion of the belt side end standing guide and whose head is formed in an inverted conical shape, and its both side ends are substantially U-shaped by the belt side end standing guide. The both ends of the conveyor belt erected in the shape are pressed inward and downward to form a curved portion in which the upper side of the sheet-shaped cooked rice is squeezed.

  The upper surface shaping roller is a roller-shaped pressure shaping unit for shaping the cooked rice containing the ingredients in a lump shape, the roller surface of which is rotatably provided along the conveying direction of the conveyor belt. It is provided on the downstream side. In this way, the cooked rice that was initially spread in a sheet shape and placed on the conveyor belt exits from the side pressing roller portion, and is formed into a lump through the upper surface shaping roller from above the conveyor belt where both ends of the conveyor belt are opened. It is pressed and shaped.

  Moreover, the rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment may be provided with an ingredient position regulating roller that regulates the position of the ingredient placed on the cooked rice formed in a sheet shape on the upstream side of the side pressing roller. it can. As a result, the ingredients placed on the sheet-like cooked rice are corrected and arranged at the center specified height position. It can be effectively prevented from being exposed or dispersed from the part, and the appearance and texture of food products such as rice balls provided as packaged products can be maintained properly at all times.

  By the way, the material position regulating roller is a material pressing roller having a horizontal rotation shaft arranged rotatably along the conveyor belt conveying direction, and is freely rotated or forcibly rotated via a drive motor. It is provided on the upstream side of the side clamping roller so as to be able to. In addition, as a material of this roller surface, a metal material, a plastic material, a rubber material, etc. are applicable. Further, in order to prevent slippage with the material contact surface pressed by the material position regulating roller, a minute uneven portion or the like may be provided on the roller surface.

  In the rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment, a rack portion that meshes with the pinion portion of the rack and pinion drive mechanism can be provided on the back surface in the center in the width direction of the conveyor belt. As a result, problems related to the frictional force due to the pulley transmission system, etc. can be eliminated, high torque can be conducted, and a precise and reliable operating environment can be maintained, improving productivity. Can do.

  The rack and pinion drive mechanism is a drive mechanism that converts a rotational force using a kind of gear into a linear motion. A combination of a small-diameter circular gear called a pinion and a rack cut into a flat plate shape is applied. By applying a rotational force to the pinion, the rack provided on the endless belt on the back of the conveyor belt is horizontal. Driven in the direction.

  In the rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the upper surface shaping roller is supported by a roller shaft support portion via a drive motor so as to be driven to rotate, and the conveying speed, ingredients, and food type conditions of the rice formed in a sheet shape A roller drive control mechanism for controlling the rotation speed and the rotation shaft support position is provided. Thus, the ingredients can be positioned at the center of the sheet-like cooked rice by controlling the rotation speed and shaft support position of the upper surface shaping roller. In this way, the rice ball covering the ingredients can be maintained uniformly and appropriately, and a rice ball with excellent form and texture can be provided.

  The roller drive control mechanism includes, for example, a drive motor that rotationally drives the upper surface shaping roller supported via the roller support unit, a height position adjustment motor of the roller support unit, and a control unit connected to these motors. is there. The control unit controls the operation of the whole rice ball manufacturing apparatus, and various types of rice according to the conveying speed and the type of ingredients obtained through various sensors and keyboard input devices provided in the rice ball manufacturing apparatus. It has the function of determining and controlling the appropriate amount of control.

  In the rice ball manufacturing method according to the present embodiment using the above-described rice ball manufacturing apparatus, the rice balls formed in a sheet shape with the ingredients placed in the center are rolled up while conveying the belt, and the rice balls containing the ingredients are contained. A method for manufacturing, a step of conveying sheet-like cooked rice on which ingredients are placed by a conveyor belt formed by a flexible member that can be bent at both ends in the belt conveyance width direction, and both ends of the conveyor belt And forming the curved portion into which the cooked rice formed in a sheet shape is pressed inward and downward on both sides of the conveyor belt, and the cooked rice formed by squeezing on the conveyor belt And pressing the upper surface shaping roller from the upper part to shape it into a lump shape. As a result, the rice can be reliably encapsulated, and the rice ball can be supplied with a texture that is not easily deformed and can be easily unraveled in the mouth.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing an apparatus configuration of a rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a side view thereof.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the rice ball manufacturing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes a predetermined amount of cooked rice R formed in a sheet shape, and ingredients such as rice cake and plum dried placed in the center of the cooked rice R. G is prepared from the food arrangement unit 20, the forming device 30 for forming the sheet-shaped cooked rice R into the lump-shaped cooked rice K containing the ingredients G while being conveyed along with the ingredients G, and the shaping device 30. Ingredient rotating and conveying section 40 for taking out product rice balls P such as “triangle rice balls” shaped by press-fitting lump-shaped cooked rice K into a rice ball shaping mold that rotates in a horizontal direction from the base end side of the rotary table. Have.

