WO1998025473A1

WO1998025473A1 - Dough handling apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO1998025473A1
Application number: PCT/AU1997/000825
Authority: WO
Inventors: Paul Eaton Willett
Original assignee: Willett Versatile Equipment Pty. Ltd.
Priority date: 1996-12-10
Filing date: 1997-12-05
Publication date: 1998-06-18
Also published as: AUPO410996A0

Abstract

Dough handling apparatus (10) feeds dough pieces via movable guide plate (15) to either a lower path over a table (18) or an upper path under a hander (26). A conveyor (17) rolls a dough piece over table (18) or carries it under hander (26). Cutters (19) may be inserted into the lower path to cut dough rolls prior to delivery to output belt (22). Guides (32, 33) in the upper path form dough pieces into balls prior to distribution by a chute (36) to prover trays (38). Apparatus (10) therefore can work dough into pieces which become bread rolls, bread sticks, buns and related bakery or pastry products.

Description

TITLE : " DOUGH HANDLING APPARATUS "

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

THIS INVENTION relates to apparatus for the making of

bread and other like type products. In particular, the invention relates

to a dough handling means, with a capacity to output portions or

quantities of dough, or like type substances, in selected sizes and

shapes, for delivery to proving stations, baking stations and the like.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

In the preparation of bread, the makings of dough are

mixed and worked into a dough which is portioned into pieces to

become the desired product: a roll; a bread stick; or other like type

bread products, buns and related bakery or pastry products.

Equipment exist by which to bring about the mixing of the dough, and

to divide the dough into desired portions. However, this equipment is

not designed to output a range of products, in a range of product sizes

and geometries, and supply these to proving stations and ovens.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a dough

handling means by which dough portions of different geometries and

sizes are able to be generated from dough portions supplied thereto,

according to a selected or predetermined schedule.

NATURE OF THE INVENTION

The invention achieves its object in the provision of a dough handling means for manipulating dough portions fed thereto

comprising:

an inlet whereat dough portions are delivered for input to

the dough handling means; and

an outlet whereat processed dough portions are output

from the dough handling means;

characterised in that

selector means by which dough portions fed to the inlet

are directed to one of two selectable dough handling paths wherein

the dough portion is manipulated prior to delivery to the outlet;

the two selectable dough handling paths having

associated therewith the means to roll the dough portions, a first path

forming ball like shapes, the second path forming roll like shapes;

the selector means being operable under user control to

effect direction of dough portions to one of the user selectable paths.

Ideally the dough handling means is one wherein the

dough handling means utilises a conveyor belt between end rollers

therefor, located over a flat surface, the dough pieces being directed,

in use, by the selector means either over, in the first path, or under the

conveyor belt, in the second path, the selector means setting the

direction of rotation of the conveyor belt to suit the chosen path. The

flat surface may be set adjustably relative to the conveyor to allow

selection of the width of the gap there between, such that dough pieces fed therebetween, in use, are rolled thereby, in the second

path, into roll like shapes. The second path may have removably

associated therewith cutters by which the roll like shapes are

selectively divided into a plurality of cylindrical portions. There may be

guide chutes employed at the outlet by which to feed divided dough

rolls to desired positions at the exit for spaced supply to provers

downstream.

Ideally the dough handling machine is one wherein dough

pieces passed to the first path, on the upper reach of the conveyor

belt, are rolled thereon, being passed, in use, beneath a stationary

handing belt spaced at a selectable height above the upper reach of

the conveyor belt. There may be edge guides provided at the sides of

the first path to narrow the first path and reduce the axial dimension

of the dough portion as it is passed therethrough, in use, to form a ball

like shape. There may be an angularly adjustable guide plate which

can be provided, following the inlet, to assist dough pieces supplied

thereto to enter the appropriate dough path, either over or under the

conveyor.

