US1687947A - Confection-coating machine - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 16, 1928.

W. A. MOIR CONFECTION COATING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 9, 1926 INVENTOR g I ATTORNEY Oct. 16, 1928. 1,687,947

w. A. MOIR CONFECTION COATING MACHINE Filed Aug. 9, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR fg m d ATTORNEY W; A. MOIR CONFECTION COATING MACHINE Oct. 16, 1928. 1,687,947

Filed Aug. 9, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVE TOR A TT ORNE Y Patented Oct. 16, 1928.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM A. MOIB, OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA.

- CONFECTION-COATING MACHINE.-

Application filed August 9, 1926. Serial No. 128,193.

This invention relates to improvements in confection coating machines.

The improvements of this invention relate to the means for handling and conditioning the chocolate, or other coating used, and are independent of the particular means used for applying the coating to the goods, which means may be of any'suitable type. The invention has been worked out especially for the treatment of chocolate, which is the coating commonly used and which is notoriously difficult to handle, but it is equally applicable to any other coating which has similar characteristics and behaves in substantially the same manner. By the use of the term chocolate I mean any coating, which will respond to the treatment hereinafter disclosed, in substantially the same manner as chocolate.

The invention has for its general object the provision of means-for treating the chocolate. preliminary to its application to the goods, so that it will have quick setting qualities and, when applied to the goods, will result in coatings having a hard and glossy finish.

The invention, in this respect, seeks to roide a coating machine which will pro uce coated goods of a quality commensurate with that of hand dipped goods,a goal heretofore striven for in many and various ways but never, so far as I am aware, attained. In consi'dering the various existing types of confection coating machines to discover the reasonsfor their failure to produce goods of high quality, I have come to the conclusion that the chief difficulty lies in divergence from time honored methods in the manner of handling, conditioning and treating the chocolate. That is tov say, the chocolate is not treated, conditioned and handled according to the best methods and according to methods which have proved to be successful when used with hand dipped goods.

In hand dipping,the operator takes some chocolate from a relatively warm supply,

maintained say from 90 to 100 Fahr., and

luvs it on a cooling slab whereon it is subjected to cooling influences, usually the air of the room, which is maintained relatively low, say

at or around 65 Fahn, for the purpose of cooling the coated goods. The operator stirs the chocolate and works it around with her hand. After the chocolate at the edge of the puddle has cooled somewhat and begins to thicken up the operator starts dipping the centers in those portions of the chocolate which are thick, as measured by her sense of touch. The chocolate is applied to the goods at or close to its setting up point. Thus the chocolate, even though maintained at a constant temperature, may and will vary in thickness if such temperature is that at which it changes from a liquid to a solid. That is, its temperature remains constantvuntil it has lost its latent heat of fusion when it solidifies and during this interval the chocolate varies in thickness. not rely on temperature but rather on viscos- 1ty,testing its viscosity, consciously or otherwise, with her fingers and by sense of touch. From time to time, she adds small quantities of chocolate from the warm supply to the small puddle on the cooling slab and stirs the puddle. This, I conceive, supplies heat to compensate for the diminishing latent heat of fusion and just enough heat to keep the puddle from entirely setting up. The freezing up of the puddle is also prevented by stirring and agitation. However, the periodical admixture of a small amount of warm chocolate to a larger amount of cooler chocolate is a characteristic of hand dipping methods and, in my opinion, a "ital factor in keep- The operator therefore does ing the chocolate just as near to the setting up point as can be done Without actually setting up. Whether'or not my theory is correct the practical result is that the mixing of Warm chocolate in small quantities to alarger body of cooler chocolate produces finer coatings and by using chocolate so treated for coating centers, the coatings set 'very quickly with a hard and lustrous finish.

In working out my invention, I have followed, as closely as possible, the proved and successful methods heretofore used in hand dipping for handling, treating and conditioning chocolate A relatively small supply of chocolate is maintained by a suitable cooling agency close to the setting up point and from this supply chocolate is carried to coat the goods and preferably, although not necessarily for all purposes, the excess chocolate not used for coating is returned to said supply, so that the small supply is kept in circulation, thereby avoiding the setting up which might otherwise occur. In addition, there is provided a larger supply of relatively warm chocolate, preferably suitablymaintained at the desired temperature and otherwise conditioned by stirring or other treatment. Means are also provided for taking from this supply, from'time to time, or continuously if conditions so require, regulated and relatively small quantities of warm chocolate and adding them to and mixing them with the cooler chocolate. The addition of warm chocolate to the cooler chocolate is preferably controlled by means responsive to the viscosity of the chocolate in the smaller supply so that, if the latter thickens up, warm chocolate is added and, if it tends to become thin, the warm chocolate is prevented from entering the small supply. Also, if necessary, the cooling means forthe small supply may be controlled by means responsive to the viscosity of the chocolate therein.

