IE73650B1 - A food manufacturing system - Google Patents

Abstract

A food manufacturing system (1) has a main conveyor (2) above which is mounted a laminated pastry delivery conveyor (3). A number of versatile food processing devices are mounted along the length of the main conveyor (2) and these include a multi-ingredient depositor (8) for depositing a line of ingredient according to the manner in which dough is cut into strips at a cutting station (6). A forming station (11) can position and drive various forming devices such as cones to cause strips to curl into cubes or spirals as desired and a guillotine unit (15) may simply cut or may cut and form the dough and filler to form the necessary final product shape. There may be very quick batch changes by simple adjustment of heads on the various processing devices and uniform products of high quality are achieved.

Description

A Food Manufacturing System The invention relates to a system for manufacturing food, and more particularly to confectionery and savoury food products having laminated dough which is formed and cut. Examples of such food products are apple tarts, scones, danish pastries, fritters, jam puffs, coffee slices, apple puffs, mince pies, or sausage rolls. More particularly, the invention relates to the pre-baking manufacturing stages of such food products.

United States Patent Specification No. 3,566,805 describes a pastry product production system which has equipment for programmed sheeting, forming and cutting operations. The equipment is mounted in-line for continuous pastry product production. While this system is undoubtedly useful and provides for extensive automation in this area, there is a need for a system which can be used for production of a wider range of products without increased complexity.

According to the invention there is provided a food manufacturing system comprising:a main conveyor and associated drive means; a set of food processing devices mounted at the main conveyor between head and tail ends thereof, each comprising a drive means and being mounted in the following sequence:a flour dispenser mounted at the head of the main conveyor and comprising means for delivering a fine sprinkling of flour dust onto the main conveyor, - 2 a first laminated pastry dispenser comprising a conveyor mounted above and in-line with the main conveyor at its head end, comprising at least two pairs of supports for pastry spools, and terminating in a roller set for delivery of a layer of pastry having a pre-set thickness onto the main conveyor the roller set having means for adjusting roller positions to set the desired thickness, a cutting station comprising a pair of transverse supports for support of rotary cutters across the main conveyor to cut the laminated pastry into one or more pastry strips, a water spraying station mounted over the main conveyor, a dried fruit strewer mounted over the main conveyor, a forming station comprising means for supporting and driving a set of conical formers mounted in alignment with edges of pastry strips to curl them to surround filler deposited on the strips, and a second laminated pastry dispenser comprising a conveyor mounted above and in-line with the main conveyor and terminating in a roller set for delivery of a second layer of pastry having a preset thickness, the roller set having means for adjusting roller positions to set the desired thickness, a guillotine unit having a support for different cutting and forming heads and a drive mechanism synchronised with the drive means of the main conveyor belt; a mobile filler ingredient depositor comprising a set of dispensing heads and means for alignment of the heads with pastry strips as cut at the cutting station, and further comprising a levelling plate for levelling filler ingredients across a single wide pastry strip; an open-construction conveyor mounted in-line with the main conveyor beyond its tail end and above which is mounted an egg glazing means for delivery of an egg glazing ingredient onto the top surface of a food product; » a final conveyor mounted in-line with the wire conveyor for delivery of the food product for panning; and a control unit for the system, said control unit comprising means for automatically setting speeds of the food processing devices in direct relationship to that of the main conveyor, and for allowing independent setting of food processing device speeds.

By providing pastry dispensers above and in-line with the main conveyor versatility is achieved whereby the pastry spool may be prepared in a semi-automatic manner or automatically from a sub-system, thickness always being set by the roller sets. Use of first and second such pastry dispensers provides for production of a very wide range of products in a simple manner. The forming station allows production of a wide range of single layer rolled products. A single guillotine unit provides for cutting of all types of products, for many of which it also performs forming operations.

In one embodiment, the flour dispenser comprises a container mounted above a roller mounted adjacent a fixed member with a narrow gap therebetween for delivery of dusted flour onto the head end of the main conveyor.

Preferably, the roller set of the laminated pastry dispenser comprises a fixed lower roller and a movable upper roller, said upper roller being mounted on a movable support controlled by an adjustment mechanism to set the gap between the laminating rollers to set the thickness of the laminated pastry layer. Ideally, the adjustment mechanism comprises a spindle arrangement.

In another embodiment, the cutting station has splayed guides mounted on each side of the main conveyor for delivery of side excess pastry to side containers.

