Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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A DEVICE FOR TRANSPORTING SEMIS0LID G~ODS, INCLUDING LOADING
AND UNLO~DING THEREOF
The present invention relates to a device for transporting
semisolid goods, including loading and unloading thereof, and
more particularly to transporting bread, French bread, etc. in
the form of unbaked dough while it is being deep frozen.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
An unbaked loaf of French bread, e.g. on leaving shaping
rollers, is very long (up to 700 mm) and is of small diameter
(between 20 mm and 25 mm). Such a loaf is very unstable and
tends to deform by virtue of stress in the dough and on being
transferred from one transportation means to another. In
addition, it does not remain still, even when no stress is
applied to it. As a resul-t it is practically never rectilinear
even though that is the shape it ought to take up and re-tain.
Further, the dough is sticky so that any change in its position
inevitably leads to i-t being deformed.
The difficulty is thus one of transporting such a loaf or
other eguivalently semisolid item. In a par-ticular, but non-
restricting application, the loaves are taken up by a conveyor
belt running through a deep freeze along a rectilinear path or
a path which is preferably wound in a spiral. The deep frozen
~'~ loaves delivered by the belt are extremely fragile and they
break when being packed into bundles unless they are rectilinear.
In tunnal deep freezes having rectilinear conveyor belts
passing therethrough, it is known to fit the belt with bins
extending transversely in the plane of the belt.
A first drawback of this prior transport device is that it
is applicable only to a rectilinear path, thereby requiring a
ground plan of very large area. This would not be the case ifthe~belt of bins could follow a spiral path, since the
installation could then be compac-t and require only a very
limited ground plan area.
second drawback is that the semisolid goods are dropped
a relatively long way when being loaded into the bins of the
prior transport device and when being unloaded therefrom, and
; in an~ case the drop is big enough for the goods to be capabls
- of deforming when uncooked and of breaking when deep frozen.
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Further, such rectilinear bin belts are of the sequential
type in that instead of advancing con-tinuously, they advance
intermittently.
In a known installa~ion, a continuously advancing food
conveyor brings successive loaves of uncooked dough against a
fixed abutment over the path of a sequentially advancing bin
belt. A bin must come to rest beneath the abubment each time
the abutment stops a loaf.
In another known embodiment, a con-tinuously advancing food
conveyor delivers successive loaves of uncooked dough to a V or
hopper having a shutter situated over a sequentially advancing
bin belt. The shutter opens when a bin comes to rest
immediately therebelow.
The third drawback of this prior transport device, and
this is a ma~or drawback, results from the fact that the bin
belt has to advance sequentially for loading purposes. In this
respect, it should be recalled that such a rectilinear belt
extends over about ~0 meters (m) and supports about one
thousand loaves, so that in normal operation it must stop about
1800 times an hour. It is therefore clear that the reliabili-ty
of the device is limited because of wear and jolting, that
downtime for maintenance and adjustment is inevitably
considerable, that the system is inaccurate and moves easily~
out of adjustment, etc.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention mitigate
these drawbacks by proposing improvements enabling the bin belt
to follow a spiral path, enabling said belt to advance
continuously regardless of whether it follows a rectilinear
path or a spiral path, and enabling semisolid goods to be
loaded into the bins and to be unloaded therefrom with
substantially no drop, i.e. they are put into place gently.
All the handling must be entirely automatic, in other words
there must be no manual intervention on the goods.
To this end, a transport device in accordance with the
invention comprises a moving belt like the elevator described
- in British patent No. 521 312 in which portions situated
~ substantially at the margins thereof are guided along the
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length of guide elements, and which includes a plurality of
bins extending transversely side-by-side in order to receive
the said goods from above, the bins being suspended from cross-
members supported at least by their portions at the margins o
the belt and situated above the surface defined said portions
in such a manner as -to form a belt having raised bins.
This prior transport device is applied, in accordance with
the in~ention, to a special belt of the t~pe described in US
patent No. 3 225 898.