The machine, therefore, is designed to carry out automatically the methods used in hand dipping and, in respect to the treatment of the chocolate, presents a direct analogy thereto. There is the large supply of warm chocolate and the small supply of cool chocolate from which coating is taken to apply to the goods. There is also a viscosity control, which causes additions of warm chocolate to the cooler body, and does what the operator does manually when she tests the viscosity of the chocolate with her fingers and, if found too thick, adds warm chocolate from the larger supply. The cooling slab is replaced by the cooling agencies associated with the small supply and if the chocolate in the latter becomes too nearly set up to be usable it is thrown back for remelting just as the hand dipper would dounder similar conditions.

The machine, inasmuch as it is designed to automatically practice a proved and successful method, produces coated goods of very materially improved quality and the goods have a gloss and'a hard finish comparable to the gloss and finish of hand dipped goods.

The invention will be disclosed with refer ence to the one illustrative embodiment of it in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a coating machine embodying the invention,the front wall of the casing of the machine being in part broken away to reveal interior-parts;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional plan view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional elevational .view taken on. the line 4+4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of a part of the control mechanism for the cooling system; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1 showing the viscosity controlling device. 1

Referring to. these drawings. and particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 thereof, I have shown, by way of illustrative example, a familiar and well known type of coating machine, which includes a casing or housing A; a pervious conveyer I), usually of wire mesh construction, for carrying the articles to be coated through the casing A; a shower pan 0 to deliver a downwardly directed and transversely disposed stream of chocolate upon the belt 6; apair of rollers (Z whiclnpick up chocolate from said stream and apply it to the bottoms of the articles; and a blower e for removing excess coating from the coated articles. The excess chocolate from said stream together with that blown off by fan 0 and that from any other source falls through the meshes of belt band is returned to a tank below the belt which contains-the coating supply. This type of machine is too well known in the art to require further description here. It serves, in the present case, merely as a background for the invention and as an example of one suitable type of coating machine in which the invention may be embodied. The invention, however, may be equally well used with various other types of coating machines and is largely independent of the means for applying the coating to the, articles.

The present invention is concerned rather with the treatment, handling and conditioningof the chocolate. coating is contained in a relatively small tank or receptacle 10 (Fig. 4) which has an outlet 11 in its base to deliver chocolate to a suitable pump 12. The latter (see Fig. 1) forces the chocolate through a conduit 13 and delivers it into the shower pan 0 from which it flows through slots 1% upon the wire belt I). The chocolate in receptacle 10 is relatively cool and thick and is maintained close to the setting up point. Therefore, it is necessary to keep this chocolate continuously in motion to prevent premature setting up. The circulating system described serves in part for this purpose but it is desirable to agitate the chocolate both in tank 10 and shower pan 0 and to scrape the walls thereof to prevent the chocolate from building up on them and freezing. To this enda U-shaped stirrer 15 (Fig. 4) is mounted to revolve about the vertical axis of tank 10 and to scrape both the bottom and the peripheral wallthereof. In the shower pan, (see Figs. 1 and 2) a chain 16, to which at suitable intervals U-shaped scraper bars 17 are connected, is mounted on apair of sprockets 18. arranged one at each end of the pan. The scrapers 17 also scrape the bottom and side walls of the shower pan and stir and agitate the chocolate therein.

Aside from the stirring and scraping of the chocolate and the-forced circulat ilon thereof,

as described, it is also necessary to make special provisions for returning the excess chocolate to tank 10 on account of the thick condition thereof. A cone shaped funnel 19 (Fig. 1) underlies that part of the wire belt, which receives the excess coating from the shower pan 0 and bottom coating rolls d, and underlying the remainder of the wire belt is The chocolate used for i a drip pan 20 one end of which overlies the funnel 19. This pan 20 is a common feature and, according to common practice, the wire belt I) in its return travel scrapes the chocolate along it until it is free to fall into an underlying tank. In this case, the chocolate, thus scraped back, falls into funnel 19 and through the open bottom of the latter into tank (Fig. 4). To insure the return of the chocolate and prevent it from freezing to and piling up on the wall of the funnel, a scraper 21 is fixed to the scraper and provided with up wardly diverging arms which traverse and scrape the interior conical surface of the funnel.

