US1878547A

US1878547A - Soap manufacture

Info

Publication number: US1878547A
Application number: US522320A
Authority: US
Inventors: Julius A Schwantes
Original assignee: Colgate Palmolive Co
Current assignee: Colgate Palmolive Co
Priority date: 1931-03-13
Filing date: 1931-03-13
Publication date: 1932-09-20
Anticipated expiration: 1949-09-20

Description

Sapt. 20, 19532. J. A. SCHWANTES SOAP MANUFACTURE Filed March 15, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet l V J. A. SCHWAN TES SOAP MANUFACTURE SephZO, 1932-.

Filed March 13, 1931- 4 She ts Shegt. g

Sept. 20, 1932. J. A. SCHWANIY'VES SOAP MANUFACTURE Filed March 13, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 P 1932. J. A. SCHWANTES 1,878,547

SOAP MANUFACTURE Filed March .13, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Sept. 29, 1932 UN'WE aerate JULIUS A; SCEWANTES, OE WAUWATOSA, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOB TO GOLGATE-IPALM V OLIVE- PEET COMPANY, OF'CHICAG-O, ILLINOIS, A COBPGRZETZON 0F BELAWARE SOAP I'IfANUFACT'URE Application filed March 13, 1931. Serial No. 522,320.

The invention relates to soap manufacture.

Heretofore in the manufacture of soap it hasbeen customary to deliver the soap from the, plodder in long bars, several of which are allowed to accumulate and then an operator takesthese long bars to a soap cutting apparatus in which they are cut up into a number of small cakes and another operator sees that these cakes are removed from the cutting apparatus and delivered'to a conveyorby which they are taken to finishing apparatus and then to the labelling and packingmechanis'm. As an example of a cutting apparatus that has been heretofore used requiring two operators, reference may be hadto my prior U. S. Patent No. 1,760,087, filed May 27, 1930. Furthermore, in connection with anyof the cutting mechanisms that have been heretofore used, there is always a certain amount of waste from each of the long bars after the cutting operation that has to be taken care of.- One object of the present invention is to improve that part of the process of soap manufacture where the soap cakes are formed by forming the soap into cakes directly at or as it is discharged from the plodderv so that. the labor heretofore necessary in handling and cutting thelong bars of soap. into cakes is eliminated.

A. further object of the inventionis to provide an apparatus by which the soap cakes may be formed as'a continuous process and by which the soap cakes may be polished or finished and completely ready for packagviewof an apparatus embodying the invention and'for use in connection with the method parts being broken away and parts being shown in section;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1, parts being broken away and parts being shown in section;

'Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1;. Fig. 4c is a detail vertical sectional'view taken on the line 4- of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 55 of'Fig; 1; v

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view taken on line 66'o f Fig. 2

Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view taken on line 77 of Fig. 2; V

Fig. 8 is a front view of the nozzle;

Fig. 9 is a detail sectional View taken .on the broken line 99 of Fig. 8.

Referring to Fig. 4, the numeral 10 designates the mouth or nozzle of'any suitable plodder mechanism and into which nozzle the soap is forced by the usual feed screw or soap is forced through this nozzle 10 it is actedupon by'a pair of pusher members 11 r mounted on oscillatory shafts 12 moved as hereinafter described: The pusher members 11 are for the purpose of quickly forcing the soap ahead when the die drum or member is at rest and when receding stop the movement of the soap at the outlet at the timethe member 15 is in motion. The front end of the nozzle 10 is provided with a acket space 13 forthe circulation of a suitable heating medium therethrough when desired. A noze zle member leis adapted to fit within the recessed front end of the nozzle 14, and its front face lt'is curved to conform to the curvature of a mold carrying member 15 which is providedwith a plurality of radially disposed cake. mold cavities 16. The member 14 is yieldingly held against the member 15 by a series of springs 15? mounted iu recesses 16' and engaging lugs 17 on the member 14, one of the springs being shown in Fig. 9. These cavities are preferably open at the back but are backed during a portion of the travel of member 15 by a relatively fixed backing plate 17 Then any one of 'the mold cavities 16 is presented to the: mouth .ofthe plodder as shown in 1, it will be seen that the soap S will be discharged directly from said mouth into said cavity and as the member 15 moves. 7

