WO1993009674A1

WO1993009674A1 - Method and apparatus for making baked products

Info

Publication number: WO1993009674A1
Application number: PCT/NL1991/000234
Authority: WO
Inventors: Johan Hagelen
Original assignee: Pol Oven & Machinebouw B V V D
Priority date: 1991-11-20
Filing date: 1991-11-20
Publication date: 1993-05-27

Abstract

A method for making baked products comprises a separation step in order to separate the baked products (12) into two baked product halves (13, 14), after which the separation surfaces of the two baked product halves (13, 14) are subjected to a further treatment. According to the invention, the separation step is performed by feeding a baked product (12) past a stationary separating device (5) which is arranged above the conveyor track (2) and whose vertical dimension increases in the direction of conveyance, after which the orientation of one of the halves (14) of the baked product is inverted by arranging for it to traverse a bend in the vertical direction.

Description

Title: Method and apparatus for making baked products The invention relates to a method for making baked products, comprising a separation step for separat- ing the baked products into two baked product halves, after which the respective separation surfaces of the two baked products halves are subjected to a further treat¬ ment. In this connection, the term "baked products" is understood as meaning products which are made in a bakery, for example rolls.

Such a method is known, for example, for making "Skørpe" rolls. These are rolls having a shape which is comparable with the shape of a baton roll which is first baked in an oven. After baking, the rolls are divided horizontally in the longitudinal direction into two halves and the separation surfaces of the two halves are then toasted. The further treatment mentioned thus comprises in this connection the toasting of the respec¬ tive separation surfaces of the two half "Skørpe" rolls. In this connection, it is desirable to orient said separation surfaces in a similar way in order to simplify the further treatment. In the example mentioned, the half "Skørpe" rolls should be placed with their separation surfaces directed downwards on a toasting grill. Hereinafter, the term "rolls" is used to indicate baked products in general, such as, for example, "Skørpe" rolls. The invention is not, however, limited to a method of making bread-like baked products, but it can also be used in making other types of baked products, such as, for example, meringues.

According to the known method, the rolls are conveyed on a conveyor belt, for example a wire mesh belt, through a baking oven. Set up downstream on either side of the conveyor belt are separating devices which each comprise a set of horizontal separating pins directed approximately at right angels to the conveyor belt. The separating pins are forced into the rolls from the side and then one of the separating devices is moved upwards. In this process, the upward moving separating device pulls the top half of the roll away from the bottom half of the roll, which is retained by the stationary separating device. A number of disadvantages are associated with this method. Thus, the position and orientation of a roll on the conveyor belt is not known with certainty. On the one hand, this makes it necessary to provide means for detecting the position of the roll on the conveyor belt, while, on the other hand, there is no guarantee that the separating pins penetrate the roll in the width direction thereof, with the result that the separating surfaces of a series of rolls may be differently profiled.

In addition, to perform the separation operation, a complicated apparatus is needed, while a complicated apparatus must, moreover, be provided in order to guarantee that the roll halves are placed on the conveyor belt or on the toasting grills placed thereon with their respective separation surfaces directed downwards. In practice this is not found to be possible economically with sufficient certainty, and for this reason additional staff are* required to check and possibly correct all these points.

The object of the invention is to eliminate the disadvantages mentioned.

In particular, the object of the invention is to provide a method of the abovementioned type which can be performed in a simple manner. For this purpose, the method of the abovementioned type is, according to the invention, performed in such a way that a roll is fed past a stationary separating device which is arranged above the conveyor track and whose vertical dimension increases in the direction of conveyance, after which the orientation of one of the halves of the roll is inverted by arranging for it to traverse a bend in the vertical direction.

Preferably, the inversion of the orientation of one half of the roll by means of the vertical bend takes place essentially simultaneously with the separation step.

In a further step, the direction of conveyance of the two halves of the roll may be reversed. This achieves the result that, after leaving the separating apparatus, the two halves have a direction of conveyance which is opposite to the direction in which the unseparated roll was fed to the separating apparatus. In the method according to the invention, this achieves the additional advantage that the further treatment can be performed with an opposite direction of conveyance compared with an earlier treatment, such as, for example, raising and baking, in which case an apparatus for performing the further treatment can be arranged next to an apparatus for performing the earlier treatment, so that the total length of the apparatus for making rolls by the method according to the invention can be appreciably less than the total length of a known apparatus for making rolls.

