JP4467291B2 - Tea leaves cutting machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for cutting fresh tea leaves plucked in a tea garden.

  The conventional tea leaf cutting apparatus uses two blade rollers 71a and 71b as shown in FIG. Each blade roller 71a, 71b has a configuration in which a large number of circular blades (round blades) are arranged at equal intervals on the rotation shafts 72a, 72b. These two blade rollers 71a and 71b are arranged in parallel so that the outer periphery of the round blade 73a of one blade roller 71a slightly enters the envelope cylindrical surface of the round blade 73b of the other blade roller 71b. ing. When these double-edged rollers 71a, 71b are rotated in opposite directions at different speeds, the green tea leaves dropped between the double-edged rollers 71a, 71b are different in speed between the low-speed blade roller 71a and the high-speed blade roller 71b. Therefore, it is cut by the double round blades 73a and 73b.

As described above, in the conventional cutting apparatus, the green tea leaves are a mechanism that is cut by the two pairs of rotating round blades facing each other. Therefore, when the green tea leaves enter between the double-edged rollers 71a and 71b, they are relatively short. Cut leaves are produced, but if the green tea leaves enter vertically, the cut leaves become long. If such long cut leaves occur, the shape of the rough tea will vary and not only affect the appearance evaluation of the tea, but also during the steaming process after cutting, the tea leaves may get entangled with the stirrer and fully steamed. Problems such as failure to pass occur, and the quality of the crude tea is reduced.
Moreover, in the conventional cutting device, since both the rotary round blades are not in contact with each other, there is a problem in that the tea leaf ash adheres to the cutting edge and the cutting performance deteriorates.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems. The purpose of the present invention is to cut green tea leaves with less deterioration in cutting performance while reliably cutting green tea leaves to a predetermined size or less. Is to provide a device.

The fresh tea leaf cutting device according to the first aspect of the present invention , which has been made to solve the above problems,
a) A blade roller provided with at least one horizontal blade arranged parallel to the rotation axis over substantially the entire length of the working part, and a plurality of round blades arranged at substantially equal intervals in the axial direction in the working part When,
b) an elastic layer roller provided in parallel to the blade roller so as to have an elastic layer on the surface of the working portion, and the elastic layer is in line contact with the blade roller;
c) It is provided in a section surrounded by the round blade and the horizontal blade of the blade roller, and is usually at least approximately the same height as the cylindrical surface formed by the blade edge of the round blade, and the elastic layer roller. When the raw tea leaves are cut in contact with each other, the cut leaf removing means has elasticity so as to sink by the thickness of the fresh tea leaves,
It is characterized by providing.
Moreover, the fresh tea leaf cutting device according to the second aspect of the present invention comprises:
a) a round blade roller having a plurality of round blades arranged at substantially equal intervals in the axial direction in the working part;
b) a horizontal blade roller provided with at least one horizontal blade arranged parallel to the rotation axis over substantially the entire length of the working part;
c) an elastic layer roller provided in parallel with the round blade roller and the horizontal blade roller so as to have an elastic layer on the surface of the working portion, and the elastic layer is in line contact with the round blade roller and the horizontal blade roller; ,
It is characterized by providing.

Embodiments and effects of the invention

The blade roller of the fresh tea leaf cutting device according to the first aspect of the present invention is provided with a plurality of round blades at substantially equal intervals in the axial direction at least in the working portion. Each round blade is provided perpendicular to the rotation axis of the blade roller. In addition, an "action part" is a part used in this apparatus in order to cut | disconnect a fresh tea leaf, and a fresh tea leaf is dropped into the action part (or sent). In addition to these round blades, the blade roller of the cutting device according to the present invention is provided with at least one horizontal blade. The horizontal blade is provided parallel to the rotation axis of the blade roller (thus perpendicular to the round blade). The meaning of “at least one sheet” here means that the length extends over the entire length of the action part, and does not mean that there is only one sheet between adjacent round blades. Of course, a plurality of horizontal blades may be provided in the circumferential direction of the blade roller.

