Abstract:
Phase controlled apparatus for a processing operation including an article conveyor, processing means driven by the conveyor for operating upon the articles being conveyed, and a phase control device operatively interposed between said conveyor and said operating means for adjusting the alignment of the operating means and the articles being conveyed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to apparatus for processing articles, and, more particularly, to such apparatus including provision for phase control to align the instrumentality operating on the articles and the articles being operated upon. 
     In the manufacture of creme sandwich cookies, one method of depositing the creme filling onto the lower base cake uses a base cake conveyor having a curved section forming a half circle and a turret depositor positioned over this curved section of the conveyor. This type of turret depositor, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,227,320, has multiple extrusion nozzles. As the turret rotates, each of the nozzles, in turn, moves over the base cake entering the curved section of the conveyor and tracks that base cake in its movement through the curve. During this motion a quantity of creme filling is extruded from the nozzle onto the base cake. 
     To synchronize the movement of the turret and that of the conveyor, the turret is driven by the conveyor. The turret is clamped to a shaft driven by the conveyor. The position of the nozzles with respect to the base cakes is adjusted by stopping the machinery, unclamping the turret, rotating the turret an amount estimated to provide synchronism, reclamping the turret and restarting the machinery. Frequently further adjustments are necessary and the cycle must be repeated several times. 
     This adjustment operation is time consuming and the base cakes flowing from the baking oven during these shutdown periods must be either dumped or collected and manually fed back onto the conveyor at the end of a production run. 
     The location of the icing deposits on the base cakes is influenced by a number of factors including the viscosity of the icing, the dimensions of the base cakes, wear in the conveyor and turret drive components, and the tension of the icing cut off wire. Whenever a change in any of these factors occurs, it may be necessary to realign the turret with a resulting loss of production time and product. 
     The difficulty of making adjustments also encourages the production of inferior product. When a misalignment occurs, the degree of deterioration of the product quality must always be weighed against the loss of time and production which will be sacrificed to restore the quality. Since small adjustments cannot be made without loss of production, there is a tendency to let the quality deteriorate until it can not longer be tolerated. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is the object of the present invention to provide apparatus for an article processing operation in which the phase relation between the operating instrumentaility and the articles operated upon can be adjusted while the apparatus is in use. 
     The object of the present invention is accomplished by providing phase controlled apparatus for a processing operation comprising an article conveyor, an article processing device driven by the conveyor, and a phase control device operatively interposed between the conveyor and the processing device including a rotary input member driven by the conveyor, a rotary output member driving the processing device, and an adjustable gearing assembly for controlling the relative rotational position of the rotary input and output members to align the processing device with the articles being processed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description, and is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is an elevational view, partly in section, of apparatus according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view taken along line 2--2 on FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is an elevational view similar to FIG. 1 illustrating the angle of the various helical gears; and 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4--4 on FIG. 1. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to the drawings in detail, there is shown apparatus according to the present invention which comprises a pin type conveyor 10, a depositing turret 11 driven by the conveyor 10, and a phase control arrangement 12 operatively interposed between the conveyor 10 and the turret 11. 
     The conveyor 10 includes a track 14 formed with sidewalls 15, 16 and a bottom wall 17. The bottom wall 17 is provided with a central slot 19. A conveyor chain 20 is positioned beneath the track 14 and a plurality of pins 21, carried by the chain 20, extend vertically through the slot 19. As shown in FIG. 2, the conveyor 10 includes a straight input section 22, a straight output section 24, and a semi circular section 25 connecting sections 22 and 24. A sprocket wheel 26 guides the chain 20 around a semi circle beneath the section 25. The wheel 26 is bolted to a hub 27 which in turn is bolted to a sleeve 29 provided with a helical gear 30 at its lower end. The sleeve 29 is journalled at the top of casing 31 in a bearing 32. 
     The turret 11 is mounted on a sleeve 34 which extends downwardly through the sleeve 29. A helical gear 35 is mounted on, and keyed to, the lower end of the sleeve 34. The sleeve 34 is journalled at the bottom of the casing 31 in a bearing 36. A pair of bearings 37, 39 are fitted into the inner wall of the sleeve 29 and engage the outer wall of the sleeve 34. 
     The turret is filled with icing which is dispensed through a plurality of nozzles 40. The weight of the turret is supported by a vertical shaft 41 which rides on an end plate 42 bolted to the casing 31. 
     The driving connection between the sleeve 29 (coupled to the conveyor 10) and the sleeve 34 (coupled to the turret 11) is provided by a gear member 44 carried by a shaft 45 that is parallel to the sleeves 29 and 34. The gear member 44 is annular and is mounted on the shaft 45 by means of a pair of bearings 46. The shaft 45 is formed with annular shoulders 47 on each side of an enlarged section 49. The bearings 46 are mounted on the shoulders 47 and held against axial motion by clips 50. The gear member 44 is formed with helical gears 51 and 52 at each end which mesh with the gears 30 and 35 respectively. 
