* GB785433 (A)

Description: GB785433 (A) ? 1957-10-30

Improvements in apparatus for making wafer sandwiches

Description of GB785433 (A)

PATENT SPECIFICATION Inventor: -KENNETH FARRER. Date of filing Complete Specification: March 28, 1956. Application Date: Mlarch 29, 1955 No 9173155. Complete Specification Published: Oct 30, 1957. Index at Acceptance -Class 28 ( 1), A, E?. International O o-sification:-A 21 c A 231. COMPLETE SPECIFICATION. Improvements in Apparatus for M Iaking Water Sandwiches. We, BAKER PEFRKINS LIMITED, of Westwood Works, Peterborough, Northants, a British Company, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement - The normal practice in the manufacture of wafer sandwiches is to stack the wafer sheets produced by a wafer baking machine, to cool them if required, and then to transport them to a spreading machine In this, the wafer sheets are placed manually in close abutment on a conveyor which traverses the sheets beneath a device for applying to their upper surfaces a layer of cream or other sandwich filling such as for instance caramel, chocolate or jam The emerging creamed sheets are then made up manually into sandwich blocks, each including one dry, i e uncreamed, wafer sheet. The sandwich blocks are then stacked, subjected to pressure and, after cooling, taken to a cutting machine which severs the blocks both longitudinally and transversely into wafer sandwiches of the required size. This procedure involves the use of a considerable amount of labour in handling the wafer sheets and sandwich blocks and the object of this invention is to provide for automatic transfer of the wafer sheets

from the baking machine to and through cream spreading, sandwiching and cutting machines, and such that during normal operation of the machines no handling of the wafer sheets is necessary until the sandwiches emerge ready for packing Indeed, in suitable cases arrangements may be made for direct transfer of the finished sandwiches to a packing machine. -T It has been proposed to produce continuous wafer sheets in a baking machine and to feed two such sheets in superposition, with an interposed layer of cream, between sandwiching rollers and on to a cutting apparatus So far, however, as we are aware wafer sandwiches have not hitherto been produced commercially by this method and our invention is not concerned with continuously produced wafer sheets but relates solely to the automatic production of wafer sandwich blocks from individually baked wafer sheets of the sizes commonly produced by known wafer baking machines, e.g that described in Specification No. 702,563. The invention provides apparatus for the manufacture of wafer sandwiches comprising a wafer baking machine, a conveyor for feeding forward the wafer sheets produced by the baking machine, a selecting device for removing every nth sheet from the procession of sheets on the conveyor and feeding the extracted sheets in a continuous procession to a sandwiching machine (n being a small whole number exceeding unity), means for marshalling the sheets remaining on the conveyor and passing them in close abutment through a spreading machine, whereby said remaining sheets receive a layer of cream or the like, a further conveyor for transferring the creamed sheets from the spreading machine to a sandwiching machine, said sandwiching machine accepting in succession n 1 creamed sheets from the procession on said further conveyor and forming them into a sandwich block with a single dry sheet supplied to the sandwiching machine from the selecting device, and a cutting machine for receiving the sandwich blocks and serving to cut the blocks longi7859433 tudinally and transversely into wafer sandwiches. Normally wafer sandwiches consist of 2, 3, 4, 5 or occasionally more sheets The number N will accordingly be 2, 3, 4, 5 or more, the selecting device extracting every other wafer from the procession of sheets on the first conveyor in the case of a 2-wafer sandwich, every third wafer in the case of a 3-wafer sandwich and so on. Preferably the selecting device and the sandwiching machine are adjustable so that the apparatus can be utilized as required to produce sandwiches consisting of 2, 3, 4, 5 or more sheets as desired. Preferably a conveyor system is provided for feeding the sandwiching blocks continuously from the sandwiching machine to the cutting machine As noted later, however, it may in some cases be desired to

