GB517707A - Improvements in or relating to juice extracting machines - Google Patents

Abstract

517,707. Shoots and hoppers. SEALDSWEET SALES ASSOCIATION. Aug. 10, 1938, No. 23596. Convention date, Aug. 10, 1937. [Class 78 (i)] [Also in Groups XVIII, I and VI] In a machine which is described as coin-freed, fruits are taken, one by one, from bulk, halved and presented to de-juicing reamers. The fruit is contained in a hopper having an inclined bottom 272 hinged at 273 and resting, in its lowest position, on a stop 274. The fruit gravitate, one at a time, through an opening 277 in a square sectioned elevator passage 276 in which a plunger 278 is . slidable. The plunger 278 has a slot 274a which engages an extension 275 of the bottom 272 and is operated through linkage from a crank on a sprocket 279. The passage wall is slotted to permit the working of the link 281. The single fruit admitted to the top of the plunger is elevated thereby and the bottom 272 is raised and lowered to agitate the fruit in the hopper and assist gravitation. The top of the plunger 278 is inclined laterally so that the fruit will roll off the plunger into a downwardly directed part 290 of the passage. The fruit is arrested at the mouth of the part 290 by three wing plates pivoted adjacent to the rim of the mouth and having inclined slots therein which are engaged by pins on a rotatable ring concentric with the mouth. The ring is provided with a projecting 'lug secured to a cable 309 actuated by a rotary cam.. The ring is returned, to close the mouth, by a compression spring action upon the projecting lug. Should more than one fruit be in the part 290, the escape of more than one is prevented by a number of levers 312, one for each wing plate, which are pivoted at their lower ends on pins 313 and project through slots in the part 290. The levers are-normally pressed inwards by leaf springs 314 and are pulled out by engagement with lugs on the wing plates, the arrangement being such that, when the wing plates are in the release position, the levers are in the fruit retaining position and vice versa. The fruit is dropped from the part 290 into the reamering- means.