CA1045904A - Apparatus for stretching dough material - Google Patents
Apparatus for stretching dough materialInfo
- Publication number
- CA1045904A CA1045904A CA243,840A CA243840A CA1045904A CA 1045904 A CA1045904 A CA 1045904A CA 243840 A CA243840 A CA 243840A CA 1045904 A CA1045904 A CA 1045904A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- conveyor
- conveyor belts
- conveyor belt
- rollers
- dough
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A21—BAKING; EDIBLE DOUGHS
- A21C—MACHINES OR EQUIPMENT FOR MAKING OR PROCESSING DOUGHS; HANDLING BAKED ARTICLES MADE FROM DOUGH
- A21C3/00—Machines or apparatus for shaping batches of dough before subdivision
- A21C3/02—Dough-sheeters; Rolling-machines; Rolling-pins
- A21C3/025—Dough-sheeters; Rolling-machines; Rolling-pins with one or more rollers moving perpendicularly to its rotation axis, e.g. reciprocally
- A21C3/027—Dough-sheeters; Rolling-machines; Rolling-pins with one or more rollers moving perpendicularly to its rotation axis, e.g. reciprocally with multiple rollers moving in a closed loop, e.g. in an orbital path; Planetary roller systems
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
An apparatus for continuously stretching dough for cakes, bread and the like, comprising a plurality of rollers progressing along an endless path comprising a lower straight portion and a plurality of conveyor belts positioned thereunder, the upper flights of which conveyor belts are spaced apart from each other.
An apparatus for continuously stretching dough for cakes, bread and the like, comprising a plurality of rollers progressing along an endless path comprising a lower straight portion and a plurality of conveyor belts positioned thereunder, the upper flights of which conveyor belts are spaced apart from each other.
Description
~o45904 I`he pr~sent invention rc1ates to an appara~us for continuously stretehing ~ou~h material into a thin web~
One of the inventors of the present invention invented in the past a device as disclosed in Canadian Patent Application No. 217,374, wherein a strip of dough material is fed into and flattened in a path formed between a group of rollers progressing along an endless path and a plurali~y of moving conveyor belts positioned undernea~h a lower straight portion o~ said endless path. Rotating brushes may also be provided between said conveyor belts. In the above device, the speed o each of said conveyor belts is faster than that of the nearest ups~rec~m conveyor. The rollers progress in the same direction as the movement of said conveyor belts and the rotational speed of the rollers are positively con~rolled by means connected to the base of the device.
The present invention relates to an improvement over the above device. According to the present invention there is provided an apparatus for continuously stretching dough for cakes, bread and the like, comprising a base; a plurality of rollers spread apart and rotatably positioned on said base in an oval path; a plurality of conveyor belts below said rollers arranged in series and facing a lower portion of said oval path; means to rotate said conveyor belts relative to said base, the speed of each of said conveyor belts -being faster than ~hat of ~he nearest upstream conveyor; and means connected to said base to move said rollers in the same direction as the movement of said conveyor belts; characterized in that the upper flights of said conveyor belts are spaced from one another, each of the spaces among said upper flights :- ... . .
of said conveyor belts being about 20 to 70 mm.
The prior art did not provide any substantial space between any ~ ~;
pair of adjacent conveyor belts or be~ween any conveyor belt and a rotating brush adjacent thereto. When rotating brushes were employed, they were positioned to abut on the ends of the adjacent conveyor belts.
With the present invention, the upper flights of any two adjacent -.' ~
`~ . ' -1- ` ,,. ~, .. .
.
iO4S90d~
conveyor bclts are spaced apart at a certain distance This structure of the dcvice has accomplished a substantial increa~e in stretching efficiency over the prior art.
The apparatus of the present invention is effective in stretching dough of high elasticity such as bread dough. The appaIatus, by its struct-ural characteristics, can cause dough to yield without injuring it. Spillage of flour attached to the lower surface of dough material moving on the conveyor belts may be avoided if adjacent conveyor belts are arranged to abut on each other at a position underneath the upper flight of the upstream conveyor belt.
In the accompanying drawings which illustrate an exemplary embodi-ment of the present invention:
Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view, partially broken, showing an embodiment of an apparatus of the present invention and a dough feeder used ~;
therewith, ~lguxes 2 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional side view of a conveyor .
assembly associated with a roller assembly, Figure 3 and 4 are diagrammatic views of movements of certain of the components, and Figure 5 is a cross~section of the drive mechanism for said roller assembly.
Referring now to Figures 1 through 3, a dough feeder 1 is received by a support 3 integral with the frame 5 of the apparatus. The power of a drive motor 7 is tr~nsmitted through pulleys to reduction gears 9 of a vertical output ~pindle type and reduction gears 11 of a horizontal output spindle type simultaneously.
The output spindle 13 of the reduction gears 9 is operatively connected to an extruder (not shown) provided in the dough feeder 1 so that dough material A i9 continuously extruded therefrom.
The dough material A may be extruded in the form of a sheet, , . . :, : ;
-, . . . ~,. : .. . ~ :
104S~)4 ~olid rod or hollow rod as the case may be.
nough material A ~hus extruded is received by a first conveyor belt 15 which is preferably inclined slightly upwardly in the downstream direction. The upper surface of the first conveyor bel~ 15 i9 strewn with flour 17 by a flour feeder 19 mounted on the frc~me 5 at a suitable position upstream of the dough feeder 1. Consequently, the extruded dough material A is laid on the conveyor belt 15 strewn with flour.
Dough material A is then carried forward on the conveyor belt 15 to the apparatus B where it is stretched to a thin web by a group of rollers 51 co-operating with a con~eyor assembly positioned thereunder consisting of a plurality of conveyors 41, 43 and 45.