dispose the cutting machine, and other machinery to which the wafer sandwiches are fed from the cutting machine, at a level different from that of the rest of the plant. In this case the sandwich blocks may be fed manually to a transporter for carrying them to the different level and afterwards fed manually from the transporter to a conveyor leading to the cutting machine Alternatively, an automatic transporter may be used for conveying the sandwich blocks from the one level to the other. Certain specific embodiments of the invention will now be described in more de3,5 tail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:Fig 1 is a flow sheet; Fig 2 is a plan view of one form of apparatus according to the invention; Fig 3 is a plan view of the plant installed in the wafer room in the case of another form of apparatus according to the invention; Fig 4 is a plan view of the remainder of the plant, installed in an enrobing room at a higher level, to which sandwich blocks are transferred from the Dlant shown in Fig 3; Fig 5 is a diagrammatic side elevation illustrating the transfer of wafer sheets from the baking machine to a receiving conveyor; Fig 6 is a side elevation illustrating the selecting and marshalling units and the spreading and sandwiching machines; and Fig 7 is a corresponding plan view. Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the Figures. Fig 1 of the drawings accompanies the Provisional Specification and the remaining Figures accompany the Complete Specification. Reference will first be made to the flow sheet shown in Fig 1, which may be explained as follows:(a 1 A wafer baking machine converts batter into cooked wafer sheets between heated plates The wafers may be discharged by means of an air jet (as described in Specification No 702,563) and from the delivery chute they pass into the pockets of 70 a chain conveyor (If more than one wafer baking machine is required, they would either have a common drive for synchronisation or failing this a certain amount of spacing would be done by hand) 75 2 The selecting and marshalling unit is set, according to the number of wafers required in the finished sandwich, to divert one sheet from each predetermined number, and to close up the remainder The diverted 80 wafer sheet by-passes the spreading machine, and passes to the sandwiching machine. 3 The feed to the spreading machine has no gaps between wafer sheets The spread 85 ing machine is therefore able to work continuously, with no complicated equipment for timing or cut-off. 4 The sandwiching machine places a predetermined number of creamed sheets on 90 top of each other together with the dry sheet which by-passed the spreading machine The pile is then discharged as a wafer

sandwich block The selecting unit and sandwiching machine can be set to pro 95 dilce blocks having 2 to 5 layers of wafer ( 1 to 4 cream layers). A cooler is provided, if necessary, to harden the cream layers This is not necessary when the cream used will set without 100 cooling. 6 In the cutting unit the blocks are cut laterally and longitudinally into the required size, by means of knives, wires or saws. After cutting, the products can pass directly 105 to the packing section ( 9) if non-enrobed wafer sandwiches are required If, however, they are to be chocolate coated they will pass through an enrober and cooler. Before enrobing, the wafer sandwiches must 110 be arranged with lateral and longitudinal spacing to enable the chocolate to cover all faces and to avoid sticking Coming from the cutting machine the wafer sandwiches are close-spaced (the knives or saws being 115 only about 020 " thick) with gaps where the original blocks ended For a tunnel type cooler they must be closed up longitudinally then spaced out evenly both laterally and longitudinally When a circuitous 120 type cooler is used they must additionally be batched into tray loads with the necessary gaps between batches. 7 It is proposed to use a standard enrober which has a nominal width of 32 " 125 rlhe sandwich blocks are therefore conveniently fed to the cutting unit in their lengthwise direction so that, their width being about 11 l', it is convenient to use a cutting machine which transforms one line 130 785,433 the enrober 20 As previously mentioned the elevator 23 may be arranged to transfer the sandwich blocks automatically from the lower to the higher level. As shown in Figs 5-7, the receiving con 70 veyor 12 comprises a pair of chains 27, carrying a series of equally spaced pushers 28 which push the wafer sheets 29 forwards in a regularly spaced procession along a fixed skid 30, the ends of the wafer sheets 75 29 projecting beyond the chains 27 as shown in Fig 7 The chute 11 (Fig 2 leading from the wafer baking machine deposits the wafer sheets in succession into a collecting box 31 (Fig 5), the base of which is con 80 stituted by a tray 32 hinged on a transverse axis 33 A cam 35, which rotates with the sprocket 34 of the collecting conveyor, coacts with a follower 36 on a lever 37, mounted on a fixed pivot 38 and connected 85 by a link 39 to the tray 32 A spring 63 holds the follower 36 in contact with the cam 35 which periodically rocks the tray 32 about its hinge 33, into the position shown in chain-dotted lines, causing it to deliver 90 a wafer sheet from the bottom of the box 31 The wafer sheet so deposited is fed by a pair of V belts 40 on to a pair of parallel fixed skids 41, whence the wafer sheet is picked up by one of the pushers 28 95 of the receiving conveyor.