Ideally, the water sprayer comprises a nozzle connected to an air supply and to a water supply for delivery of the water spray.

In another embodiment, the ingredient depositor comprises a single container mounted above a plurality of augers delivering ingredient into dispensing heads. Preferably, the ingredient depositor is mobile from a conventional position between the water sprayer and the dried fruit dispenser to the final conveyor.

In one embodiment, the system further comprises a topping unit having a separate wire conveyor for mounting between the egg glazing unit and the final conveyor.

In a further embodiment, the system further comprises a pastry laminating sub-system for delivery of pastry onto a laminated pastry dispenser, the sub-system comprising a dough extruder, a fat extruder, a dough folding station, a multi-roller station for sheeting the pastry, a crossroller station and a rollsheeter for final delivery of the pastry.

In this latter embodiment, the sub-system further comprises a reciprocating conveyor for forming multi-layer folded stacks of pastry for chilling before final rolling.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side view of a food manufacturing system of the invention; > Fig. 2a is a perspective view of part of the system showing flour and pastry dispensers, Figs. 2b and 2c are diagrammatic and cross-sectional views showing the pastry delivery mechanism and the flour dispenser in more detail, and Fig. 2d is a perspective view showing part of a pastry delivery conveyor; Fig. 3a is a perspective view showing cutting, spraying and ingredient depositing stations, Fig. 3b shows the spraying station in more detail and Fig. 3c shows the depositing station in more detail, from the opposite side; Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing dried fruit strewer and forming stations of the system; Fig. 5a is a diagrammatic and cross-sectional side view showing the strewer, Fig. 5b is a perspective view showing the strewer and a forming station, Fig. 5c shows part of the forming station in more detail, and Fig. 5d is a cross-sectional view showing part of a food product at this stage of production? Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a guillotine unit station? Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a set of cutters for use in the cutting station; Figs. 8a and 8b are perspective and diagrammatic crosssectional views respectively showing an alternative construction of head for use in the guillotine unit; Fig. 9 is a perspective view from the opposite side of an egg glazing station and final conveyor; and > Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic side view showing part of a pastry laminating dough production sub-system.

Referring to the drawings and initially to Fig. 1 there 15 is shown a food manufacturing system of the invention, indicated generally by the reference numeral 1. The system 1 comprises a main conveyor belt 2 extending between head and tail ends on the left and right hand sides respectively. The system 1 further comprises a first pastry supply unit 3 having a pastry delivery mechanism 4. At the head end of the main conveyor 2, there is a flour dispenser 5. In order, extending between the head and tail ends of the main conveyor 2, the next station is a longitudinal cutting station 6, followed by a water spraying station 7. After this there is a mobile multi- depositor 8, followed by a dried fruit strewer 10.

The next station is a forming station 11, followed by a second pastry delivery unit 12, after which there is a guillotine unit 15. The system 1 further comprises an egg glazing unit 16, having a separate wire conveyor mounted beyond the tail end of the conveyor 2. The system 1 also comprises a topping unit 17 and a final delivery conveyor 18 mounted in-line with the egg glazing unit 16.

The head end of the conveyor 2 is shown in detail in Figs. 2a, 2b, 2c and 2d. The first pastry delivery unit 3 comprises an endless conveyor belt 20 mounted on a support frame 21. At the head end of the conveyor belt 20 there are two pairs of spool supports 20, each pair being for support of a spool 23 of roughly laminated pastry. The head end of the frame 21 comprises a pivoting support 24 which allows the conveyor belt 20 to be moved upwardly at the head end as shown in Fig. 2d. This provides for easy cleaning of the belt 21. A similar arrangement is provided for the main belt 2. As shown in Fig. 2b, the > dough delivery mechanism 4 comprises a lower laminating roller 30, above which there is an upper laminating roller 31 mounted on a movable support 32. The support 32 is movable under control of a spindle 33 mounted between the support 32 and a fixed frame. The gap between the lower and upper laminating rollers 30 and 31 is exaggerated in Fig. 2b for clarity. As shown in Fig. 2c, the flour depositor 5 comprises an upper container and a roller 34 which is mounted next to a fixed plate 34a, the small gap therebetween ensuring that flour is deposited in a fine dust on the main conveyor 2.