The tank 10, as above set forth, contains chocolate which is relatively cool and thick and somecooling influences must act on this body of chocolate either while it is in said tank or while it is in circulation. If the coating machine were located in a cool room, which is seldom feasible, the air at room temperature'would doubtless act to cool this body of chocolate sufiiciently. As coating machines are usually used in warm rooms, I have provided other cooling means but the particular character of such means is not essential. As shown, tank 10 has a jacket 22, pump 12 is jacketed and conduit 13 has a jacket 24. Cool water, say at 65 Fahr., or thereabouts, is admitted by a pipe to jacket 24 and flows down the same, passing by a pipe 26 to the pump jacket and thence by a pipe 27 to jacket 22 from which it passes to an overflow pipe I have thus provided for cooling the coating chocolate while in its tank, while in its pump and while being elevated in conduit 13. All these cooling provisions may not always be necessary. For instance, the cooling of the tank 10 alone might in some cases suflice as might also the cooling of conduit- 13 alone. Usually, the pump 12 should be jacketed to counteract the heat generated by it but either or both of the other cooling means may be used as found necessary or desirable. The extent and locationand character of the cooling means is a matter for engineering judgment as howto best cope with particular conditions as encountered.

, A relatively large and substantially semi p cylindrical tank 29' is mounted in the base of easing A and contains a body of chocolate, preferably in greater volume and preferably at greater temperature than that in tank 10. This chocolate is maintained at proper temperature by a heating jacket 30 which may be controlled manually or otherwise according to known practice. Also, following standard practice, the chocolate in tank 29 is stirred continuously by any suitable means, herein shown by way of illustrative example as two stirrers 31 fixed to a horizontal shaft 32 mounted to rotate about the axis of said tank. One of these stirrers (that adjacent tank 10) has secured thereto a flat ring 33, which acts invention this scraper almost continually, wavering as an elevator to carry chocolate, preferably in relatively small volumes, upwardly from tank 29. The tank 10, which is cylindrical and secured to one end of tank 29, has its axis disposed at right angles to the axis of tank 29 and projects partially into the latter in underlying relation with ring 33. A scraper 34, fixed to a rod suspended in substantially horizontal position in casing A by a link 36, is arranged to be moved into and out of engagement with ring 33 and, when engaged with the latter, scrapes off the elevated chocolate, allowing it to fall into tank 10.

According to the broader features of the 34 may be operated by any suitable'means to cause the delivery of chocolate .from tank 29 into tank 10 in regulated and controlled quantities or any other suitable means may be used for .the purpose of transferring the chocolate from tank 29 to tank 10. Preferably, however, the transfer of chocolate from one tank to another is controlled according to the viscosity of the choc olate in tank 10, with the object in view of delivering warm chocolate to tank 10 when the chocolate in the latter tends to get too thick and stopping such delivery when the chocolate in tank 10 tends to illustrative example of one of many suitable mechanisms for accomplishing this result is shown in the drawings and will now be described. Mounted as a part of the wall of.

conduit 13, and subject thereforetothe pressure of the-pumped chocolate, is a diaphragm 37 which acts on a ivoted lever 38 through the intermediary of an adjustable screw 39. Lever 38 carries a valve 40 which acts to open or close an opening 41 in abox 42. The lat 'ter has a pipe 43, adapted for connection to a vacuum pump), and a pipe 44 adapted for ellows 45, themovable mem-.

connection to a get too thin. An

ber of which is connected to move the scraper rod 35. A spring 46 normally holds scraper 34 out of contact with ring 33. Now, if the chocolate in tank 10 thickens up, it will re quire g 13 and accordingly diaphragm 37 will be pressed out,-.moving lever 38 and valve 40 to close opening 41, whereupon the vacuum ump is'free to exhaust the air from box 42 and thus from pipe 44 to cause bellows 45 to collapse and move the scraper 34 against ring 33.. Thus, chocolate from tank 29 is delivered into tank 10 and a heat exchange takes place between the warmer and the cooler chocolate.

This action continues until the chocolate isreater effort to pump it up the conduit restored to the 'desired predetermined degree of consistency when the diaphragm moves inwardly and causes the admission of air to box 42 and to bellows '45, whereupon spring 46 is permitted to move the scraper out of contact with ring 33. Asjapractical matter the arrangement is so sensitive that the scraper is floating into and out of contact back and forth between the two positions, so that the viscosity of the chocolate in tank is kept constant or nearly so.