The receiving conveyor thus feeds a uniformly spaced procession of wafer sheets along a horizontal path to a selecting station where every nth sheet is removed from the 100 procession by a selecting conveyor 42 (Fiig. 6), the remaining sheets passing on via the marshalling apparatus 13 to the spreading machine 15 If it is desired to cool the sheets, or condition them (e g by passage 105 through a humid atmosphere) before spreading, the conveyor 12 can be arranged to traverse them through a cooling or conditioning chamber Alternatively the sheets can be cooled and/or conditioned after they 110 have passed the selecting station. The selecting conveyor 42 comprises a pair of chains 43 disposed outside the chains 27 of the receiving conveyor in an upwardly inclined path, both conveyors travelling at 115 the same speed, i e, 40 ft per minute The chains 43 of the selecting conveyor carry adjustable fingers 44 for engaging the ends of wafer sheets on the receiving conveyor and diverting them from the procession 120 thereon The fingers 44 may be selectively moved inwards to cause the selecting conveyor to divert every other sheet from the receiving conveyor in the case when a twowafer sandwich is to be made, every third 125 sheet in the case of a three-wafer sandwich and so on. The dimension of the sheets in the lengthwise direction of the receiving conveyor being approximately 1121-", the spacing of 130 into two so that the wafer sandwiches, with the gaps between them, will occupy the full enrober and cooler width. 8 Cooler for setting the chocolate. 9 Packing section. The apparatus according to the invention thus includes a number of units with conveyors between the various units It has the advantage of saving space and labour, providing maximum hygiene, giving a constant output of sandwiches in perfect condition and avoiding bottlenecks It also permits of flexibility of layout to cater for installation in existing buildings of various shapes, Thus, in addition to a straight-line arrangement it is possible, by the use of suitable inter-unit conveyors, to arrange the plant in, for example, L or U formation, and by the use of elevators to dispose parts of the plant on different floors. Turning now to Fig 2, it will be seen that the plant there illustrated includes two wafer baking machines 10, l OA which deliver wafer sheets down chutes 11, 1 1 A to receiving conveyors 12, 12 A The wafer sheets are then fed to selecting and marshalling units 13, 13 A These operate, as described later, to extract dry wafer sheets at intervals from the processions on the respective conveyors 12, 12 A; to convey the extracted dry wafer sheets in succession to sandwiching machines 14, 14 A and to close up the remaining sheets and pass them in close

abutment through cream spreading machines 15, 15 A and thence to the sandwiching machines 14, 14 A The sandwich blocks are conveyed from the sandwiching machines 14, 14 A through cooling tunnels 16, 16 A to cutting machines 17, 17 A of known type which cut the sandwich blocks both longitudinally and transversely into wafer sandwiches The two columns of wafer sandwiches are carried from the cutting machines by a conveyor 18 to a batching machine 19 and thence to an enrober 20 and through a circuitous cooler 21 to a packing conveyor 22. In the plant shown in Fig 3, there are again two production lines, but in this case each of the collecting conveyors 12, 12 A is fed by two wafer baking machines 10, l OA respectively, as shown In addition, the upper production line is modified, as later explained, to produce caramel wafer sandwiches The sandwich blocks are fed manually from the cooler 16, 16 A to an elevator 23 for carrying them to an enrobing room at a higher level which contains the plant shown in Fig 4 The sandwich blocks are fed manually from the elevator 23 on to a conveyor 24 which carries them to the cutting machine 17, whence the wafer sandwiches pass to a bunching conveyor 25, then to a conveyor 26 which spreads them lengthways, then to the batcher 19 and finally to 785,433 the non-selected sheets beyond the selecting station will be approximately as follows:2-wafer sandwich: sheets uniformly spaced, at 48 " pitch. 3-wafer sandwich: 2 sheets at 24 " pitch followed by a sheet at 48 " pitch. 4-wafer sandwich: 3 sheets at 24 ' pitch followed by a sheet at 48 " pitch. 5-wafer sandwich: 4 sheets at 24 " pitch followed by a sheet at 48 " pitch. The marshalling unit 15 has to cater for this irregular spacing of the sheets remaining On the receiving conveyor 12 and to close them up into close abutment as they pass on to a band 45 which feeds them through the spreading machine 15 The sheets moreover require to be traversed through the spreading machine more rapidly in the case of a 5-wafer sandwich, where 4 sheets of each 5 produced by the baking machine have to be creamed, than in the case of a 4-wafer sandwich, more slowly in the case of a 3-wafer sandwich and still more slowly in the case of a 2-wafer sandwich. The marshalling unit has two pairs of horizontally travelling bands (referred to as marshalling and transfer bands respectively), the sheets being transferred in succession from the receiving conveyor to the marshalling bands 46 The spacing of the sheets is rendered uniform, the pitch being reduced to 13 8 ", just before they pass to the transfer bands 47, which move more slowly than the marshalling bands 46.