For this purpose, in an advantageous embodiment, one half of the roll, after its orientation has been inverted, is delivered to a conveyance device having an opposite direction of conveyance. The reversal of the direction of conveyance of the other half of the roll can be brought about in a simple manner by moving it along a bend section in an essentially horizontally oriented plane.

Preferably, the rolls are conveyed in holders in order to position the rolls with respect to the con¬ veyance device at least in the direction of conveyance. This provides a better guarantee that the rolls retain their conveyance speed on contact with the stationary separating device. Moreover, this provides a better guarantee that the separating device moves in a desired direction through the rolls, so that a. more uniform product is obtained.

Advantageously, the baked products can be intro¬ duced into the holders for a treatment prior to the separation step. More particularly, the baked products can be introduced into the holders on a first conveyance device in order to undergo a process in said holders, such as raising and baking, before being fed to the separating device. The first conveyance device therefore has a suitable length for this purpose. This offers the advantage that the rolls are "positively" conveyed, that is to say the position of a roll on the first conveyance device is always well defined.

In a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, at the position of the separating device, contact is also made to the rolls via their top by an auxiliary conveyor belt section in order to guarantee conveyance of the pulled-off top halves of the rolls in a better way. The invention relates, in addition, to an apparatus for performing the abovementioned method, comprising: a separating device for separating a baked product into two baked product halves; a first conveyance device for feeding the baked products to the separating device; and a second conveyance device for feeding the baked products from the separating device to a further processing, apparatus. According to the invention, such an apparatus is constructed in such a way that the separat¬ ing device comprises a first separating section and a second separating section which are both mounted with an insertion section at an essentially equal height trans¬ versely above the first conveyance device, the distance of the first separating section from the first conveyance device increasing in the direction of conveyance and the distance of the second separating section from the first conveyance device remaining essentially constant in the direction of conveyance.

Further advantages and aspects of the invention will emerge from the description below of preferred embodiments of the method and apparatus according to the invention, reference being made to the drawing, wherein: Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic plan view of a known apparatus for performing the method; Figures 2A-C show a diagrammatic cross section of a baked product to be made, during various stages of the known method;

Figure 3 shows a diagrammatic plan view of a known separating apparatus during various stages of the separation step;

Figures 4A-B show diagrammatic cross sections of the separating apparatus of Figure 3 in consecutive stages of the separation step; Figure 5A shows a diagrammatic side view of an embodiment of the separating apparatus according to the invention;

Figure 5B shows a perspective view of the separating device of the separating apparatus of Figure 5A;

Figure 6A shows a diagrammatic plan view of a holder for conveying the rolls through the separating apparatus of

Figure 5A mounted on a conveyance device and filled with rolls;

Figure 6B shows a cross section along the line B-B in

Figure 6A; Figure 7 shows a diagrammatic plan view of an apparatus according to the invention for performing the method according -to the invention;

Figure 8 shows a diagrammatic plan view of a preferred embodiment of a separating station according to the invention;

Figure 9 shows a diagrammatic side view of a preferred embodiment of a separating device according to the invention; and

Figure 10 shows a diagrammatic side view of another preferred embodiment of a separating device according to the invention.

By way of example, the invention will be illustrated for the case where the baked products to be made are "Skørpe" rolls, but it will be clear that the invention is not restricted thereto. In Figure 1, a known apparatus for making "Skorpe" rolls by the method mentioned in the preamble, which apparatus is indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 1, comprises a first wire-mesh conveyor belt 2. At the beginning 3 of the wire-mesh conveyor belt 2, unprocessed "Skørpe" rolls, that is to say lumps of dough 11 in the shape of "Skørpe" rolls, are placed by means not described in further detail on the wire-mesh conveyor belt 2. The wire-mesh conveyor belt 2 conveys the lumps of dough 11 in the direction indicated by the arrow P through an oven 4 in order to bake the lumps of dough 11. A "Skørpe" roll 12 has then acquired the cross section shown in Figure 2A.

Downstream of the oven 4, there is a separating station 5 for separating the rolls 12 into a respective top half 13 and a bottom half 14, as illustrated in

Figure 2B. This known separating station 5 will be described in greater detail below.

