Patent EP-0695505-A2 (EP)
Inventor: DA ROCHA BARROS JOSE ALVES
IPC: A21C11/00
Filed: 1995-06-28
Abstract: The present invention refers to a machine for the manufacture of puffpaste boxes, consisting of specific devices, turning plate with baking mould holder, presser-moistener, and moulding head, all of them mounted on a body consisting of a machine head (13) and a base (14). To the machine head (13) is connected through a flange (20) a tower (15) along the inside of which runs a piston (16) commanded by a lever (17) (or by an hydraulic system if in the automatic version) that has its fulcrum (19) at the top of a shaft (18). At the lower end (8) of the piston (16) is applied a moulding head (6) fixed by means of spindle (5) which presents connected to its nuclear region (7) a coupling rod (24) that supports the presser-moistener (25), that presents its lower portion lined up with some felt type fabric (26) which is wet with water supplied by capillary effect through a tube (27) from the container or feed tank (21), which once full of water is tightly closed by a stopper (22). The presser-moistener (25) has the function of preform a portion of the paste (2) to be moulded, and simultaneously to correctly moisten its surface in order to favour the moulding, and inhibit the paste from sticking to the moulding head. During the motion, the water contained in the felt is partially absorbed by the paste (2), and in its resting position the water lost to the paste is recovered by the felt due to the capillary attraction. Thus is efficiently guaranteed the perfect stability of the degree of moisture inside the felt at the beginning of each operation. 
     The moulding head consists of a rigid nuclear portion (7), and a rubber part (6), and it is solidary with a spindle (5) that allows for its connection to the lower end (8) of piston (16). Spindle (5) and lower end (8) both present an inlet (9) that allows for the connection of compressed air from outside, via a tube (9A), to the several internal channels (10) of portion (7). The whole rubber part (6), that is mostly flexible, and countermould shaped relatively to the moulding die, has along its lateral circumference some micro borings (12) that will make easier the loosening of the paste (2) from that whole rubber part (6), with the help of pulsed compressed air injected through said access tube (9A). 
     The baking mould holder support (29), mounted on the turning plate (28) that rests on the base (14), and can, for instance, be rotated by hand through action exerted upon some handles (30), and that "sticks" in respective round projections, in the right positions for the correct positioning of the moulds. The support (29) presents some openings (31) for the admittance of the moulds (1) to some compartments (32) with a semiperipheral groove (33) wherein the upper peripheral flanges of the moulds (1) fit, in order to obviate said moulds to be dragged out by the adherence of the paste to them during the preformation and/or the moulding phases. The support (29) also presents for each compartment (32) one or two cavities (34) which are utilised to pull out the moulds (1) with the finger, after the moulding of the puff paste.