GB645259A - Improvements in and relating to dough dividers - Google Patents

Abstract

645,259. Dough-dividers. POINTON, J. E., and BAKER PERKINS, Ltd. June 6, 1947, No. 15019. [Class 87 (ii)] A dough-divider comprises a lever 7 operating a ram 1 and a knife 5 in common so that the knife is positively displaced while the ram is resiliently displaced by a spring 19 and a bell crank 16, an abutment 23 associated with the ram, a stop 26a movable into the path of the abutment, and means for tripping the stop as the knife completes cutting off dough from a hopper 4. Positive movement in both directions is given to the operating lever 7 by cams 10 and 13 fixed on a shaft 14 and engaging rollers 9 and 12 respectively, the roller 12 being mounted on an extension 11. Mounted on the shaft 14 is a cam 30 against which a roller 29 on one arm 27 of a bell crank is held by a spring 31, the other arm 26 incorporating the stop 26a. The abutment 23 is carried on a connecting rod 18 between the ram 1 and the bell crank 16 and is adjustable by a screw 24 to suit the weight of dough to be divided. The cam 13 moves the lever 7 so as to advance the ram 1 and the knife 5 together until the abutment 23 meets the stop 26a, when the ram is arrested, but the lever 7 and knife 5 continue their movement and the spring 19 is compressed. The trip cam 30 is so formed that when the knife has moved across the hopper opening and cut off the dough the stop 26a releases the abutment 23 and the spring 19 then causes the ram 1 to push the dough into a waiting division box 6. On the return stroke the knife is brought into line with the ram and they are retracted together. To avoid possible damage through the operation of the stop when there is no dough in the hopper a trip plate 33 is provided. When the hopper is empty the ram 1, encountering no resistance, moves through its full stroke with the result that a block 38 carried by the lever 16 engages the stop 26a and rocks the bell crank to lift the roller 29 off the cam 30 and at the same time rocks an arm 32 mounted on the shaft of the bell crank to an extent such that its tip 32a becomes engaged by a projection 33b on the trip plate 33, the stop thus becoming inoperative. When dough is placed in the hopper the arm 32 is released by the operator moving an arm 35, bringing the stop again into normal operation.