GB787879A - Packaging machine - Google Patents

Abstract

787,879. Sausages. MAYER & CO., Inc., O. Jan. 2, 1956, No. 34/56. Class 28 (1). [Also in Group XVII] In a machine for forming tubes 10, Fig. 22, filled with sausage meat and having their ends gathered together and secured by metal seals 11, a web of heat-sealable wrapping material 20, Figs. 1-3, is fed from a supply roll 21 over a plate 30 which folds it around a hollow mandrel 31 to form a tube 44 with an overlapping seam which is sealed by co-operating electrodes 36, 37. The tube is filled continuously with sausage meat by a pump 49 which is driven through gearing 51-55 from a main cam-shaft 56 and feeds the meat through a pipe 48 connected to the mandrel 31. The shaft 56 is driven from a motor 60. Two pairs of rollers 45 are mounted on shafts 66 driven through variable-speed gearing 691 by a second motor 69 and are arranged to grip the tube and feed it downwardly to constricting, sealing and severing mechanism 71 which comprises a frame 72 supported by posts 73 which are guided for vertical reciprocation in the machine frame under the action of cams 78 on the shaft 56. The frame 72 comprises guides for blocks 80 and 81, Figs. 5, 6 and 9, which are reciprocated towards and away from each other by rollers 87 engaging cam slots 85, 86 therein, the rollers being carried by arms 88 on vertical shafts 89 which are rotated intermittently through splined couplings, bevel gearing 91, 93 and multilated gears 95 by the shaft 56. Block 80 carries tube-constricting plates 97-101 formed with V-shaped recesses 102 which are arranged to interleave with similar plates 119, 120 and 122 which are carried by the block 81 and formed with V-shaped recesses 137 terminating in pockets 138. A spring-loaded block 105 is slidable in the block 80 under the action of cam plates 107 engageable by the rollers 87 and carries seal-clinching plates 104 formed with recesses 108 and a knife 116 having an inclined edge 117. The block 81 supports co-operating spring-loaded side plates 125 and central plates 124 carried by a slide block 126 and formed with reduced end portions 128. The seals 11 are cut in pairs from metal strips and preformed to U-shape about an anvil 142 carried by a rod which is reciprocated vertically by a cam 149 on the shaft 56. When the frame 72 is at the upper end of the stroke with the blocks 80, 81 in their outer positions, the anvil 142 is raised into alignment with the frame and the blocks 80, 81 then move inwardly so that two of the pockets 138 engage the nose of the anvil. The latter is then moved downwardly, leaving the seals in the pockets, and the blocks continue their inward movement as the frame 72 makes its down stroke at substantially the same speed as the tube. The plates 97-101 and 119, 120 and 122 constrict the tube, thus displacing its contents and the seals are clinched on the constricted portion and the latter severed between the seals when the block 105 is moved inwardly by the rollers 87 engaging the cam plates 107. As the blocks commence their outward movement a cam plate 141 on the arm 88 associated with the block 81 engages a roller 140 on the block 126 so that the plates 124 are moved inwardly and their end portions 128 eject the seals from the pockets 138. The knife 116 may be omitted if it is desired to produce a string of interconnected sausages. The length of the sausages may be varied by adjusting the gearing 691 and the speed of the pump 49 may be varied by changing the gears 51, 52. The cams 78 may be disconnected from the shaft 56 and the posts 73 secured by bolts to adjacent side members of the machine frame. The edges of the web 20 may be preheated to remove wrinkles (see Figs. 23-25, not shown). If the sausage meat includes solid lumps, the area of the tube to be constricted and sealed may be flattened by rollers carried by oscillating arms and located between the rollers 45 and the mechanism 71, see Figs. 26-28 (not shown). A modified form of tube constricting and sealclinching mechanism is illustrated by Figs. 29-36 (not shown). The mutilated gears 95, Fig. 1, may be replaced by a Geneva mechanism, see Figs. 37-39 (not shown). Figs. 40-45 (not shown) illustrate a further modification in which the tube-constricting, sealing and severing mechanism is not reciprocated in the direction of axial movement of the filled tube.