For convenience the invention is described herein with

reference to dough handling, particularly in bread making. However,

wherever these terms are used, it is intended to include the handling

and processing of any of the dough like materials for all of bread

making, bun making, pastry making and the like. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described with reference to a

preferred embodiment which is seen in the accompanying drawings in

which:

FIG . 1 is a schematic side elevation showing the flow of

dough pieces through a dough handling machine in accordance with

the invention to establish rolls;

FIG. 2 is the dough handling machine of FIG. 1 ,

configured or reset to flow dough pieces there through to form sticks;

FIG . 3 is the dough handling machine of FIG . 1 ,

configured or reset to flow dough pieces therethrough to form

'handled' dough pieces as explained herein below;

FIG . 4 is a schematic plan view of the dough handling

machine of FIGS. 1 to 3; and

FIG . 5 is an end view of the dough handling machine of

FIGS. 1 to 3.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the dough handling apparatus 1 0 of FIG. 1 , dough

portions or pieces are supplied or fed to an entry point or inlet end 1 1

thereof, to exit therefrom after treatment or processing therein at an

outlet end 1 2. The dough pieces which are to be manipulated or

treated, are fed to the inlet 1 1 via a suitable transport means, such as

a conveyor belt around a support therefor such as roller 1 3. The dough pieces drop off or are delivered from the inlet end 1 1 onto

either of a lower path directing means such as ramp 1 4, or an upper

path guide means such as guide plate 1 5. In this configuration or

setting of the handling apparatus machine, guide plate or flap 1 5 may

be raised, as shown, and a dough piece is free thereby to fall to ramp

1 4 and to pass into the treatment zone or gap 1 6 between a moving

or rolling means, which is ideally a belt 1 7 and a stationary surface or

pressure rolling board 1 8. Rolling board 1 8 is preferably adjustable or

movable generally vertically to select or set the width or height of gap

1 6 between it and the lower reach of the conveyor belt 1 7, which

passes over the board at a selected spacing therefrom. The dough

piece is rolled, in use, over the board 1 8 by the belt 1 7 up to a

dividing means such as cutter 1 9 (one being seen but a side by side

array is provided as seen herein below) to divide, sever or cut the

dough piece into portions, segments or sections to become bread rolls,

buns and the like. The dough sections may drop or fall into passage or

chute 21 onto a outlet transport means such as conveyor 22 to flow

or pass to exit end 1 2.

In use of the above apparatus a dough piece exits a

machine called a divider which generates dough portions and then

enters the handling means or apparatus of the present invention. The

dough piece which is fed to the present apparatus is generally

elongated (approximately 50 mm in diameter and 1 50 mm long). The divider is arranged or operates to portion the dough piece to a pre-set

size, usually in the range 250 grams to 1 kg. In use of the present

invention, a selector handle or push button (not shown) may be used

or moved by the machine's operator to a selection or position which

chooses or selects "rolls". The movement or actioning of this handle

or selector ideally causes the following to occur:

a. the first dough path guide 1 5 is moved to the

vertical position if it is not already positioned there;

b. the conveyor belt 1 7 will commence to operate in

an anticlockwise direction ( in the sense of the

drawing);

c. the dough piece cutter 1 9 will be raised or go to

the 'up' position if not already there;

d. the second dough piece guide 20 will go to the

vertical position; and

e. the roll and stick outlet conveyor 22 will turn in the

clockwise direction to move either the rolls or

sticks which are produced onto the next processing

step.

The dough piece is therefore guided (in this configuration)

by the ramp 1 4 to the gap between the conveyor belt 1 7 and pressure

rolling board 1 8. This causes the dough piece to lengthen (transversely

to the direction of travel) as it is rolled under pressure until the piece is in contact with guides (not shown) placed either side of the pressure

rolling board 1 8. These guides are usually 200 mm apart, so the dough

piece will be rolled 200 mm long. When the dough piece encounters

the cutter(s) 1 9, it will be cut into relatively even portions (usually

with a weight variation of 5 % of the intended weight which is quite

acceptance for bread rolls or buns).