The first conveyor 41 comprises the conveyor belt 15, which receives dough material A extruded from the dough feeder 1. The conveyor 41 further comprises a support plate 25 and three rollers. The support plate 25 supports the upper flight of the conveyor belt 15. One of the three rollers, designated by the reference number 31 in Figure 1, is a drive roller, which moves the conveyor belt 15 in the direction of the arrow a in Figure ~ -: . , ,.: . . ..
One of the inventors of the present invention invented in the past a device as disclosed in Canadian Patent Application No. 217,374, wherein a strip of dough material is fed into and flattened in a path formed between a group of rollers progressing along an endless path and a plurali~y of moving conveyor belts positioned undernea~h a lower straight portion o~ said endless path. Rotating brushes may also be provided between said conveyor belts. In the above device, the speed o each of said conveyor belts is faster than that of the nearest ups~rec~m conveyor. The rollers progress in the same direction as the movement of said conveyor belts and the rotational speed of the rollers are positively con~rolled by means connected to the base of the device.
The present invention relates to an improvement over the above device. According to the present invention there is provided an apparatus for continuously stretching dough for cakes, bread and the like, comprising a base; a plurality of rollers spread apart and rotatably positioned on said base in an oval path; a plurality of conveyor belts below said rollers arranged in series and facing a lower portion of said oval path; means to rotate said conveyor belts relative to said base, the speed of each of said conveyor belts -being faster than ~hat of ~he nearest upstream conveyor; and means connected to said base to move said rollers in the same direction as the movement of said conveyor belts; characterized in that the upper flights of said conveyor belts are spaced from one another, each of the spaces among said upper flights :- ... . .
of said conveyor belts being about 20 to 70 mm.
The prior art did not provide any substantial space between any ~ ~;
pair of adjacent conveyor belts or be~ween any conveyor belt and a rotating brush adjacent thereto. When rotating brushes were employed, they were positioned to abut on the ends of the adjacent conveyor belts.
With the present invention, the upper flights of any two adjacent -.' ~
`~ . ' -1- ` ,,. ~, .. .
.
iO4S90d~
conveyor bclts are spaced apart at a certain distance This structure of the dcvice has accomplished a substantial increa~e in stretching efficiency over the prior art.
The apparatus of the present invention is effective in stretching dough of high elasticity such as bread dough. The appaIatus, by its struct-ural characteristics, can cause dough to yield without injuring it. Spillage of flour attached to the lower surface of dough material moving on the conveyor belts may be avoided if adjacent conveyor belts are arranged to abut on each other at a position underneath the upper flight of the upstream conveyor belt.
In the accompanying drawings which illustrate an exemplary embodi-ment of the present invention:
Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view, partially broken, showing an embodiment of an apparatus of the present invention and a dough feeder used ~;
therewith, ~lguxes 2 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional side view of a conveyor .
assembly associated with a roller assembly, Figure 3 and 4 are diagrammatic views of movements of certain of the components, and Figure 5 is a cross~section of the drive mechanism for said roller assembly.
Referring now to Figures 1 through 3, a dough feeder 1 is received by a support 3 integral with the frame 5 of the apparatus. The power of a drive motor 7 is tr~nsmitted through pulleys to reduction gears 9 of a vertical output ~pindle type and reduction gears 11 of a horizontal output spindle type simultaneously.
The output spindle 13 of the reduction gears 9 is operatively connected to an extruder (not shown) provided in the dough feeder 1 so that dough material A i9 continuously extruded therefrom.
The dough material A may be extruded in the form of a sheet, , . . :, : ;
-, . . . ~,. : .. . ~ :
104S~)4 ~olid rod or hollow rod as the case may be.
nough material A ~hus extruded is received by a first conveyor belt 15 which is preferably inclined slightly upwardly in the downstream direction. The upper surface of the first conveyor bel~ 15 i9 strewn with flour 17 by a flour feeder 19 mounted on the frc~me 5 at a suitable position upstream of the dough feeder 1. Consequently, the extruded dough material A is laid on the conveyor belt 15 strewn with flour.
Dough material A is then carried forward on the conveyor belt 15 to the apparatus B where it is stretched to a thin web by a group of rollers 51 co-operating with a con~eyor assembly positioned thereunder consisting of a plurality of conveyors 41, 43 and 45.
The first conveyor 41 comprises the conveyor belt 15, which receives dough material A extruded from the dough feeder 1. The conveyor 41 further comprises a support plate 25 and three rollers. The support plate 25 supports the upper flight of the conveyor belt 15. One of the three rollers, designated by the reference number 31 in Figure 1, is a drive roller, which moves the conveyor belt 15 in the direction of the arrow a in Figure ~ -: . , ,.: . . ..
2. The drive roller 31 is positioned underneath the support plate 25.
The second conveyor 43 has a similar qtructure as that of the conveyor 41 and comprises a conveyor belt 21, a support plate 27 and three rollers. The upper flight of the conveyor belt 21 is supported by the support plate 27. The upstream end of the support plate 27 is spaced apart from the downstream end of the support plate 25 of ~he first conveyor 41.
Thus, as illustrated specifically in Figure 3, there is a gap D between the downstream end of the upper flight of the oonveyor belt 15 in the first ;`
conveyor 41 and the upstream end of the upper flight of the conveyor belt 21 in the second conveyor 43. The roller 33 is a drive roller, which moves the conveyor belt 21 in the direction of the arrow b in Figure 3. The `
drive roller 33 is positioned underneath the support plate 27. A tension roller 37 is positioned at the upstream end of the conveyor 43 offset in .:- - . , . .: :
S~4 the upstre~l directio~ from the ~upport plate 27 and below ~he level thereof.
It i3 positioned such that a portion thereof come~ underneath the support plate 25 of the first conveyor 41 and, con~equently, underncath the upper flight of the conveyor belt 15, interfering with the flight of the conveyor belt 15 connecting the downstream end of the support plate 25 and the drive roller 31.
