GB1118252A - Improvements relating to treatment of produce in a liquid - Google Patents

Abstract

1,118,252. Washing, sorting and disinfecting vegetables. HAITH ENGINEERS Ltd 7 Nov., 1966 [5 Aug., 1965], No. 33468/65. Headings A2D and A2Q. [Also in Division A4] In a process and apparatus for washing, sorting and disinfecting vegetable products, such as potatoes, beet and carrots, hereinafter referred to as potatoes, the potatoes fall, from a hopper 10, Figs. 1 and 2, on to the upper run of a travelling, continuous belt conveyer 11, which carries them to a washer 12, comprising conveying rollers 13 and overhead, perforated tubes 14, from which washing water is sprayed on to the potatoes. The washed potatoes then enter a grading device 16 comprising a pair of rollers 17, between which the smallest potatoes, namely "chats", fall on to a conveyer 19, and another pair of rollers 18, between which medium sized potatoes, constituting seed potatoes, fall on to a conveyer 20. Remaining larger or "ware" potatoes are carried by a conveyer 21, from the device 16 to a dryer (not shown). The conveyer 20 carries the seed potatoes to a sorting table 22, where they are sorted by operatives, and passed on to the upper run 47, Fig. 3, of an endless travelling conveyer 23. The sorted seed potatoes are guided, by deflectors 24, into sub-compartments 54b of an anular rotating drum-wheel 27 comprising two annular end-plates 38 connected by an outer, cylindrical, perforated wall 39. Perforated plates 40 divide the drum-wheel into a plurality of compartments 54, each subdivided, by a plate 55, into a large subcompartment 54b and a small sub-compartment 54a. Chats pass from the conveyer 19 on to a conveyer 25, and then on to a conveyer 26, from which the chats are deflected into the sub-compartments 54a. As the drum-wheel rotates, the chats in the sub-compartments 54a and the seed potatoes in the sub-compartments 54b, are retained in their respective sub-compartments by a shroud 49, and are carried through a treating liquid in compartment 33 of a tank 30. This liquid may be a disinfecting liquid, such as an aqueous solution or dispersion of an organo-mercury compound. The chats are then discharged, from the drum-wheel, by a conveyer 29, and the seed potatoes are discharged along the upper run 48 of an endless travelling conveyer 28. Vegetable products, particularly red beetroots, may be cooked by being carried, in said drum-wheel, through boiling water. Each end-plate 38 may have an annular rib 44 engaging four supporting wheels 45, at least one of which may be driven to rotate the drum-wheel around its horizontal axis 37. Alternatively, the drum-wheel may be rotated by sprocket and chain mechanism. The drum-wheel may be rotated intermittently by ratchet mechanism engaging teeth around the periphery of the drum, as described in relation to Fig. 4 (not shown).