As is clear from Fig. 3a, the first layer A of pastry is deposited onto the main conveyor 2 which has been presprinkled with flour dust by the flour dispenser 5. The cutting station 6 comprises a pair of opposed supports 35 for supporting a set of rotary cutters 36. At the sides of the main conveyor 2, there is a pair of splayed guides 37. As shown in Fig. 3a, the layer of pastry A is delivered from the pastry delivery mechanism 4 and this layer has an even thickness as set by the laminating rollers 30 and 31. However, the width of the layer A is uneven and the guides 37 ensure that part which is external of the end rotary cutters 36 is delivered to side-containers, not shown. The supports 35 may support different cutter arrangements, depending on the nature of the food product being produced. Fig. 7 shows a rack 38 supporting a number of sets 39 of cutters. It will be seen that the top set of cutters 39 has only two rotary cutters and thus, the output from the cutting station 6 would be a single wide strip of laminated pastry. In the embodiment illustrated, there are four strips cut. As is clear from Fig. 3a, the replacement cutters may be very easily put in place for quick batch changeovers.

The water spraying station 7 is mounted over the main belt 2 and when it is not required it is simply not operated and there is therefore no need to remove it. As is shown in Fig. 3b, the station 7 comprises a rectangular box water reservoir 40 and a rectangular bar air duct 41. A water tube 42 leads from the reservoir 40 and an air tube 43 delivers air from the duct 41. These tubes are connected to an overhead nozzle 44 which delivers a water/air mix directly over the product on the main conveyor 2.

The multi-depositor 8 comprises a support frame 50 which houses a controller and is mounted on casters 51 so that the depositor 8 is mobile. There is a releasable lock 52 which secures the depositor 8 in place at the relevant position along the main conveyor 2. The depositor 8 further comprises a hopper 53 and a container 54 for the filler ingredient to be deposited. The ingredients to be deposited by the depositor 8 are in liquid or semi-liquid form and they are delivered from the container 54 through a set of five augers 55 and into tubes 56 for output from heads 57. This arrangement provides a very large degree of versatility. Where there are a number such as four strips of pastry, there can be one head 57 for each strip to deposit the appropriate filler ingredients such as stewed apple, sausage-meat, etc. Where there is a single wide strip of laminated pastry, the same number of heads may still operate, however, they may be followed by a levelling plate which levels the ingredient out over the full width of the strip so that it is evenly deposited across the width of the strip. The rate of flow of the filler ingredient may be very easily controlled by use of controls on the depositor 8, the rate simply depending on the speed of operation of the augers 55.

In Fig. 4, a main control panel 60 for the system 1 is illustrated. This control panel has the necessary electrical control circuits, solenoids’, etc. for control of motors of the various conveyors and food processing devices forming part of the system 1. The control panel 60 is constructed so that the speed of all processing devices is directly related to that of the main conveyor 2. However, it allows independent adjustment of the speeds where required for certain products.

The dried fruit strewer 10 is situated just beyond the depositor 8 and immediately after the strewer 10 there is the forming station 11. Fig. 4 shows an overview of operation of these processing devices whereby strips of dough with a length of sausage-meat is dispensed on each strip by the depositor heads 57 , they pass under the dried fruit strewer 10 (which is not required for this product) and then are formed into sausage rolls at the forming station 11.

In Fig. 5a, operation of the dried fruit strewer 10 is shown. The strewer 10 comprises a series of three opentopped containers 65 which terminate in a funnel arrangement leading to a roller 66 having elongate grooves in the sides for dispensing of an even amount of dried fruit such as sultanas or raisins onto the laminated dough as illustrated in Fig. 5a. As stated above, the strewer is not required for the product which is shown being formed at the forming station 11, namely sausage rolls. However, it will be required for such things as danish pastries .

Referring now to Figs. 5b and 5c, operation of the forming 10 station 11 is now described. There is a series of four cones 70 which are mounted in alignment with the edges of the four pastry strips indicated by the numeral 71. The extruded sausage-meat 72 mounted on each strip 71 is also illustrated in Fig. 5c. The cones 70 rotate to cause the strips 71 to curl upwardly and around the meat 72 as shown in Figs. 5c and 5d to form an elongate sausage roll, shown in cross section in Fig. 5d. A similar processing arrangement is used whereby there are two, or indeed only one, strip of pastry. For example, where there is only one strip of dough and this is quite wide, there may be a pair of larger rollers which cause the strip to pass between them and form a single roll between them, the width of the roll becoming larger along the length of the cones as they are splayed further away from each other in the direction of travel. Of course, if the end product is not rolled the station 11 is not used.

