IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR KNEADING Dough
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th August 1879. A communication
from abroad by Francois Asselin, of Anor (Nord) France.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR KNEADING
Dough." [A communication from abroad by Francois Asselin, of Anor (Nord)
France.]
This Invention relates to improvements in kneading machines, by means of
which improvements considerable advantages are obtained which are not possessed
by the machines of this kind heretofore in use.
By means of the said improvements rapidity and perfection of work are ensured,
the operations being effected very quickly and in an absolutely uniform manner by
reason of the arrangement of the various parts of the machine. These parts act
upon the dough uniformly, and the machine is capable of kneading in a quarter of
an hour about from forty to upwards of six hundred and fifty pounds of the same.
In carrying the said Invention into practice, I prefer to construct the machine as
follows, that is to say,-
I provide a movable receptacle or trough of hemispherical form, within which the
kneading is effected. The said receptacle is made of wood, this material being
much more suitable for the purpose than metal, as it permits of obtaining (the
quality being as good) bread that is whiter and of better taste, and at the same
time is not so "cold."
This movable receptacle or trough rests upon a metal calotte or pan held by an
axis which is supported at its upper part by a collar provided in a cross-piece
forming part of the frame of the machine, the said axis turning in a socket placed
at the lower part. The upper part of the said metallic calotte is furnished with
inclined teeth into which gears a worm provided upon a shaft which also carries a
fly wheel. The said worm is not keyed to the shaft, but can slide longitudinally
upon the same, and is caused to rotate by a projection or feather which is on the
shaft, and which enters a groove in the worm. According to the position in
which the worm is placed upon the shaft it gears or does not gear with the teeth
on the said calotte or pan. If placed in gear with the same it causes the movable
receptacle or trough to revolve in a direction contrary to that of a kneading screw
or spiral blade, hereinafter described; if, on the contrary, the worm ceases to be in
gear with the said teeth the adherence of the dough to the surface of the movable

page_text: receptacle is sufficient to cause the latter to revolve in an inverse direction under
the action of the said screw which pushes the dough before it.
The aforesaid kneading screw is mounted upon a shaft which can be lifted with
the other devices used for kneading, cutting, and stiffening, so as to prevent the
metal coming in contact with the dough when the manipulation of the latter is
finished, and to facilitate the removal of the dough. The said screw or blade is
preferably made to extend along its shaft a distance equal to the pitch; it is not
directly attached to its shaft but is carried by two arms which are perpendicular to
the axis of this shaft, and which carry at their ends a gathering circle which at each
revolution of the kneading screw or blade rakes the bottom of the movable
receptacle or trough, thus gathering up the dough.
The said kneading screw or blade carries a curved cutter and two mixers, so that
at each revolution the dough is stiffened, cut, and inflated or rendered light.
The raising of the movable shaft and of the kneading devices which it carries is
effected by the aid of pinions placed on each side of the machine, the highest of
which pinions act on racks which the bearings of the said movable shaft; a stop
pawl provides for maintaining the said shaft at the desired height.
In the machine as described the movement of the kneading screw or spiral blado
is produced by the aid of a handle mounted on an axis having one pinion gearing
with an intermediate wheel which gears with a third wheel keyed upon the shaft
carrying the fly wheel. This arrangement allows of placing the handle high enough
to be operated by hand, and contributes at the same time to facilitate the motion.
At the other end the shaft carrying the fly wheel has near the latter a pinion,
which gears with a wheel keyed upon the movable shaft carrying the kneading
devices when the latter are in the lower position.
.
· The said kneading machine may be driven by any suitable motor, and I desire it
to be understood that the means for communicating motion and the various parts of
the machine may be modified in detail without departing from the principle of the
said Invention.
It is also to be understood that the dimensions of the machine will vary
according to the quantity of dough which it is desired to make in a given time.