  The foodstuff arrangement | positioning part 20 is provided with the conveyor belt part 21 for conveying the cooked rice R which is a foodstuff, and the belt drive part 22 for driving this conveyor belt part 21. As shown in FIG. Then, after the cooked rice R placed in a substantially rectangular sheet shape is placed on the conveyor belt portion 21 that is driven to run at a predetermined conveyance speed, the ingredient G is placed at a substantially central position of the cooked rice R in the sheet shape. In this state, it is supplied to the molding apparatus 30.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a detailed structure of the molding apparatus 30 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a schematic side view showing an operation mode thereof. As shown in the figure, the molding apparatus 30 includes a conveyor belt 31 that is formed of a rubber material or a resin material that can be bent at both ends in the width direction of the conveyance and is stretched between a plurality of pulleys and travels horizontally, and a sheet-shaped cooked rice. In order to prevent the ingredient G placed in the approximate center of R from getting up, the ingredient position regulating roller 32 for regulating the position by pressing the ingredient G from above, and the conveyor belt width A pair of belt-side end standing guides 33 erected at specified intervals in the direction and the upper side of the sheet-shaped cooked rice R by pressing both ends of the conveyor belt 31 erected in a substantially U shape downward inward. A pair of left and right side sandwiching rollers 34 for narrowing down, and a rice which is provided on the downstream side of the side sandwiching roller 34 and is opened from the both ends thereof, and the upper side is squeezed into a block shape from a sheet shape. By pressing the R has a top surface shaping roller 35 for forming the bulk rice K, a.

  A part or all of the conveyor belt 31 is made of a flexible resin sheet material, and both end portions in the belt width direction can be bent. In addition, the rack part for meshing | engaging with the pinion gear driven by the electric motor which is not shown in figure at the back surface center of the conveyor belt 31 can also be provided. Thus, slippage between the pulley 36 and the belt due to the bending of the belt can be prevented, and the accuracy and certainty of the conveyor belt control operation can be added.

  A conveyor belt 31 that is run by a belt drive unit such as an electric motor (not shown) is sandwiched between a pair of belt-side end standing guides 33, 33 that are erected at a substantially central position of the base body 30a of the molding apparatus 30. By being pressed, both ends thereof are pulled up and gradually narrowed to a substantially U shape toward the downstream side. Thus, the sheet-like cooked rice R disposed at the center of the conveyor belt 31 is deformed so that the ingredient G is included in the center thereof. In addition, on the downstream side of the guide 33 for raising the belt side end, the upper portion of the conveyor belt 31 squeezed into a U shape by this guide is gradually opened again in a flat plate shape. The cooked rice R encapsulated and formed into a lump is discharged so that it can be taken out.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a rice ball manufacturing method according to this embodiment. The material position regulating roller 32 disposed in the upstream center of the belt side end raising guide 33 is freely rotated or forced by the material position regulating roller support portion 32a disposed on the base body 30a of the molding apparatus 30. The rotation speed and the adjustment of the holding position on the conveyor belt 31 can be set via a gear mechanism or the like. Thus, as shown in FIG. 6A, the ingredient G placed on the cooked rice R formed in a sheet shape on the traveling conveyor belt 31 is disposed between the rotating ingredient position regulating roller 32 and the conveyor belt 31. Is set so that the height of the ingredient G on the cooked rice R is corrected to an appropriate position.

  Next, the cooked rice R whose ingredient position was regulated by the ingredient position regulating roller 32 was fixedly supported on the upper portions of the belt side end standing guides 33 and 33, as shown in FIG. 6 (b). The upper part is further squeezed inward and downward by the pair of left and right side surface pressing rollers 34, 34. At this time, since an appropriate space is formed above the ingredient G, the ingredient G is wrapped very softly. In this way, the cooked rice R in which the ingredients G are substantially contained is conveyed further downstream.

  The side pinching rollers 34 and 34 are formed such that the tops of the side pressing rollers 34 and 34 have an enlarged diameter and are erected with respect to the base body 30a, and the roller rotation shaft is set in the vertical direction. It should be noted that the distance between the rollers can be adjusted according to the amount and type of the ingredient G added to the cooked rice R.

