Improvements in Machines for Shaping Plastic and similar Materials.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Mar., 1891-Accepted, 11th Apr., 1891
COMT LEIE DIUITIATION.
[Communicated from abroad by WOLCOTT ABNER HULL, of No. 2135, Seventh
Avenue, New York, United States of America, Manufacturer.]
Improvements in Machines for Shaping Plastic and similar
Materials.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The elements of my invention herein disclosed, are specially intended for use in
connection with cracker and cake machinery acting upon a sheet of dough.
These elements, however, may form a complete machine that will receive on a
carrier any plastic or similar material and by the co-operation of the several parts
cut cakes from this sheet and leave them resting on a carrier which brings the
material under the cutters. The improvement comprises an endless belt or carrier,
passing over rollers to carry the sheet, one or more cutters or formers which are
reciprocated above this carrier and are shaped to conform to the contours to be
given to the cakes, an air or other gas pump communicating with the cutters or
formers, and mechanism by which all are actuated from a shaft in such time that
the parts move in proper succession; the carrier first feeding the material under
the cutters or formers, then the cutters or formers descending and cutting out or
forming the cakes and lastly the air pump injecting an air or other gas blast as the
cutters or formers rise, whereby the cakes are retained on the carrier as the cutters
or formers lift away. Combinations of these clements as hereinafter set forth in
the claims constitute my present improvement.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a view of a machine embodying my improvement, taken at the end
where the material is received.
Figure 2 is a side view.
Figures 3 and 4 are middle sections viewed in the same directions as Figures 1
and 2 respectively and with the mechanism in positions assumed on revolving
the main shaft through half a revolution from the position drawn in the first
two, views.
Figure 5 shows the cutter or former head with the cutters or formers attached
as viewed from the side and underneath.
The
Figure 6 shows the stripper plate through which these cutters reciprocate.
Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.
This machine is organized with two side frames, 1, 1, in which the several shafts
are journaled and by which the other elements are supported or guided. Wings
on these frames support rollers 2 and 3 over which passes a belt or carrier 4.
shaft through the roll 3 is extended at one end and carries a ratchet 5. An arm 6
loosely mounted on the above shaft carries a pawl 7 to engage the teeth of the
ratchet and feed the carrier forward with an intermittent motion when the arm is
oscillated. A. pitman, 8, the lower end of which surrounds an eccentric 9, imparts
the necessary oscillating motion to the said arm when the main shaft 10 is revolved.
A plate 11, fastened to the side frames and forming part of the framework, supports
the carrier where the cutting or forming takes place upon it.
Vertical slots in the side-frames guide a cutter or former head 12 bearing cutters
or formers 13. The edges of these cutters or formers are of oval, polygonal, or
similar closed outline which it may be desired to impart to a cracker, cake or like
article. Pitman rods 14, 14 between journals on this cutter or former head and
eccentrics 15, 15 on the main shaft communicate the requisite motion when this

page_text: shaft is revolved and thus the cutters or formers are brought down solidly upon the
carrier, through the material, as for instance, a sheet of dough, resting upon it, to
cut out or form the crackers or like articles, and are lifted away at the proper
time, whereupon the feeding of the sheet by the carrier is done. A stripper 16
fastened to the frame lies above the carrier and has openings through which the
cutters or formers pass.
A plate 17, fastened to the side frames and forming part of the frame work,
carries an air or other gas pump 18, which is shown as made in the form of bellows.
This air pump is actuated by a cam 19 which is so placed on the main shaft, relative
to the eccentrics reciprocating the cutter or former head, that a blast of air or
other gas will be given as the cutters or formers withdraw after cutting out or
forming the cakes when the shaft is revolved in the proper direction as shown by
the arrow.
An air or other gas pipe 20 leads the air blast from the air pump to
the cutter or former head wherein are channels through which this blast finds a
passage to the cutters or formers. A section 21 of the air pipe is of flexible
material so that the cutter or former head may be moved while communication is
maintained with it.
In using my invention it may be placed in connection with the mechanism of a
cracker machine which prepares and rolls out the dough, from which the crackers
are to be cut, into a sheet. The carrier receives this sheet and brings a new portion
to the cutters or formers and carries the cut or formed portions beyond each time
they lift away after cutting out or formning of the cakes. During the lifting away
of the cutters or formers the gas blast comes to the enclosed space between
them and the cakes they have cut and by. its pressure holds then down on the
carriers.
I do not wish to be restricted to the use of my improvement for making
crackers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The combination of a carrier, a cutter, or former operating with sufficient
pressure to cut or form an article presented by the carrier, a gas duct communicating
with said cutter or former and means whereby, after the cutting or forming
of such article, a gas blast will be caused to pass through said duct to
affect the detachment of the article from the cutter or former, substantially as
specified.
2. The combination with a support for material, of a cutter or former movable
to bear upon said support, a duct through which a gas blast is furnished to the
same and means whereby after the cutting or forming of such article a gas blast
will be caused to pass through said duct to affect the detachment of formed
material from the cutter or former, substantially as specified.
3. The combination of a carrier, a cutter or former operating with sufficient
pressure to cut or form an article presented by the carrier, a gas duct communicating
with said cutter or former, a pump communicating with the said duct and means
for operating the pump to produce a gas blast at the cutter or former, after the
cutting or forming operation, to affect the detachment of the cut or shaped article
from the cutter or former, substantially as specified.
Dated this 5th day of March 1891.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.