Referring now to Fig. 6 a set of guide rollers 75 is illustrated at the back of the forming station 11 to ensure that the rolls are in correct alignment, and that the roils are then passed underneath the guillotine unit . The guillotine unit 15 has a pneumatic cylinder driving a cutting mechanism which moves at a maximum rate of 100 strokes per minute. The stroke of the cylinder is controlled directly according to the speed of the main conveyor 2. This provides the desired length of sausage roll or other product as shown in Fig. 6.

The guillotine 15 is extremely versatile and may do much more than make straight cuts in the product as shown in Fig. 6. It may, for example, form an end product such as an apple or mince tart. For clarity, the second pastry delivery unit 12 is not shown in Fig. 6, however, it is mounted between the forming station 11 and the guillotine unit 15. The second pastry delivery unit 12 is not used for the food product as illustrated in Fig. 6, however, if a food product requires two layers of dough with a filler in between, then it would deposit the second layer in much the same manner as the first pastry delivery unit 3. The food product would then comprise a bottom layer, a filler and a top layer and this would pass under-neath the guillotine 15. This could then be formed to whatever end product shape is required according to the cutting and forming heads placed in the guillotine unit 15. For example, where apple pie is being produced a cutting head 76 shown in Figs 8(a) and 8(b) may be used which has a set of four halves 77 having an outer cutting rim 78 so that circular forms are cut in both layers of dough. Further, there is an inner forming ring 79 which presses the layers together to form the edges of what will be the apple pies. It will be appreciated that appropriate heads may be used for such things as mince pies, jam tarts, jam puffs, etc. The guillotine unit 15 may have a head to stamp a herringbone or lattice patter on the top pastry layer. The important point is that the guillotine unit 15 can cut the dough to the required shapes and may also press two layers together in the one operation. Accordingly, forming of the food product may take place at the forming station 11 or at the guillotine unit 15, or both.

The egg glazing unit 16 is mounted beyond the tail end of the main conveyor 2 and comprises a separate wire conveyor 81 beneath which is mounted a set of containers, not shown. The egg glazing unit 16 also comprises a depositor 80 for egg to be deposited as a spray on top of the product at this stage, so that when it is baked it has a glazed appearance. The excess simply drops through the wire conveyor 81 into the containers below. The topping unit 17 is mounted just beyond the egg glazing unit 16 and it has a separate wire conveyor 17(a), above which is a topping device similar to the floor dispenser 5. This device is suitable for depositing sugar on top of the product.

The final conveyor 18 is shown just beyond the topping unit 7. The formed product is simply taken from the final conveyor 18 and is mounted on trays for baking. Where the end product requires a filler to be deposited in an open manner on top of it, the multi-depositor 8 or a similar unit may be transported to the final conveyor 18 to perform this operation. This operation is shown by interrupted lines in Fig. 1.

The spools or reels of dough 23 are prepared in a semiautomatic manner and are mounted on the supports 22 as shown in Fig. 2a. However, the laminated pastry may be prepared automatically using a system 100 shown in Fig. 10. The system 100 comprises a first conveyor 101, a second conveyor 102, and a final conveyor 103 which delivers laminated pastry onto the main conveyor 2. The flour dispenser 105 is mounted at the head of the conveyor 101 and this is followed by a roilsheeter 106, which is followed by a fat extruder 107. A folding station 108 provides for folding the extruded dough and fat together and flour is deposited from a second flour depositor 109. A multi-roller station 110 is provided for sheeting the pastry onto the second conveyor 102 where it is layered. A third flour duster 111 deposits flour onto this and a cross-roller station 112 evens the pastry and a tworollsheeter 113 provides the final laminated layer of dough for the main conveyor 2.

In more detail, the system 100 operates in two passes. The rollsheeter 106 extrudes dough in a wide layer on the conveyor 101. A narrower layer of fat is deposited centrally on this by the fat extruder 107. The folding station 108 folds the dough layer sides over on top to cover the layer of fat. The station 110 has a soft, repetitive action which sheets the pastry. The crossroller station 112 sets the desired thickness by passing a roller back-and-forth across the laver. This ensures that the layer is stretched in both the longitudinal and transverse directions so that when it contracts on relaxation at a later stage, the contraction is uniform. The conveyor 103 reciprocates back-and-forth so that multi-layered stacks of pastry are produced and then chilled (usually overnight). On the second pass, these stacks are unravelled and passed through the stations 110, 111, 112 and 113 and directly onto the delivery system 3. By laminating in two stages in this manner, there is an improved product texture and relaxation at later stages is minimised.

