IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR DIVIDING OR MEASURING AND WEIGHING DOUGH
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Whitehead Wilson Drysdale
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th December 1881.
JOHN WHITEHEAD WILSON DRYSDALE of the Firm of Drysdale and Pirie
Engineers, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR DIVIDING OR MEASURING AND WEIGHING
DOUGH,"
This Invention relates to an improved construction of machine or combination of
apparatus specially designed for dividing or measuring and weighing out dough
into loaves for bread making, the object of the Invention being to a great extent
to dispense with hand labour, and to ensure great rapidity and exactitude, in such
operations.
According to one modification the improved machine or apparatus comprises a
long tubular vessel of cylindrical, square, or other convenient cross section, fitted
with a contracted or nozzle like mouthpiece through which the dough is forced or
discharged.
This vessel may be placed vertically, horizontally, or in an inclined position, in a
convenient arrangement, being fitted horizontally, with a feeding-in hopper at the
wider end, into which the dough is delivered by a travelling band or web from the
doughing machine or vessel in which the ingredients of the dough have been
mixed or kneaded, a pair of rollers being provided for drawing in the dough evenly
and continuously.
The dough is forced from the hopper along the tubular vessel and out at the
mouthpiece by means of a screw or series of screw blades on a central revolving
shaft fitted within the vessel, and extending out at the end, where it is fitted with
a tapered or cone pulley.
This pulley is driven by a belt from a reversed cone fitted on an adjacent
countershaft, a fork being provided for shifting the belt from end to end of
the cones for the purpose of varying the speed of the forcing screw, and delivering
a greater or less bulk of dough through the discharge orifice or mouthpiece,
according as the specific gravity of the dough changes during fermentation. The
mouthpiece end is made a plain surface, and is fitted with guides in which

page_text: slides a cutting knife actuated by a revolving cam or cam groove shaped to give
the knife a rapid motion in cutting transversely through the dough as it is passed
out of the mouthpiece, and a pause on its return to give time for the passage of
the dough through the mouthpiece. The cam actuating the cutting knife may be
on the counter shaft on which the driving cone is fitted, or on a separate revolving
shaft; and instead of a cam a crank or eccentric may be used to give the sliding
motion to the knife, in which case the travel of the knife will be continued out
from the discharge orifice to allow time during each stroke for the pressing out of
the requisite quantity of dough. In a modified arrangement, the cutting knife is
made in the form of a hook or scythe, and is fitted to revolve on a centre beyond
the discharge orifice, so that while a rapid cut may be effected, a sufficient interval
may be left between each action.
The motion of the knife, in any case, must be such as to cut quickly through
the dough, and allow of a quantity of dough passing out between each cut,
sufficient to form a loaf of standard weight.
The cut pieces of dough are allowed to drop on to a travelling web or band
which delivers them one after another on to a weighing scale, from which, if the
pieces are of the requisite weight, they are removed for shaping and baking, but
if the weight should be incorrect they are-lifted-by-an-attendant on to a travelling
web which carries them back to the feeding-in hopper.
The improved machine may be so modified that instead of the screw having
a variable speed the cutting knife may be driven at a varying intermittent speed,
or both the speed of the screw and of the knife may be made variable, and the
screw may be actuated by toothed or friction gearing. The pressing of the dough
through the mouthpiece may also be effected by means of reciprocating pistons
instead of by screws.
The weighing of the cut dough may also be effected by an automatic weighing
scale, which would be made to cant or throw off the weighted dough to one side or
other according as the loaves or pieces registered full weight or not, and travelling
bands would in this case be fitted on each side the one to carry the pieces
forward for shaping and firing, and the other leading back to the feeding hopper.