Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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This invention relates to a molding press for molding
materialæ having a paste-like consistency, hereinaf-ter referred
to aæ "pasty materials", ~uch as soaps or the like in any shape,
particularly a biconvex shape, for example pieces of ovoidal
shape so-called "blow-molded" and also pieces of parallelepiped
shape so-called "box~molded"0 The box-moulded piece~ can also
be o~ any shape in cross-~ec-tion
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It iB known to mold prismatic pasty material ~ s
by molding a blank within openings provided in a plate rotating
about a horizontal axis and in which dies move provided with
engraved front surfaces for stamping the pieces on the upper
and lower ~urface~ thereof.
Dies in the openings accomplish the closing and
opening stxokes of the mold rotatin~ about the horizontal axi9;
-thus, it iæ possible, by rotating st;ep by step the plate, to
bring ~he dies provided thereon at different operating stations,
suoh a~ blank feeding, blank pressing and molded piece with-
drawing stations.
In the~e prior art pres~es which mold pri~matio~
shaped pieces of pasty materials it is obviou~ tha~ the piece
readily remain~ in the molding box of the plate by inh~rent
adhesion; problems arise when it is deæired to obtain non-
e~ pC~r~ ieL;~s-
prismatic shaped pieces or~ h~L~e-t-h~Pe~, eOgO convex
shaped pieces.
The provision o~ horizontal plate pre~es9 which are
more complex, give various practical difficultie~ Among these
there is the e~fort of the manufac-turer to ~-t~ndardize the bas~c
structure of the press ~o a~ it i~ capable to mold piece~ of
any shape by interchan~ing the dies only.
It has been also proposed to provide preæses for
molding pieces of different shape ha~ing the pasty material
pieces to be molded arranged on a vertical rotating plate by
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providing an additional generally disc-shaped element having
as the main function that of retaining on the rotating plate
the material to be molded. It should be understood that it is
not easy to retain the molded piece on the rotating plate in a
desired position when the two dies forming the mold after the
pasty material piece has been molded are to be simultaneously
moved away for releasing the molded piece unles~ leaving attached
to the piece perimetral flashes having such a thickness as to
be readily visible on the finished piece, even if cut-away,
Thi~ invention propo~es a solution to the problem
of retaining the pasty material to be molded against mold ca-
vities directly provided on the Pront surface o~ a vertical
rotating plate, without the need to provide additional retaining
means so as to obtain an improved molding pres~ as simple from
the construction standpoint a~ that used for molding prismatic
pieces, with the attendant advantages of operation reliabil~ty.
According to the invention a press for molding a
material having a pasty consistenc~, particularly ~oap, of the
type compri~ing a vertical plate rotating step by step about a
horizontal a~i~ in order to bring mold cavities provided on one
or bo-th front surfaces of the rotating plate ~t a first station
in which pressing means are provided for pressing blanks of
past~ material against the mold cavities, a second station in
which movable dies are provided having mold cavities comple-
mentary to the cavities of the rotating plate and oooperating
with mold cavities of the rotating plate for molding the blanks,
a third station in which means are provided to remove the molded
pieces, is characteri~ed in that adjacent each mold cavity o~
the rotating plate through hole~ are provided in which the pa~ty
material in excess flows during the operation of the blank
pressing mean~ and the movable dies.
In order to better understand the ob~ects and the
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features of this invention several embodiment~ of the invention
will be described by way of example only in connection with
the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Fig. 1, i9 an elevation view partially cut-away
~howing a pre3s according to the invention, having a ~ingle set
of mold cavities provided on the front surface of the rotating
plate,
Fig. 2, is a sectional view taken along the line II-II
in Fig~ l;
Fig. 3, i~ a view partially in elevation and partial~
ly in ~ection showing a pre~3 according to the invention having
mold cavitie~ provided on both the front surfaces of the rotat-
ing plate, during -the molding step;
Fig. 49 is a partial vertical section o~ the rotat-
ing plate and the movable dies of F:ig. ~, during the molding
6tep in the ~econd 3 tation;
Fig. 5~ is a plan view partially cut-awa~ of the ro-
tating plate of Fig. 3, during the withdrawing step of the
molded piece~ at the third ~tation;
Flg. 69 i~ a plan view, paxtially cut-awa~ of the
ro-tating plate provided with mold cavities on both the front
surfaces thereof at the ~ir~t ~tation where pre~eing of the
blanks again~t the mold cavities by the movable dies occurs;
Fig. 7, i~ a partial cros~-~ection of a withdrawing `
device and a~ociated pick-up mean~ for the molded plece~;
Fig. ~ a partial cross-~ection of a device for
pres~lng the blanks against the mold cavitie3 of the rotating
plate; and
Fig. 99 iS a partial front view of the rotating
plate provided wlth mold cavities on both the front surfaces.