to its neXt position, the soap in the cavity is cut off from the soap 1n the nozzle 10 and the by soap forced into the same that the soap is formed directly into a cake at this point and g that by this me hod of forming the cake the usual cutting of the soap into cakes from long bars and the services of operators to accomplishthe same have been eliminated. The advantages derived from practicingt-his methsdmay of course be obtained by apparatus other than that shown and described herein but the apparatus herein shown constitutes a preferred form of apparatus for carrying out the method expeditiously and continuous- 1y and will now be described in detail.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the numeral designates generally the main framework of the machine supported on suitable legs or uprights 21; and 22 is the main power take off shaftjournalled in bearings 23 suitably supported by rods 24 below the main frame and carrying

sprockets

25, 26 and 27, see Fig. 5. The sprocket is adapted to be connected by a chain 28 to any suitable source of power. Sprocket 26is connected by a chain 29 to a sprocket 30 on one of the parts of a transmission shaft 31 and sprocket 27 is connected by chain 32 to a sprocket 33 on a shaft 34. The shaft 31 is connected by a double chain and sprocket drive including sprockets 35 on said shaft, chains 36, and sprockets 37 on ashaft 38 to said last named shaft. A. Geneva mold carrying member or carrier 15. The

shaft 31 is journalled in suitable bearing brackets 43 mounted on the mam frame, the

shafts

38 and 39 are journalled in the spaced

brackets

44 and 45 whilethe shaft 42 is j ourna-lled in bearings 46 mounted in a housing 7 47 suitably secured to the

brackets

44 and 45. The Geneva stop gearing includes the Geneva: toothed wheel 48 on the shaft 39 having the tooth slots 49 engaged by the pin or roller 50on an arm 51 secured to theshaft 38 and having-lock recesses 52 cooperating with the lock disk 53 on the shaft 39 whereby as the shaft 38 is rotated continuously, the

' shaft 39.is given an intermittent or step by step rotation which is transmitted through the gears 40 and 41 to the shaft 42. r

The member 15 is in the form of a drum and the mold cavities 16. are formed in the flange of the drum at radially spaced points and are preferably provided with hard metal 7 linings 54.

The backing plate 17, is as shownin Figs.

lindrical face'of the drum or carrier 15 and is of T section with its flange secured to a relatively stationary angle bracket 55 which however is mounted for movement as hereinafter, described along with other parts of'the mechanism to withdraw the plate 17 from the interior of the carrier when desired.

The shafts 12 for the pusher members 11 carry intermeshing gears 56 and one of these shafts is oscillated to in turn move the other shaft, by its adjustable connection through a crank arm 57 on it to one end of a connecting rod 58, operatively and adjustably connected at 59 to one of a series of radially spaced pin openings 60 in a crank disk 61 on the shaft operated 'byeccentrics or cranks from-the v shaft 31.

Referringto Fi s. 2, 4, 6 and 7 the plunger 64' has squared portions 64 slidably guided in relatively fixed guides 66 and secured by a clamping boss 67 to a block 68 to which a shaft or-rod 69 is firmly secured. This shaft 69 is slidably mounted in relatively fixed bearing brackets 70 and pivotally connected by a pin 71 to the forkedend 72' of a rod '73- Y which is mounted in guide 74 of a cap memmer 7 5 and has a headed end engaged by a spring 76' seated in said capmember, which is securedto the big end bearing or eccentric strap 77 by bolts 78, said bearing having a roller bearing journal 79 mountedion a crank or eccentric 80 formed on a part of the shaft 81. This construction thus provides areciprocating drive movement for the die 62, the spring 76 permitting a predetermined pressure to be impressed by the die on the soap cake. The drive for the plunger 65 is similar to that ust described and as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. This plunger has a squared portion 65slidably guided in the relatively fixedguide 81 and provided with a pivot pin 82 connected to the forked end of a rod 83 whichis slidably mounted in a guide 84 secured to the eccentric strap 85 and is yieldingly connected thereto by a spring 86 interposed between a flange 83' on said rod and said strap, the rod and'spring being operatively held in position by a capmember 87 1 secured to said strap. This strap or big end bolted to the flanged end of the shaft 42 I bearing of the-yieldable connecting rod thus formed havmg a journal bearing 88 mounted are on another crankportion 89 of the shaft 31 l to act to: force the, die 63' inwardly and through the spring 86 impart apredetermined pressure to the cake, the dies 62 and 63 acting conj ointly under the action of their springs and drive to thus compress and put the final finish on the cake before its delivery to the packaging apparatus.