It will be appreciated that the system 1 of the invention provides a very large amount of versatility in production of different types of confectionery products having laminated pastry. The product may have one or two layers, the filling may be between layers, on top of a single layer which is then rolled up on itself, or indeed on top of a two-layer product. Any combination may be provided by appropriate settings of the food processing devices in the system 1. Indeed scones may be produced by extruding dough in the rollsheeter 106 (which is mobile) just before the guillotine unit 15, which forms the scone shapes. The scones may then be glazed by deposit of egg spray at the unit 16. Flour may be deposited at the topping unit 17, if desired. By correctly setting the devices at the beginning of a batch run, a set of products having a uniform appearance and quality is achieved and there is very high efficiency and relatively little labour input.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described but may be varied in both construction and detail.

Claims (5)

1. CLAIMS;

1. A food manufacturing system comprising: a main conveyor and associated drive means; a set of food processing devices mounted at the main conveyor between head and tail ends thereof, each comprising a drive means and being mounted in the following sequence:a flour dispenser mounted at the head of the main conveyor and comprising means for delivering a fine sprinkling of flour dust onto the main conveyor, a first laminated pastry dispenser comprising a conveyor mounted above and in-line with the main conveyor at its head end, comprising at least two pairs of supports for pastry spools, and terminating in a roller set for delivery of a layer of pastry having a preset thickness onto the main conveyor the roller set having means for adjusting roller positions to set the desired thickness, a cutting station comprising a pair of transverse supports for support of rotary cutters across the main conveyor to cut the laminated pastry into one or more pastry strips, a water spraying station mounted over the main conveyor, a dried fruit strewer mounted over the main conveyor, a forming station comprising means for supporting and driving a set of conical formers mounted in alignment with edges of pastry strips to curl them to surround filler deposited on the strips, and a second laminated pastry dispenser comprising a conveyor mounted above and inline with the main conveyor and terminating in a roller set for delivery of a second layer of pastry having a pre-set thickness, the roller set having means for adjusting roller positions to set the desired thickness, a guillotine unit having a support for different cutting and forming heads and a drive mechanism synchronised with the drive means of the main conveyor belt; a mobile filler ingredient depositor comprising a set of dispensing heads and means for alignment of the heads with pastry strips as cut at the cutting station, and further comprising a levelling plate for levelling filler ingredients across a single wide pastry strip; an open-construction conveyor mounted in-line with the main conveyor beyond its tail end and above which is mounted an egg glazing means for delivery of an egg glazing ingredient onto the top surface of a food product; a final conveyor mounted in-line with the wire conveyor for delivery of the food product for panning; and a control unit for the system, said control unit comprising means for automatically setting speeds of the food processing devices in direct relationship to that of the main conveyor, and for allowing independent setting of food processing device speeds. A food manufacturing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the flour dispenser comprises a container mounted above a roller mounted adjacent a fixed member with a narrow gap therebetween for delivery of dusted flour onto the heacl end of the main conveyor. A system as claimed in claims 1 or 2, wherein the roller set of the laminated pastry dispenser comprises a fixed lower roller and a movable upper roller, said upper roller being mounted on a movable support controlled by an adjustment mechanism to set the gap between the laminating rollers to set the thickness of the laminated pastry layer. A system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the adjustment mechanism comprises a spindle arrangement. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the cutting station has splayed guides mounted on each side of the main conveyor for delivery of side excess pastry to side containers. 6. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the water sprayer comprises a nozzle connected to an air supply and to a water supply for delivery of the water spray.

2. 5 7. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the ingredient depositor comprises a single container mounted above a plurality of augers delivering ingredient into dispensing heads.

3. 10 8. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the ingredient depositor is mobile from a conventional position between the water sprayer and the dried fruit dispenser to the final » conveyor. 15 9 . A system as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising a topping unit having a separate wire conveyor for mounting between the egg glazing unit and the final conveyor. 10. A system as claimed in any preceding claim further 20 comprising a pastry laminating sub-system for delivery of pastry onto a laminated pastry dispenser, the sub-system comprising a dough extruder, a fat extruder, a dough folding station, a multi-roller station for sheeting the pastry, a 25 cross-roller station and a rollsheeter for final delivery of the pastry.

4. 11. A system as claimed in claim io , wherein the subsystem further comprises a reciprocating conveyor for forming multi-layer folded stacks of pastry for chilling before final rolling.

5. 12. 15. A system substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. A food product whenever produced by a system as claimed in any preceding claim.