GB948059A - Improvements in and relating to the treatment of plastic materials - Google Patents

Abstract

948,059. Moulding plastic materials such as dough. T. & T. VICARS Ltd. June 3, 1960 [June 6, 1959], No. 19409/59. Heading B5A. A machine for moulding, embossing and/or cutting plastic materials, e.g. dough, and embodying air-assisted ejection of the treated material comprises a roller having one or more dies located about its periphery and with the side wall of the or each die projecting from the surface of the roller to form a cutter shell, the bottom wall of the or each die constituting a surface for receiving the plastic material directly thereon and being micro- or macro-porous. The porosity of the dies allows unobstructed passage of the ejection air but the pores are too small to allow the plastic material to enter and block them. In the embodiment illustrated, an embossing and cutting roll 10 of a machine for treating dough is mounted for rotation on a power-driven shaft 11 and carries a plurality of cutter shells 13 around its periphery, each shell having an embossing die 14 formed from a micro- or macro-porous material at a depth determined by the thickness of the dough sheet to be embossed and cut. The dough sheet is led, e.g. on a conveyer or over a table, beneath the rotating roll 10. Roll 10 comprises a series of chambers 17 each having an aperture 21 at one end and apertures 18 beneath each die 14. A stationary annular air supply box 19 is located around shaft 11 at one end of roll 10, being urged against the end face of the roll by a spring 22. Box 19 has a single opening in the form of an arcuate slot 20 in the face which is urged against the roll 10 and this slot is successively brought into register with each of the apertures 21 as the roll 10 rotates. The slot 20 is positioned such that communication between a source of compressed air connected to inlet pipe 23 and the dies 14 is made as the latter retract from the dough sheet so that the cut sections contained within the cutter shells 13 are ejected.