The scoap cake is now finished ready to be discharged from the carrier 15 and conveyed by the conveyor D to the wrapping mechanism. For discharging the finished cake from the carrier a push out plunger 90 is mounted to reciprocate at the discharge station G into and out of the cavity 16. Said plunger, as show in Fig. i is carried by a crank arm 91 on a shaft 92 and steadied pivotally supported guide iink 93,- the shaft 92 as shown in Fig. l, carrying a crank arm 91 operatively'connected to an eccentric or cran 95 on the shaft 31 by along con necting rod 96.

in order that ready access to interior may be had at times, such as when the machine is first being started, or at other times when desired, the parts havebeen so constructed and arranged that those working or disposed inside the carrier may be removed therefrom. For this purpose the supporting bracket for the plate 1'? is mounted on the bearing portions 70 of a bracket 97 which carries the bearings for the plunger shafts 6%,65 and 69 and also the shaft 92 and which bracket is secured to a iovable bed plate 98 which also carries the bearings 43 for the front section of the shaft 31, said shaft being divided into sections as shown in Fig. 2 by the tooth coupling members 99 so that it may be separated at this point when the bed plate 98 is moved forward. For moving the bed plate, it is provided on its bottom with suitable racks 100 meshing with spaced gears 101 on a manually operated shaft 102 journalled in the main framework of the machine and provided with a hand wheel 103 and for re-alining the parts of the coupling members 99, the other shaft section is provided with a hand wheel 10%.

From the foregoing it will be noted that by forming the soap directly into cakes as 16 soap issues from the discharge end of the plodder, I have reduced the number of operations ordinarily employed in forming the soap into cal es and that waste attendant on the use of former methods has been eliminated. It is also to be noted that with the present construction the soap is expeditiously finished after being formed into the cake without any handling by an operator.

I desire it to be understood that this inand finishing the cakes while on said conveyor means.

2. The'combination of a movable carrier member provided with a series of cake mold cavities, meansfor charging said cavities with soap, means for pressing the soap cakes to put -a finish on the same while on saidcarrier, 'and'means for discharging the flnlshed cakes from said carrier.

' 3; The combination of an intermittently movable carrier providedwith a series of cake mold cavities, means for charging said cavities with soap, a pair of oppositely movable yieldingly mounteddies for engaging opposite sides of'the soap cakes while on said carrier, and means for discharging the finished cakes from said carrier.

4. The combination of an intermittently movable rotatable carrier having an annular flange portion provided with a series of mold cavities, means for charging said cavities with movable rotatable carrier having an annular flange portion provided with a series of mold cavities, means for charging said cavities with soap, a reciprocating die working inside of said flange against one side of the soap cakes in said cavities, a reciprocating die disposed outside of said flange working against the opposite side of the soap cake, a movable plunger mounted within said carrier to discharge finished soap cakes from said cavities.

6. The combination of an intermittently movable rotatable carrier having an annular flange provided with a series of mold cavities, a backing plate underlying a portion of said flange, means for charging'said cavities with soap, a reciprocating die working inside of said flange against one side of the soap cakes in said cavities, a reciprocating die disposed outside of said flange working against the opposite side of the soap cakes, means disposed within saidflange for discharging finished soap cakes from said carrier, and a movable support for said plate, the die inside said flange and said discharging means for moving the same outside of said flange to provide access to the interior of said carrier.

7. The combination of a rotary carrier having a mold carrying portion and a hollow interior, finishing means within said interior acting on soap deposited in the molds in said carrier, means for intermittently rotating said carrier, means for operating said finishing means, a common drive shaft for said two lastnamed means havin se arable arts and means for moving said finishing means and its operating means and a part of said drive shaft relative to sand carrier, lts rotating I means and the other shaft to provide access to the interior of said carrier.

8. The combination with the delivery nozzle of a plodder, of oscillatory pusher member Working Within said nozzle, saidnozzle having a curved face, a member having a portion curved to conform With said curved face and in working engagement With the same, said member having a mold cavity therein adapted to register with said delivery nozzle to receive a charge of soap therefrom, and means for 'moving said last named member to bring said cavity into and out of registry with said nozzle.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature.

JULIUS A. SCHWANTES.