The third conveyor 45 has also a similar structure and comprises a a conveyor belt 23, a support plate 29 supporting the upper flight of the conveyor belt 23, and three rollers. The upstream end of the support plate 29 i9 spaced apart from the downstream end of the support plate 27. The roller 3S is a drive roller, which move~ the conveyor belt 23 in the direction of the arrow c in Figure 3. A tension roller 39 i9 positioned at the upstream end of the conveyor 45 offset in the upstream direction from the support plate 29 and below the level thereof. It is positioned such that a portion thereof comes underneath the support plate 27 of the second conveyor 43 and interferes with the flight of the conveyor belt 21 connect-ing the downstream end of the support plate 27 and the drive roller 33 The conveyor belt 15, after leaving the downstream end of the support plate 2S, turns around it and moves downwardly in the direction of the drive roller 31 positioned underneath the support plate 25. The outer surface of the second conveyor belt 21, turning around the tension roller 37 at the upstream end of the con~eyor 43, abuts on the outer surface of the conveyor belt 15 of the first conveyor 41. In the above positional relation-ship of the two conveyor belts 15 and 21, they come into contact with each other at a position adjacent to the peripheral surface of the tension roller 21 higher than the level of the center thereof. In other words, the second conveyor belt 21 is in contact with the first conveyor belt 15 after turning around the tension roller 37 upwardly in the direction of the arrow b and facing upwards. Thus, the two conveyor belts, where they contact each other, are positioned in a vertically overlapping relationship as illustrated 4.
~4S90~
at P. A ~imilar posi~ional relationship exist~ between the conveyor belt 21 of the second conveyor 43 and the conveyor belt 23 of the third conveyor 45.
A portion of the outer surface of the conveyor belt 23 comes into contact with a portion of the outer ~urface of the conveyor belt 21 at a position adjacent to the peripheral surface of the tension roller 39 after the conveyor belt 23 turns around the upstream end peripheral surface of the ten~ion roller 39.
In an alternative embodiment~ any two adjacent conveyor belts may ;~
abut on each other at a position between their respective upper flights.
In thi~ case the portion where the two conveyor belts abut should also be below the level of the upper flights thereof. The downstream end of the ~ -upstream conveyor belt may be supported by a separate support plate or a tension roller. By the above manner of contact between adjacent conveyor belt~, flour sprînkled over the upper surface of the upper flight of the conveyor belt lS can be satisfactorily transferred onto the succeeding conveyor belts. Flour on the first conveyor belt 15, when dough material is transferred from the first conveyor belt 15 to the second conveyor belt 21, falls from the first conveyor belt 15 in the absence of any support. `~
However, if the second conveyor belt 21 is in contact with the first con-veyor belt 15 as in the present invention, flour, after leaving the down-stream end of the upper flight of the first conveyor belt 15, falls onto the upper surface of the second conveyor belt 21 moving slightly upwardly in th0 direction of the upper flight of said conveyor belt supported by the support plate 27 thereunder. The arrow d represents the direction of transfer of flour from the first conveyor belt 15 to the second conveyor belt 21. The arrow e represents the direction of the travel of flour on the second conveyor belt 21. The pressurized contact between the first oonveyor belt 15 and the second conveyor belt 21 adjacent ~o the tension roller 37 prevents flour from passing between the two conveyor belts and falling. The same applies to the transfer of flour from the second conveyor belt 21 to `~
the third conveyor belt 23.
5.
10~590~
The f~ed qpe~d of the third conv~yor 4S is higher than that of the second conveyor 43, and the feed speed of the second conveyor 43 is higher than that of the first conveyor 41.
In Figure 2, over and opposite to these con~eyors 41, 43, 45, there i9 the roller assembly comprising a number of rollers 51 which may revolve on an oval path Y as dèscribed below. The rollers 51 are mounted by means of bearings on their shaft~ 53 so as to be freel~ rotatable. A housing for the rollers mc~y be mounted to a ba~e in any conventional way. ~-In Figures 4 and 5, an endless chain 55 is entrained around two sprockets, i.e., drive sprocket 57 and tension sprocket 59 spaced apart from each other on a horizontal plane, and i9 operated along an oval path contain-ing a lower straight portion. An additional endless chain 5S is entrained around additional drive and tension sprockets. The two chains are parallel.
The drive sprockets 57 have drive shaft 65 in common, and the tension sprockets 59 have a tension shaft (not shown) in common. At one end of the drive shaft 65 is provided bevel gear 69 which engages bevel gear 71. Shaft 67 of bevel gear 71 serves as the input shaft for this apparatus. Attach-ments 61 are attached to the chains 55, and serve to fix the chains and the extensions 63 of the shafts 53 to each other. The extensions 63 are thus caused to travel with the chains 55 along the oval path Y. It will thus be readily understood that the shafts 53, and consequently, the rollers 51 travel with the extensions 63. The sprockets 57 are rotated by the shaft 65, which in turn is rotated by the shaft 67 through bevel gears 69, 71. The shaft 67 is operatively connected to an output spindle 73 of the reduction gears 11 through suitable means (not shown) In Figure 2, the oval locus X formed by the path of the outermost portions of the rolIers 51 includes a lower straight portion x which is opposite to the upper flights of the conveyor belts 15, 21, 23.
The spacing between the straight portion x and the upper surfaces of the upper flights of the conveyor belts is smallest at the downstream 6.
'' ~
~s9o~ :
end of the third con~eyor bel~ 23 a!ld gradually increa~es toward the flrst conveyor belt lS. The spacing at the downstret~m end of the third conveyor belt 23 is substantially equal to the thickness to which dough material i~
to be stretched.