Each edge of this special belt is constituted by a chain
comprising links which are hinged together by means of rods,
each rod being fixed to one link and passing freely through the
associated link. If the said belt is to follow a spiral path,. longitudinal play is provide~ between each rod and the link
through which it passes reely.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the lnvention, each cross-member is the mid- -
horizontal portion o~ an arch whose lateral riser portions are
rigidly fixed to the selected rod of the two chains.
More precisely, the present invention provides a device
~ for transporting semisolid goods such as unbaked loaves of
- French or other bread, and including loading and unloading said
goods, the device including a moving belt comprising:
. mar~inal portions situated at or near to its margins, said
marginal portions being are guided along guide elements;
~- a plurality of bins extending transversely side-by-side to
receive said goods from above, said bins being suspended from
cross members supported at leas-t by said marginal portions of
the belt and situated above the surface defined by said
marginal portions in order to constitute a belt of raised bins;
each edge of the belt being constituted by a chain
comprising links which are hinged by means of rods extending
: transversely between the chains;
each rod end being fixed to one link and.passing freely
through the associated link, preferably with longitudinal play
to enable the belt to turn corners; and
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each cross member being constituted by a horizontal mid
portion of an arch havin~ lateral riser portions which are
rigidly fixed to a selected one o~ said rods.
By virtue of this special belt structure, the lateral
riser portions are always perpendicular to the guide surface of
the belt~ As a result, the shape o~ the bins is fully under
control and even though the bins are ~lexible, the shape may be
modified with precision simply by acting on the said guide
surface.
A continuously running belt having raised bins co~operates
with a loader device which receives the semisolid goods under
gravity and which places them successively in the continuously
running bins, with the loading device being actuated by a
control device controlled by the speed o~ the belt and connected
to a trigger circuit which performs the AND function and which
receives pulses from a detector for detecting goods in the
loading device and a detector for detecting the passage o~ one
of the riser portions of each bin-supporting cross-member.
In a first embodiment, the loading device comprises the
following items above the bins and taken in the direction of
bin travel: a hopper for receiving semisolid goods, the hopper
having a downstream wall sloping slightly relative to a
vertical transverse plane in a downwards and an upstream
direction therefrom, and the hopper having a shutter situated
closest to the bins and connected for the purpose o moving
upstream to an actuator member under the control of the above-
mentioned control device.
The hopper may have a downwardly sloping upstream wall
- extending to the downstream wall, said upstream wall being
pivota}ly mounted and connected to the above-mentioned ac-tuator
member in order to constitute the shutter.
Otherwise, the hopper may have a downwardly sloping
upstream wall delimiting, in conjunction with the downs-tream
wall, a delivery opening, said opening being closed by a
sliding door connected to the above-mentioned actuator member.
In a second embodiment, the loading device comprises a
rotor mounted to rotate about a transverse axis and connected
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to a rotar~ drive device under the control of the above-
mentioned control device, said rotor delimiting peripheral
concave cells which, when they arrive successively in a
delivery position, receive a semisolid item under gravity and
direct it towards a wall situated downstream from the rotor
(downstream in the direction of bin displacement) which rotor
rotates to cause the cells to move in -the opposite direction to
the bins with said downstream wall sloping slightly relative to
a ~ertical transverse plane in a downwards direction and in an
upstream direction.
Regardless of which embodiment is selected, at least the
downstream wall may be connected to an actuator member under
the control of the above-mentioned control device for the
purpose of enabling the downstream wall to accompany the bins
downs-tream when the hopper opens.
Also, in order to reduce the height through which semi-
solid goods are dropped, the ~uide elements of the raised bin
belt have upwardly projecting convex portions facing the
delivery opening of the loadin~ device or the reception area of
an unloading device in such a manner that when the riser
portions of the two support cross-members adjacent to each bin
passover said convex portions they diverge upwardly, thereby
stretching and flattening the intervening bin and bringing it
closer to said opening.