  The elastic layer roller has an elastic layer on the surface, and the surface is in line contact with the blade roller. Therefore, when the blade roller is driven to rotate, the elastic layer roller is driven to rotate. Conversely, the elastic layer roller may be rotationally driven, or both rollers may be rotationally driven. Thus, if the raw tea leaves are dropped (or fed) into the contact portion while both rollers are rotating in opposite directions and downward in the contact portion, the green tea leaf is elastic with the round and horizontal blades of the blade roller. It is sandwiched between the elastic layers of the layer rollers and pressed.

  Since the raw tea leaf cutting device according to the present invention is provided with a horizontal blade in addition to the conventional round blade, even if the raw tea leaf enters vertically between both rollers, it is reliably cut by the horizontal blade. Therefore, for example, by providing several horizontal blades during one rotation, etc., by appropriately setting the interval between the horizontal blades (or even with only one horizontal blade, the diameter of the blade roller is set to an appropriate size. By setting to), the green tea leaves after cutting can be surely made to have a predetermined size or less.

  Further, since the round blade and the horizontal blade slightly bite into the elastic layer roller when cutting the tea leaves, adhesion of lye or the like to the blade edge is extremely small, and the cutting performance of the blade can be maintained.

In the tea raw leaf cutting device according to the first aspect of the present invention , one of the tea leaf leaves is an elastic layer roller, so that the cut tea leaf enters between the round blade and the round blade (and the horizontal blade) of the blade roller, where The situation of being held easily occurs. Furthermore, the situation where the green tea leaves after cutting are pushed in one after another in this way and overlapped between the blades is also caused.

Therefore, in the fresh tea leaf cutting device according to the first aspect of the present invention , the cutting leaf removing means is provided in the section surrounded by the round blade and the horizontal blade of the blade roller. When the blade roller is not in contact with the elastic layer roller (normal time), the cutting leaf removing means is at least partially at the same height as the cylindrical surface formed by the blade edge of the round blade. Is in contact with the elastic layer roller, and when the fresh tea leaves are cut between them, it has elasticity that sinks by the thickness of the fresh tea leaves. When the green tea leaves are cut between the rollers and the part of the round blade or the horizontal blade is separated from the elastic layer roller, the cutting leaf removing means returns to the normal state due to elasticity. It is surely excluded from between the blades.

  In the fresh tea leaf cutting apparatus according to the present invention, the fresh tea leaves are pushed between the blades provided on the elastic layer roller and the blade roller.

  Therefore, it is desirable that the fresh tea leaf cutting device according to the present invention is provided with attached leaf removing means for removing the cut tea leaf attached to the elastic layer roller. As such an attached leaf removing means, a brush-like one or a spatula-like one can be considered. Each of these has substantially the same length as the elastic layer roller, and is provided in parallel with the elastic layer roller and in contact with the surface of the elastic layer roller.

  In the fresh tea leaf cutting apparatus according to the present invention, it is further preferable that each of the round blades is configured by combining two semicircular blades. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, when a completely circular round blade 73a is used, even if a part of one round blade 73a is damaged, the rotating shaft 72a of the blade roller 71a is closer to the front than the damaged round blade. All the round blades had to be removed. On the other hand, by configuring a round blade with a combination of two semicircular blades as described above, even if one round blade at the center is damaged, only that part can be removed from the rotating shaft, Repair and maintenance work is extremely easy. Such a configuration is not limited to the fresh tea leaf cutting device of the configuration of the present invention as described above, and is effective in general tea fresh leaf cutting devices using a round blade (including the conventional device as shown in FIG. 7). is there.

In addition, the tea fresh leaf cutting device according to the present invention has a configuration in which a round blade and a horizontal blade are provided on one roller like the tea fresh leaf cutting device according to the first aspect, and the tea according to the second aspect. It is good also as a structure which provided separately the round blade roller which has a round blade, and the horizontal blade roller which has a horizontal blade like a fresh leaf cutting device . In this case, the round blade roller and the horizontal blade roller need to be as close as possible so that the tea leaves fed into the apparatus are surely cut by both blade rollers. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a slit at a position on the horizontal blade corresponding to the position of the round blade so as to prevent contact between the round blade and the horizontal blade.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a fresh tea leaf cutting apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The fresh tea leaf cutting apparatus 10 of the present embodiment includes a blade roller 11 and a urethane roller 12 which are provided so as to be in line contact with each other in parallel and on the surface. Above both rollers 11 and 12, a hopper 13 for dropping fresh tea leaves into the contact portion (cutting portion) C of both rollers 11 and 12, and below both rollers 11 and 12, cut tea leaves are processed in the next step. A conveyor 14 is provided for delivery to the vehicle. In addition, the transfer to the next process may use a shooter or the like instead of the conveyor 14. Pulleys 15 and 16 are fixed to the rotating shafts of the rollers 11 and 12, respectively, and a chain 19 (or belt) is hung between the driving pulley 18 fixed to the rotating shaft of the motor 17 and the pulleys 15 and 16. Has been passed. As shown in FIG. 1, the chain 19 is stretched so that the rollers 11 and 12 rotate in opposite directions and rotate at the contact portion (cutting portion) C from top to bottom.