Apart from any variation in the speed of the whole apparatus, the marshalling bands 46 have a single speed but the transfer bands 47 have four speeds according to the different types of sandwich:2-wafer san. 3,, 4,, 5,, dwich 11 5 ft/min. , 15 33 ft/min. , 17 25 ft/min. , 18 4 ft/min. This uniform spacing of the sheets is effected by a conveyor, the upper run of which is below the level of the upper run of and travels in the same direction as the marshalling bands 46, comprising a pair of chains 51 carrying pegs 48 which are periodically raised into the path of the sheets to retard them The pegs 48, which are pitched 13 8 " apart, are normally down but carry rollers 49 which coact with a movable cam bar 50 to raise the pegs 48 to their operative position These marshalling chains 51 are driven at the same speed as the transfer bands 47, and the camp bar 50 is periodically moved towards the oncoming procession of sheets and thea rapidly back aain, as more fully described in Application No 9174/55 (Serial No 785,434), by a lever 52 carrying a follower 53 which is d 5 maintained by a spring 54 in contact with one of a Series of cams 55 A series of alternative cams is provided for coaction with the cam bar 50 to give it different movements according to the make-up of the 7 (o wafer sandwich. In the case of the 2-wafer sandwich, th 1 cam bar 50 occupies a fixed position, herein termed station 1, and raises the pegs 48 at this position to retard the sheets 29, the 75 i pegs remaining up beyond this station until the sheets have moved on to the transfer bands The pegs retard the sheets in succession, coming up in the gaps and reducing the pitch of the sheets to 138 " 80 In the case of the 3-wafer sandwich, the cam bar 50 is periodically moved forwards to a second station and then back to the first station, the Degs 48 coming up in the long gaps at the first station and in the 85 short gaps at the second station In the case of a 4-wafer sandwich, the cam bar moves forward to 2nd and 3rd stations, the pegs coming up in the long gaps at the first station, in the first short gap at the second 9 C, station and in the second short gap at the third station In the case of a 5-wafer sandwich, the cam bar moves forward to a fourth station, the pegs again coming up in the long gaps at the first station and in the 9 three short gaps at the second, third and fourth stations respectively. To adjust the marshalling unit to suit the various make-ups of sandwich, the operator merely has: 10 ( 4 (a) to adjust the fingers on the selecting conveyor, (b) to adjust, by means of a change-speed gear box 56, the speeds of the cam shaft, the marshalling chains and the

transfer 105 bands, (c) to select, by axial movement of the cam shaft 57, the appropriate cam 55 for coaction with the cam bar 50. The cam shaft 57 is driven from the gear 11 i box 56 at different speeds for the four different types of sandwich appropriate to ensure travel of the cam bar at the speeds necessary to raise the peas at the proper stations 115 As an alternative to using movable pegs. the marshalling chains may have pegs which project permanently from their upper run. and the cam shaft may be arranged to control the position of jockey pulleys which lift 120 ' a variable portion of the upper run of the chains into a position such that the pegs are effective to retard the sheets. To close up completely the procession of sheets as they pass from the transfer bands 125 47 on to the band 45 of the spreading ma185,433 785,433 chine, this spreader band 45 moves appropriately more slowly than the transfer bands 47 The spreading machine 15, which is of conventional design, receives its drive from the drive to the transfer bands so that its band keeps in step with the four speeds of the transfer bands A variable speed gear is incorporated for fine adjustment of the spreader band speed. The speeds of the spreader band corresponding to those of the transfer bands given previously are: 4, 5,, 2-wafer san 3,, dwich 9 58 ft/min. , 12 77 ft/min. , 14 37 ft/min. , 15 33 ft/min. After leaving the spreading machine the sheets pass on to faster moving conveyor bands 58 which space them out and ensure by means of retarding or advancing fingers a regular pitch feed to the sandwiching machine 14 This, as more fully explained in Application No 9175/55 (Serial No. 785,435), comprises dry wafer fingers 59 for receiving dry wafer sheets from a descending section of the selecting conveyor 42, support fingers 60 disposed beneath the dry wafer fingers 59, a vertically reciprocating table 61 and a stop 62 The dry wafer sheets are guided into the dry wafer fingers 59 from the descending section of the conveyor 42 by a band 64 and a nose piece 65 over which the band 64 runs A set of cams on a main cam shaft opens and closes the supporting fingers 60, raises and lowers the table 61 and raises and lowers the stop 63 A set of cams on an indexing shaft serves to open and close the dry wafer fingers 59 and to hold off until required the movement of the table 61 and the stop 62 which would otherwise be imparted by the main cam shaft. The operation of the sandwiching machine will be described with reference to the formation of a four-wafer sandwich block.