In order to straighten out a semisolid item, the guide
elements of the raised bin belt include concave portions with
an upwardly directed hollow downstream from the delivery
opening of the loading device so that as the riser portions of
the two support cross-members adjacent to each bin pass over
said concave portions, the risers converge upwardly tending to
~lose the intervening bin on itself.
Each ~uide element may then include a bottom or top roll
in each convex or concave portion of the path and interposed
between bottom or top rail elements mounted loose and co-
operating with respective top or bottom rail elements situatedon either side.
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BXIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Embodiments of the invention are described by way of
example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a plan view from above showing a spiral belt
having a device in accordance with the inven-tion applied
- thereto, said plan view being taken on line I-I of Figure 2;
Figu~e 2 is a side elevati~n taken along arrow f of Figure l;
Figure 3 is a diagrammatic cross-section on line III-III
of Figure l;
Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view on a larger
~ scale showing a few links of a chain, transverse rods, and a
: portion of an arch, with the bins removed to facilitate
understanding -the drawing;
Figure 5 is a fragmentary view similar to Figure 3 and
relating to variant guidance means;
Figures 6 to 9 are diagrammatic elevations showing several
different embodiments of a loading device co-operating, in
accordance with the invention, with the bins of the belts; and
Figure 10 is à view similar to Figures 6 to 9, showing one
embodiment of an unloading device co-operating, in accordance
with the invention, with the bins of the belt.
MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTION
As can be seen clearly in Figures 1 to 4, a transport
: device in accordance with the invention is an adaptation of a
known moving spiral belt, in particular as described in US
patent No.3 225 898, and this belt is used to convey unbaked
loaves of French bread inside a compac-t deep freeze enclosure.
The belt comprises two side chains 1 and 2 having
identical links 3 which partially interfit with one another and
wh:ch are hinged together in pairs relative to one another. In
the examples shown in Figures 1 and 4, each link 3 is in the
: form of a strip folded into a symmetrical U-shape having
: branches 4 integrally formed with a web 5, with the branches
being sinuous to form a narrow closed head portion 4t and a
wider open oot portion 4p, said portions being interconnected
by an intermediate portion 4i. The branches 4 of the foot
` portion 4p of one link 3.n of the chain 1 are connected to the
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branches 4 of the foot portion 4p of the corresponding link 3.n
of the chain 2 by a transverse rod 6 whose ends are welded at 7
and 8 onto said branches. Also, the foot portions 4p of the
links 3.n under considera-tion in the chains 1 and 2 are fitted
over the head portions 4t of the upstream adjacent links 3.n+1
of said chains, taking the direction F of belt movement when
drive traction is applied thereto as the reference direction.
Further, the above-mentioned rod 6 of link 3.n passes through
slots 9 provided through the intermediate and head portions 4i
and 4t of the link 3~n~1, whereas the slots 9 through the link
3.n have the rod 6 of the downstream downstream link 3.n-1
passing therethrough. This provides a degree of longitudinal
play at the hinges between successive pairs of links. This
play allows curves to shorten the inner chain 2 ~Figure 1) by
moving the rods 6 to the ends of the slots 9 in the inter-
mediate portions 4i of the links while leaving the outer chain
l (Figure 1) at full length with the same rods 6 in abutment
against the ends of the slots 9 which are closest to the webs 5
of the links.
In order to follow a spiral or rectilinear path, -th0
moving belt must be guided. In the example shown in Figure 3,
the links 3 of the chains 1 and 2 rest on bottom rails 12 which
may be covered with a sliding coating 13. Such bottom rails
are generally sufficient, however it is sometimes necessary to
prevent the chains from rising, in particular when the said
path runs over ridges and furrows respectively defined by
convex and concave portions of the bottom rails 12. In such
cases, the bottom rails 12 co-operate with top rails 14 which
may optionally be covered with a sliding coating 15. The
chains 1 and 2 then rest on the bottom rails 12 and bear
against the top rails 14.