  The cooked rice R, the upper portion of which is substantially sealed by narrowing from the side surface by the side clamping roller 34, is gradually opened at both ends of the belt, and as shown in FIG. The upper part is further pressed by the roller 35 and shaped to a specified height. As a result, the cooked rice R containing the ingredients G is discharged as a massive cooked rice K.

  The upper surface shaping roller 35 has a rotating shaft disposed horizontally in the center on the downstream side of the belt-side end raising guide 33, and the roller surface is free to contact the upper part of the lump rice K running on the conveyor belt 31. It is supported by an upper surface shaping roller support 35a fixed to the base body 30a so that it can be rotated or forcedly rotated. In this way, the upper surface shaping roller 35 is supported by the upper surface shaping roller support portion 35a fixedly arranged on the base rice body 30a on the discharge side of the bulk cooked rice K so as to be freely rotatable or forcibly rotated. As with the material position regulating roller 32, the rotation speed of the upper surface shaping roller 35 and the adjustment of the roller holding position on the conveyor belt 31 can be set via a gear mechanism (not shown).

  Bulk food rice K containing ingredients G is supplied to the food rotating and conveying unit 40 via the conveyor belt 31 of the molding device 30. The massive cooked rice K is pushed out from the molding device 30 in the horizontal direction as the conveyor belt 31 travels, and is press-fitted into the cooked rice storage portion 42 formed in a substantially triangular shape from the opening of the rotary table 41 continuous to the molding device 30. Is done. The lump rice K held in the cooked rice storage unit 42 moves so as to be shaped with the rotation of the rotary table 41, and the product rice ball P adjusted to a predetermined triangular shape is taken out by the food extraction unit 43 on the base end side. It is supposed to be. In addition, in the process of making such a product rice ball P, the shape is adjusted by stepwise pressing from an upper opening provided in the rotary table 41 with a pressing die or the like, and seasoning processing for sprinkling salt or seasoning is performed. You can also.

  The turntable 41 is a device having a disc body provided with an arbitrary shape hole for pressing and compacting the lump-shaped cooked rice K, and is attached to the base body 40a of the food rotating and conveying unit 40 as shown in FIG. It consists of a disk. And the rice storage part 42 as arbitrary-shaped holes is formed cyclically | annularly, hold | maintaining a fixed space | interval along the peripheral part of this disk. Here, the cooked rice storage portion 42 is formed in a substantially triangular shape in plan view so that a predetermined amount of cooked rice can be stored. A motor driving unit (not shown) of the rotary table 41 is controlled by the control unit 45 of the base body 40a to rotate intermittently.

  A lower support member is disposed on the lower surface of the turntable 41 so as to overlap the disk. The bottom support member 42 provided on the turntable 41 is closed by the lower support member. Further, a push-up member (not shown) for pushing the cooked rice in the cooked rice storage portion 42 upward from below or a push-down member 44 for pushing the cooked rice downward from above is provided on the base body 40a which is the front and back sides of the rotary table 41. A pressing member support arm 46 is provided at a required position. Thus, the intermittent rotation of the rotary table 41 and the vertical movement of the push-down member 44 are controlled so as to be linked and synchronized with each other via the control system such as the control unit 45.

  Further, in the rice ball manufacturing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, a drive unit including an electric motor for driving the food material placement unit 20, the forming device 30, and the food material rotation conveyance unit 40 is connected to a control unit (not shown). ing. For this reason, it is possible to perform program control so that the shaping processing operations of the cooked rice R and the ingredients G after being placed on the conveyor belt portion 21 of the food material placement portion 20 are synchronized via this control portion. This makes it possible to increase the conveying speed while maintaining the texture and appearance of “rice balls” appropriately, thereby improving productivity.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a modification of the rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in the drawing, the molding apparatus 30 ′ of this modification is configured by omitting the material position regulating roller 32 in the molding apparatus 30 of the embodiment, and via an electric motor (not shown) of the upper surface shaping roller support portion 35a. The movement of the rotationally driven upper surface shaping roller 35 is forcibly rotated in synchronization with the traveling speed of the conveyor belt 31 that conveys the cooked rice R.
Here, the roller surface of the upper surface shaping roller support portion 35a can be formed in a concavo-convex shape or the like so as to generate a gripping force on the upper surface of the lump rice. Thereby, the operation | movement which presses the lump rice B with the upper surface shaping roller 35, and can shape can be performed accurately. In addition, since the movement of the conveyor belt 31 that travels with the upper surface shaping roller 35 is synchronized, the form of the lump rice K that has been compacted from the surroundings by the belt side end raising guide 33 and the side surface pressing roller 34 is provided. The massive cooked rice K can be conveyed toward the discharge end side of the base body 30a without significant loss.

