Patent GB-653800-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to machines for depositing chocolate, cream, toffee andlike substances
IPC: A23G3/02
Filed: 1947-09-29
Abstract: 653,800. Moulding confectionery. FREDERIKSEN, T. M. O. Sept. 29, 1947, No. 26301. Convention date, Aug. 26, 1946. [Class 87 (ii)] A machine for depositing chocolate &c. from pumps into moulds on moving carriers is provided with adjusting means between the driving mechanism and the pump pistons whereby the stroke of the pistons and the portion of each operating cycle during which the pistons are actuated are regulable. Regulation of pump stroke. Pumps 8 and 9 suck chocolate &c. from vessels 2 and 3 and eject it through rotatable slides 6 and 7 to feed the moulds 21. The pumps and the mould carrier are driven from a shaft 19. The drive for the pumps is taken from a cam 18 with a groove 22 shaped to give an oscillating movement to the arm 25 of a double-armed lever fulcrummed at 27, the other arm 26 of which has a slot 28 in the form of an arc of a circle whose centre lies at 44. The end of a link 31 is freely held in the slot 28 by a pin 29 and its other end is pivoted at 44 to an arm 32 fixed to a shaft 17 which is in a fixed bearing and to which also an arm 15 is fixed, to the other end of which is connected the piston 11 of the pump 9. Oscillation of the arm 25 causes oscillation of the shaft 17 and thus of the arm 15 and so operation of the pump 9, and the amplitude of the oscillation of the arm 15 can be adjusted by altering the position of the pin 29 in the slot 28 by a hand wheel 30, so adjusting the stroke of the piston 11. Owing to the arcuate form of the slot 28 and the position of its centre adjustment of position of the arm 31 does not in itself move the piston. The stroke of the pump 9 can be regulated by the above means but not the portion of the operating cycle during which the pump is actuated. Regulation of period of actuating pump piston.-Motion is transmitted to the pump 8 through a rod 36 connecting a pin 34 slidable in a guide 33 with a pin 42 on one arm 43 of a double-armed lever fulcrumed at 16, the other arm 14 of which is adapted to actuate the piston 10 of the pump 8. The guide 33 is rigid with the shaft 17, and the slot in which the pin 34 slides is an arc of a circle with its centre at the axis of the pin 42 to ensure that adjustment of position of the connecting-rod 36 does not in itself move the piston 10. The pin 42 lies in a groove 38 in a member 37 at the end of the connecting-rod 36, this arrangement providing lost motion. The shaft 17 not only oscillates the arm 15 but also the slotted guide 33 and so actuates the piston 10, and in consequence of the lost motion it does so for a period corresponding to a portion only of the rotation of the shaft 19, which portion is regulable by a hand wheel 41 which adjusts the lost motion. The piston 10 may be given its full stroke even though actuated during a portion only of the operating cycle by adjusting the position of the pin 34 in the slotted guide 33 by means of a hand wheel 35. In another arrangement, instead of the lost-motion device shown in Fig. 1 a plate may be pivoted so that it oscillates under the action of the connecting-rod 36, which plate has a slot in the form of two arcs, one concentric with the pin joining it to the connecting-rod and the other eccentric, the pin at the end of the arm 43 entering this slot. While the pin is in the eccentric part of the slot it oscillates with the plate and causes the arm 43 to actuate the pump and while it is in the concentric part the oscillation of the plate is not transmitted to the pump, and so the portion of the operating cycle which actuates the pump can be adjusted by altering the position of the pin in the double curved slot. The slot may be altered in curvature to have a cam effect so that the piston moves more rapidly at the beginning and end of its stroke and so more chocolate is deposited at the start and finish of filling each mould. Combined with the use of a plate with a double curved slot may be an arrangement whereby, by making the pivotal point of the plate displaceable in relation to the pin at the end of the arm 43, the slotted guide 33 may be straight instead of curved, this arrangement involving oscillating the plate about a pivot at the end of a rod which is roughly parallel to the connecting rod 36 and is adjustably pivoted to that end of the slotted guide 33 opposite to the end where the connecting-rod is pivoted. The above arrangements give both adjustments to pistons such as 10 only, but pistons such as 11 may be driven from the mechanism actuating pistons 10 by connecting an arm on the shaft 16 by means of a driving-rod to a parallel arm on the shaft 17, and an idle motion device may be interposed to enable movements of the pistons to be adjusted independently. Another way of varying the portion of an operating cycle during which the pistons are actuated is to give the cam 18 momentary acceleration or deceleration at the beginning and end of the effective movement of the cam portion of the groove 22, and by these means the period of actuation can be regulated for both pistons such as 10 and such as 11. In Fig. 4 the driving shaft 58 carries a cam 81 angularly adjustable on it and drives, through a chain 62 and sprockets 61, 63, a shaft 64 which is coaxial with the hollow cam shaft 19 and which drives it through reduction gearing mounted between arms 68 and 69 constituting a lever fulcrumed on the axis of the shafts 19, 64. A link 73 is pivoted to the free ends of the arms 68, 69 and, at its other end 74, to a slotted guide 76, this guide being mounted in the frame of the machine by a pin 77. The guide 76 is rocked by the cam 81 through a link 78 and the degree of movement of the arms 68, 69 thereby imparted depends on the position of the pivot 74 in the guide 76, which is adjustable by a hand wheel 75. In the position shown an acceleration followed by a retardation will be given to the cam-shaft 19; when the pin 74 is the other side of the mounting 77 a retardation will be followed by an acceleration, and when the pin 74 is in line with 77 the effect will be neutral. Timing of mould carriers.-Advancing or retarding the working of the pumps necessitates adjustment to ensure that the moulds 21 are brought under them at the right time. The mould carrier is driven from the shaft 58 by a chain 60 and to make the adjustment the chain 62 is led round sprockets 84 and 87 mounted on an adjustable slide 88. If the driving part of the chain passes round the sprocket 87 and the slide is moved to bring the sprocket 87 towards the chain and move the sprocket 84 away from it the sprocket 61 takes up the slack momentarily and the sprocket 63 lags slightly, and so therefore does the cam 18, with the result that the pumps deposit chocolate in the moulds slightly later. For earlier depositing the slide 88 is moved in the other direction. In this case the slide is moved by hand to give the setting required, but the adjusting device 84, 87 may also be used for accelerating or retarding the cam 18 by connecting the slide 88 by means of adequately adjustable means to a mechanism for the automatic displacement of the slide, e.g. to the cam 81. The Specification refers in general terms to variations in the arrangements described which function similarly, and mentions the use of various forms of cams to achieve various desired results.