Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23G—COCOA; COCOA PRODUCTS, e.g. CHOCOLATE; SUBSTITUTES FOR COCOA OR COCOA PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; CHEWING GUM; ICE-CREAM; PREPARATION THEREOF
  • A23G9/00—Frozen sweets, e.g. ice confectionery, ice-cream; Mixtures therefor
  • A23G9/04—Production of frozen sweets, e.g. ice-cream
  • A23G9/22—Details, component parts or accessories of apparatus insofar as not peculiar to a single one of the preceding groups
  • A23G9/26—Details, component parts or accessories of apparatus insofar as not peculiar to a single one of the preceding groups for producing frozen sweets on sticks
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A21—BAKING; EDIBLE DOUGHS
  • A21C—MACHINES OR EQUIPMENT FOR MAKING OR PROCESSING DOUGHS; HANDLING BAKED ARTICLES MADE FROM DOUGH
  • A21C9/00—Other apparatus for handling dough or dough pieces
  • A21C9/08—Depositing, arranging and conveying apparatus for handling pieces, e.g. sheets of dough
  • A21C9/085—Separating, spacing, orienting or aligning discrete dough pieces, e.g. after passing a cutting device
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23G—COCOA; COCOA PRODUCTS, e.g. CHOCOLATE; SUBSTITUTES FOR COCOA OR COCOA PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; CHEWING GUM; ICE-CREAM; PREPARATION THEREOF
  • A23G9/00—Frozen sweets, e.g. ice confectionery, ice-cream; Mixtures therefor
  • A23G9/04—Production of frozen sweets, e.g. ice-cream
  • A23G9/22—Details, component parts or accessories of apparatus insofar as not peculiar to a single one of the preceding groups
  • A23G9/28—Details, component parts or accessories of apparatus insofar as not peculiar to a single one of the preceding groups for portioning or dispensing
  • A23G9/281—Details, component parts or accessories of apparatus insofar as not peculiar to a single one of the preceding groups for portioning or dispensing at the discharge end of freezing chambers
  • A23G9/285—Details, component parts or accessories of apparatus insofar as not peculiar to a single one of the preceding groups for portioning or dispensing at the discharge end of freezing chambers for extruding strips, cutting blocks and manipulating cut blocks

