Patent GB-700977-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to the manufacture of tin bread
Inventor: WILSON GEORGE DONALD
IPC: A21B7/00
Filed: 1950-01-16
Abstract: 700,977. Bakery plant. BAKER PERKINS, Ltd. April 13, 1951 [Jan. 16, 1950], No. 1027/50. Class 28(1) In automatic bakery plant having bakery units with wide swing trays, a single file of tins is mechanically filled with dough, converted into a column formation of trayload width and separated into tray-load groups which are passed successively through a final prover unit and oven unit and then reconverted. to single file and transferred in groups to the delivering machine, the loaves being discharged and passed to a bread cooler unit and empty tins being returned to the filling station to repeat the cycle. " Fish scale " conveyers or slatted conveyers with " fish scale " turns are used. Dough pieces are fed from a divider 5 through a hander-up 6 and first prover 7 to a moulder-panner 4 at filling station A. Tins, preferably strapped together in groups of three 2-lb. tins or four 1-1b. tins, are advanced to the station in single files by a continuously travelling " in feed conveyer 8. The tins are stopped successively under the moulderpanner, which is preferably such as described in Specification 631,995, by a device operated by each dough lump as it is about to be deposited in a tin. An automatic monitoring device comprising a light source and a photo-electric cell is arranged so that in the absence of a set of tins a control is operated to prevent the dough lumps from being fed to the tins and return them to the divider. The absence of a set of tins' does not affect the automatic operation of the plant, but may cause a gap throughout the operations. The filled tins are carried on in-feed conveyer 8 to continuously travelling band conveyer 14 transverse of conveyer 8 so that the strapped sets of tins are formed into a column of rows. As the sets of tins arrive at prover charging station B they are formed into groups, e.g: by mechanism as described in Specification 647,446, [Group XXX], each of which is a full load for one wide finger tray of the prover, e.g. five sets of three 2-lb. tins. The prover is arranged as described in Specification 700,976, but with wide trays. The group of tins is transferred from conveyer 14 at prover charging station B on to a fixed comb plate 21 by a pusher means 22 and the group is lifted by a finger tray moving vertically and meshing with the comb plate. When proving is completed the group is deposited from a downwardly moving tray on a comb plate 23 and is pushed, by pusher gear 25, on to intermittently driven oven-prover transfer conveyer 24. The intermittent drive of conveyer 24 is synchronized with the prover discharger and oven charging operations. The oven 2 comprises a conveyer arranged as shown in Fig. 4 so that the dough is treated to a steamy baking heat on the upper horizontal run and a dry baking heat on the lower return run. The oven trays are charged from conveyer 24 by pusher gear 26 and a comb plate 29 from which they are lifted by an oven finger tray. Discharge of one group from the prover and charging of one group to the oven take place simultaneously when conveyer 24 is stationary. The trays may be discharged by tilting to a suitable angle by an electric thruster 34a when the tins slide over a guide plate or a roller on to an intermittently driven oven discharge conveyer 35. A continuously driven detinning machine feed conveyer 36 runs transversely of conveyer 35 so as to carry each set of tins slightly more than the length of a set before the next set is received and hence form them into single file for feeding to the detinning machine which may be as described in Specification 652,990 or 681,605. At detinning machine charging station F, grouping means as described in Specification 647,446 arranges the tins which are then loaded by pusher gear 27. The tins, ejected from the detinning machine, are fed by conveyer 39 back to in-feed conveyer 8. Several conveyers, e.g. a combination of wide and narrow conveyers, may be used. The loaves are discharged still in groups in single file and carried on an intermittently driven transfer conveyer 38 to cooler unit 2. The drive of conveyer 38 is synchronized with the loaf discharge from the detinning machine and the charging of the cooler 2 which may be as described in Specification 700,976 having narrow finger type trays. The loaves are pushed from conveyer 38 by pusher gear 28 on to a fixed comb plate from which they are lifted by the finger trays carried through the cooler and discharged either by a meshing comb plate or by tilting the trays. The pusher gear may be of any suitable type, e.g. as described in Specification 647,446. Puller gear may be used, e.g. comprising a horizontal bar electromagnet (or magnets) mounted to be reciprocated. The control of the various conveyers, pusher and puller gear and the like to synchronize the operations is similar to that described in Specification 700,976. The units may be installed on different floors with vertical conveyers or escalators running between them. The proved and/or cooler trays may be as described in Specification 700,974, [Group XXX]. Specifications 696,122 and 696,123, [both in Group XXX] also are referred to.