  A tension pulley 20 is provided between the pulley 15 of the blade roller 11 and the drive pulley 18, and the tension of the chain 19 is adjusted by adjusting its position.

  Both the blade roller 11 and the urethane roller 12 can move in directions toward and away from each other, whereby the pressing force between the rollers 11 and 12 can be adjusted. Only one of the rollers may be movable. The pressing force of both rollers 11 and 12 is set such that the blade of the blade roller 11 bites into a urethane layer 28 (described later) of the urethane roller 12 by about several millimeters.

  The urethane roller 12 is movable in the axial direction. Thereby, the relative position of the urethane roller 12 and the blade roller 11 can be changed, and the position where the blade hits the urethane layer 28 can be appropriately changed. For this purpose, the blade roller 11 may be movable in the axial direction, or both may be movable.

  The motor 17 is ON / OFF controlled by the control unit 21.

  The blade roller 11 and the urethane roller 12 are shown in FIG. The blade roller 11 includes a large number of round blades 23 arranged at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of the rotary shaft 22 and a horizontal blade 24 provided perpendicularly to the round blade 23 between the adjacent round blades 23. Four horizontal blades 24 are provided around the rotary shaft 22 at 90 ° intervals, and the height of the blade edge of the horizontal blade 24 is set to be the same as the height of the circular blade 23. Three horizontal blades 24 may be provided per round (that is, at intervals of 120 °), and may be two or five or more per round depending on the size of the target cutting tea leaves.

  Further, in the tea leaf cutting device of the present embodiment, the urethane layer 28 is scraped by the cutting blades 23 and 24 by matching the outer peripheral speed of the cylinder formed by the blade tip of the blade roller 11 with the outer peripheral speed of the urethane roller 12. Is prevented.

  A rubber (for example, NBR) exclusion plate 25 is provided at each portion surrounded by two adjacent round blades 23 and two adjacent horizontal blades 24. As shown in FIG. 3, the exclusion plate 25 has an arch shape in which both ends are fixed below, and the highest portion in the center is provided so as to be approximately the same height as the cutting edges of the round blade 23 and the horizontal blade 24. ing.

  The urethane roller 12 is obtained by forming a urethane layer 28 on the surface of a base roller 27 provided around the rotation shaft 26.

  The procedure for cutting fresh tea leaves using the tea fresh leaf cutting apparatus of the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described. Fresh tea leaves plucked in the tea garden are put into the hopper 13 and fed between the blade roller 11 and the urethane roller 12 rotating inward at the same peripheral speed. The fed green tea leaves are cut by the round blade 23 and the horizontal blade 24 when passing through the contact portion (cutting portion) C between the blade roller 11 and the urethane roller 12.

  At this time, no matter what direction the green tea leaves enter the contact portion (cutting portion) C, they are cut by either or both of the round blades 23 and the horizontal blades 24. The

  Most of the cut green tea leaves fall on the conveyor 14 below the cutting part C. However, the fresh tea leaves cut at both sides simultaneously by two adjacent round blades 23 try to rotate as they are sandwiched between the two round blades 23. In the tea fresh leaf cutting apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, immediately after leaving the cutting portion C, the cut tea leaves are excluded from between the round blades 23 by the force of the elastic exclusion plate 25 returning to its original height. Therefore, the cut tea leaves do not remain on the blade roller 11.

  As the tea leaves are cut by this apparatus, the portions of the urethane layer 28 on the surface of the urethane roller 12 where the blades 23 and 24 abut are deteriorated, and a deep cut is generated in the urethane layer 28. This phenomenon is particularly remarkable at the position of the round blade 23. Accordingly, it is sometimes desirable to move the urethane roller 12 in the axial direction thereof and change the position where the round blade 23 contacts.