~ 9 shown in Figures 4 and S, a friction plate 75 i9 disposed at a position along the lower straight portion x of the cval locus X such that it engages a portion of the outer cylindrical surface of roller 51 near one end thereof so as not to obstruct the passage of the dough between the ~;
straight portion x of the oval locus X of roller Sl and the conveyor belts 15, 21 and 23, and along the passageway of the dough. The friction plate 75 is attached to a base for ~he apparatus by any conventional means, such as bolt3 or welding. When roller Sl engages friction plate 75, the latter positively controls the rotational velocity of the former by friction therebetween. Both axial ends of friction plate 75 are preferably bent somewhat upwardly. The forward bent portion engage~ and start~ to drive rol-ler 51 somewhat before roller 51 enters the straight path portion facing the first conveyor belt 15. Roller Sl is driven to rotate around shaft 53 in the sense shown by the arrow y in Figures 2 and 3. The rearward end portion of friction plate 75 c~ases to engage and drive roller 51 somewhat after roller 51 leaves the straight path portion facing the third conveyor belt 23, after completion of progress along the straight path portion.
This provides highly favorable effects on dough molding.
The arrow f represents the direction of the travel of each shaft 53. The speed of the travelling motion of each shaft 53 is adapted to be higher than the feed speed of the conveyor belt 23.
In the operation of the apparatus, when the motor 7 is driven~
the output spindle~ 13, 73 are simultaneously rotated about their respective axes through respective pulleys and reduction gears 9, ll. The axial rotation of the output spindle 13 is transmitted to the extruder of the dough feeder l to continuously extrude dough material A therefrom. The axial rotating ~V4~i9C~4 power of the output spindle 73 i9 transmitted simultaneously to the input shaft 67 of the roller assembly and to each of the aforesaid conveyors through a power transmission system (not shown).
The dough material A extruded from the dough ~eeder 1 is recei~ed on the conveyor belt 15 strewn with flour by a flour feeder 19 and conveyed toward the apparatus of the present invention B.
In Figure 5, the rotation of the input shaft 67 causes the rotation of the shaft 65 through the bevel gears 69, 71 thus causing a pair of sprockets 57 fixed around the shaft 65 to rotate. The rotation of the sprockets 57 causes a pair of chains 55 mounted in parallel around the sprockets 57, 59 to move in the direction of the arrow f. Thus, the rollers 51 connected to the chains 55 travel along the oval path Y in the direction f. The path Y of the chai.ns 55, and consequently the rollers 51, is of an oval form.
The rollers 51 travelling along the path Y, when they progress along the straight portion x, come into contact at their circumferences with the friction plate 75 to cause themselves to forcibly rotate around the shafts 53 in the sense of the arrow y.
- Underneath the above-described rollers 51, are positioned the first, second and third conveyors 41, 43 and 45, the upper flights of which are arranged in series and fead dough material in the direction of arrows a, b and c~ respectively. Thus, the dough material A conveyed forward on the conveyor belt 15 is subjected to squashing action as shown in Figure 3.
If roller 51 is not caused to rotate around shaft 53 in the direction y, roller 51 would not be different from a conventional press roller, except for the fact that it is made to travel along the path Y.
However, since roller 51 not only travels along the path Y but also rotates in the direction y around shaft 53 when it progresses along the straight portion x, the surface of dough material A is subjected to a pressing action of roller 51 which comes into contact with the dough material while ~ `~
it rotates around shaft 53.
8.
~ .
~04~gO91 Since roller Sl is in contact with dough ma~erial ~ whlle it rotates about shaft 53 during its progress along the portion x, lt distrioutes the pressure on its s~rface to all prints over the surface evenly. Thus, dough material A adheres m1nimally to roller 51 and is effectively stretched.
~head of each roller 51 in contac~ with dough material A
appears a bulging portion A' in the dough material A. When the bulge of the portion A' is large, the dough sheet after stretching may hare deep wrinkles or tears. In the present case measures are taken so that such a bulging portion A' becomes minimal. First, the rotational speed of roller 51 around shaft 53 in the direction y is controlled by the friction with the fixed friction plate 75 not by the friction with dough material A. The rotation of roller 51 around shaft 53 regulated by friction plate 75 is effective for reducing the bulging portions A~, since the rotational speed of roller 51 relative to the dough material A may be regarded as higher by the moving speed of dough material A than the rotational speed thereof relative to a stationary object, assuming the roller rotates at its stationary position. ~`
Second, the speed of travel of roller 51 in the direction f is higher than those of the conveyor belts for transporting dough material. This also contributes to the decrease of the bulge At.
In addition to the above, the provision of the gap D further assists in decreasing the bulge. Dough material A is released from the ;
first conveyor belt 15 at the downstream end of the belt conveyor 41 and the pressing action of roller 51 does not act on dough material at the gap D, and so roller 51 can readily pass over the bulge A' and exert light contact ;
~,...
pressure upon the top of the bulge while passing thereover. ~lso, the speed difference between the conveyor belts 15 and 21 stretches the dough material in the gap D. When the gap D is very short, the speed difference between the two conveyor belts is concentrated on the narrow portion of `~
dough material, thus resulting in possible rupture of the dough. The gap ,", D is preferably 20 mm or longer. ~lowever, a gap of more than 70 mm may cause wrinkles in the dough Inaterial.
Dough mat~ri~~L i~ most effectively ~tretched when it can slide on the surfaces of the b~lts. ~hen doug}l material sticks to the belts, it cannot slide on the belt~ but the upper portion thereof is merely displaced relative to the lower portion thereof, ~nd thus the dough material cannot be effectively s~retched. Accordingly, it is desira~le for the surfaces of the belts to be provided with a moderate amount of flour thereby to be kept under a slidable condition. In the present apparatus~ the surface of the conveyor belt 15 which faces downwards after turning at its downstream end is made to come into contact (at the position P) with the surface of the conveyor belt 21 which faces upwards after turning around the tension roller 37 at its upstream end. Consequently excessive flour on the surface of the conveyor belt lS is scraped off and transferred onto the surface of the conveyor belt 21, thus avoiding loss of flour so that the slidability of dough material on the second conveyor may be maintained.