From the separating station 5, the roll halves 13, 14 are conveyed by means of a conveyance device 6 through a second oven 7 in order to toast the respective separation surfaces 15, 16 of the roll halves 13, 14. For this purpose, the roll halves 13, 14 have to be placed with the respective separation surfaces 15, 16 directed downwards on a toasting grill 8.

The operation of the known separating station 5 will now be described in greater detail by reference to Figures 3 and 4A-B. The separating station 5 comprises two separating devices 21 and 22 which are arranged on either side of the conveyor belt 2. Each separating device 21, 22 has the form of a fork and comprises a number of separating pins or teeth 23 and 24, respec- tively, which are arranged horizontally and parallel to one another and whose free ends 25 and 26, respectively, are directed towards the conveyor belt 2 at right angles to the direction of conveyance of the latter. The vertical distance between the separating devices 21 and 22 and the conveyor belt 2 is approximately equal to half the height of the rolls 2.

The ends 27 and 28, respectively, of the separat¬ ing devices 21 and 22 directed away from the conveyor belt 2 are coupled to devices 29 in order to give the separating device 21 and 22 their movements described below. These devices 29 are not described in greater detail here. In a first step, the separating devices 21 and 22 are situated at a mutual horizontal spacing which is such that a roll 12' being conveyed on the conveyor belt 2 can pass through between them, as shown in Figures 3 and 4A. In a second step, the separating devices 21 and 22 are moved towards one another in the horizontal direction, in which process the separating pins 23 and 24 penetrate the roll 12' situated between the separating devices 21 and 22 from either side. The separating devices 21 and 22 are situated in the same horizontal plane and are displaced with respect to one another in the direction of conveyance in such a way that the separating pins 23 are situated precisely between the separating pins 24. The separating pins 23 and 24 thus define a separating plane for the roll 12' . In a third step, the separating pins 23 are moved upwards, while the separating pins 24 remain in position. As a result, the separating pins 23 pull the top half 13' of the roll 12' upwards, away from the bottom half 14', which is retained by the separating pins 24, as shown in Figure 4C.

The separating apparatus described above requires relatively complicated control devices 29. Devices are also needed to detect if a "Skørpe" roll 12 is situated between the separating devices 21 and 22. In addition, relatively complicated means are needed to place the halves 13 and 14 in the position, shown in Figure 2C, on a toasting grill. Since this does not take place in practice with adequate certainty, additional staff are required to check whether the halves 13 and 14 actually acquired the position shown in Figure 2C and, if neces¬ sary, to correct said position.

A further disadvantage is that, during the time in which the separating devices 21 and 22 are in contact with a roll 12, the conveyor belt 2 continues to move, while the roll 12 is held stationary by the separating devices 21 and 22, with the result that said roll 12 moves backwards over the conveyor surface with respect to the conveyor belt 2. In order to prevent a subsequent roll being affected in this process, the individual rolls have to have a certain minimum spacing in the direction of conveyance, and this affects the production capacity of the known apparatus 1. A further capacity-limiting aspect is that the rolls must not be situated alongside one another on the conveyor belt 2.

In addition, this known apparatus has the disad¬ vantage that, if a roll 12" (Figure 3) is inaccurately placed on the conveyor belt 2 so that its longitudinal direction does not coincide with the direction of con¬ veyance, the separating pins 23 and 24 penetrate said roll 12" at an angle, as a result of which the profile, produced by the separating pins 23 and 24, of the separa¬ tion surfaces 15 and 16 extends at an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction of the respective halves 13 and 14. The profiling of the separation surfaces in a batch of rolls may therefore be irregular, and this is undesirable.

Hereinafter, the method according to the inven- tion will be described in greater detail, still by way of example for making "Skørpe" rolls.

