Patent GB-532702-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to slicing machines
IPC: B26D7/32
Filed: 1939-07-27
Abstract: 532,702. Slicing-machines. BERKEL & PARNALL'S SLICING MACHINE MANUFACTURING CO., Ltd. (Maatschappij van Berkel's Patent N.V.). July 27, 1939, No. 21809. [Class 28 (ii)] In a slicing-machine, the slice-engaging prongs of the conveyer of the slice-stacker are mounted in sets on members which are mounted for relative mutual movement, so that the prong sets are closable and openable fanwise. The conveyer is journalled on a stationary vertical axle 11, and consists of members 12<SP>1</SP> ... 129 having upper and lower horizontal limbs, by which they are pivoted on the axle 11, joined by vertical strips which carry the prongs 131 ... 139. Pins 14 on the horizontal limbs engage slots 15 in the horizontal limbs of adjacent members 12<SP>1</SP> ... 129, so that the said members are connected together with lost motion which enables them to be collapsed or opened out fanwise. The member 121 has a bent extension 16 to which one end of a flexible metal band 17 is attached, the band being constrained to move in an S-form guide groove 18, the wall or walls of the groove being serrated to reduce friction. The other end of the band 17 is secured to the push-pull reciprocating carriage 5, so that the member 12<SP>1</SP> is oscillated in unison with the carriage. The coupling between the carriage and the conveyer may be effected by levers, linkages or toothed gears. A stationary guide 19 and a guide 20 on the abutment plate 7 assist in impaling the slice on the prongs. The slicedischarging fly 23, 24 is mounted to rotate with the conveyer and is mounted on a shaft 26 journalled in a carrier 25 revoluble on the axle 11. The carrier is coupled by a bar 161 to an arm 160 journalled on the axle 11 and secured to the member 129, so that whilst the first member 121 is positively connected to and driven by the carriage, the last member 12<SP>9</SP> is positively connected to the fly carrier 25, and the members 121, 12<SP>9</SP> are connected together through the lost motion pin and slot connections 14, 15. The fly-carrying lever 22 has an inwardly projecting extension pivoted to a vertical sliding pin 29 which is depressed to raise the fly, against the action of torsion springs 31, by a cam 30 associated with the member 12<SP>1</SP>. The fly is retained in its raised position by a bolt 33 which is spring-urged to engage a hole in the lever 22, the bolt being withdrawn, to allow the springs 31 to swing the fly through its slice-discharging movement, by the engagement of a lever 34 with a stationary arm 36. Vibration of the fly after its downward swing, is prevented by a pivoted locking-member 38 which is urged by a spring 37 to engage its free end in recesses in the pin 29 and in the boss 28 in which the pin slides. This holds the pin 29, and the fly attached thereto, against vibration. The pin 29 is unlocked by a member, associated with the member 121, which forces the member 38 away from the pin at an appropriate time in the cycle of operations. The conveyer and fly are locked against movement around the shaft 11, during the slicedischarge motion of the fly, by a U-shaped latch 45 on the carrier 25, which engages and locks itself to the arm 36, the latch being released by cam-means when the member 121 starts its return movement. In operation, at the beginning of the slicing stroke, the conveyer is collapsed, but moves as a unit in unison with the carriage. The first member 121 thus engages the slice, and when the lost-motion between the first and second members is ended, the second member impales the slice, and so on until the conveyer is fully extended. The slice is thus conveyed to the discharge position where the fly operates.