In order to obtain the optimal sliding effect, a plurality of conveyors are provided underneath the rollers Sl, which conveyors are arranged such that a downstream conveyor has a greater feed speed than that of any of upstream conveyors. The speeds of these conveyors are adiusted to correspond to or slightly exceed the stretching rate of the dough. The length of the suppor~ plate 2~ and the portion of each of the support plates 25 and 29 facing the straight portion x should also be adjusted. Ifa support plate facing the straight portion x was excessively long, dough material would become likely to stick to the upper surface of the conveyor belt because stretching tends to expose portions of dough not sufficiently covered with flour. The lower surface of the dough material and the upper surface of the conveyor belt should always be in a sliding relationship.
The stretching effect is enhanced when the number of rollers on ~()4596~
the oval path Y is increas~d~ ~hen tlle interval between ~ny pair of adjacent rollers is arranged to be shorter than the length of any interme~iate conveyor pla~e, even a dough material of elastic character such as bread dough can be effectively stretched. The reason for this is that the dough material is held in a stretched condition by a pair of adjacent rollers for a certain length of time whereby the dough yie:Lds, reducing its elasticity and it recovers little of its thickness before stretching. Since the rollers 51 progress along the path Y fas~er than the feed speed of any of the conveyor belts, all portions of the dough material are pressed repeatedly by different progressing rollers. The repetition of the above pressing operation effectively stretches a dough material of elastic character.
Thus, the dough material A may be stretched to a thin strip such as of a thickness of 1 mm through the stretching operation of the apparatus before it leaves the downstream end of the apparatus.
According to a test conducted using a dough material consisting of a mixture of by weight, 30 parts of egg, 50 parts of sugar and 100 parts of wheat flour, the dough material was fed to the apparatus in the form of a sheet 50 mm thick. The dough material was stretched to a thickness of 1 mm in one operation. The stretching efficiency in terms of the original thickness against the resulting thickness was 50.
Further, an apparatus of a similar structure, except that brush rollers are provided between each adjacent pair of conveyor belts as dis-closed in the previously referred to Canadian patent application No. 217,374, was employed to stretch dough material. The apparatus failed to stretch dough material to a thickness of 2 mm in one operation without causing injury to the stretched dough materialO The difference in efficiency between the above apparatus and the apparatus of the present invention apparently results from the presence of the brush rollers. ~hen the prior art apparatus was operated continuously for a substantial length of time, . . , -:
9~)~
the brush rollers were c~ogged with flour to lose the flexibility of brush bristles. This prcvented the portion of dough at the gaps D from being sufficiently stretchecl.
Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and clescribed, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and alterations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims. For instance, the conveyor assembly may contain a greater number of conveyors. In fact, if more conveyors are employed opposite to the straight portion of the locus of the rollers, a higher efficiency may be obtained.
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The second conveyor 43 has a similar qtructure as that of the conveyor 41 and comprises a conveyor belt 21, a support plate 27 and three rollers. The upper flight of the conveyor belt 21 is supported by the support plate 27. The upstream end of the support plate 27 is spaced apart from the downstream end of the support plate 25 of ~he first conveyor 41.
Thus, as illustrated specifically in Figure 3, there is a gap D between the downstream end of the upper flight of the oonveyor belt 15 in the first ;`
conveyor 41 and the upstream end of the upper flight of the conveyor belt 21 in the second conveyor 43. The roller 33 is a drive roller, which moves the conveyor belt 21 in the direction of the arrow b in Figure 3. The `
drive roller 33 is positioned underneath the support plate 27. A tension roller 37 is positioned at the upstream end of the conveyor 43 offset in .:- - . , . .: :
S~4 the upstre~l directio~ from the ~upport plate 27 and below ~he level thereof.
It i3 positioned such that a portion thereof come~ underneath the support plate 25 of the first conveyor 41 and, con~equently, underncath the upper flight of the conveyor belt 15, interfering with the flight of the conveyor belt 15 connecting the downstream end of the support plate 25 and the drive roller 31.
The third conveyor 45 has also a similar structure and comprises a a conveyor belt 23, a support plate 29 supporting the upper flight of the conveyor belt 23, and three rollers. The upstream end of the support plate 29 i9 spaced apart from the downstream end of the support plate 27. The roller 3S is a drive roller, which move~ the conveyor belt 23 in the direction of the arrow c in Figure 3. A tension roller 39 i9 positioned at the upstream end of the conveyor 45 offset in the upstream direction from the support plate 29 and below the level thereof. It is positioned such that a portion thereof comes underneath the support plate 27 of the second conveyor 43 and interferes with the flight of the conveyor belt 21 connect-ing the downstream end of the support plate 27 and the drive roller 33 The conveyor belt 15, after leaving the downstream end of the support plate 2S, turns around it and moves downwardly in the direction of the drive roller 31 positioned underneath the support plate 25. The outer surface of the second conveyor belt 21, turning around the tension roller 37 at the upstream end of the con~eyor 43, abuts on the outer surface of the conveyor belt 15 of the first conveyor 41. In the above positional relation-ship of the two conveyor belts 15 and 21, they come into contact with each other at a position adjacent to the peripheral surface of the tension roller 21 higher than the level of the center thereof. In other words, the second conveyor belt 21 is in contact with the first conveyor belt 15 after turning around the tension roller 37 upwardly in the direction of the arrow b and facing upwards. Thus, the two conveyor belts, where they contact each other, are positioned in a vertically overlapping relationship as illustrated 4.
~4S90~
at P. A ~imilar posi~ional relationship exist~ between the conveyor belt 21 of the second conveyor 43 and the conveyor belt 23 of the third conveyor 45.
A portion of the outer surface of the conveyor belt 23 comes into contact with a portion of the outer ~urface of the conveyor belt 21 at a position adjacent to the peripheral surface of the tension roller 39 after the conveyor belt 23 turns around the upstream end peripheral surface of the ten~ion roller 39.