The indexing shaft in this case performs one revolution for every three revolutions of the main cam shaft To adjust the machine to suit other types of sandwich, the gear ratio between the two shafts only needs to be altered, the gear ratio being 1/1 for a 2wafer sandwich, 1/2 for a 3-wafer sandwich, 1/3 for a 4-wafer sandwich and 1/4 for a 5-wafer sandwich. As a creamed wafer sheet is fed into position above the table 61 against the stop 62, a dry wafer sheet has fallen from the dry wafer fingers 59 on to the support fingers 60 as indicated in Fig 6 The latter then move out to allow the dry sheet to fall on to the creamed sheet The two sheets are then raised by the table 61 and the support fingers 6 move in to support them, the table 61 moving down again to receive the next creamed sheet This cycle of operations is 65 repeated, with the result that three sheets then rest on the support fingers 60 When the table 61 has descended, and the support fingers 60 have opened and allowed the three-wafer sandwich block to fall on to the 70 third creamed sheet on the conveyor bands 58, the stop 62 is moved down to allow the completed four-wafer sandwich block to be carried away by the bands 58 after which the stop is raised again A dry wafer sheet 75 has, meantime, been collected by the dry wafer fingers 59 and dropped on to the support fingers 60. The dry wafer sheet is thus on top of the sandwich, and the make up of the sandwich 80 is controlled by the number of up strokes allowed to the table 61 before the stop 62 is removed to allow the sandwich block to travel on This is determined by the speed ratio of the indexing shaft 85 After leaving the sandwiching machine 14, the sandwich blocks are carried by the belts 58 beneath a pressure unit (not shown, but described in Application No 9175/55 (Serial No 785,435)), by which spring pressure is 90 applied to compress the blocks, and then through the cooling tunnel 16. The cutting machine may be of any conventional type, but it is preferably of the construction described in Application No 95 9177/55 (Serial No 785,436), comprising a first pusher which pushes the sandwich blocks alternately to left and right through cutter blades, saws or wires, which cut the blocks in a direction transverse to the con 100 veyor which feeds them into the cutting machine, and a pair of second pushers These move the severed blocks through further cutter blades, saws or wires, to cut them in the other direction, and on to a pair of 105 dead plates from which they pass to parallel conveyors. The wafer sandwiches thus travel in two feed columns, in relatively staggered groups, from the cutting machine The space be 110 tween the sandwiches after cutting is only about 02 " and it would be difficult to separate them laterally by wedge-shaped guides The following apparatus may therefore be used, likewise as described in 115

Application No 9177/55 (Serial No. 785,436), for effecting lateral separation of the-sandwiches and bringing the two feed columns together before passage of the sandwiches to the enrober 120 Alternate lines of sandwiches in each column pass below deflectors which deflect them downwardly so that they follow narrow conveyors which proceed to a lower level than that of similar narrow conveyors which 125 carry the other lines of sandwiches The non-deflected lines in each column and the deflected lines then pass on to intermediate weside conveyors extending for the whole width of the machine and converging upwardly to a common level During their travel on these intermediate conveyors, the 3 sandwiches pass between guides which provide the required lateral separation between the lines and also lateral convergence of the two columns All the lines of sandwiches from both columns, still in their respective groups longitudinally but now uniformly spaced laterally, are delivered by the intermediate conveyors to a common wide conveyor leading to the enrober 20. If the enrober is followed by a cooling 1,5 tunnel along which the enrobed sandwiches pass in a single plane, it is only necessary to provide for the closing up of the longitudinal gaps between the spaced groups of wafer sandwiches and then to transfer the sandwiches to a faster conveyor whichseparates them longitudinally before they reach the enrober. Where, however, the enrober delivers the enrobed sandwiches on to plaques suitable for use in a circuitous cooler and the quantity of sandwiches required per plaque is an integral number of pairs of groups, the columns of groups on the two halves of the conveyor are aligned by periodically arresting the columns by suitable stops to bring them into step laterally, and the wafer sandwiches are spaced longitudinally by feeding them to a faster conveyor which leads to the enrober. If the plaque quantity is not an integral number of pairs of groups, the sandwiches are dealt with, so far as longitudinal spacing is concerned, by the method described for use with the tunnel type cooler, and are then batched before passing to the enrober The batcher, indicated at 19 in Fig 2, may be of the construction described in Application No 9177/55 (Serial No 785,436) Alternatively it may comprise a lifting plate, disposed between the faster conveyor and a conveyor leading to the enrober, which is periodically lifted by a cam to cause the leading wafer sandwiches to be arrested by a stop The following wafer sandwiches close up behind the lifted plate which is then lowered to allow the batch of arrested wafer sandwiches to pass on to the enrober. The conveyor leading to the enrober travels faster than the batcher

conveyor so as to space out longitudinally to a sufficient extent the wafer sandwiches closed up in batches by the action of the batcher. Provision is made for appropriate synchronisation of the constituent units of the plant. If it is desired to make caramel wafer sandwiches, the plant may include multiple spreaders Thus, as indicated in the upper production line in Fig 3, the sandwich blocks produced by the passage of the wafer sheets through the selecting and marshalling unit 13, the cream spreader 15 and the sandwiching machine 14 as described above, may be passed through a second selecting and marshalling unit 131, a second spreader 151 70 for applying a coating of caramel to the sandwich blocks and a second sandwiching machine 141 Thus in one example, the first unit 13 selects alternate sheets as usual for a two-wafer sandwich, the remainder 75 being spread with cream The first sandwiching machine 14 puts the dry wafers on, to complete a 2-wafer cream sandwich The second unit 131 selects alternate cream sandwiches, the remainder being spread with 80 caramel Finally the second sandwiching machine 141 puts the selected cream sandwiches on Thus the final 4-wafer sandwich is wafer-cream-wafer-caramel-wafercream-wafer Multiple spreads may also 85 be used for spreading two or more kinds or colours of cream or of other coating materials on the wafer sheets. Ouir Application No 9174/55 (Serial No. 785,434) of even date claims, in apparatus 90 for the manufacture of wafer sandwiches, the combination of a main conveyor for feeding forward a uniformly spaced procession of wafer sheets, a selecting conveyor travelling in a path intersecting the path of the main 9 a conveyor and having members for engaging and diverting every nth sheet in the pro-cession (n being a small whole number exceeding unity), and transferring said diverted sheets in succession to a sandwiching ma 100 chine, the selecting conveyor being adjustable to vary the incidence of engagement of said members with the sheets and therefore the value of nz, an adjustable marshalling unit for closing up the gaps in the proces 105 sion of sheets remaining on the main conveyor, and means for passing said remaining sheets in close abutment through a spreader for applying a layer of cream or other sandwich filling to said sheets and 11 i thereafter conveying the creamed sheets in a uniformly spaced procession to the sandwiching machine.