The second dough path guide 20 ensures or causes the

roll size pieces to drop or fall vertically off or from the end of the

pressure rolling board 1 8 through separating baffles (not shown) that

cause the dough pieces to fall onto the outlet conveyor 22 in a line but

at even separations of approximately 100mm apart. The outlet

conveyor 22 then transfers the pieces to the next machine for resting

before being shaped into respective round or long rolls.

In FIG. 2, the settings of the apparatus are the same as in

FIG . 1 except that the dough path guide or flap 20 may be rotated to

block dough pieces from chute 21 , and feed or deliver them onto a

rotation control means, or ribbed roller 24. The cutters 1 9 can be

lowered in this configuration so that the dough roll or stick prepared

on board 1 8 is passed or output in an uncut state. The ribbed roller 24

is preferably used to pass the dough stick to belt 22 to subsequently

pass it to a proving machine apparatus for further processing as

desired.

In use of the apparatus, when the selector handle referred to above is moved to the "stick" position, all the components set for

the "roll" setting will stay in their respective places except for the

second dough path guide 20 which moves to the position shown in

FIG . 2, and the cutters 1 9 are lowered so as not to cut the dough

piece. The dough piece is therefor pressure rolled to a reasonably

uniform shape, typically 200mm long depending on machine size, and

this is ideal for further moulding into a french stick of say, 700mm

long after the resting or "proving" process. As the dough piece exits

the pressure rolling board 1 8, it now rolls over the second dough path

guide 20 and falls onto the ribbed or otherwise contoured roller 24.

This roller is preferably used to substantially straighten the dough

piece and it may also function to stop the dough piece from continuing

to spin after leaving the underside of the conveyor belt. The dough

piece therefore drops correctly onto the outlet conveyor 22 for

transfer to the prover (not shown) for resting before being shaped or

moulded to full length.

In FIG. 3, the dough path guide 1 5 is lowered to pass

dough pieces onto the top 28 of belt 1 7 to pass beneath a dough

processing or handing means which may be a chain mail belt 26 which

can be weighted down with weights provided there along such as 27.

The belt 1 7 runs clockwise in this configuration (in the sense of the

drawing) to drive dough pieces to the outlet end.

When producing bread to be baked in tins or shaped into loaves like Viennas, the dough piece is commonly first shaped into a

round ball. After resting, the rounded piece is an ideal shape for

shaping into those types of bread forms.

In use of the above apparatus, a "hander" setting on the

selector handle may cause the following to happen:

a. the first dough path guide 1 5 will go to the

horizontal position;

b. the conveyor belt 1 7 will turn in the clockwise

direction; and

c. the roll and stick conveyor 22 will turn in the

anticlockwise direction.

The "handing " is done by the use of two peripheral edge

guides (not shown) that run with minimal clearance to the conveyor

belt. The guides cause the dough piece to turn 90 degrees and then

run under a weighted chain mail belt. This causes the dough piece to

curl up from the heading end until it is curled up into a rough ball

shape. Further rolling of the dough piece is done under the chain and

side pressure by the guides previously mentioned that flank the dough

piece and keep it to a rough spherical shape. The rounded or "handed"

pieces are then transferred to the prover (not shown), known to those

skilled in the art, for resting before moulding to the finished loaf shape.

In this operation, the roll and stick conveyor 22 turns in

the opposite direction to gather small offcuts called "tailings" that occur when dough pieces are handed. It is not desirable for these

tailings to contaminate other dough pieces and so they fall onto the

roll and stick conveyor 22 where they are transferred to a catch tray

25 for daily removal and cleaning.

In FIG .4 is seen the dough handling machine, from above,

showing the dough handing path wherein dough is fed at end 29 and

exits at end 30 in the operation described herein above with regard to

FIG . 3.. A dough piece 31 is on a moving surface (direction of travel

being down the page in the sense of the drawing), and when it enters

under stationary belt (preferably a stainless steel 'chain mail' style

belt), it is rolled and in the process drawn to the exit between edge

guides 32, 33 which progressively squeeze the dough body, reducing

an elongate plug at the entrance to the guides to a more ball shaped

body at the exit. The dough "balls" at the exit may be distributed by a

distribution means such as a rotatable cone 36 on pivot 37, effective

to drop a dough ball at points along the length of a prover tray 38.