The transport device in accordance with the invention is
adapted to this moving spiral belt and is illustrated therewith
in Figures 1 to 4.
The device of the invention is also applicable to a moving
belt which is rectilinear and which may include edge chains
that do not have any longitudinal play.
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In accordance with the invention the transport device
comprises rectangular arches 16 whose lateral portions or
risers 17 and 18 are welded to rods 6 close to the chains 1 and
2, with their intermediate horizontal portions 19 constituting
cross members~ All of the cross members 19 are raised above
the chains 1 and 2 and are situated in a surface extending
parallel to the surface defined by the chains. In addition,
the arches 16 are always perpendicular to the surface defined
by the chains. In other words they extend radially relative to
the bot-tom rails 12.
Bins 20 are then suspended from selected ones of the cross
members 19 with said bins extending transversely above -the
surface defined by said cross members, so as to be upwardly
open.
The selected cross members are separated by a distance
which is a multiple of the pitch of the rods 6. In the example
shown the pitch of the cross members 19 is three times the
pitch of the rods.
Preferably, the bins 20 are flexible and are formed from a
Z0 non-stick strip. The strip may be constituted by a glass fiber
cloth coated with polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) or with
silicone. The strip is supported by the cross members l9 to
which it is fixed by any appropriate means: clip fastenings;
gluing; stapling; riveting; bolting; sheathing; ... When the
chains are substantially straight (Figura 6) the strip hangs
between two consecutive cross members, thereby forming bins 20
whose shape and depth are suitable for receiving the selected
semisolid goods, e.g. loaves of unbaked French bread. When the
arches 16 converge towards each other, the bins 20a (Figure 8
close up in order to improve the shape of the unbaked loaf.
When the arches 16 diver~e away from each other, the same bins
20b (Figures 7, 8, and 9) or 20c (Figure 10) flatten out in
order to improve reception or delivery of a loaf as the case
may be.
In a variant shown in Figure 5, -tha rails 12 and optionally
14 (or other guide elements) need not co-operate with the
chains 1 and 2 but may co-operate instead with the ends of the
rods 6 between the risers 17 and 18 and said chains 1 and 2.
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Further, as can be seen from Figure 7, the guide elemen-ts
may include a bottom roll 60 mounted free and imparting the
shape of a convex portion 53 to the chains~ as described below.
The roll 60 then co-operates with top rail elements 14.1 and
14.2 situated on either side. Naturally, the bottom rail 12 is
interrupted to pass the roll and has end portions 12.1 and 12.2
situated in the vicinity thereof.
As can be seen in Figure 8, the guide elements may also
include a top roll 61 likewise freely mounted and imparting a
concave shaped portion 55 to the chains, as described below.
The top roll 61 co-operates with two bottom rail elements 12.1
and 12.2 situated on either side or with two bottom rolls 60
(Figure 8) or with one bottom roll and with one bottom rail
element.
The belt of raised bins 20 co-operates with a loading
device 24 (Figure 6) or 25 (Figure 7) or 26 (Figure 8) or 27
(Figure 9) or any other loading device.
The loading device receives the semisolid goods under
gravity, e.g. unbaked loaves 28, and it dispenses them
successively into the bins 20. Given that the chains 1 and 2
of the belt are driven in continuous translation, and
consequently that the bins 20 move continuously, -the loading
device 24, 25, 26, or 27, is actuated by a control device (not
shown) which is controlled by the speed of the belt and which
is connected to a trigger circuit performing the AND function.