Definitions

• This invention relates to processes and apparatus for forming and handling sectioned products, and to the products so formed.
• the invention is applicable for example to the formation of composite products made from sections of extruded material, and is especially useful for the production of composite products made from sections of an extruded foodstuff, e.g. an aerated and/or frozen confectionery material.
• a conveyor apparatus comprising a line of successive turntables along and on which a long piece of material can be laid; means for cutting the piece material into sections between each pair of adjacent turntables in such a manner as to allow relative separation by rotation of the cut surfaces of sections so cut, and means for rotating the sections so cut through a defined rotation angle in order to present their cut surface laterally (transversely) or approximately laterally with respect to the direction of motion and the line of the conveyor, to allow processing of the cut ends.
• the apparatus also includes arrangements to hold the turntables in steady orientation except when they are under operation by rotating means, and means for rotating them at a desired stage of the operation by some desired angle, e.g. 90°.
• auxiliary apparatus located at the side of the conveyor, e.g. apparatus for inserting sticks into the cut ends of an extruded product.
• the arrangement according to the invention thus allows the use for this purpose of auxiliary apparatus of a form which in itself is conventional. Thus a requirement for awkward processing in the line of the conveyor is avoided.
• the invention provides a plate conveyor suitable for operation in a freezer tunnel, incorporating plates which are easily exchangeable with (for example) conveyor units incorporating turntables as described above.
• Such exchangeability can be facilitated for example by arranging for the plates to be removably fixed to the conveyor substructure by means of a releasable lug-and-flange fixing located at one side of each removable plate. This can allow release of the plate by upward rotation about the fixing, and its replacement, after location of the fixing, by downward rotation about the fixing.
• the releaseable plates can incorporate turntable units as described above.
• Figure 1 of the drawings shows a fragmentary and diagrammatic plan view of three plate units of a conveyor according to one embodiment of the invention, incorporating turntable units of which four are shown.
• Figures 2a and 2b show respectively a plan and elevation of a turntable unit from the conveyor of Figure 1.
• plates 1,2,3 are shown, and form part of a plate conveyor which in itself is of conventional kind.
• the plates advance either stepwise or continuously in direction A.
• Each plate has mounted on it two rotatable turntables (four shown in Figure 1 as 4,5,6,7).
• a cutting device for transversely and obliquely cutting into sections an elongate (e.g. extruded) material laid on the conveyor.
• This material can for example be a length of extruded frozen confection material such as ice cream.
• the cutting device is arranged to cut along the direction indicated by arrows B.
• the cutting device can be either (longitudinally) fixed and coordinated in its upwards and downwards cutting motion with a stepwise motion of the conveyor, or else cyclically moved both vertically and longitudinally into registration with successive pairs of turntables during continuous motion of the conveyor, according to mechanical arrangements which in themselves are well known to those skilled in the art.
• a rotating device 8 is arranged to rotate successive turntables carrying sections of the elongate material by 90°, in direction shown by arrow C.
• each turntable has four engagement points for the rotating device, spaced equally abouts its periphery. These engagement points may be fitted with lugs or indentations for engagement of a complementary actuating device, and the turntables are arranged so that they are stable in successive orientations which are spaced 90° apart (e.g. they can be kept in orientation by ball-and-socket positive engagement).
• the turntable units rotate from one orientation to the next when actuated by device 8, which can for example be any desired kind of adjustable trip arm.
• Turntable 7 is shown in orientation spaced 90° from its original orientation, and presenting an oblique-cut section 9 of the elongate material tranversely to the line of motion of the conveyor, thereby to facilitate subsequent processing of the section at its cut surface, e.g. by addition of another material, such as a stick, to form a composite sectioned product.
• Figures 2a and 2b show respectively a plan and elevation of one suitable embodiment of a turntable unit such as 4,5,6 or 7 in slightly greater detail.
• Turntable platter 9a is fixed to a vertical shaft 10 comprising a boss portion 11 and a bearing portion 12, which in use are located on and within a journal of any suitable bearing material, which is mounted in the respective plate such as plate 2 of Figure 1. It has been found especially convenient to use a porous (e.g. sintered) metal bearing impregnated with any suitable lubricant.
• a porous (e.g. sintered) metal bearing impregnated with any suitable lubricant.
• a lower faceted section 13 which is shaped to be square in section.
• the faceted section 13 can be clasped between two leaf springs or other resilient stops. These exert enough force to stabilise the turntable in the absence of a rotating force.
• Rotating force can be applied as described in relation to Figure 1, e.g. by application of a catch or pawl to one of four successive indentations in the circumference of the turntable platter.
• the platters can be flat. They can have dish-shaped or otherwise shaped top surfaces, to receive and support a length of material to be cut and handled, according to any desired cross-section.
• the arrangement as described provides discontinuous and sequential rotation, through a defined angle of rotation, of each of a series of travelling turntables on which there lies the length of material to be sectioned and handled, and each turntable is made to rotate after the portion of the material which it carries has been cut to separate it from the remainder.
• the invention is applicable for example to the handling and formation of edible products such as frozen confectionery pieces into which sticks are to be inserted to form stick products such as ice cream stick bars and the like. It is also apparent that many variations and modifications of the apparatus and its use can be applied without departing from the essentials of this disclosure.

Landscapes

• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
• Confectionery (AREA)
• Physical Deposition Of Substances That Are Components Of Semiconductor Devices (AREA)
• Medicines Containing Plant Substances (AREA)
• General Preparation And Processing Of Foods (AREA)
• Fish Paste Products (AREA)
• Specific Conveyance Elements (AREA)
• Attitude Control For Articles On Conveyors (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (11)

Families Citing this family (9)

Citations (4)

Family Cites Families (4)

• 1983
  • 1983-06-28 IE IE1506/83A patent/IE54255B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1983-06-29 AT AT83303756T patent/ATE21986T1/de active
  • 1983-06-29 US US06/589,099 patent/US4579517A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1983-06-29 AU AU17095/83A patent/AU562864B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1983-06-29 WO PCT/GB1983/000164 patent/WO1984000097A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 1983-06-29 GR GR71797A patent/GR78586B/el unknown
  • 1983-06-29 DE DE8383303756T patent/DE3366071D1/de not_active Expired
  • 1983-06-29 CA CA000431464A patent/CA1244792A/en not_active Expired
  • 1983-06-29 DK DK300783A patent/DK159041C/da not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1983-06-29 EP EP83303756A patent/EP0099670B1/en not_active Expired
  • 1983-06-29 JP JP58502318A patent/JPS59501144A/ja active Pending

Patent Citations (4)

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