  In this modification, a part of the conveyor belt 31 is formed of a reticulated sheet or porous sheet that can be blown with air, and is blown with air that is connected to an air compressor or the like provided on the belt side end standing guides 33, 33. Compressed air can also be blown into the substantially U-shaped curved portion through the portion. Thereby, air is efficiently contained in the cooked rice R filled in the curved portion of the conveyor belt 31 surrounded by the pair of left and right side sandwiching rollers 34, 34, and the mass of “rice ball” having excellent texture. Let it be cooked rice K. In addition, by blowing air into the curved portion through the side pinching rollers 34, 34, the lump rice K may be easily peeled off from the conveyor belt surface to further increase the production efficiency.

As described above, the present invention presses both end sides of the conveyor belt, whose both end portions are erected substantially U-shaped via the upper surface shaping roller, to form a curved portion on the conveyor belt. Thus, the gist of the invention is to enclose the ingredients in the sheet-like food material and press-shape the massive food material from above the conveyor belt having both ends opened using the upper surface shaping roller. As a result, it is possible to efficiently supply a lump-like food material that includes the ingredients and has an excellent texture without losing its shape. Therefore, what falls under this category belongs to the scope of rights of the present invention.
For example, in the present embodiment, the example in which the top surface shaping roller disposed on the downstream side of the side surface pressing roller is disposed alone has been described. However, by arranging a plurality of top surface shaping rollers each having a different shape, the bulk food is deformed. You may make it shape in steps, without doing.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Rice ball manufacturing machine 20 Foodstuff arrangement | positioning part 21 Conveyor belt part 22 Belt drive part 30, 30 'Rice ball manufacturing apparatus 30a Base main body 31 Conveyor belt 32 Material position control roller 32a Tool position control roller support part 33 For belt side edge standing Guide 34 Side clamping roller 35 Upper surface shaping roller 35a Upper surface shaping roller support part 36 Pulley 40 Food material rotation conveyance part 40a Base body 41 Rotary table 42 Rice storage part 43 Food material extraction part 44 Press member 45 Control part 46 Press member support arm R Cooked rice G Ingredients K Bulk food P Product food

Claims (6)

A conveyor belt formed by a flexible member capable of placing cooked rice in a sheet shape and bendable at both ends in the width direction of the conveyance direction;
A pair of belt side end raising guides erected at a specified interval in the width direction of the conveyor belt;
On the conveyor belt, a curved portion on the upper side of the sheet-like cooked rice is squeezed by pressing both end sides of the conveyor belt, whose both ends are erected in a substantially U shape by the belt side end standing guide. A pair of left and right side sandwiching rollers to be formed;
An upper surface shaping roller that is provided on the downstream side of the side surface pressure roller, and that presses and shapes the cooked rice on the conveyor belt whose both ends are released from the belt side end standing guide,
A rice ball manufacturing apparatus comprising:   2. The rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an ingredient position regulating roller for regulating the position of the ingredient placed on the sheet-like food material is provided upstream of the side surface pressing roller.   The rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a rack portion that engages with a pinion portion of a rack-and-pinion driving mechanism is provided on the back surface in the center in the width direction of the conveyor belt.   The upper surface shaping roller is supported by a roller shaft support portion via a drive motor so as to be driven to rotate, and roller drive control for controlling the rotation speed and the rotation shaft support position according to the transport speed of the cooked rice and the type condition of the ingredients. The rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a mechanism.   The rice ball manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising an apparatus having a disk body provided with an arbitrary shape hole for pressing and compacting the lump rice. A rice ball manufacturing method for manufacturing rice balls in which the ingredients are contained by rolling the rice formed in a sheet shape with the ingredients placed in the center while conveying the belt,
A step of conveying sheet-like cooked rice on which ingredients are placed by a conveyor belt formed by a flexible member that can be bent at both ends in the belt conveyance width direction;
Forming both sides of the conveyor belt in a substantially U shape and forming curved portions in which the rice cooked in a sheet shape is pressed inward and downward on both sides of the conveyor belt;
Pressing the top shaping roller from the top of the cooked rice formed on the conveyor belt and shaping it into a lump,
A method for producing rice balls, comprising:

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