GB1347132A - Apparatus for depositing pieces of material into containers - Google Patents

Abstract

1347132 Cutting dough INTERNATIONAL MULTIFOODS CORP 4 Feb 1971 47869/73 Divided out of 1347131 Heading B5A [Also in Division A2] Apparatus for depositing pieces of material into container includes means to deliver pieces of material, such as gobs of dough, to a depositing zone, means to convey the containers through the zone to receive the pieces, support means below the container conveyer to support the containers as they pass through the zone, an opening in the support which is closed when a container is in the zone and opened when a container is absent, means for sensing the presence of such a container and effecting the operation of the opening so that the pieces are either received by a container or they fall through the opening. A sheet or rolls of dough are fed by a conveyer 20, Fig. 1A, to a cutter mechanism comprising horizontally reciprocative cutter blades 132, 134, Figs. 2B and 6, and the dough gobs fall to a zone through which pans are sequentially fed by a continuously driven conveyer 280, Fig. 2A. The latter comprises opposed endless chains 282, 284 having opposed pairs of pan pusher members 286 which convey the pans over a support bed 340, Fig. 6, extending the length of the conveyer and provided with a trap door 342 which is closed when a pan is sensed. With the trap door open the gobs fall into a waste receptacle. The sensing means may be optical and the trap door is operated by an hydraulic cylinder 344. Initially, the pans are located in a hopper 220, Fig. 2A, and are delivered by conveyers 270, 272 extending below the hopper to an intermediate conveyer 224 which feeds then to the main conveyer 280. The chains 282, 284 are provided with two drive sources, one via an overrunning clutch 292, Fig. 3, the other through a sprocket 294. A filled pan is required to be moved a further distance during the same time interval between successive gobs to a pan, and this is effected by a drive chain 316 extending between shafts 302, 325 and having attachments 318, Fig. 1B, spaced therealong at the same distance as the pushers 286 are spaced on the chains 282, 284. The chain 316 is driven from the shaft 325 which is driven at a lower speed than shaft 302 by sprocket 294. A crank arm 306 is driven from the higher speed shaft 302 and reciprocates a slider 308, Fig. 1B, which contacts an attachment 318 during its upward stroke to advance the chain 316 and hence the pan conveyer sprockets 288 the required further distance at the appropriate time. The filled pans are received by a discharge conveyer 354 driven at a higher speed whereby the pans may be supplied to a weight checking device. The cutting mechanism and the conveyer system for supplying sheets or rolls of dough to it are as described in the Specification 1,347,131.