~ his invention will be now described as appli0d to
the production of ~oap-cake~9 it being however under~tood t~at
it can be applied to the production of molded pieces of any
pasty materials.
As can be seen, on the press structure 10 a rotating
plate 11 i3 mounted, which is provided on a front surface
(Figs~ 1 and 2) or on both the front sur~aces thereof (Figs.
3-9) with mold ca~itie~ 14.
The rotating plate 11 i~ supported on a center pin
13 which permits the rotating plate to be rotated by steps of
9oo.
It is seen from the Figso 2 and 9 that on the rotat-
ing plate 11 four sets of four mold cavities 14 are provided
having there-~between through hole~ 15.
For sake of clarity thrce typical positions of the
foxm cavities on the rotating plate are indicated, which are
~hown in dotted lines at A, ~ and C and which corre~pond to
three operations steps of the soap material.
~ he mold cavities provided at A are aligned with
pre~sing mean~ 16 carried by a slide 12 in the case of the
plate of Fig. 1 and 2 and by two opposite slides 12 in the case
of the plate o~ Fig~. 3-9, acting in the direction to pre~s
blanks 17 placed on belt conveyors 18 against the mold cavit$es
14. In Figs~ 2 and 9 there is diagrammaticall~ illustrated how
soap blanks 17, compri~ed of an amount of soap material exceeding
that nece3sary to the molding operation, are pres3ed against
the mold cavities 14, partially filling them and how the exceed- -
ing amount of material is forced within the through holes 15.
It should be appreciated that the pressing means 16
can be simple ~lat elements adapted to push the blanks 17 a~ainst
the mold cavitle~ 1~ in the rotating plate 11 or el~e they can
be shell-shaped elements 37 (Fig~ 5) the recesses of which have
~uch a shape and size as to per~orm a premolding of the bla~k3.
It should be also appreciated that the 30ap material
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i~ not yet efficiently retained within the mold cavities 14 ~ince
they have a convex wall and the plane tangent to every point~
thereof form~ an angle ~maller -than 90 with re~pect to the
plane of the rota-ting plate 119 i.e the vertical plane.
on the contrary, the soap material being inserted
into the through holes 15 anchors therein due to the form of the
hole walls. ~he anchoring action can be enhanced by conically
Q ~e~
~x~he through hole3 15 toward~ the opposite ~ront ~urface
of the rotating plate. However, a 5imply cylindrical form of
the holes 15 can provide a sufficient anchoring actiona
In the case of a rotating plate provided with mold
cavitie~ on a front surface only (eee ~ige. 1 and 2) the through
hole~ 15 are po~itioned intermediate the mold cavi~ie~ and
aligned thereto (~ig. 2), wherea~ i~ the ca~e of a rotating
plate provided with mold oa~itie~ o~ bo-th the front surface~
(see ~igs. 3-9), ~aid through hole~ 15 are preferably positioned
in an alternate arrangement.
More particularly, if on one ~ront surface of the
rotating plate 11 there i8 the inlet of a through hole 15, thi~
hole 15 will extend inwardly the ~otating plate 11 wi-th its
axi~ inclined to diverge from the plate axis and the outlet
thereof will be on the oppo~ite ~ront face of the rotating
plate at the periphery thereof~ while adjacent the above mention-
ed inlet there wil] be the outlet of another through hole 15 9
whose inlet will be on the aboYe mentioned oppo~ite front surface
- of the rotating plate 11, whereby the axi~ of two ad~acent
through hole~ are inclined in opposite direction~.
Acoordingly~ on ~ front ~ur~ace of the plate 119
between a mold cavi-ty 14 and the ~ext one there will be the
inlet o~ a through hole 15 aligned with the ca~itie~ and the
outlet of the corresponding through hole 15 oxiginating ~rom the
oppo~ite front ~urface of the plate 11, o~et to~ards the pe-
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riphex~ of ~aid plate, with the axis of the through holes 15being inclined so a~ to di~erge from the rotating plate axi~
in the direction from the inlet to the outlet of the holes in
order to permit the exceeding ~o~p material to be discharged
therefrom without interfering with the next pressing steps of
the blanks.
once the operation of the pres~ing means 16 i~ tex-
minated, a blank 17 is firmly anchored to each of the mold ca-
vities 14 in the location A,
~ he rotating plate 11 i~ then rotatecl by 90 so asto bring the filled mold cavities 1~ into the location B. In
this location the mold cavi-ties 14 lie in mating relationship
with complementary movable dies 19 mounted to the slide or
slide~ 12. These movable dies are ~own per ~e and will not
be described in more details. Particularly9 it is to be noted
that the movable dies have a wall portion 21 yieldably mounted
by means of a ~pring 22 which aids the withdrawal therefrom o~
the ~oap molded material ~o that it remains within the mold
cavities 14.