Figure 5A diagrammatically shows the principle of an important step in the method according to the inven¬ tion. After leaving a first oven 53, a roll 12 is fed by a conveyance device 51 having a direction of conveyance P_x past a separating device 60, a perspective view of which is shown in Figure 5B. The separating device 60 comprises a first row of pins 61 and a second row of pins 62 which are directed in parallel and. oppositely to the direction of conveyance P_x. As is evident from Figure 5B, each separating pin 61, 62 is situated in a plane extending parallel to the direction of conveyance P_x. The respective ends 63 and 64 of the pins 61 and 62, which have a suitable shape for penetrating the rolls 12, are arranged alongside one another at equal distances from the conveyance device 51. Preferably, the pins 61 are mounted so as to alternate with the pins 62. It will be clear that the separating device 60 is, in addition, provided with supporting devices for holding the pins 61 and 62 in the position shown. Said supporting devices are not essential to the invention and are not shown for the sake of clarity. At an entrance section 65, the pins 61 and 62 may extend parallel to the conveyance device 61. Seen from a certain point in the direction of conveyance, the distance of the pins 61 from the conveyance device 51 increases, while the pins 62 continue to extend essenti- ally parallel to the conveyance device 51. If a roll 12 is fed past the separating device 60, the ends 63 and 64 of the pins 61 and 62 wil first penetrate the roll 12, after which the pins 61 pull the top half 13 of the roll 12 away from the bottom half 14, which is retained in the vertical direction by the pins 62.

With the above-described arrangement according to the invention, no detection apparatus is necessary in order to actuate the separating device when a roll 12 moves past because the separating device 60 is arranged in a stationary manner and always operates when a roll 12 moves past. In addition, a plurality of rolls 12 can move past the separating device 60 simultaneously in order to be separated.

In order to guarantee a uniform conveyance of the rolls 12 past the pins 61 and 62, the conveyance device 51 is preferably provided with carrier devices for positioning the rolls 12 at least in the direction of conveyance P_x with respect to the conveyance device 51. Said carrier devices preferably have the form of a holder 70 which is open at the top (Figure 6B) , whose width is essentially equal to the width of the rolls 12, and whose height is equal to, or slightly less than, half the height of the roll 12. The holder 70 is attached to the conveyance device 51 at right angles to the direction of conveyance, and the length of the holder 70 is essenti¬ ally equal to the width of the conveyance device 51. Figure 6A shows a plan view thereof. In addition, it is apparent from Figure 6A that the length of the holder 70 is also essentially equal to the length of four rolls 12. This ratio has, however, only been chosen by way of illustration. If desired, the length of the holder 70 and, therefore, the width of the conveyance device 51 may be essentially equal to the length of more or less than four rolls 12.

Preferably, the conveyance device 51 has the form, shown in Figure 6B, of a set of conveyance chains 71, 72 which are mutually linked by transverse supports 73 on which the holders 70 can be mounted by means of any suitable means whatsoever. The conveyor chains 71, 72 are preferably provided with wheels 74 at the pivot points between the chain parts in order to guide the chains in a guide track which is not shown. The use of a holder 70 ensures in a better way that the separating pins 61 and 62 move through the rolls 12 in a desired direction so that a more uniform product is obtained. The fact that the conveyance device 21 has the form of a set of conveyor chains 71, 72 with transverse supports 73 for the holders 70 guarantees a uniform progression of the rolls in the processing apparatus and in the separating apparatus. In this connection, a wire mesh conveyor belt has the disadvantage that it is driven by means of friction. Reference is now made to Figure 5A. After moving past the separating device 60 the separation surfaces 15, 16 of the roll halves 13, 14 are oppositely directed, namely the separation surface 15 of the top half 13 is directed downwards and the separation surface 16 of the bottom half 14 is directed upwards. Since it is desirable in the example of "Skørpe" rolls to place the roll halves 13, 14 with their separation surfaces 15, 16 directed downwards on the toasting grill, the orientation of the bottom half 14 has to be inverted, and according to the invention, this is done by arranging for the bottom half 14 to traverse a bend in the vertical direction. For this purpose, the conveyance device 51 moves past vertically arranged conveyor wheels 80, that is to say the shafts 81 of the wheels 80 are directed horizontally. Arranged parallel to the conveyance device 51 at the wheels 80 is a guide device 82, the spacing of the guide device 82 from the conveyance device 51 always being essentially equally as large as the spacing of the pins 62 from the conveyance device 51. The guide device 82 serves to keep the halves 14 of the rolls 12 in the holders 70.