Prover tray 38 remains stationary until filled when it is stepwise

moved off into a prover with a following tray in place for filling.

Typically three dough balls are loaded per tray.

In FIG. 5 Is seen an end view of the dough handling

machine of FIGS. 1 to 3, in the configuration seen in FIG. 1 , with

dough cutter 1 9 in the up position when dough rolled by belt 1 7 on

pressure rolling board 1 8 is cut and delivered by the dough guide path 21 onto outlet conveyor 22. As seen in FIG . 5, belt 1 7 on roller 39

extends over the cutter assembly at 1 9 so th.st dough rolled on the

pressure board 1 8 between side walls 40,41 mee ts blades 42, 43, 44

to be cut into four pieces. The four pieces pass beyond the cutters

and off the end of the pressure board 1 8 (movin g in the direction

which is out of the page in the sense of the drawir g), to fall to the

outlet conveyor 22 on an end roller 23. The dough p.eces are fed to

the conveyor in a spaced apart configuration, falling be tween guides

along divergent paths 45 to 48.

In the above described apparatus the conveyo. belts may

be any of the standard constructions in the bread indusrry. The

powering of the respective parts may be by any of the methods

usually employed in machinery of this type. The drawings herewith

are schematics to generally indicate the relative functioning of parts

and, in practice, these will be designed to suit the inventions purpose

in accordance with the parameters of the upstream divider and tne

downstream prover.

Claims

CLAIMS :

1 . A dough handling means for manipulating dough portions

fed thereto comprising:

an inlet whereat dough portions are delivered for input to

the dough handling means; and

an outlet whereat processed dough portions are output

from the dough handling means;

characterised in that

selector means by which dough portions fed to the inlet

are directed to one of two selectable dough handling paths wherein

the dough portion is manipulated prior to delivery to the outlet;

the two selectable dough handling paths having

associated therewith the means to roll the dough portions, a first path

forming ball like shapes, the second path forming roll like shapes;

the selector means being operable under user control to

effect direction of dough portions to one of the user selectable paths.

2. A dough handling means as claimed in claim 1 wherein:

the dough handling means utilises a conveyor belt

between end rollers therefor, located over a flat surface, the dough

pieces being directed, in use, by the selector means either over, in the

first path, or under the conveyor belt, in the second path, the selector

means setting the direction of rotation of the conveyor belt to suit the chosen path.

3. A dough handling means as claimed in claim 2 wherein:

the flat surface is set adjustably relative to the conveyor

to allow selection of the width of the gap there between, such that

dough pieces fed there between, in use, are rolled thereby, in the

second path, into roll like shapes.

4. A dough handling means as claimed in claim 3 wherein:

the second path has removably associated therewith

cutters by which the roll like shapes are selectively divided into a

plurality of cylindrical portions.

5. A dough handling apparatus as claimed in claim 4

wherein:

guide chutes are employed at the outlet by which to feed

divided dough rolls to desired positions at the exit for spaced supply

to provers downstream.

6. A dough handling machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein:

dough pieces passed to the first path, on the upper reach

of the conveyor belt, are rolled thereon, being passed, in use, beneath

a stationary handing belt spaced at a selectable height above the upper

reach of the conveyor belt.

7. A dough handling apparatus as claimed in claim 6

wherein:

edge guides are provided at sides of the first path to

narrow the first path and reduce the axial dimension of the dough

portion as it is passed there through, in use, to form a ball like shape.

8. A dough handling means as claimed in claim 1 wherein:

an angularly adjustable guide plate is provided, following

the inlet, to assist dough pieces supplied thereto to enter the

appropriate dough path, either over or under the conveyor.