Patent GB-833213-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to the manufacture of confections, such as cream fondants
Inventor: JAMES STANLEY ROBERT
IPC: A23G3/02
Filed: 1955-08-24
Abstract: 833,213. Moulding confectionery. CLARNICO Ltd. Nov. 23, 1956 [Aug. 24, 1955], No. 24338/55. Class 87(2). A sweet-moulding installation comprises a depositor which fills rubber moulds with sweetstuff, a drying region, a demoulding machine and a conveyer to carry the moulds between the depositor and the demoulding machine and means to transfer them to and from the demoulding machine. Mat-like rubber moulds, carried on stirrups 29 between parallel chains 28a of a conveyer 28, are lowered on to a feeding device 24, Fig. 1. The feeding device comprises endless chains 25, Fig. 7, moved intermittently and fitted with lugs 25B which project upwards on the top run of the conveyer and engage recesses 2A in the undersides of the moulds, which are thus conveyed in steps to a sweetstuff depositor 23. The mechanism of the depositor 23 is operated from a shaft 13 driven by a chain 14, Fig. 2, and the shaft 13 carries eccentrics e.g. 12A, a cam 18 and a sprocket from which a chain 22 is driven. Rods 10, 10A, Fig. 3, are attached to the eccentric straps and reciprocate a yoke 9 which operates plungers 5 in cylinder bores 4A in a block 4. The lower ends of the bores 4A are in controlled communication with a, feed duct 6 open to a hopper 7 containing the sweetstuff and jacketed for heating by steam or hot water. The passage between the feed duct 6 and the bores 4A is controlled by a bar 8 which is periodically moved by the cam 18 through linkage 17. In one position of the bar 8, Fig. 6, openings 8A therein constitute passageways between the duct 6 and the bores 4A and the mechanism is arranged so that the plungers 5 then rise to draw sweetstuff into the bores. When the plungers are ready to return, the bar 8 is moved and brings a series of holes 8B between the bores 4A and associated nozzles 3. At this point the moulds 2 wait underneath the nozzles 3 in a pause in the intermittent movement of conveyer belts 1 and the plungers, returning, deposit the sweetstuff in the mould cavities. The eccentrics 12A are adjustable to vary the amount of sweetstu<SP>f</SP>f deposited. The intermittent advance of the conveyer belts 1 is derived from a ratchet and pawl mechanism 19 actuated by an eccentric 20 driven by the chain 22, the eccentric 20 being adjustable to allow for variation in the pitch between rows of mould cavities. The different distances between adjacent moulds is also allowed for. An arrangement of endless chains 26, similar to the arrangement of the chains 25, transfers the filled moulds to a point where they are lifted off by the stirrups 29 of the conveyer 28 and carried through a drying region 30 and then lowered to a demoulding machine 27 where the rubber moulds are deformed and the sweets pressed out as disclosed in Specification 833,214. Alternatively, filled moulds are removed and replaced by empty moulds manually, with or without the use of a stacking platform. An additional conveyer 32 may be used in conjunction with the demoulding machine 27, Fig. lA, which transfers filled moulds from the conveyer 28 and pauses intermittently to allow filled moulds 2b to be loaded on the machine 27 by a pusher, adjacent empty moulds 2a being pushed from the machine on to another auxiliary conveyer which returns them to the stirrups of the main conveyer 28.