GB2188896A - Improvements in or relating to storing and stacking machines - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a storage and stacking system for baking pan lids. The lids are removed from the pans by a conveyor 14 having two reaches 14A, 14B, the second reach 14B extending between spaced shelf supports. The second reach can move up and down between the supports so that the lids carried by the second reach can be deposited thereon by dropping the conveyor. An automatically operated stop retards the movement of the lids relative to the conveyor when they are in the desired position for deposition on the shelves. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to storing and stacking machines This invention relates to a storing and stacking machine, particularly but not exclusively a storing and stacking machineforthestoring and stacking of baking tray lids which are used for covering baking trays or pans in which loaves of bread are baked. As the description ofthe invention proceeds, it will be readily understood that the inventive concept can be used for storing and stacking of articles other than the aforesaid lids, and although reference is made hereinafter and in the claims in the interests of simplicity only to baking tray or pan lids in the baking of loaves of bread, the specification should be construed accordingly.

The machine according to the invention isforthe storing and stacking of lids in a "live" situation, which is a situation in which the lids are fed continuously and in sequence to a lidding station whereat the lids are automatically applied to moving baking pans. The pans, containing gobs of dough move continuously through a baking oven in which the gobs of dough are baked into loaves of bread, the pans, lids and loaves leave the oven continuously, the lids are continuously removed from the pans and are returned continuously to the lidding station where they meet and are applied to further pans containing gobs of dough. The system is therefore liveinthatthelidsarefed in this continuous manner.

In practise there are two continuous circuits, one forthe pans, and oneforthe lids. The lidsjointhe pans and travel with them between the lidding station, the oven and the de-lidding station and the pans, whilst they travel between the de-lidding station and lidding station are emptied, greased, and filled.

When the system is working smoothly, and there are no blockages or breakdowns, high production rates can be achieved, but in practise breakdowns and blockages are not infrequent, when it becomes necessaryfor operators physically to remove and/or applythe Iidsto the pans. Apartfrom beingtime consuming and physically demanding, there is also a danger element in this operation insofar as the lids are invariably hot and burned fingers are not uncommon. Additionally, if lids have to be removed because of a temporary breakdown or blockage, then additional space in the factory floor must be created for the storage of such lids.

There is therefore a need for a solution to this problem, and the present invention provides such a solution.

In accordance with the present invention, it is proposed that a storage and stacking machine be provided for baking pan lids, which is embodied in the lid circuit, and comprises racking having a pluralityoflevelsforthestorage and stacking oflids, in conjunction with a conveying means forming part ofthe lid circuit, which conveying means is capable of up and down movement between different levels of the racking so that it can deliver lids to the said racking and leave same suspended thereon by virtue of the conveyor being dropped to the next lower level.

Specifically, the racking may comprise an elongate upright structure, the conveyor passing through the racking in the length direction thereof, the racking defining a plurality of narrow shelves defining said levels arranged one above the other, and the conveyor progressively dropping to leave thetrays on the various racking levels when they are to be stacked, in the event of blockage or breakdown in the circuit being served by said conveyor.

Preferably, the shelves are defined by pairs of angle iron rails, so that the conveyor surface carrying the lids can travel between such rails, pushing the lids there along, and so that when a row of lids arranged end to end fill each shelf, the conveyor, carrying following lids, can drop to feed said lids onto the next lower shelf.

The conveyor may be provided with a stop which is positioned operatively automaticallywhen there is a blockage or breakdown in the circuit to which the lids are being fed, so that progression of the lids along the conveyor is stopped at the correct position in relation to said shelves.

There may be a first conveyorwhich receives the lids and delivers same to the racking, and there may be a second conveyor which is aligned with the first conveyorto receive lids therefrom where the lids exit from the racking.

Whenthesaid stop istherefore notin use,thelids will be carried through the racking directly onto the second conveyor and then onto the circuit to which the lids are being fed.

As long as there is no reason for the lids to be stored and stacked, they will pass through the racking, but in the eventthatthere is a blockage or breakdown as mentioned herein,the said stops in the conveyor will be operated, preventing passage of the lids from the first conveyor to the second conveyor. The lidswill queueinthe racking, and when they have queued to an extent equal to the length of the racking, the first conveyor will be lowered causing the first queue of lids to be deposited on the racking so that a second and lower queue can build up, and so on. Anysuitable number of lids such as 400-500 may be stored and stacked in the racking.