     As shown in FIG. 3, the teeth on gears 30 and 35 are angled in opposite directions, the gear 30 having a left hand helix angle and the gear 35 having a right hand helix angle. In like manner, as seen in FIG. 3, the gear 51 has a right hand helix angle and the gear 52 has a left hand helix angle. 
     The shaft 45 is mounted within the casing for axial movement. The upper end of the shaft 45 extends into a bore 54 in the upper wall of the casing 31 while the lower end of the shaft extends through a bore 55 in a formation 56 extending downwardly from the casing 31. A key member 57 is positioned in the formation 56 to extend into a key way slot 59 provided in the lower portion of the shaft 45. The slot 59 is considerably longer than the key 57 to allow for axial movement of the shaft 45 while preventing rotary movement thereof. 
     The shaft 45 is provided with a threaded end section 60 of reduced diameter. An adjusting nut 61 having an internally threaded bore 62 is threaded onto the shaft section 60. The nut 61 is provided with an annular groove 64 and is held captive against axial translation by fingers 65 that extend downwardly from the formation 56 and have tips 66 seated in the groove 64. A knurled knob 67 is provided on the nut 61 for easy manual manipulation. 
     In operation, the conveyor chain 20 is driven in the direction shown in FIG. 2 by a sprocket wheel that is not shown. The pins 21 carried by the chain 20 move the base cakes B along the conveyor through the infeed section 22, around the curved section 25 and into the output section 24. The chain 20 drives the sprocket wheel 26, turning the gear 30, the gear member 44, and the gear 35. The turret 11 rotates with the gear 35 to move the nozzles 40 in synchronization with the base cakes carried by the conveyor 10. As each nozzle 40 tracks a base cake around the curved section 25 of the conveyor, a quantity of icing is extruded from the nozzle. As the nozzle approaches the end of the curved section 25, it moves past a taut wire (not shown) positioned to cut off the extruded icing material allowing it to fall onto the base cake. 
     When the location of the icing deposits on the base cake begins to change (as a result of wear in the drive components, or changes in the icing viscosity or the tension in the cutoff wire, etc.), the phase control arrangement 12 is used to reposition the turret 11 with respect to the conveyor 10. 
     If the icing deposit moves toward the leading edge of the base cakes, the adjusting nut 61 is turned to move the shaft 45 upwardly. The gear member 44 moves upwardly with the shaft 45, moving the gears 51 and 52 axially with respect to the gears 30 and 35. 
     Referring to FIG. 4, in order for the gear member 44 to move upwardly, the tooth T51 of the gear 51 must slide along the groove between the teeth T30 of the gear 30. To accomplish this, there must be a change in the amount that the gear 51 rotates with respect to the gear 30 as the upward movement takes place. The gear 30 is the driving gear, therefore, the gear 51 experiences the rotational change. As shown in FIG. 4, the tooth T51 must move to the left with respect to the teeth T30 as the tooth T51 moves upwardly. This &#34;leftward&#34; movement produces a change in the speed of rotation of the gear 51 with respect to the gear 30. In FIG. 4, the rotational speed of the gear 30 is represented by the arrow RS30 and the rotational speed of the gear member 44 is represented by the arrow RS44. It can be seen that the &#34;leftward &#34; movement of the tooth T51 produces a decrease in the rotational speed of the gear member 44. 
     As the tooth T51 moves upwardly and to the left, the tooth T52 of gear 52 follows. The upward and leftward movement of the gear T52 moves the teeth T35 leftward and thereby decreases the rotational speed of the gear 35 (shown by the arrow RS36) with respect to the rotational speed of the gear 52 (RS44). Thus the decrease in the rotational speed of the gear 35 contains two components. The first component is that which results from the helix angle of the gears 30 and 51, and the second component is that which results from the helix angle of gears 51 and 35. 
     The decrease in the rotational speed of the gear 35 with respect to the gear 30 for the period of time during which the shaft 45 is moved axially, changes the alignment or phase of the turret with respect to the conveyor pins so as to reposition the icing deposit to center it on the base cake. 
     When changes in the system result in the movement of the icing deposit toward the trailing edge of the base cake, the adjusting nut 61 is rotated to move the shaft 45 downwardly. This results in a temporary increase in the rotational speed of the turret to correct the alignment of the turret and the conveyor. 
     It can be seen from the foregoing that the present invention provides apparatus for an article processing operation in which the phase relationship between the operating instrumentality and the articles operated upon can be adjusted while the apparatus is in use.