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* GB785434 (A)

Description: GB785434 (A) ? 1957-10-30

Improvements in or relating to the manufacture of biscuits

Description of GB785434 (A)

PATENT SPECIFICATION Inventor: -KENNETH FARRER. 785,434 Ri W Date of filing Complete Specification: March 28, 1956. Application Date: March 29, 1955 No 9174155. Complete Specification Published: Oct 30, 1957. Index at Acceptance:-Classes 28 ( 1), A, H; and 78 ( 1), A 1 (C 2 X: C 3 X: 04 F 1: H 17). International Classification:-A 21 c A 231 B 65 g. COMPLETE SPECIFICATION. Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Biscuits. We, BAKER PERKINS LIMITED, of Westwood Works, Peterborough, Northants, a British Company, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- This invention provides a selecting apparatus for diverting individual biscuits or like articles from an evenly spaced procession of such articles on a main conveyor, which is adjustable so as to permit of diversion at will of every alternate article, every third article, every fourth article and so on. The selecting apparatus according to the invention comprises a selecting conveyor travelling in a path intersecting the path of the main conveyor, the selecting conveyor having members for engaging and diverting each nth article from the procession (n being a small whole number exceeding unity) and being adjustable to vary the incidence of engagement of said members with the articles and therefore the value of n. Preferably the selecting conveyor travels in the same direction as and at approximately the same speed as the main conveyor and has

adjustable members which may be selectively moved from an inoperative to an operative position to vary the effective pitch of the selecting conveyor, i e so that the fingers engage and divert every other article from the procession, or every third article, or every fourth article and so on. The articles left on the main conveyor will (except when N = 2) be irregularly spaced, the spacing varying according to the setting of the selecting conveyor, and the apparatus according to the invention includes an adjustable marshalling unit for reducing and rendering uniform the spacing of the articles This marshalling Ounit may comprise a marshalling conveyor aligned with and receiving the articles from the main conveyor, a peg conveyor travelling in the same direction as the marshalling conveyor anci carrying retarding pegs, cam controlled mechanism for moving the pegs into co-operation with the articles on the marshalling conveyor to retard them and reduce the gaps between them, said cam controlled mechanism being adjustable to bring the pegs into co-operation with the articles at stations suited to their spacing in the procession, and a transfer conveyor receiving the articles from the marshalling conveyor and travelling more slowly so as to suit the reduced spacing of the articles in the procession. One embodiment of the invention, which forms part of an apparatus for making wafer sandwiches, will now be described in more detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:Fig 1 is a side elevation of the selecting and marshalling unit, Fig 2 is a corresponding plan view; Fig 3 is a cross section, on a larger scale, of the main receiving conveyor; Fig 4 is a cross section, also on a larger scale, of the selecting conveyor; Fig 5 is a diagrammatic longitudinal section, also on a larger scale, of the marshalling conveyor; Fig 6 is a section on the line VI-VI in Fig 5; Figs 7, 7 A and 7 B are diagrams showing successive stages in the transfer of a wafer sheet from the main conveyor to the selecting conveyor; Figs 8 and 8 A are diagrams illustrating a cycle of operation of the marshalling unit in the case of a two-wafer sandwich; SO Figs 9, 9 A and 9 B are diagrams illustrating a cycle of operation of the marshalling unit in the case of a three-wafer sandwich; Figs 10, 10 A, l OB and 10 C are diagrams illustrating a cycle of operation of the marshalling unit in the case of a four-wafer sandwich; and Figs 11, 11 A, li B, 11 C and 11 D are diagrams illustrating a cycle of operation of the marshalling unit in the case of a fivewafer sandwich. Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the Figures. A main receiving conveyor 20, which relm ceives individual wafer sheets 21 from one or more baking machines as described in Application No 9173/55 (Serial No 785,433), comprises a pair of chains 22 (Fig 3) carrying upstanding lugs 23 for feeding forward -0 the wafer sheets

