IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DIVIDING DOUGH INTO PIECES OR PORTIONS OF REGU- LATED AND UNIFORM SIZE
Year: 1884

page_text: I PAUL PFLEIDERER of 86, Upper Ground Street Blackfriars in the County of
Surrey, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DIVIDING DOUGH INTO PIECES OR PORTIONS OF REGU-
LATED AND UNIFORM SIZE" (being a communication to me from abroad by Ludwig
Gelbert and Wilhelm Ludowici both of Ludwigshafen on the Rhine, in the Empire
of Germany) to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object the division of dough into pieces or portions
of regulated uniform size without any operation of weighing and consists in the
'combination and arrangement of parts of apparatus hereinafter described whereby
the dough contained in a cylinder is forced through apertures in the cover of the
same and cut off at the top of this cover in separate pieces or portions determined
by the arrangement of such apertures.
The machine or apparatus consists of a cylinder in which a piston is worked as
required by means of a lever through a pinion and rack with a ratchet wheel and
pawl so as to force the dough from the cylinder through the apertures in its cover.
This cover consists of a thick plate with any suitable number of apertures through
it and also another plate above it with conical apertures the said thick plate being
adapted for the dough to pass through its apertures from the cylinder and the upper
plate is intended to receive the finished pieces or portions of dough after they have
been forced through the apertures and cut off.
This upper plate is fitted so as to be capable of moving in vertical guides and
there is inserted in each plate a sliding knife or thin plate with perforations
corresponding with the said apertures. The perforations in the two knives are out
of line with each other so that when one is open for the passage of dough the other
is closed against it and the knives can be simultaneously slidden or moved hori-
zontally through a distance equal to the diameter of the perforations by means of
a bar and pins connecting the knives.

page_text: By the above arrangement of apparatus when the lower knife is set with its
perforations open to the interior of the cylinder (those in the upper knife being
closed) on dough being forced through them it will enter tubes in the bottom of
the upper plate of the cylinder cover and force that plate upwards. When this
plate has reached its highest point the two knives are slidden by means of a lever
so as to close the communication with the cylinder and open that with the upper
plate of the cover. The continued movement of the lever forces down the upper
plate with its tubes thereby causing part of the contents of the tubes to be forced
through the apertures in the upper plate. By returning the lever to its original
position the upper plate is closed the several pieces of dough are cut off and ready
for removal from the plate.
The traverse of the lever is limited as required by means of a stop in order to
regulate the range of descent of the upper plate.

page_text: I PAUL PFLEIDERER of 86 Upper Ground Street Blackfriars in the County, of
Surrey Engineer do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DIVIDING DOUGH INTO PIECES OR PORTIONS OF REGU-
LATED AND UNIFORM SIZE" (being a communication to me from Abroad by Ludwig
Gelbert Baker and Wilhelm Ludowici Engineer both of Ludwigshafen on the
Rhine in the Empire of Germany) and in what manner the same is to be performed
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This Invention has for its object the division of dough into pieces or portions of
regulated and uniform size without any operation of weighing, and consists in the
combination and arrangement of parts of apparatus hereinafter described whereby
the dough contained in a cylinder is forced through apertures in the cover of the
same and cut off at the top of this cover in separate pieces or portions determined
by the arrangement of such apertures.
The machine or apparatus consists of a cylinder in which a piston is worked as
required by means of a lever through a pinion and rack with a ratchet wheel and
pawl, so as to force the dough from the cylinder through the apertures in its cover.
This cover consists of a thick plate with any suitable number of apertures through
it and also another plate above it with conical apertures, the said thick plate being
adapted for the dough to pass through its apertures from the cylinder, and the
upper plate is intended to receive the finished pieces or portions of dough after they
have been forced through the apertures and cut off.
•
This upper plate is fitted so as to be capable of moving in vertical guides and
there is inserted in each plate a sliding knife or thin plate with perforations
corresponding with the said apertures. The perforations in the two knives are out
of line with each other, so that when one is open for the passage of dough the
other is closed against it, and the knives can be simultaneously slidden or moved.
horizontally through a distance equal to the diameter of the perforations by means
of a bar and pins connecting the knives.
By the above arrangement of apparatus when the lower knife is set with its
perforations open to the interior of the cylinder (those in the upper knife being
closed) on dough being forced through them it will enter tubes in the bottom of the
upper plate of the cylinder cover and force that plate upwards. When this plate
has reached its highest point, the two knives are slidden by means of a lever so as
to close the communication with the cylinder and open that with the upper plate
of the cover. The continued movement of the lever forces down the upper plate
with its tubes, thereby causing part of the contents of the tubes to be forced
through the apertures in the upper plate. By returning the lever to its original
position, the upper plate is closed the several pieces of dough are cut off and ready
for removal from the plate. The traverse of the lever is limited as required by.
means of a stop in order to regulate the range of descent of the upper plate.
In order however that the said Invention may be clearly understood I will
proceed to describe more particularly in what manner it is to be performed by the
aid of the accompanying drawings in which are represented the parts of apparatus
above referred to.