The cooling means for the chocolate, use for coating, may be controlled in any suitable manner, by hand or otherwise according to the broader features of the invention. Preferably, however, I control it according to the viscosity of the chocolate in tank 10 and the following exemplary means may be used for this purpose. The cold water inlet 25 1s connected to a chamber 48 in a receptacle 49 and water from a suitable source, such as the pipe 50, preferably controlled by a manually-operated valve 51, is normally directed by a funnel 52 into this chamber. Alongside chamber 48 is a chamber 53, also formed in receptacle 49, and funnel 52 is supported by the movable part of a bellows 54 the fixed part of which is secured'to the receptacle. Pipe 44, which connects bellows to the control box 42 also extends 'to bellows 54, whereby when the chocolate in tank 10 tends to thicken up the funnel 52 is moved to overlie chamber 53 and direct the water into the same from which it leaves by a drain pipe 55, thereby cutting off the supply of cooling water, much of which i will soon drainout of the jacket 24 on account of I the level of the overflow connection 28.

Referring now to the details of the apparatus as illustrated, the moving parts associated vwith the chocolate conditioning and conveying apparatus are driven independently of the coating machine elements by an electric motor 57. The latter, by means of a chain 58 and sprockets, drives a shaft 59 which extends horizontally across casing A near the front wall thereof and through one end thereof. The projecting end of shaft 59 is connected outside casing A by a chain 60 and sprockets to the shaft 32 which drives the stirrers for tank 29. A chain 61 and sprockets connects shaft 59 witha shaft 62 which drives by a chain 63 one of the sprockets 18, whereby the shower pan scrapers are operated. Shaft 59 is connected by a chain 64 and sprockets to a short horizontal shaft 65 mounted near the base of casing A and shaft 65 drives by bevel gears 66 a vertical shaft 67 which enters the base of tank 10 through a suitable stufling box 68 and is fixed to the scrapers 15 and 21. The pump 12 has an operating shaft 69 which is connected by a chain 70 and sprockets to shaft 65. The parts described preferably turn continuously and at speeds which are not limited, as they otherwise might be, if the parts were driven from the coating machine. A pipe 71 may be connected to the cooling system to admit a heating medium therein for the purpose of thawing out the chocolate in tank 10, conduit 13, and their connections. Steam would be used on starting and only for the'purpose of melting frozen up chocolate.

In operation, assumingthat the machine in a state of constant agitation, all of which tends to prevent the chocolate from setting up hr freezing even though it is thick and at or close to the setting up point. Chocolate from tank 10 is pumped up conduit 13 into the shower pan 5 and the goods are coated in the usual or any suitable way. The excess chocolate, not used in the coating operation falls through belt 7) into funnel 19, or on drip pan 20 from which it is scraped back by belt I) to the funnel, and the contents of the funnel pass back into tank 10, being scraped free;

from the walls thereof, when and if necessary by the scrapers 21. The chocolate is thus circulated continuously which is important when chocolate, close to the setting up point is used.

This chocolate, thus used for coating, is kept conditioned partly by thecooling means and the stirring and agitation and partly by the addition ofchocolate from tank 29. The

chocolate in tank 29 is preferably maintained warmer than that in tank 10 and in any event must have more heat units per unit volume than the chocolate in tank 10 in order to effect a heat exchange when the two chocolates are mixed together. I prefer to keep the chocolate in tank 29 at 95 Fahn, or thereabouts although this temperature may likewise be varied according to particular conditions. I prefer this quite warm chocolate and the mix ture of it in relatively small quantities to the cooler chocolate because that is the method followed in hand dipping. However, as it seems to be a matter of getting the desired heat exchange between the two chocolates,

much cooler chocolate in larger volumes could be fed into tank 10. That is, if a greater volume of chocolate from tank 29 were fed into tank 10 in a. given time, the chocolate from tank 29 might have less heat units per unit of volume and still produce an equivalent heat exchange with the chocolate in tank 10. i

During the operation of the machine. the scraper 34 moves back and forth into and out of contact with ring 33, responsive to the varlations ofpressure on diaphragm 37 and thu's responsive to variations in the viscosity of the chocolate pumped from tank 10. Thus, as the viscosity of this chocolate increases. warm chocolate is scraped from ring 33 and falls into tank 10 and is mixed with the chocolate in the latter by the stirrers 15 and 21. Preferably also, the cooling means for tank 10, conduit 13 and the pump 12 is shut off whenever the viscosity in tank 10 exceeds the The use of the viscosity control of the cooling means while desirable and important, is not necessarily essential for all purposes and may be omitted,-reliance then being placed on manual regulation of the cooling system.

