Patent GB-424851-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for methods for nesting, subdividing, and packaging comestibles
IPC: B65B27/10
Filed: 1933-12-19
Abstract: 424,851. Cutting and packing comestibles. VOGT INSTANT FREEZERS, Inc., Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. Dec. 19, 1933, No. 35767. Convention date, Feb. 23. [Class 5 (i)] [See also Groups XVII and XXIII] A machine for transversely severing a bundle of lengths of comestible material into a number of layers, interposing separating material between the layers and subsequently packing the bundle comprises a main frame 10 carrying an auxiliary frame 11 on which the cutting mechanism is mounted, a bracket 12 supporting the loading and holding mechanism for the bundles, and an extension bracket on which the pivot of a turntable mechanism for removing the holding device from the line of the cutting mechanism and swinging it to position for packing the material is situated. The comestible material, e.g. sticks of ice cream, is filled into a skeleton basket of semihexagonal shape consisting of fingers 30 carried by hubs 29 keyed to a hollow shaft 24 supported by ball bearing rollers 21 travelling in an elliptical track 19. An abutment plate 31 constitutes one end of the basket. The basket is maintained horizontal by a suitable parallel motion linkage. Springs 40 tend to maintain the basket in its elevated position. The basket, after loading, is pushed forwardly and downwardly by a handle 41 until the fingers 30 and plate 31 pass through slots 42 in the rear edge of the main frame bed B, the fingers in this movement passing through the spaced fingers 43 of a carrier clamp so that the load of sticks is transferred to the clamp. Each carrier clamp comprises a number of individual clamping elements or fingers 96, 98, spaced apart a sufficient distance to clear the knives as the sticks are drawn through the knives and capable of being shifted a greater distance apart to separate the individual layers. The fingers 96 are provided with shoes travelling between tracks on the bed B. The fingers 98 are moved to the open position, shown in dotted lines, to receive the bundle of sticks, and then to the closed position to clamp the bundle by suitable means such as pneumatic cylinders 99 connected through flexible conduits with a source of compressed air, the introduction of air into the cylinders closing the clamps and expansion springs being provided to cause them to open. The fingers 96 are connected by bars 94 to short hub members each of which has an inwardly extending stud passing through a longitudinal slot in a fixed sleeve 91 on which the hubs are mounted and extending into a cam groove formed in a shaft journalled in the sleeve and rotatable by a crank handle 114. The cam grooves are arranged so that their angle of inclination increases in accordance with the distance of the hubs from the middle longitudinal line of the machine ; rotation of the crank handle 114 through about 180‹ thus causes the hubs to move apart and so separates the layers held in the individual pairs of clamping fingers. The cutting devices, through which the carrier clamp is drawn by the movement of the head carrying the hubs, comprise a number of spaced vertically reciprocating members 60, the clamping elements of the carrier clamps being thin enough to pass between the cutters. Two knife or saw carrying frames 49 are vertically reciprocated in frame 46 by connections to a rock shaft 81 actuated by a crank 86. The frames 49 have upper and lower cross bars 50 which are provided with pivoted members carrying V-pieces adapted to slide in correspondingly recessed grooves in wear plates on the frames 46. The saws 60, Fig. 13, have serrated knife edges and reinforced ends through which pins 64 pass. The pin at the lower end of each saw enters a recess in a slotted projection 66 on the lower cross bar and the upper pin is accommodated by an inclined recess 73 in a block 70 adjustable by a screw passing through a projection 68 on the upper cross bar and provided with a nut 71. Slotted guide members 65 are provided on both the upper and lower cross bars. The saws carried by the one pair of frames are staggered with respect to those carried by the other. A fly wheel 80 is provided at the end of the crank shaft. The heads 90 carrying the carrier clamps are advanced manually to move the clamps to loading position and retracted to draw the sticks of ice cream through the cutting mechanism by pivoted connections to draw-bars 140 carrying split nuts 170 adapted to be clamped on constantly running threaded shafts 134 driven through bevel gearing from a motor 150 situated at the centre of the turn-table 120. The turn-table is formed with guide rails 139 to form trackways for the draw-bars 140 and is normally held against rotation by bolts 156 that can be released against the pressure of springs 159 by handles 163. Each split nut is automatically thrown open by camactuated means when its corresponding clamp carriage has been drawn through the saws : the nut is clamped on the thread again by a handle 182 after the carriers have been thrust from the full line position of Fig. 1, to the dotted line load receiving position. Immediately after the sticks have passed the saws the handle 114 is turned to move apart the individually clamped layers of ice cream and the turn table is released and swung through 180‹ thus presenting a new carrier clamp to the bed B and moving the filled carrier to a position where layers of oiled or waxed paper or similar material are introduced between the separated layers : when, as in the form illustrated, two packages are made from each bundle held in the carrier clamp, a flat carton blank (Fig. 26) is introduced between the middle pair of layers and held in place by hand until the clamping members are moved together again by operating the handle 114. A second carton blank is held against the outer face of one of the end layers and the head 90 is swung through 90‹ so that its axis is vertical and the outer carton blank can rest on a resiliently supported unloading table that is swung round a vertical pivot into position below the two sets of layers. The air pressure holding the clamping fingers in position is then released and the unloading table swung to a position clear of the clamps. Each carton blank is then bent upwardly as shown in Fig. 23 and a carton top 185a laid on the contents of the carton ; the base of the carton is placed in a hexagonal depression in a table 205 that is provided with a stationary clamp member 206 and a complementary movable member 207 actuated through a cushioning device from a crank 213. After the sides of the carton have been pressed together four tabs 202 are folded below the top 185a, two tabs on top thereof and a paster 223 placed over the last two tabs; other pasters 224 cover the adjacent edges of the free sides of the carton blank. In a modification the carrier clamps are provided with mechanically latched clamping fingers mounted on resilient hinges and the carrier clamps are adapted to be swung about a vertical pivot to the loading, cutting and packing positions ; the cutting device in this modification is moved over the carrier clamp which remains stationary. Specifications 411,788 and 424,858, [both in Group XVII], are referred to.