and a fixed skid 24 disposed between the chains 22; the wafer sheets 21 lying flat on the conveyor with their ends projecting beyond the chains 22. The wafer sheets 21 are spaced by the lugs 23 at a uniform pitch, in the particular case under description 24 " from trailing edge to trailing edge, defined by the lugs. The receiving conveyor 20 thus feeds a uniformly spaced procession of wafer sheets 21 along a horizontal path to a selecting station 25 (Fig 1) where every nth sheet is removed from the procession by a selecting conveyor 26, the remaining sheets passing on via a marshalling apparatus 27 to a spreading machine 28 of known type, which applies a layer of cream or other sandwich filling to the upper surfaces of the sheets. If it is desired to cool the sheets, or condition them (e g by passage through a humid atmosphere) before spreading, the conveyor can be arranged to traverse them through a cooling or conditioning chamber Alternatively the sheets can be cooled and/or conditioned after they have passed the selecting station 25. The selecting conveyor 26 comprises a pair of chains 29 (Fig 4) disposed outside the chains 22 of the receiving conveyor in an upwardly inclined path, both conveyors ci travelling at the same speed, i e 40 ft per minute The chains 29 of the selecting conveyor carry fingers 30 for engaging the ends of wafer sheets 21 on the main conveyor and diverting them from the procession thereon. The fingers 30 may be attached to brackets 31 in alternative positions, viz an operative position shown in full lines in Fig 4, in which they are effective to engage and lift a wafer sheet 21 from the main conveyor 20, and an inoperative position shown in chaindotted lines in Fig 4 As shown in Figs. 7, 7 A and 7 B successive pairs of fingers have upstanding flanges 30 A, 30 B at their leading and trailing edges respectively The front pair of fingers 30 engages beneath the leading edges of the oncoming wafer sheet 21, as shown in Figs 7, 7 A, to lift it off the conveyor 20 and finally, as shown in Fig. 7 B, the rear pair of fingers 30 engages be 70 neath the trailing edge of the wafer sheet, the flanges 30 B acting as pushers during travel of the wafer sheets along the upward and horizontal runs of the selecting conveyor 26 This conveyor takes the dry wafer 7 a 5 sheets separated from the procession on the main conveyor 20 to a sandwiching machine 60, described in detail in Application No. 9175/55, where the dry wafer sheets are combined with the appropriate number of SO creamed wafer sheets from the spreading machine 28 The flanges 30 A on the leading fingers 30 support the wafer sheets when on the downward run of the selecting conveyor 26 A belt 32 (shown in

Fig 4 but not in 85 Fig 1) supports the wafer sheets during their travel on the conveyor 26 from the separating station 25 to the sandwiching machine 60. The sandwiching machine, which is fully 90 described in Application No 9175/55 (Serial No 785,435) comprises dry wafer fingers 61 for receiving the dry wafer sheets from the conveyor 26, support fingers 62 into which the dry wafer sheets fall from the fingers 61, 9, a reciprocating table 63 which co-operates with the fingers 62 to form a sandwich consisting of one or more creamed wafer sheets topped by a single dry wafer sheet, and a stop 64 which is periodically withdrawn, as 100 shown, to allow the conveyor to feed completed wafer sandwiches forward The dry wafer sheets are guided from the downward run of the conveyor 26 into the fingers 61 by means of a band 65 running over a nose 105 piece 66. As will be readily understood, by appropriate adjustment of the positions of the fingers 30, the selecting conveyor 26 may be arranged to divert every other sheet from the 110 conveyor 20 in the case when a two-wafer sandwich is to be made, every third sheet in the case of a three-wafer sandwich and so on. In order to effect selection of the number lls of dry wafer sheets appropriate to the chosen value of N the effective pitch of the selecting conveyor 26 will be as follows:2-wafer sandwich= operative fingers at 48 " pitch 3-wafer sandwich= operative fingers at 72 " pitch 4-wafer sandwich= operative fingers at 96 " pitch 5-wafer sandwich= operative Jingers at 120 " pitch It will be appreciated that in order to obtain the values of pitch shown in this table 785,434 785,434 the selecting conveyor 26 will be provided with fingers 30 at 24 " pitch. The dimension of the sheets 21 in the lengthwise direction of the conveyor 20 being approximately 111-Y the spacing of the non-selected sheets on the conveyor beyond the selecting station 25 will be approximately as follows: 2-wafer sandwich: sheets uniformly spaced, at 48 " pitch. 3-wafer sandwich: 2 sheets at 24 " pitch, followed by a sheet at 48 ' pitch. 4-wafer sandwich: 3 sheets at 24 " pitch, followed by a sheet at 48 " pitch. 5-wafer sandwich: 4 sheets at 24 " pitch, followed by a sheet at 48 " pitch. 2 o The marshalling unit 27 has to cater for this irregular spacing of the sheets remaining on the conveyor 20 and to close them up into close abutment as they pass on to the band of the spreading machine The sheets 2,5 moreover require to be traversed through the spreading machine 28 more rapidly in the case of a 5-wafer sandwich, where 4