Equally, when there is a demand for more lids, the conveyor can be caused to operate in reverse so as to draw lids which have previously been stored, from the racking.

The apparatus therefore provides a bankforthe temporarystorage, and on demand removal oflids for a live system in which lids are normally required to be continuously supplied to a circuit, such as a baking pan circuit designed for continuous operation.

It will be appreciated that with use ofthe invention, the requirementforthe manual handling of the lids as described herein is removed.

The accompanying diagrammatic drawings are included simply by way of exampleto illustrate an embodimentofthe invention in order to provide a clearer understanding thereof and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

In the drawings: Figure lisa diagrammatic side elevation of the machine; Figure2isa diagrammaticperspectiveviewofthe machine; Figure3 illustrates a single lid travelling on a conveyor reach; Figure 4 is a sectional view ofthe top right hand end ofthe racking shown in Figure 1; and Figure 5is a sectionai elevation taken on the line V-V of Figure 4.

Referring to the drawings, the machine comprises basically racking 10 which is of elongate form having its length direction as indicated by arrow 12 in Figure 2. The racking is associated with two conveyors namely a firstconveyor 14which is an inputand stacking conveyor, and an output conveyor 16. The input conveyor 14definestwo reach sections namely an inclined reach section 14A, and a stacking reach section 14B.The inclined reach section 14extends between a slidable pulley 18which can move iongitudinally ofthe racking as indicated by arrow 20 in Figure 1, and first pulley 22 which is common to the inclined reach 14A and the stacking reach 14B, and finally there is an end pulley 24 and the stacking reach 14B extends between pulleys 22 and 24.The upper portions of the reaches 1 4A and 14B carry lids 26 which are of the construction shown clearly in Figure 3 comprising a top 28 and a skirt 30. These lids are for covering baking pans which are used forth baking of bread, and in fact the lid shown is for covering a baking pan forfour loaves, but such is not material to the present invention.

The outputconveyor 16 has an inputend pulley32 which is basically aligned with pulley 24so that in fact ! ids 26 carried by the first conveyor 14 pass directly from the upper section of reach 1 4B onto the conveyor 16as indicated in Figure 1 and are conveyed away by such conveyor 16 as indicated by arrow 34 in Figure 1 to anotherworking station.

The reach 1 4B is capable of being moved up and down as indicated by arrow 36 in Figure 1 so that its upper working surface remains horizontal, hence the need forthe pulley 18 and the corresponding pulley of the conveyor 16 (not shown) to be capable of horizontal movement as indicated by arrow 20.

The purpose of arranging for the conveyor reach 14B to be capable of up and down movement as indicated by arrow 36, is in fact to deposit the lids 26 in the racking in order to store same in the event that the supply of lids from conveyor 26 is greater than required, such as typically would be the case when the circuit with which the machine operates is down due to breakage or blockage or indeed servicing and repair. In such circumstances, the conveyors 14 and 16 can continue to be operated, but the conveyor reach 1 4B is moved downwardly as indicated by arrows 36 in order to deposit the lids 26 in the racking as shown in Figure 2.

The racking is made up of pairs of angle iron bars 40 as shown clearly in Figure 5so asto definetray levels 42,44 and soon and at each level pairs of rows oflidscan be deposited for storage as indicated clearly in Figure 2, because in fact conveyors 14and 16 are arranged in side by side sections as indicated clearly in Figure 2.These sections are rigidly connected together so that they will move up and down together as indicated by arrow36, If the machine is operating in a mode wherein storage ofthe lids in the racking 10 is not required, then the lids are carried by the conveyor 14 directly through the racking and onto the conveyor 16, and this will apply regardless of the position in which the conveyor section 14B is located within the racking exceptthatas regards those levels of the racking above the operating level ofthe conveyors, these will be full of lids.When however,the supply of lids from conveyor 16 is no longer required, this condition is sensed for example by photo-electric or other means, and a signal is sent to a stop 46 in the region of pulley 24 and this stop is positioned as shown in Figure 4to terminate movement of the lids 26 past the stop 46. In Figure 4therefore the three lids 26 which are shown are in fact stationary in relation to the racking, although the conveyor 14 continues to move, and the lids slide on the conveyor belt.

