Patent GB-645824-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in apparatus for the continuous treatment of containers and in particular those containing food products
IPC: A23L3/04
Filed: 1946-08-22
Abstract: 645,824. Endless -- belt conveyers. CARVALLO, P. Aug. 22, 1946, No. 25039. Convention date, Aug. 20, 1945. [Class 78 (i)] [Also in Group VI] A pasteurizing plant of the kind in which food containers are introduced into perforated metal baskets which are passed through treatment tanks in a circuitous path is characterized in that the baskets are driven on said path by pushing members on an endless chain which are automatically and temporarily disengaged from the baskets to permit loading and unloading of containers, and that the containers are treated in an enclosure under pressure and that said baskets enter said enclosure and emerge therefrom under a head of water which forms a seal. Baskets 23, Fig. 1, are circulated along guides 39 by fingers 41 carried on endless chains 40, said guides being arranged to circulate the containers through a steam tank 33, the pressure within which is maintained constant by a float 45 which operates a steam valve (not shown). The sealing head of water contained in the U -shaped chamber 36 is continuously circulated through inlet and outlet pipes 43, 44 in such a manner that heat transference takes place between the water and the incoming and outgoing containers to preheat and cool same respectively. Containers are fed into the baskets at Y and removed therefrom at X in a portion 45a of the guide 39 where the baskets are not contacted by fingers 41. The mechanisms for removing and introducing the containers each consists of a piston 70, Fig. 3, which is reciprocated in a guide 71 by a member 75 pivoted to a driven chain 72 and is arranged to push a row of containers into or out of a basket, in the former case the containers are previously introduced into the guide 71 through an aperture in its top. When brittle containers are being handled the pistons 70 are replaced by channel members of such shape as to engage with the lower surfaces of the containers, discharging of the channel member being accomplished by arranging cam means to tip each channel member at the end of its stroke. During loading, in the case of metal containers, a member 49 is temporarily extruded into the end of each basket at the end remote from the piston 70 to ensure that the containers are sufficiently loosely packed in the basket to allow them to expand during processing. In a modification (not shown) baskets are circulated under a head of water, through a steam and airfilled space and then through a hot water chamber, the temperature of which depends upon the pressure exerted by said head of water. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 comprises also a number of other treatment circuits in which the baskets are temporarily retained at loading and unloading stations, but the containers are not treated under pressure. In one of these circuits the baskets are continuously circulated in a closed circuit for a specific number of cycles after which a push-plate is lifted and transfers the basket to a rotating star-wheel which then transfers it to the unloading station. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.