This circuit receives pulses from a detector for detecting
goods placed in the receptacle of the loading device and from a
detector 29 for detecting the passage of the risers 17 or 18 of
the arches 16 or of the omega elements 21. The goods detector
is not shown. Any appropriate type is suitable, and for
example it may be constituted by a suitably disposed light
source and photoelectric celI. The detector~29 for detecting
the~passage of the risers 17 and 18 and thus of the cross
members 19 and of the bins 20 may be of any appropriate type:
microswitch, proximity detector,... In any event, this
~`~ detector 29 (Figure 6) is placed at ~n appropriate location,
preferably close to the loading device, and in a position ~nown
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to the control device so as -to enable its compu-ter -to perform
any necessary corrections.
Several embodiments of the loading device are shown in
Figures 6 to 9.
In the first embodimen-t (Figure 6) -there is a hopper 30
for receiving individual loaves 28, and having a downstream
wall 31 (downstream relative to the direction F of bin
displacement) which is slightly inclined (angle a) downwardly
and upstream relative to a ver-tical plane P and which is thus
substantially perpendicular to the surface defined by the rails
12. Experience has shown that this small upstream inclination
encourages accurate dropping of the loaf and ensures that it
remains straight in the corresponding bin 20. The hopper 30
also has an upstream wall 32 constituting an inclined slope
connected via side walls 33 to the downstream wall 31. The
bottom of this hopper is delimited by an elongate delivery
opening 34 which is situated as close as possible to the moving
bins 20 and which is normally closed by a sliding door 35.
This door or shutter is guided in transla-tion in a slideway 36
of the hopper and is coupled to an actuator 37 of any
appropriate type (pneumatic, hydraulic, electrical,
mechanical,...), which bears on a fixed element. The actuator
37 is actuated under the control of the above-mentioned control
deviceO In the example shown, the hopper is fixed; however, it
may be advantageous to be able to adjust its level (as shown in
Figure 7, in particular) in order to put its opening 34 at the
best possible distance from the bins 20.
In the second embodiment shown in Figure 7, there is a
hopper 38 having a slightly inclined downstream wall 31, an
inclined slope upstream wall 39, and side walls 33. In this
case, the upstream wall 39 is pivotally mounted about an axis
40 and is connected to an actuator 37 of any appropriate type.
In its closed posi-tion as shown by solid lines in Figure 7, -the
upstream wall 39 meets the do~nstream wall 31, whereas in its
open position, shown as a dot-dashed line, it moves away there-
from in an upstream direction, thereby rQleasing the opening
34. Th~ downstream wall 31 is fixed on a fixed support 41 by
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means of bolts 42 passing through downwardly directed slot 43
in order to make the above-mentioned height adjustment possible.
In the third embodiment shown in Figure 8, there is the
same hopper 38 having an upstream pivoting wall 39. Regardl~ss
; 5 of whether the hopper is said hopper 38 or the hopper 30 of the
first embodiment (figure 6), the level of the downstream wall
31 is adjustable by means of bolts 42 relative to a pivoting
support 44 connected to a fixed frame 45 by means of a hinge
axis 46 and by means of a suitable type of actuator 47. When
the actuator is extended, the downstream wall 31 is suitably
inclined at the angle a. When the actuator is retracted, which
is performed as a function of time together with pivoting of
the opening provided by the upstream wall 39 (Figure 8) or
together with sliding of the door 35 (Figure 6) under the
control of said control device, said downstream wall 31 pivots
in the direction of arrow G substantially at the same speed as
the speed of advance of the belt of bins 20 so that while being
delivered into a bin 20, the loaf 28 moves with said bin 20
; into which i-t is to be received.
