GB682018A - Improvements in and relating to the manufacture of wax candles - Google Patents

Abstract

<PICT:0682018/III/1> <PICT:0682018/III/2> Apparatus for making candles from a continuous rod 53 of wax-covered wick comprises feeding means 60 for supporting the rod and alternately advancing it through the length of a candle and holding it stationary, a rotating tipping cutter 61 coaxial with the rod and mounted so as to be capable of axial movement towards and away from the free end of the rod and having one or more blades so shaped or disposed as to uncover a short length of wick and cut the tip of the wax to the desired shape, reciprocating means 64-65 for moving the cutter towards and away from the rod, and a parting cutter 66 synchronized with the reciprocating means for cutting off the desired length of rod when the cutter has completed its tipping operation and the rod is held stationary. In the form shown, the feeding means comprises four pairs of rollers 60 on shafts 70 driven through gear wheels 72, idler pinions 73, and a driving pinion 74 on a rotatably mounted shaft 75. An independently rotated hollow shaft 76 is mounted on shaft 75 and carries a bevel gear 77 meshing with a bevel gear 78 on the shaft 79 of a motor. An arm 80 is fixed on the shaft 76 and carries a pivoted pawl 81 with a cam roller 82 spring-urged into contact with a fixed cam 83. The pawl 81 co-operates with a ratchet 84 on the shaft 75. The bevel gear 77, hollow shaft 76 and arm 80 are rotated in the clockwise direction and when the roller 82 is in contact with the depressions of the cam 83 the pawl 81 engages the ratchet 84 and turns the shaft 75 and hence the gear 74 and rollers 60. When the roller 82 rides on a projecting arc of the cam 83, the pawl 81 is disengaged from the ratchet 84 and the shaft 75 &c. are no longer driven. The rollers 60 are thus intermittently driven. A cam operated arm 85 engages a stud 90 on the face of the gear wheel 74 to hold the roller 60 stationary during the periods when they are not driven. The wax rod 53 advanced intermittently by the rollers 60 passes through a guide tube 91, and then under rods 92 above a shoot 69. The tipping cutter 61 is fixed on the shaft of a motor 62 which is slidably mounted on guide rods 96. The tipping cutter blades are fixed on the tips of four prongs 99, parallel to the axis of the rod except for their tips which latter are bent so that the blades make a conical cut on the rod. The tipping cutter is supported on the forked ends 104 of an arm 65 mounted on a fixed pivot 105 and held in contact with a cam 64 by a spring 106. The cam is rotated by the driving shaft 79 through a gear 113. The parting cutter comprises a knife blade 66 fixed on the hub of a chain wheel 109 driven by a chain 111 from the driving shaft 79. The severed candle is pushed down the shoot 69 by a resilient arm 68. The apparatus may be used in conjunction with the extrusion apparatus for making a continuous rod of wax-covered wick described in Specification 682,019.