The guide device 82 terminates at the bottom of the wheels 80. When they reach the bottom of the wheels 80, the roll halves 14 consequently drop out of the holders 70 onto a conveyance device 83 arranged under the wheel 80. The roll halves 14 now have their separation surfaces 16 directed downwards, just like the roll halves 13. The latter are taken from the pins 61 to a conveyance device 84 whose direction of conveyance is the same as the direction P_x. In this connection, use can be made of an auxiliary conveyance device 85 which conveys the roll halves 13 by means of friction.

It is pointed out that the conveyance devices 83, 84 and 85 may be conveyor belts which are supported in an otherwise known manner by supporting rollers or support¬ ing wheels and which can be driven in a likewise known manner. No further details are shown of this for the sake of clarity. The direction of conveyance of the conveyance device 83 may be the same as the direction of the con¬ veyance device 84 in order to convey the roll halves 13 and 14 in the direction P-.. Preferably, however, the direction of conveyance of the conveyance device 83 is opposite to the direction P_x, as indicated by the arrow P₂, with the result that the roll halves 14 travel back in the direction of the oven 53. This offers the possibility of limiting the total length L of the apparatus for making the rolls.

Figure 7 shows a diagrammatic overall view of a preferred embodiment of such an apparatus, which is indi¬ cated in its entirety by the reference numeral 50, in which apparatus a separating station 54 is used which may comprise a separating device 60 in accordance with the invention. At the beginning 52 of the first conveyance device 51, lumps of dough 11 having the shape of "Skørpe" rolls are placed on the first conveyance device 51. The first conveyance device 51 conveys the lumps of dough 11 in the direction indicated by the arrow \\9-_ through the oven 53 in order to bake the lumps of dough 11. Situated downstream of the oven 53 is the separating station 54 in order to separate the whole rolls 12. From the separating station 54, the roll halves 13, 14 are conveyed by means of a second conveyance device 55 through a second oven 56 in order to toast the separation surfaces 15, 16 of the roll halves 13, 14. In this arrangement, the second oven 54 is situated alongside the first oven 53, with the result that the total length L of the apparatus 50 is limited and it therefore requires less space.

Figure 8 shows in greater detail a plan view, of the separating station 54. As shown in Figure 8, the top halves 13 are fed back by the conveyance device 84 via a horizontal bend section 88 to the conveyance device 55. Said bend section 88 may have a helical form in order to span a difference in height between the conveyance device 84 and the conveyance device 83. The bottom halves 14 are likewise fed to the conveyance device 55 by the con- veyance device 83 via an S bend section 86. The con¬ veyance device 55 has a width which is at least twice as great as the width of the conveyance device 51 in order to be able to convey the bottom halves 14 alongside the top halves 13. Figure 9 shows a diagrammatic side view of a pre¬ ferred embodiment of the separating apparatus according to the invention, in which a separating device is indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 90. In this separating device 90, the steps of separating the roll halves 13, 14 and the vertical inversion of the halves 14 are essentially performed simultaneously. The separating device 90 comprises a first series of pins 91 and a second series of pins 92 which have a similar function to that of the pins 61 and 62, respectively, described above. The pins 91 have a linear form and are arranged in a sloping manner in the vicinity of wheels 93, whose function corresponds to that of the wheels 80 described above. The pins 92 have the shape of a circular arc and are coaxially arranged with the wheels 93, the ends of the pins 92 being situated in line with the pins 91.

When the rolls 12 in the holders 70 are moved by the conveyance device 51 around the wheels 93, the ends of the pins 91 and 92 penetrate the rolls 12 in order to separate the rolls 12 into top halves 13 and bottom halves 14, as described above. As a result of the slope of the pins 91, the top halves 13 slide downwards onto the conveyance device 84 under the influence of gravity. In this case, the auxiliary conveyance device 85 described*above is not needed. The bottom halves 14 are delivered in inverted form to the conveyance device 83, the pins 92 also fulfilling the function of the guide device 82 as a result of their circular arc shape. The conveyance device 83 may be arranged at the same height as the conveyance device 84. The separating device 90 therefore offers a simplification with respect to the separating device 60. Although in the description with reference to

Figure 9 it is stated that the auxiliary conveyance device 85 is not necessary for additionally driving the top halves 13, such an auxiliary conveyance device 85 can nevertheless be provided so that satisfactory operation of the apparatus is not dependent on gravity and any variation in frictional conditions. For this purpose, Figure 10 shows a variation on the preparating device 90 of Figure 9 in which the auxiliary conveyance device 85 (cf. Figure 5A) is arranged horizontally. To span the difference in height between the conveyance device 84 and the conveyance device 83, the bend section 88 may have a helical path, or a linearly sloping track section may be provided at 87 (Figure 8).

