Patent GB-236267-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to canning apparatus
IPC: A23L3/02
Filed: 1924-03-31
Abstract: 236,267. Jensen, C. A., (Malmquist Machine Co.). March 31, 1924. Preserving food.-Apparatus for canning fruit &c. comprises three chambers in the first of which the tops of the cans are shaped and finished, in the second the cans are exhausted of air and filled with syrup, and in the third they are capped, still in vacuo. The cans are placed on a rotating disc 12 and delivered to the shaping device 1 by a rocking arm 35, Fig. 14, on a vertical shaft 36. To prevent the arm 35 from functioning if no can is present it is loose on the shaft 36 and is operated bv an arm 34 fixed to the shaft. The two arms are connected by a latch 37 which is normally held out of action by a spring, but is caused to engage on the can striking against a tail piece 40. The arm 35 is returned to its inactive position by the arm 34 striking against a lug 47 on it and retained by a spring bolt 35a engaging with a rounded recess in the framing of the machine. The can is delivered by the arm 34 to one of a number of platforms 48 carried on stems sliding vertically in rotating arms. Rollers on the stems engage with a cam-way to raise the can into engagement with the finishing device, from which it is delivered by guides 30, 31 to rotating arms 108 which pass it to one of a number of pockets 124 in a carrier 123 rotating with an air-tight fit in a casing 109. The surface of the carrier 123 is cleaned and lubricated by spring-pressed felt pads 161, Fig. 16, carried by arms 157 on the shaft carrying the arms 108. Oil is fed to the pads from cups 162, 163 on the arms 157 through passages 164, 165 in the arms. In the bottoms of the pockets 124 slide stems 141, Fig. 21, operated by rollers 148 engaging with a cam groove 149 and carrying platforms 143 which receive the cans. The platforms 143 are mounted on springs 144 and through them pass rods furnished with heads 142 which prevent the bottom of the cans from bulging outwards when the cans are filled. The casing 109 communicates by pipes 131 - - 137 with a vacuum chamber and syrup is supplied through pipes 167, 170. Spilt syrup is collected at the bottoms of the pockets and discharged through valves 231 opened by cams after the cans have been removed to a collecting trough 229. The syrup is passed from a series of tanks through a jacketed pipe which cools to the required temperature, a strainer and a float-valve to a storage tank, whence it passes to the pipe 167. When the cans have been filled the vacuum is slightly relieved through the pipe 226. The cans on entering the pockets strike against arms 211 carried on spindles 210, Fig. 20, which also carry arms 213 extending over the top of the casing 109. The sloping ends 214<a> of the arms 213 are then forced under sliding rods 215, thus lifting spring tappets 219 carried by levers 217 into position to engage a fixed cam, so that the levers 217 open valves 176 to admit syrup to the cans, the supply of syrup being thus cut off if a can is not in place. When the can is full the arm 213 engages with a fixed cam to cause the arm 211 to expel the can from the pocket 124. The casing 109 is provided with a removable door 153 for cleaning. The filled can is passed by rotating arms 237 to the capping and sealing apparatus, in which the cans are again received in a pocketed rotating carrier 283 and presented by cam-actuated rising and falling platforms to the sealing mechanism. The can on entering the carrier 283 receives a cap from a carrier 291 rotating air-tight in a casing 247 and divided by a vertical partition 294. The caps are stored in a magazine of the usual type from which they are allowed to drop by horizontally sliding blades 308, 306, Fig. 37, connected by links as shown and operated by a lever 313 actuated by the arms 213, so that if a can has not been presented to the arms 211 no cap is released. The released cap is removed from the bottom of the pile to the carrier 291 by a rotating arm 316, but before this occurs the sliding blades are returned to place by a cam 326, so that another cap cannot be released till another can is presented. From the carrier 291 the caps are passed to the can in the carrier 283 by cam-actuated arms 330. The shaft 318 carrying the arm 316 and cam 326 is made in two portions secured by a break-pin. A hood 242, Fig. 35, which can be raised by a rack and pinion, covers the sealing apparatus, which comprises a series of rotating arms 250 carrying spring plungers 272 and chucks 254 co-operating with seaming-rollers 259, 260. The rollers are carried by levers 257, 258 pivoted to rotat ing sleeves 255 and are brought into action by conical cams 262 which are caused to slide on the sleeves 255 by rollers 267 engaging with a camway 268. The rollers of each unit are arranged in two sets of three each, the parts of the levers of the two sets being at different levels. The rollers are carried in screwed sleeves 260<a> in the levers 257, 258 so that they can be adjusted vertically. The upper ends of the levers 257, 258 carry adjustable plates 261 making contact with the cam 262, against which they are pressed by a circular spring 258a. The filled cans are delivered by a fixed cam 337 to the lower part of the carrier 201, from which they are ejected by cam-actuated arms 334 and delivered to a disc on the shaft 318, whence they pass to a delivery shoot. The carrier 291 is lubricated by spring-pressed felt wipers on the shaft 318.