  When a large amount of fresh tea leaves are further cut, the cutting edges of the cutting blades (round blade 23 and / or side blade 24) are dulled, making it difficult to cut the fresh tea leaves. In that case, the urethane roller 12 is slightly moved toward the blade roller 11 (of course, the blade roller 11 may be moved toward the urethane roller 12), and the urethane roller 12 is pressed more strongly against the blade roller 11. As a result, the cutting force can be recovered.

  If the cutting force is not recovered even by such measures, or if the cutting blade (round blade 23 and / or side blade 24) is missing, it must be replaced. As shown in FIG. 3, the round blade 23 is composed of two semicircular blades 23 a and 23 b and is fixed to a holder 29 around the rotary shaft 22. Therefore, for example, when a part of the round blade 23 is missing, it is not necessary to pull out all the round blades from the rotating shaft as in the conventional cutting device, and only the semicircular blade 23a at a necessary location is directly removed. Is possible. This greatly reduces the time required for maintenance and repair.

  FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of a fresh tea leaf cutting apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The components denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 correspond to the respective elements of the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

The raw tea leaf cutting device 40 of the present embodiment includes a urethane roller 12, a round blade roller 41, a horizontal blade roller 42, and a roll brush provided so as to be parallel to the urethane roller 12 and in contact with the surface of the urethane roller 12. 43 and a scraping member 44 are provided.
Pulleys 45, 46, and 16 are fixed to the rotation shafts of the rollers 41, 42, and 12, respectively, and a chain 19 is provided between the drive pulley 22 fixed to the rotation shaft of the motor 21 and the pulleys 45, 46, and 16. (Or belt). As shown in FIG. 1, in the chain 19, the urethane roller 12 and the blade rollers 41 and 42 are opposite to each other, and the rollers 41, 42, and 12 are from top to bottom at the contact portions (cutting portions A and B). It is stretched so as to rotate.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the round blade roller 41 has a large number of round blades 52 arranged at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of the rotating shaft 51, and the horizontal blade roller 42 extends over almost the entire length of the working portion. A horizontal blade 54 arranged parallel to the rotation axis is provided. The horizontal blade 54 is provided with a slit 56 at a position corresponding to the circular blade 52 of the circular blade roller 41. Even if the circular blade roller 41 and the horizontal blade roller 42 are brought close to each other, the round blade 52 and the horizontal blade 54 are separated. It is designed not to touch.

  In the first embodiment, in order to prevent the cut tea leaves and tea stems from staying between the cutting blades, it is necessary to provide the cutting leaf removing means in the section surrounded by the round blade and the horizontal blade of the blade roller. However, in this embodiment, since the horizontal blade having the slit passes between the round blades, the horizontal blades can remove stagnants such as tea leaves between the round blades. Further, since the horizontal blades are arranged at intervals of 90 ° or more, the tea leaves and the like adhering between the horizontal blades are removed by the centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the horizontal blade rollers.

  The roll brush 43 has a large number of bristles 43a projecting toward the periphery of the rotation shaft over substantially the same length as the urethane roller 12, and the tip of the bristles 43a is on the surface of the urethane roller 12. It is provided at a position where it comes into contact, and rotates following the rotation of the urethane roller 12. The scraping member 44 is a U-shaped member having substantially the same length as the urethane roller 12, and has a spatula-shaped inclined surface at one end edge 44a in the longitudinal direction, and an edge having the inclined surface. 44 a is attached so as to contact the urethane roller 12.

  A procedure for cutting fresh tea leaves using the tea fresh leaf cutting apparatus 40 of the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described. Fresh tea leaves plucked in the tea garden are put into the hopper 13 and fed between the round blade roller 41 and the urethane roller 12 rotating inward at the same peripheral speed. The fed green tea leaves are cut in the vertical direction by the round blade 52 when passing through the contact portion (cutting portion A) between the round blade roller 41 and the urethane roller 12. The green tea leaves that have been cut then pass through 12 contact portions (cutting portion B) of the horizontal blade roller 42 and the urethane roller, and are cut in the horizontal direction by the horizontal blade 54.