In the fourth embodiment shown in Figure 9, the loading
device 29 includes a rotor a8 fixed to a shaft 49 extending
along a transverse axis and connected to a rotary drive device
under the control of the above~mentioned control device so that
the rotor turns at a speed appropriate for good delivery in the
direction of arrow R which extends in the opposite direction to
the displacement direction of the bins 20 along arrow F. The
periphery of the rotor 48 delimits a plurality of concave
recesses 50, and in the present example there are four such
recesses 50.1 to 50.4. When in the position of recess 50.1,
the recess receives a loaf 28 which falls off a feed conveyor
` 51 and it directs the loaf against a downstream wall 31
analogous to the above-described downstream walls, and said
wall may be fixed or may be capable of pivoting downstream and
its height may op-tionally be adjustable. The loaf 28 thus
descends along the wall 31 while being accompanied by the lip
52 located at the downstream end of the recess 50.1. When the
opening 34 between said wall and said lip becomes wide enough,
the loaf falls into the bin 20 situated therebelow~
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The pitch of the recesses 50 depends on the speed of
rotation of the rotorO If the tangential speed of the rotor is
equal to the speed of bin displacemen-t, the pitch of the
recesses 50 is equal -to the pi-tch of the cross members 19.
As already mentioned above, it may be advantageous to
flatten the bins 20b (Figure 7, 8, and 9) so as to bring them
closer to the delivery opening 34. To this end, the path of
the rods 6 beneath the devices 24, 25, ~6, and 27 (if the
devices 27 are situated above a normal path: i.e. a rectilinear
or spiral portion of belt) includes convex portions 53
projecting upwardly. Thus, the xisers 17 (18) move away from
each other and their cross members 19 move apart, thereby
stretching the strip and flat-tening the bins 20b.
This considerably reduces the height through which the
loaves are dropped, such that each loaf guided by the down-
stream wall 31 tends to retain its substantially rectilinear
shape, and its length, when it reaches the flattened bin 20b.
As the bin under consideration leaves the portion 53, the
risers 17 co~e back upright and tend to converge towards each
other (Figure 7) such that the said bin 20d deepens and closes
in on itself prior to returning to its initial shape. While
this is happening, the bin shapes the loaf and straightens it
if it has become somewhat deformed while being dropped.
It may also be advantageous to accentuate this phenomenon
of the bins 20a closing in on themselves (Figure 8) so that
they provide better loaf shaping. To this end, the path of the
rods 6 may include concave portions 55 (Figure 8) located down-
stream from the delivery openings 34 of the devices 24 to 28,
~nd preferably immediately after the convex portions 53 or the
return portions 54 described below, said concave portions
having upwardly directed hollows and co-operating with parallel
portions of the top rails 14. Thus, the risers 17 (18)
converge towards each other and their cross members 19 move
closer together, thereby increasing the depth of the enveloping
hollow. The bins 20a thus close in on th loaves 28 and
straighten them if they have become deformed.
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With respect to the ourth embodimen-t, it has been said
tha-t the loading device 27 may be situated over a normal
portion (i.e. a rectilinear or spiral portion) of the belt
path. In this case the loaves 28 fall a relatively long way.
In order to reduce the height of this drop, the rotor 48
may be situated, as shown in Figure 9, close to a return
portion 54 of the belt, which portion is generally determined
by a set of horizontal axis pulleys over which the chains 1 and
2 are threaded at the inlet to the spiral deep freeze conveyor,
for example. In this case, not only may the opening 34 be
moved close to the return portion 54, but also, since the
risers 17 (18~ diverge in this portion the cross members 19
move apart and the bins 20b are flattened as they approach said
opening 34.
Finally, the belt of raised bins 20 may co-operate wi-th an
unloading device 56 (Figure 10) by means of which deep frozen
loaves or other goods are gently placed on an exit conveyor 57.
As can be seen in Figure 10, the unloading device 56 makes
use of the above-described phenomenon. The conveyor 57 is
disposed near the bottom of a return portion 58 at the exit end
of the deep freeze conveyor (which may be a spiral conveyor,
for example), said return portion 58 being determined like the
portion 54 by a set of horizontal axis pulleys over which the
chains 1 and 2 are passed. As a result, the risers 17 (18)
diverge in said portion 58 moving the cross members 19 apart
from one another and flattening the bins 20c to constitute
sloping planes. The bins therefore unload the deep frozen
loaves 28 onto a fixed slope 59 which directs them to the
conveyor 57 without jolting.
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