In an alternative embodiment~ any two adjacent conveyor belts may ;~
abut on each other at a position between their respective upper flights.
In thi~ case the portion where the two conveyor belts abut should also be below the level of the upper flights thereof. The downstream end of the ~ -upstream conveyor belt may be supported by a separate support plate or a tension roller. By the above manner of contact between adjacent conveyor belt~, flour sprînkled over the upper surface of the upper flight of the conveyor belt lS can be satisfactorily transferred onto the succeeding conveyor belts. Flour on the first conveyor belt 15, when dough material is transferred from the first conveyor belt 15 to the second conveyor belt 21, falls from the first conveyor belt 15 in the absence of any support. `~
However, if the second conveyor belt 21 is in contact with the first con-veyor belt 15 as in the present invention, flour, after leaving the down-stream end of the upper flight of the first conveyor belt 15, falls onto the upper surface of the second conveyor belt 21 moving slightly upwardly in th0 direction of the upper flight of said conveyor belt supported by the support plate 27 thereunder. The arrow d represents the direction of transfer of flour from the first conveyor belt 15 to the second conveyor belt 21. The arrow e represents the direction of the travel of flour on the second conveyor belt 21. The pressurized contact between the first oonveyor belt 15 and the second conveyor belt 21 adjacent ~o the tension roller 37 prevents flour from passing between the two conveyor belts and falling. The same applies to the transfer of flour from the second conveyor belt 21 to `~
the third conveyor belt 23.
5.
10~590~
The f~ed qpe~d of the third conv~yor 4S is higher than that of the second conveyor 43, and the feed speed of the second conveyor 43 is higher than that of the first conveyor 41.
In Figure 2, over and opposite to these con~eyors 41, 43, 45, there i9 the roller assembly comprising a number of rollers 51 which may revolve on an oval path Y as dèscribed below. The rollers 51 are mounted by means of bearings on their shaft~ 53 so as to be freel~ rotatable. A housing for the rollers mc~y be mounted to a ba~e in any conventional way. ~-In Figures 4 and 5, an endless chain 55 is entrained around two sprockets, i.e., drive sprocket 57 and tension sprocket 59 spaced apart from each other on a horizontal plane, and i9 operated along an oval path contain-ing a lower straight portion. An additional endless chain 5S is entrained around additional drive and tension sprockets. The two chains are parallel.
The drive sprockets 57 have drive shaft 65 in common, and the tension sprockets 59 have a tension shaft (not shown) in common. At one end of the drive shaft 65 is provided bevel gear 69 which engages bevel gear 71. Shaft 67 of bevel gear 71 serves as the input shaft for this apparatus. Attach-ments 61 are attached to the chains 55, and serve to fix the chains and the extensions 63 of the shafts 53 to each other. The extensions 63 are thus caused to travel with the chains 55 along the oval path Y. It will thus be readily understood that the shafts 53, and consequently, the rollers 51 travel with the extensions 63. The sprockets 57 are rotated by the shaft 65, which in turn is rotated by the shaft 67 through bevel gears 69, 71. The shaft 67 is operatively connected to an output spindle 73 of the reduction gears 11 through suitable means (not shown) In Figure 2, the oval locus X formed by the path of the outermost portions of the rolIers 51 includes a lower straight portion x which is opposite to the upper flights of the conveyor belts 15, 21, 23.
The spacing between the straight portion x and the upper surfaces of the upper flights of the conveyor belts is smallest at the downstream 6.
'' ~
~s9o~ :
end of the third con~eyor bel~ 23 a!ld gradually increa~es toward the flrst conveyor belt lS. The spacing at the downstret~m end of the third conveyor belt 23 is substantially equal to the thickness to which dough material i~
to be stretched.
~ 9 shown in Figures 4 and S, a friction plate 75 i9 disposed at a position along the lower straight portion x of the cval locus X such that it engages a portion of the outer cylindrical surface of roller 51 near one end thereof so as not to obstruct the passage of the dough between the ~;
straight portion x of the oval locus X of roller Sl and the conveyor belts 15, 21 and 23, and along the passageway of the dough. The friction plate 75 is attached to a base for ~he apparatus by any conventional means, such as bolt3 or welding. When roller Sl engages friction plate 75, the latter positively controls the rotational velocity of the former by friction therebetween. Both axial ends of friction plate 75 are preferably bent somewhat upwardly. The forward bent portion engage~ and start~ to drive rol-ler 51 somewhat before roller 51 enters the straight path portion facing the first conveyor belt 15. Roller Sl is driven to rotate around shaft 53 in the sense shown by the arrow y in Figures 2 and 3. The rearward end portion of friction plate 75 c~ases to engage and drive roller 51 somewhat after roller 51 leaves the straight path portion facing the third conveyor belt 23, after completion of progress along the straight path portion.
This provides highly favorable effects on dough molding.
The arrow f represents the direction of the travel of each shaft 53. The speed of the travelling motion of each shaft 53 is adapted to be higher than the feed speed of the conveyor belt 23.
In the operation of the apparatus, when the motor 7 is driven~
the output spindle~ 13, 73 are simultaneously rotated about their respective axes through respective pulleys and reduction gears 9, ll. The axial rotation of the output spindle 13 is transmitted to the extruder of the dough feeder l to continuously extrude dough material A therefrom. The axial rotating ~V4~i9C~4 power of the output spindle 73 i9 transmitted simultaneously to the input shaft 67 of the roller assembly and to each of the aforesaid conveyors through a power transmission system (not shown).
The dough material A extruded from the dough ~eeder 1 is recei~ed on the conveyor belt 15 strewn with flour by a flour feeder 19 and conveyed toward the apparatus of the present invention B.