The addition of the warmer chocolate to the cooler chocolate is closed, controlled by means responsive to the viscosity of the chocolate in tank 10 because the viscosity of that chocolate may vary even though its temperature does not and because in hand .dipping the operator uses viscosity rather than temperature as a gauge. How'- ever, it is possible, without the viscosity control to obtain some of the beneficial efiects of this invention. That is, the feeding of the warmer chocolate into tank 10 might be otherwise controlled so that regulated quantities are added to'tank 10. Therefore, I deem the viscosity control as desirable and important but not necessarily essential so far as all of the features of the invention are concerned.

The chocolate from tank 10 can overflow into tank 29, as will be clearly seen from Fig. 4;. Should the chocolate in tanklO get too thick, chocolate from tank 29 is fed into it and should the chocolate become excessively.

thick the feeding of chocolate from tank 29 may continue until the tank 10 overflows at the weir 7 2, carrying away some of the thicker chocolate along with the thinner chocolate for reconditioning.

The theory of operation, as I conceive it, is that the chocolate in tank 10, and that circulated from it for coating the goods, is kept virtually at the setting up point and is losing its latent heat of fusion. Continual stirring tends to prevent setting up of the chocolate and likewise the motion of the chocolate in its circulatory path has the same effect.

Nevertheless the loss of latent heat continues and is compensated for byithe addition of warmer chocolate from tank 29.' Such chocolate, having more heat units per unit of volume, will when mixed with the cooler chocolate in tank 10 effect just enough of a heat exchange to prevent the set-ting up 0 the chocolate therein and will add heat units to compensate for the diminishing latent heat in the chocolate. At any rate, Whether or not my theory is the correct one, the method is sound and has been proved successful in the art of hand dipping. I

In this connection, the tank 10 may be likened to the puddle on the cooling slab from which chocolate is taken for coating centers,in this case by the pump 12 and conduit 13. The cooling influences, as disclosed,

are the cooling jackets 22 and 24:. The puddle in, tank '10 is stirred automatically, its

preferably, as dismeans responsive to v a predetermined viscosity'is tested automatically and small,

quantitles of warmer chocolate are added to and mixed with the puddle, as and when required,operations analogous ual operations heretofore prevalent only in hand dipping. Due, therefore, to the'treatment of the chocolate in this manner, it is natural that the results shouldv be closely comparable to those obtained in hand fdip ping, in so far as the gloss and lusters 'o coating and the quick setting and hard finish thereof are concerned.

The invention has been disclosed herein for illustrative urposes but the scope of the invention is efined by the ap nded claims rather than by the foregoing escription.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for conditioning chocolate and the like, comprising, containing means for a body of chocolate to be maintained at a predetermined degree of viscosity, 9. container for chocolate of a different viscosity, and means responsive to variations in viscosity of the chocolate in said containing means to transfer chocolate from said container to said containing means.

2'. Apparatus for conditioning chocolate and the like, comprising, containing means for a body of chocolate to be maintained at a predetermined degree of viscosity, means for cooling said body of chocolate to maintain it at or near the setting up point,.a container for a supply of warmer chocolate, and

an increase in the viscosity of said bod of chocolate to supply chocolate thereto rom said container until the viscosity of said body is reduced to said degree.

3. Apparatus for conditioning chocolate and the like, comprising, containing means for a body of chocolate to be maintained at a predetermined degree of viscosity, means responsive to a decrease-in viscosity of said body of chocolate to cool said containing means, and means responsive to an increase in viscosity of said body to supply Warm chocolate thereto'until the viscosity of said body is restored to said degree.

4:. Apparatus for conditioning chocolate and the like, comprising, containing means for a body'of chocolate to be maintained at degree of viscosity, means responsive to a decrease in viscosity of said body of chocolate to cool said containing means, a container for a. supply of warmer chocolate, and means responsive to an increase in viscosit of said body to supply warm chocolate rom said container thereto until the viscosity of said body is restored to said degree.

5. Apparatus for conditioning chocolate and the like, comprlsing, containing means for a body of chocolate to be maintained at 11 to the man-- tending to prevent the chocolate from setting up, and means responsive to an increase in vlscosity of said body to add warmer chocolate thereto.

6. Apparatus for conditioning chocolate and the like, comprising, containing means for a body of chocolate to be maintained at a predetermined degree of viscosity, means for agitating the chocolate in said means and tending to prevent the chocolate from setting up, means responsive to a decrease in viscosity of said body below said degree to cool said containing means, and means responsive to an increase in viscosity above said degree to add Warmer chocolate thereto.

of chocolate of a different degree of viscosity,

and means responsive to variations in viscosity of the chocolate in the first container to convey chocolate thereto from the second container,

WILLIAM A. MOIR.

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