page_text: DESCRIPTION UN THE DRAWINGS.
Fig 1 is a plan or horizontal view of the cover of the cylinder and parts con-
nected therewith. Fig 2 is a vertical section in the line 12 of Fig 1. Figures 3
to 7 inclusive shew different parts of the apparatus-In these several figures the
same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
A (Figures 5 and 6) is a cylinder in which is worked a piston B by means of a
lever C through a pinion D and rack E with a ratchet wheel and pawl F so as to
force the dough out of the cylinder through the apertures G in the cover of the
same. H is a thick plate (forming part of the cover and hinged to the cylinder)
with any suitable number of apertures G G through it which form passages for the
dough as it is forced out of the cylinder C by the action of the piston B worked as
above stated. I is another plate fitted over the plate H and having short tubes J J
projecting from its under side passing into the apertures G G in the upper plate.
This plate I is intended to receive the finished pieces or portions of dough K.
(Fig 7) after they have been forced through the apertures G and cut off by the
means hereinafter described.
The upper plate I is fitted so as to be capable of moving in vertical guides L L,
and in each plate is inserted a sliding knife or thin plate with perforations corre-
sponding with the apertures G G. The knife in the upper plate I is shewn at i
and in the lower plate Hat h. The perforations in the knives i and h are out of
line with each other (as shewn in Fig 7) so that when one (as in the knife h) is
open for the passage of dough the other (as in the knife i) is closed against it-The
bar M which connects the knives i and h by means of the pins N N has on it
projections m m which work in curved slots (Fig 4) formed in the lever O whereby
the knives are moved through a distance equal to the diameter of their openings or
perforations.
This causes the short tubes J J of the plate I to be alternately in communication
with the dough cylinder A by means of the openings in the knife h (those in the
knife being closed) and with the upper plate I through the openings in the knife i
while those in the knife h are closed.
These two extreme positions of the parts corresponding with the two outside
limits a and c of the lever O (see Figures 2 and 4) correspond also with the highest
and lowest positions of the knife i shewn particularly at d and e in Fig 4.
The working of the machine is as follows: After slackening the retaining pins
or screws fand g (Figures 1 and 5) the cover of the cylinder A is raised on its
hinges and the piston B (Fig 6) being at its lowest position the cylinder A is
charged with dough and the cover closed over it.,
By moving the lever C to the right the piston B is raised and thereby forces the
dough (the knife being set with its perforations open) into the short tubes J J of
the upper plate I, fills these tubes and (because the knife i is now closing the
apertures G G) lifts the plate I with its tubes J J out of the plate H into its
highest position, as shewn in the left half of Fig 2.
The lever O is now moved so as to reverse the position of the knives i and h
while passing from a to b (Figures 2 and 4) where upon it catches upon friction
rollers in the vertical guides L L and forces the plate I with its tubes J J back into
the plate H as shewn in the right half of Fig 2-The apertures of the knife h
being now closed and those in the knife i being open the said downward movement
of the filled tubes J J will cause the dough to pass out at the top until the lever O
is brought in contact with the limiting screw P. After this the lever O is brought
to its position at a thereby returning the knives i and h to their original positions
vizi closed and h opened. The divided pieces of dough K shewn in Fig 7 can now
be removed from the top of the plate I. The quantity of dough thus forced
through each opening in the plate was measured by the limiting or guaging
screw P.

page_text: In order to continue the operation the lever O is again moved forward as above
stated, and so on until the cylinder A has been emptied.
The guaging or limiting screw P may be provided with a scale of equal division
and the weight of the pieces of dough thereby determined with the readiest adjust-
ment according to the length of traverse of the lever O. Or instead of the screw P
suitable stops may be applied so as to regulate the height to which the tubes J J
may be charged or filled, the lever O in such case requiring no stop to be applied
to it.
Instead of the telescoping arrangement described with the tubes J J adapted to
receive each a quantity of dough from which to separate a determinate portion
thereof it has been found practicable to telescope the whole plates I and H one
into the other, so that instead of forming a number of small cylinders of dough as
hereinbefore described one continuous cake of dough would be formed. This cake
would be produced by the dough passing from the cylinder A being forced through
the apertures in the plate H into the space between the plates H and I and from
the said cake which has been cut off by the action of the lower knife a portion is
as it were re-divided and forced through the openings in the top plate I. In this
arrangement it is preferred to make a larger number of perforations in the bottom
plate H than in the top plate I, generally in the proportion of about 40 to 19.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
First The general combination and arrangement of parts forming the machine
for dividing dough into pieces or portions of uniform size or quantity without
weighing, substantially in the manner described.
Secondly-The combination of the cylinder cover composed of plates having
apertures through them with the two knives or dividing plates having apertures
arranged out of line, substantially as and for the purpose described.
Thirdly A lever for simultaneously moving the knives and pressing down the
upper plate of the cylinder cover, substantially as and for the purpose described.
And lastly-A measuring or adjusting screw with scale or an equivalent
arrangement for regulating and adjusting the weight of the finished pieces of
dough, substantially as described,