It will be clear to a person skilled in the art that it is possible to alter or to modify the embodiment shown of the apparatus according to the invention without departing from the inventive idea or the scope of protection. Thus, it is possible, for example, for the second oven to be placed above or below the first oven if so desired. It is also possible that the separating rods touch one another and their ends form a separating knife.

In addition, it is possible to direct the separating surfaces upwards by applying the inversion movement to the top roll half.

Claims

1. Method for making baked products, comprising a separation step for separating the baked products into two baked product halves, after which the separation sur- faces of the two baked product halves are subjected to a further treatment, characterised in that a baked product is fed past a stationary separating device which is arranged above the conveyor track and whose vertical dimension increases in the direction of conveyance, after which the orientation of one of the halves of the baked product is inverted by arranging for it to traverse a bend in the vertical direction.

2. Method according to Claim 1, characterised in that the inversion of the orientation of one half of the baked product by means of the vertical bend takes place essentially simultaneously with the separation step.

3. Method according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the direction of conveyance of the two halves of the baked product is reversed.

4. Method according to Claim 3, characterised in that one half of the roll, after its orientation has been inverted, -is delivered to a conveyance device having an opposite direction of conveyance.

5. Method according to Claim 3 or 4, characterised in that the reversal of the direction of conveyance of the other half of the baked product is brought about by moving it along a bend section in an essentially horizontally oriented plane.

6. Method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the baked products are con¬ veyed in holders in order to position the baked products with respect to the conveyance device at least in the direction of conveyance.

7. Method according to Claim 6, characterised in that the baked products are introduced into the holders for a treatment prior to the separation step.

8. Method according to at least one of the preceding claims, characterised in that contact is also made to the top of the baked products by an auxiliary conveyor belt section at the position of the separating device.

9. Apparatus for making baked products comprising: a separating device for separating a baked product into two baked product halves; a first conveyance device for feeding the baked products to the separating device; a second conveyance device for feeding the baked products from the separating device to a further processing apparatus; characterised in that the separating device has a first separating section and a second separating section which are both mounted transversely above the first conveyance device with an insertion section at an essentially equal height, the distance of the first sepa¬ rating section from the first conveyance device increas- ing in the direction of conveyance and the distance of the second separating section from the first conveyance device remaining essentially constant in the direction of conveyance.

10. Apparatus according to Claim 9, characterised in that the separating sections comprise separating pins which are each situated in a plane extending parallel to the direction of conveyance.

11. Apparatus according to Claim 9 or 10, charac¬ terised in that the separating device is mounted near a supporting wheel at the end of the conveyance track of the first conveyance device, and in that the second sepa¬ rating section has the shape of a circular arc section which is mounted concentrically with the supporting wheel.

12. Apparatus according to at least one of Claims 9- 11, characterised in that the first separating section slopes linearly.

13. Apparatus according to at least one of Claims 9- 11, characterised in that the first separating section is directed horizontally.

14. Apparatus according to at least one of Claims 9- 13, characterised by an auxiliary conveyance device arranged above the first separating section.

15. Apparatus according to at least one of Claims 9- 14, characterised in that the first conveyance device is provided with holders for the baked products.

16. Apparatus according to at least one of Claims 9- 15, characterised by a conveyance device having a track section which comprises a horizontal bend for reversing the direction of conveyance of one of the halves of the baked products/

17. Apparatus according to at least one of Claims 9- 16, characterised by a conveyance device having a track section which has an S-bend for laterally displacing the other half of the halves of the baked products while maintaining the direction of conveyance thereof.

18. Apparatus according to at least one of Claims 9- 17, characterised in that the direction of conveyance of the second conveyance device is opposite to the direction of conveyance of the first conveyance device.

19. Separating device intended for use in an apparatus according to one of Claims 9-18.