  At this time, the fresh tea leaves are cut by both the round blade 52 and the horizontal blade 54 regardless of the direction in which they enter the contact portion (cutting portion A).

  Further, the cut tea leaves adhering to the surface of the urethane roller 12 are removed from the surface of the urethane roller 12 by the roll brush 43 and the scraping member 44 after passing through the cutting part B, and fall on the conveyor 14. Accordingly, no cut tea leaves remain on the urethane roller 12.

  In the present invention, the urethane roller is brought into contact with the blade roller, and the green tea leaves are cut by pushing. As described above, the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 7 in which both rollers are blade rollers is cut by cutting. Accordingly, the fresh tea leaf cutting device according to the present invention is greatly different from the conventional device in the cutting mechanism. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, a device for cutting fresh tea leaves using only the round blade roller 41 and the urethane roller 12 is also an effective device from the viewpoint of reliable cutting, as shown in FIG. It can be said that there is.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The schematic block diagram of the fresh tea leaf cutting device which is the 1st Example of this invention. The perspective view of the blade roller and urethane roller of the tea fresh leaf cutting device of the Example. Sectional drawing (a) and a partial front view (b) of the blade roller of the green tea leaf cutting device of the Example. The schematic block diagram of the fresh tea leaf cutting device which is the 2nd Example of this invention. The perspective view of the round blade roller of the tea fresh leaf cutting device of the Example, a horizontal blade roller, and a urethane roller. The schematic block diagram of the fresh tea leaf cutting device which is the 3rd Example of this invention. The schematic block diagram of the conventional tea fresh leaf cutting device.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10, 40 ... Tea green leaf cutting device 11 ... Blade roller 12 ... Urethane roller 13 ... Hopper 14 ... Conveyor 15, 16, 45, 46 ... Pulley 17 ... Motor 18 ... Drive pulley 19 ... Chain 20 ... Tension pulley 21 ... Control part 22 , 26, 51, 55 ... rotating shafts 23, 52 ... round blades 23a, 23b ... semi-circular blades 24, 54 ... side blades 25 ... exclusion plate 27 ... base roller 28 ... urethane layer 29, 53 ... holder 41 ... round blade roller 42 ... Horizontal blade roller 43 ... Roll brush 44 ... Scraping member 56 ... Slit

Claims (6)

a) A blade roller provided with at least one horizontal blade arranged parallel to the rotation axis over substantially the entire length of the working part, and a plurality of round blades arranged at substantially equal intervals in the axial direction in the working part When,
b) an elastic layer roller provided in parallel to the blade roller so as to have an elastic layer on the surface of the working portion, and the elastic layer is in line contact with the blade roller;
c) It is provided in a section surrounded by the round blade and the horizontal blade of the blade roller, and is usually at least approximately the same height as the cylindrical surface formed by the blade edge of the round blade, and the elastic layer roller. When the raw tea leaves are cut in contact with each other, the cut leaf removing means has elasticity so as to sink by the thickness of the fresh tea leaves,
A fresh tea leaf cutting apparatus comprising: a) a round blade roller having a plurality of round blades arranged at substantially equal intervals in the axial direction in the working part;
b) a horizontal blade roller provided with at least one horizontal blade arranged parallel to the rotation axis over substantially the entire length of the working part;
c) an elastic layer roller provided in parallel with the round blade roller and the horizontal blade roller so as to have an elastic layer on the surface of the working portion, and the elastic layer is in line contact with the round blade roller and the horizontal blade roller; ,
A fresh tea leaf cutting apparatus comprising: The tea leaf cutting apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein a slit is provided at a position on the horizontal blade corresponding to the position of the round blade. The tea leaf cutting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , further comprising attached leaf removing means for removing the cut tea leaf attached to the surface of the elastic layer roller. A roll brush provided at a position where the adhering leaf removing means is parallel to the elastic layer roller and a tip of the brush bristles contacts the surface of the elastic layer roller; and parallel to the elastic layer roller and an edge thereof A spatula scraping member provided at a position in contact with the surface of the elastic layer roller,
The tea fresh leaf cutting device according to claim 4 , wherein the tea leaf cutting device is composed of at least one of them. Each of the said round blade is comprised by combining two semicircular semicircle blades, The fresh tea leaf cutting apparatus in any one of Claims 1-5 characterized by the above-mentioned.

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