In Figure 5, the rotation of the input shaft 67 causes the rotation of the shaft 65 through the bevel gears 69, 71 thus causing a pair of sprockets 57 fixed around the shaft 65 to rotate. The rotation of the sprockets 57 causes a pair of chains 55 mounted in parallel around the sprockets 57, 59 to move in the direction of the arrow f. Thus, the rollers 51 connected to the chains 55 travel along the oval path Y in the direction f. The path Y of the chai.ns 55, and consequently the rollers 51, is of an oval form.
The rollers 51 travelling along the path Y, when they progress along the straight portion x, come into contact at their circumferences with the friction plate 75 to cause themselves to forcibly rotate around the shafts 53 in the sense of the arrow y.
- Underneath the above-described rollers 51, are positioned the first, second and third conveyors 41, 43 and 45, the upper flights of which are arranged in series and fead dough material in the direction of arrows a, b and c~ respectively. Thus, the dough material A conveyed forward on the conveyor belt 15 is subjected to squashing action as shown in Figure 3.
If roller 51 is not caused to rotate around shaft 53 in the direction y, roller 51 would not be different from a conventional press roller, except for the fact that it is made to travel along the path Y.
However, since roller 51 not only travels along the path Y but also rotates in the direction y around shaft 53 when it progresses along the straight portion x, the surface of dough material A is subjected to a pressing action of roller 51 which comes into contact with the dough material while ~ `~
it rotates around shaft 53.
8.
~ .
~04~gO91 Since roller Sl is in contact with dough ma~erial ~ whlle it rotates about shaft 53 during its progress along the portion x, lt distrioutes the pressure on its s~rface to all prints over the surface evenly. Thus, dough material A adheres m1nimally to roller 51 and is effectively stretched.
~head of each roller 51 in contac~ with dough material A
appears a bulging portion A' in the dough material A. When the bulge of the portion A' is large, the dough sheet after stretching may hare deep wrinkles or tears. In the present case measures are taken so that such a bulging portion A' becomes minimal. First, the rotational speed of roller 51 around shaft 53 in the direction y is controlled by the friction with the fixed friction plate 75 not by the friction with dough material A. The rotation of roller 51 around shaft 53 regulated by friction plate 75 is effective for reducing the bulging portions A~, since the rotational speed of roller 51 relative to the dough material A may be regarded as higher by the moving speed of dough material A than the rotational speed thereof relative to a stationary object, assuming the roller rotates at its stationary position. ~`
Second, the speed of travel of roller 51 in the direction f is higher than those of the conveyor belts for transporting dough material. This also contributes to the decrease of the bulge At.
In addition to the above, the provision of the gap D further assists in decreasing the bulge. Dough material A is released from the ;
first conveyor belt 15 at the downstream end of the belt conveyor 41 and the pressing action of roller 51 does not act on dough material at the gap D, and so roller 51 can readily pass over the bulge A' and exert light contact ;
~,...
pressure upon the top of the bulge while passing thereover. ~lso, the speed difference between the conveyor belts 15 and 21 stretches the dough material in the gap D. When the gap D is very short, the speed difference between the two conveyor belts is concentrated on the narrow portion of `~
dough material, thus resulting in possible rupture of the dough. The gap ,", D is preferably 20 mm or longer. ~lowever, a gap of more than 70 mm may cause wrinkles in the dough Inaterial.
Dough mat~ri~~L i~ most effectively ~tretched when it can slide on the surfaces of the b~lts. ~hen doug}l material sticks to the belts, it cannot slide on the belt~ but the upper portion thereof is merely displaced relative to the lower portion thereof, ~nd thus the dough material cannot be effectively s~retched. Accordingly, it is desira~le for the surfaces of the belts to be provided with a moderate amount of flour thereby to be kept under a slidable condition. In the present apparatus~ the surface of the conveyor belt 15 which faces downwards after turning at its downstream end is made to come into contact (at the position P) with the surface of the conveyor belt 21 which faces upwards after turning around the tension roller 37 at its upstream end. Consequently excessive flour on the surface of the conveyor belt lS is scraped off and transferred onto the surface of the conveyor belt 21, thus avoiding loss of flour so that the slidability of dough material on the second conveyor may be maintained.
In order to obtain the optimal sliding effect, a plurality of conveyors are provided underneath the rollers Sl, which conveyors are arranged such that a downstream conveyor has a greater feed speed than that of any of upstream conveyors. The speeds of these conveyors are adiusted to correspond to or slightly exceed the stretching rate of the dough. The length of the suppor~ plate 2~ and the portion of each of the support plates 25 and 29 facing the straight portion x should also be adjusted. Ifa support plate facing the straight portion x was excessively long, dough material would become likely to stick to the upper surface of the conveyor belt because stretching tends to expose portions of dough not sufficiently covered with flour. The lower surface of the dough material and the upper surface of the conveyor belt should always be in a sliding relationship.
The stretching effect is enhanced when the number of rollers on ~()4596~
the oval path Y is increas~d~ ~hen tlle interval between ~ny pair of adjacent rollers is arranged to be shorter than the length of any interme~iate conveyor pla~e, even a dough material of elastic character such as bread dough can be effectively stretched. The reason for this is that the dough material is held in a stretched condition by a pair of adjacent rollers for a certain length of time whereby the dough yie:Lds, reducing its elasticity and it recovers little of its thickness before stretching. Since the rollers 51 progress along the path Y fas~er than the feed speed of any of the conveyor belts, all portions of the dough material are pressed repeatedly by different progressing rollers. The repetition of the above pressing operation effectively stretches a dough material of elastic character.
Thus, the dough material A may be stretched to a thin strip such as of a thickness of 1 mm through the stretching operation of the apparatus before it leaves the downstream end of the apparatus.
According to a test conducted using a dough material consisting of a mixture of by weight, 30 parts of egg, 50 parts of sugar and 100 parts of wheat flour, the dough material was fed to the apparatus in the form of a sheet 50 mm thick. The dough material was stretched to a thickness of 1 mm in one operation. The stretching efficiency in terms of the original thickness against the resulting thickness was 50.
