Patent GB-123795-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for Making Confections.
IPC: A23G3/20
Filed: 1918-02-07
Abstract: 123,795. Marks, E. C. R., (National Equipment Co.). Feb. 7, 1918. Endless-chain machines; moulding confectionery.-A machine for making confections continuously comprises moulds which are first filled with liquid chocolate &c., then inverted (whereby the chocolate still liquid drains away leaving a shell of chocolate), then again inverted and filled with any desired liquid or paste, after which a chocolate covering is applied by a nozzle. The machine is shown in Figs. 1<a>, 1<b>, 1<c>, and 1<d>, and consists of parallel angle tracks 1 open at two places and carried on brackets from supports a. Between the tracks are arranged intermittently-driven endless conveyers 6, 6<1>, 6<2>, 6<3>, 95, and 96, of which 6<1> and 96 are above while the others are below the tracks. An abutting series of wooden moulds 2, Fig. 14, are fed to the left end of the track. and are carried forward step by step by lugs 5 on the conveyer 6 to receive liquid chocolate &c. from a hopper 4 fed by means of a pump 8 from the tank b. As they pass from the hopper, the top surface is scraped clean by a spring plate 7. The filled moulds are carried forwards to the first turn-over device 3 (contained in the first of the open places between the tracks), which is mechanically inverted by a mutilated gear 48 engaging a fixed rack-bar 51. The chocolate, which'is still liquid, then falls into a drip pan b<1> and thence into a tank b<2>, while a portion remains in the mould as a coating or shell. The moulds are caught by spring latches 10, and then carried along by the upper conveyer 6<1>, their lower surfaces (now at the top) being cleaned by a scraper. The turn-over device is meanwhile brought back to its original position. The track is again broken, and the moulds are turned right side up by a second similar turn-over device 3<1>, to be first caught by latches 10 and then passed along by the conveyer 6<2> to be again filled, this time by any desired liquid or paste confection, from a depositor 13 of the kind described in Specification 19412/00, [Class 22, Cements, &c.]. They are next passed into a heated casing e, and beneath a nozzle 20 which delivers liquid chocolate pumped up from a tank d through tubes 19, 18, the nozzle being swung across the direction of travel of the moulds while the latter are stationary. Just prior to the moulds being covered by the chocolate, a stencil plate, having openings corresponding to those in the mould, is placed thereupon, and is removed as soon as the mould again commences to travel forwards. This may be done by having a series of stencil plates 90 carried by a conveyer 95 backwards and forwards, but in a modification one stencil plate 90<1>, Fig. 9, only is used. This is returned after use to cover another mould by means of shafts 107, 108, chain 111, cranks 105, 106, and links 103, 104. The first movement raises the plate, which is next forced under a flexible scraper 101, arranged over a table 100 (the chocolate scraped off being received in a drip pan 102), and comes to rest over the next mould to be filled. The moulds are further carried to the cooling-chamber g, where the completely closed confections are removed from the moulds, and the moulds are then carried back to the starting place by the conveyer 96. The various parts of the machine are operated in timed relationship from a main shaft 32, Fig. 1<c>, which is primarily the driving shaft of the depositor 13, and which is connected by shafts, bevel, spur, and mutilated gearing, chains, &c. to the various shafts operating the conveyers, the turn-over devices, and the other moving parts of the machine.