Patent GB-480456-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in apparatus for the cooking and sterilization of comestibles by steam or other vapours under pressure
IPC: A23L3/04
Filed: 1936-09-20
Abstract: 480,456. Conveyers. WEBSTER, R. W. Sept. 29, 1936, No. 26370. [Class 78 (i)] [Also in Group VI] In apparatus for sterilizing food enclosed in cans, jars or other containers comprising a chamber 1 in which the closed containers 8 are sterilized by heating by means of a heated vapour, the containers being carried through the chamber by conveying means, the containers are inserted in open-ended tubes 6 which are unattached to the conveying means and disposed with their longitudinal axis at right-angles to the path of movement. As shown, the cans &c., 8 are supplied on a shoot 50 to a device which inserts them in the tubes 6 while these are in the pockets of a rotary drum 9 by which they are fed into the sterilizing chamber 1. The tubes 6 are taken through the chamber by endless-chain conveyers having pusher fingers 5, guide plates 7 aiding the transfer of the tubes from one tier of the conveyer to another. The tubes are taken out of the chamber by a rotary pocketed drum 10. The drums 9, 10 are driven with a step-by-step motion corresponding to the speed of the conveyers. The discharged tubes 6 are taken by a conveyer 15 through a cooling tank 14 and then in an upwardly inclined path through cooling water sprays. After cooling, the cans are discharged from the tubes 6 and pass away on a shoot 28 and the empty tubes are fed by a guide 13 to the pockets of drum 9. The conveyer chains 4 are geared together and continuously or intermittently operated by an electric motor 17 through a chain &c. drive 18. The drum 9 is given a step-by-step motion from a conveyer shaft through a belt or chain 22 which rotates a crank disc 19 to which is attached a connecting-rod 20 which operates a pawl 21 engaging a ratchet-wheel 57, Fig. 5, used for timing purposes, which is loose on the shaft 16 of the drum 9 and has a pawl 52 for preventing backward motion. At intervals the teeth on wheel 57 are cut deeper enabling the pawl 21 to engage also with the teeth of a ratchet wheel 31 fixed on shaft 16 and move the drum. The drum 10 is driven by a belt or chain 23 from drum 9. The drums 9, 10 may be heated internally by steam supplied through their shafts 16 which are hollow and perforated. The cans 8 are charged into the tubes 6 by a push rod 38, Fig. 2, which is reciprocated by a cam 32 mounted on a rotating shaft 42, driven from the shaft of crank disc 19. A roller on a lever 33 mounted on a rocking shaft 34 bears on cam 32 and an arm 37 on shaft 34 has a forked end having a pin-and-slot connection with push rod 38. The roller is held on cam 32 by a spring 35 connected to an arm 36 on shaft 34. The cam 32 has a number of high points and depressions according to the number of cans the tube will take and a continuous high portion which keeps the rod 38 back whilst drum 9 moves an empty tube in front of the charging mechanism. The cam 32 is exchangeable to enable containers of a different size to be dealt with. The cams 8 are supplied one at a time by vertically movable check rods, 51, 51a sliding in guides and actuated by cams 53, 54 mounted on shaft 42 through rocking levers 55, 56 and rods 59, 60, one rod being raised to allow a can to pass whilst the other is lowered. The spacing of cams 53, 54 and rods 51, 51a may be adjustable to suit cans of a different diameter and an adjustable stop bar 61a may be provided at the end of shoot 50 to bring the can released by rod 51 to rest axially in line with push rod 38. The mechanism for discharging the cans from the tubes is similar to that used for charging except that the push rod is given a step-bystep movement through the complete length of the tube and is retracted in a single step.