Further, an apparatus of a similar structure, except that brush rollers are provided between each adjacent pair of conveyor belts as dis-closed in the previously referred to Canadian patent application No. 217,374, was employed to stretch dough material. The apparatus failed to stretch dough material to a thickness of 2 mm in one operation without causing injury to the stretched dough materialO The difference in efficiency between the above apparatus and the apparatus of the present invention apparently results from the presence of the brush rollers. ~hen the prior art apparatus was operated continuously for a substantial length of time, . . , -:
9~)~
the brush rollers were c~ogged with flour to lose the flexibility of brush bristles. This prcvented the portion of dough at the gaps D from being sufficiently stretchecl.
Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and clescribed, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and alterations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims. For instance, the conveyor assembly may contain a greater number of conveyors. In fact, if more conveyors are employed opposite to the straight portion of the locus of the rollers, a higher efficiency may be obtained.
. ...................................................................
..
'~`"''~' :,',
Claims (6)
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. An apparatus for continuously stretching dough for cakes, bread and the like, comprising a base; a plurality of rollers spread apart and rotatably positioned on said base in an oval path; a plurality of conveyor belts below said rollers arranged in series and facing a lower portion of said oval path; means to rotate said conveyor belts relative to said base, the speed of each of said conveyor belts being faster than that of the nearest upstream conveyor; and means connected to said base to move said rollers in the same direction as the movement of said conveyor belts; characterized in that the upper flights of said conveyor belts are spaced from one another, each of the spaces among said upper flights of said conveyor belts being about 20 to 70 mm.
2. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means connect-ed to said base So positively control the circumferential speed of said rollers.
3. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, in which any pair of adjacent conveyor belts contact each other at a position below the levels of the upper flight portions of the conveyor belts.
4. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, in which any pair of adjacent conveyor belts contacts each other at a position underneath the upper flight portion of the upstream conveyor belt.
5. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a flour feeder by which the upper surface of the first conveyor belt is strewn with flour.
6. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, in which the distance between the centers of any pair of adjacent said rollers is equal to or less than the length of the shortest of the conveyor belt upper flight portions other than the most upstream one facing and substantially parallel to the straight portion of said oval path.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA313,624A CA1086143A (en) | 1975-08-22 | 1978-10-17 | Apparatus for stretching dough material |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP10247875A JPS5225083A (en) | 1975-08-22 | 1975-08-22 | Developing apparatus for confection or bread dough and like |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1045904A true CA1045904A (en) | 1979-01-09 |
Family
ID=14328550
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA243,840A Expired CA1045904A (en) | 1975-08-22 | 1976-01-20 | Apparatus for stretching dough material |
Country Status (8)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| JP (1) | JPS5225083A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1045904A (en) |
| CH (1) | CH614843A5 (en) |
| DE (1) | DE2601883C2 (en) |
| FR (1) | FR2321240A2 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB1535353A (en) |
| IT (1) | IT1054722B (en) |
| NL (1) | NL179536C (en) |
Families Citing this family (8)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4192636A (en) * | 1975-08-22 | 1980-03-11 | Rheon Automatic Machinery Co., Ltd. | Apparatus for stretching dough material |
| JPS5290681A (en) * | 1976-01-27 | 1977-07-30 | Rheon Automatic Machinery Co | Developing apparatus for confection or bread dough and like |
| NL8100256A (en) * | 1981-01-20 | 1982-08-16 | Brinkers Margarinefab | Apparatus for rolling out a dough mass to be supplied in the form of a thick layer to a continuous sheet. |
| JPS6052769B2 (en) * | 1983-06-01 | 1985-11-21 | レオン自動機株式会社 | Method and device for spreading confectionery dough, etc. |
| JP2860938B2 (en) * | 1996-09-02 | 1999-02-24 | レオン自動機株式会社 | Hand powder supply mechanism in the spreading device |
| DE10213015B4 (en) * | 2002-03-22 | 2008-02-07 | A. Fritsch Gmbh & Co Kg | Arrangement of a dough molding gap |
| CN109479916B (en) * | 2018-11-30 | 2023-08-08 | 安徽中乐食品机械有限公司 | Flour machine is swept from top to bottom to face |
| WO2022230543A1 (en) | 2021-04-28 | 2022-11-03 | レオン自動機株式会社 | Cleaning device for extension roller |
Family Cites Families (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US3191553A (en) * | 1962-07-23 | 1965-06-29 | Kitchens Of Sara Lee Inc | Dough rolling apparatus |
-
1975
- 1975-08-22 JP JP10247875A patent/JPS5225083A/en active Granted
-
1976
- 1976-01-07 CH CH12176A patent/CH614843A5/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1976-01-07 IT IT1905776A patent/IT1054722B/en active
- 1976-01-08 NL NL7600150A patent/NL179536C/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1976-01-20 CA CA243,840A patent/CA1045904A/en not_active Expired
- 1976-01-20 DE DE19762601883 patent/DE2601883C2/en not_active Expired
- 1976-01-20 GB GB220776A patent/GB1535353A/en not_active Expired
- 1976-05-10 FR FR7613953A patent/FR2321240A2/en active Granted
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| FR2321240B2 (en) | 1980-05-09 |
| NL7600150A (en) | 1977-02-24 |
| DE2601883C2 (en) | 1985-05-02 |
| NL179536B (en) | 1986-05-01 |
| JPS54991B2 (en) | 1979-01-18 |
| JPS5225083A (en) | 1977-02-24 |
| IT1054722B (en) | 1981-11-30 |
| DE2601883A1 (en) | 1977-02-24 |
| FR2321240A2 (en) | 1977-03-18 |
| GB1535353A (en) | 1978-12-13 |
| CH614843A5 (en) | 1979-12-28 |
| AU1034376A (en) | 1977-07-21 |
| NL179536C (en) | 1986-10-01 |
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