Progressively, the upper reach of the conveyor belt will fill with the lids 26, and when this happens,the conveyor reach 1 4B is lowered as indicated by arrow 36 in Figure 1. If reference is now made to Figure 5, the effect of lowering the reaches 14B is to leave the two rows of lids resting on the ledges or levels defined by the rails 40, and the lids are therefore stored. If the demand for the lids is still not present, then the next level 44 of the racking fills up with lids, and soon until the whole rack has been filled, at which point there will be a signal indicating that other corrective action must be taken, if indeed there is still no demand for the lids from conveyor 16.If at anytime during this process howeverthe demand for the lids is re-established, then the stop 46 is simply moved to the inoperative position permitting the lids 26 being carried by the upper section of reach 1 4B to be discharged onto the conveyor 16 as the pulley 32 thereof remains connected to and aligned with the pulley 24 at all times during the operation.

Any number of lids may be accommodated in the racking within the physical limitations ofthe machine, but typically each column of racking may comprise spaces for 250 iids. The racking can be made double as indicated in Figure 2,orsingle in which case only single section conveyors 14 and 16 are utilised.

The lids shown are of rectangularform, and it is preferred that they be stored by being supported along their longer edges as this ensures that the lids can enterthe racking only in one disposition, i.e. with their longitudinal direction in the direction of travel 12.

When the machine is used with a circuit forthe baking of loaves of bread,the circu it for the travel of the pans for the loaves typically would comprise a lidding station to which the lids travelling on conveyor 16 are fed, an oven through which the lids, pans and dough to be baked travel, a de-lidding section at which the lids are removed from the pans after baking of the dough, a de-pannerfor removing the baked loaves, a greasing section atwhichthe pans are re-greased, and a panner moulding section whereat the portions of dough are placed in the pans to be baked into loaves.The lids travel on a circuit which is common with the pan circuit between the lidding and de-lidding stations, but between the de-lidding and lidding stations the lids travel on a separate path which typically would include the machine illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

It will be understod that modifications and variations may be made without departing from the scope of the invention, and the specific design of arranging fortheconveyor 14to raise and lower automatically in synchronism with the operation is a matter of engineering design. For example ifthe conveyor 14 has two sections as illustrated in Figure 2,then provision must be madefor breaking the rails 40 to ensure that the two sections can remain connected together.

Additionally, in Figure 1, the racking is shown as comprising five sections 50,52,54,56 and 58. Whilst the sections 50 and 58 must be custom builttoform input and output ends of the racking, the sections 52, 54 and 56 can be identical. This facilitates the creation of wider or narrower racking arrangements simply bythe removal of or addition 05 one or more of the identical sections 52,54,56.

It is appreciated that the invention may be applied to the conveying of articles other than baking Iidsfor bread pans.

Claims (6)

1. A storage and stacking machine for baking pan lids, which is embodied in the lid circuit, and comprises racking having a plurality of levels forthe storage and stacking of lids, in conjunction with a conveying meansforming part ofthe lid circuit, which conveying means is capable of sup and down movement between different levels ofthe racking so thatitcan deliverlidstothesaid racking and leave same suspended thereon by virtue of the conveyor being dropped to the next lower level.

2. A machine according to Claim 1, wherein the racking comprises an elongate upright structure, the conveyor passing through the racking in the length direction thereof, the racking defining a plurality of narrow shelves defining said levels and arranged one above the other, and the conveyor being capable of progressively dropping to leave the trays on the various racking levels when they are to be stacked, in the event of blockage or breakdown in the circuit being served by said conveyor.

3. A machine according to Claim 2, wherein the shelves are defined by pairs of angle iron rails, so that the conveyor surface carrying the lids can travel between such rails, pushing the lids there along, and sothatwhen a row of lids arranged end to end fills each shelf, the conveyor, carrying following lids, can drop to feed said lids onto the next lower shelf.

4. A machine according to Claim 2 or3, wherein the conveyor is provided with a stop which is positioned operatively automatically when there is a blockage or breakdown in the circu it to which the lids are being fed, so that progression ofthe lids along the conveyor is stopped atthe correct position in relation to said shelves.

5. A machine according to any preceding claim, wherein the conveyor means comprises a first conveyorwhich receives the lids and delivers same to the racking, and a second conveyor which is aligned with the first conveyor to receive lids therefrom where the lids exit from the racking.

6. A storage and stacking machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.