~ he purpose of the premolding obtained by means of
the pressing mean~ 16 and 37 i~ to improve the ~inal molding
opexation accomplished by the complementary dies 19. In this
manner the molding operation is impro~ed in that a pos~ible air
cushion which would pxevent the blanks 17 from adhering to the
die~ during the pres~ing step will be eliminated both during the
actuation of the pressing means 169 37 and during the actuation
of the dies 19.
. It i~ also advantageous that the dies 19 ha~e a light
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p~i~K~ depression 8 on the land between each o~ the~e die~
and th~ adjacent through holes 15; in this man~er a very thin
flash 23 which can be formed circumferentially around the mold
cavity by the exceeding material 17 ~ed to the ~inal molding
operation will have a small area o~ greater thicknes~ 24 which
will streng-then the bond between the material molded in the
mold cavi~ies 14 and dies 19 and the material pushed in~o the
through holes 15.
After the molding operation is ended and the movable
dies 19 are retracted, the rotating plate 11 rotate~ by further
90 so as to bring the mold cavitie~ 14 in the location a
(Figs. 2 and 5), in which location the mold cavities are facing
pick-up sucker~ 25 carried by one or more fingers 26 pivotally
con~ected at 27 to a 3tem 28 secured to the slide~ 12. Rollers
29 fi~ed to the finger 26 cooperate with guide means 30 so a~
to bring the suckers in a horizontal position when the suckers
25 are moved toward~ the rotating plate 11 (Fig~ 7) and in a
vertical po~ition, ~hown in dotted ]ine, when the suokers 25
are moved away from the rotating plate 11.
Thus, a movement o~ the slide ox ~lides 12 towards
the rotating plate 11 will bring the suckers 25 against the
molded pieces and therefore a retraction of slide3 12 will with-
draw the molded piece~ from the mold cavitie~ 1~ and move the
molded piece~ thxough cutting means 31 which remove the ~lashe~
24 therefrom and finally bring them on conveyor~ 32 which tran~-
port the molded pieces to storage.
It shoula be appreciated that for every alternati~g
stroke o~ ~lides 12 the operations at the location A~ B and C
are sLmultaneou~ly per~ormed so a~ for each movement of slide~ -
12 ~oap cakes are molded in the same n~ber as that of a mold
cavity ~et~ i.e. four for each front surface of the rotating
plate in the de~Qribed example.
~ he pres~ having mold cavities on one ~urface only
~ the rotating plate 11 is al~o provided with a crank mechanism
33 which moves pushing means 34 against the slide 12 ~o a~ to
abut the rotating plate 11 during the actuation of the pres~ing
mean~ 16 and the dies 19. On the contra~y, in the ca~e of
presses having mold cavitie~ 14 on both the front ~urfaces o~
the rotating plate (Fig. 3) the pu~hing means 34 are substituted
by other complementary dies 19.
~ he anchoring action performed by the exceeding
material being pressed within the through hole~ 15 has proved
ver~ efflclent. A9 the pre~sing operatio~s of the ~oap material
are repeated, the exceeding material which i~ pushed into the
through holes 15 under-goes a drawing e~fect and flow~ out from
the opposite front ~urface of the rotating plate where it i~
collected by scraping means 35 and the ~la~hes still attached
to the front surface~ of the rotating plate are scraped and
collected by slide ~craping mean~ 36, together with the portions
removed by the cutting mean~ 31.
~ he embodiment of the invention having a single set
of mold ca~itie~ 14 on one front surface o~ the rotating plate
and the embodiment having a double set of mold ca~ities on both
-the front ~urfaces of the rotating plate are given by way o~
example only and ~t ~s apparent to those skilled in the art
that various changes and modification~ can be made thereto
without departing from the scope of the invention. More parti-
cularly the ~umber and the shape of the mold cavitie~ in the ro-
tating plate 11 can be changed and other pre~sing mean~ 16 than
tho3e ~hown herein can be employed.