sheets of each 5 produced by the baking machine have to be creamed, than in the case of a 4-wafer sandwich, more slowly in the case of a 3-wafer sandwich and still more slowly in the case of a 2-wafer sandwich. The marshalling unit has two pairs of horizontally travelling bands (referred to as marshalling bands 33 and transfer bands 34 respectively), the sheets being transferred in succession from the conveyor 20 to the marshalling bands 33 The spacing of the sheets is rendered uniform, the pitch being reduced to 138 ", just before they pass to the transfer bands 34 which move more slowly than the marshalling bands 33. The marshalling bands 33 are driven at the same speed, 40 ft per minute, as the conveyor 20, but the transfer bands 34 and a pair of marshalling peg chains 35 are driven at the same speed, which is slower than that of the marshalling bands 33, through a change-speed gear box 36 The gear box also drives the marshalling bands 33 by a chain and sprocket drive 37 and the transfer bands 34 and the marshalling chains 35 are respectively driven from the gear box by chain and sprocket drives 38, 39 The transfer bands 34 and the marshalling chains 35 are driven, by adjustment of the gear box 36, at the following speeds in accordance with the type of sandwich being made: 2-wafer san 3,. 4, 5,, dwich 11 5 ft/min. , 15 33 ft/min. 17.25 ft/min. 18 4 ft/min. The uniform spacing of the sheets 21 is effected by the marshalling chains 35 which run at a level below that of the upper run of 65 the marshalling bands 33 as indicated in Figs 5 and 6 Extending at intervals between the chains 35 are rods 40, each carrying a pair of pegs 41 One peg of each pair carries a roller 42 which runs along a 70 horizontal surface 43, as indicated at the left hand side of Fig 5, until it meets a sliding trip cam 44 So long as the roller 42 is on the surface 43 the pegs 41 remain below the level of the marshalling bands 33, but 75 as soon as the roller 42 rides up on to the cam 44 the pegs 41 are raised into the path of an oncoming sheet 21 to retard it as shown at the right hand side of Fig 5 and in Fig 6. The pegs 41 are pitched at 138 " apart and 80 the cam 44 is movable by a lever 45 (Fig 1) which carries a follower 46 urged by a spring 47 into contact with one of a series of cams 48 on a cam shaft 49 The cam shaft 49, which is driven from the gear box 36 at a 85 variable speed related to that of the transfer bands 34 by a drive 50, may be shifted axially, according to the make-up of the wafer sandwich, to bring the cams 48 alternatively into position to govern the move 90 ment of the

trip cam 44 Alternatively, a fixed cam shaft may be used and alternative cams fitted to it. After the spacing of the sheets has been rendered uniform by the marshalling unit 27, 95 as will shortly be described in detail, they pass from the transfer bands 34 to a spreader band 51 which carries them beneath the spreader 28 The spreader band 51, moves more slowly than the transfer bands 34, so 100 that the procession of sheets on the spreader band is completely closed up The spreader band 51 receives its drive from the drive to the transfer bands 34 so that it keeps in step with the four speeds of the transfer 105 bands A variable speed gear (not shown) is incorporated for fine adjustment of the spreader band speed. The speeds of the spreader band corresponding to those of the transfer bands given 110 previously are:2-wafer sandwich 3, 4,, 9.58 ft/min. 12.77 ft/min. 14.37 ft/min. 15.33 ft/min. The creamed sheets leaving the spreader 28 are conveyed to the sandwiching machine by bands 52 (Fig 2) which travel more quickly than the spreader band 51 and space the sheets out to form a uniformly spaced 120 procession as shown at the right hand side of Fig 2. The way in which the marshalling unit operates selectively to close up the gaps in the procession of sheets 21 leaving the select 125 ing station 25 in accordance with the maiaeup of the sandwich will now be described in detail with reference to Figs 8-11 Successive sandwiches are identified in these Figures by the letters A, B, C etc and the component sheets of these sandwiches are identified by the associated letter together with a numeral, the component sheets being numbered in succession, commencing with the numeral 1, from front to rear in the procession. In the case of the 2-wafer sandwich shown in Figs 8 and 8 A, every alternate sheet, i e. 1 A, l B, IC, is removed by the selecting conveyor 26 and the marshalling unit has to deal with a procession of sheets 2 A, 2 B, 2 C spaced uniformly at 48 " pitch The marshalling chains 35 and the transfer bands 34 travel at 11 5 ft/min and a circular cam on and coaxial with the cam shaft 49 is then operative on the follower 46 with the result that the trip cam 44 occupies a fixed station indicated as 51 The pegs 41 are accordingly raised in succession at this station, a peg 41 being raised to retard the sheet 2 A as its leading edge reaches this station (Fig 8), the next peg 41 being raised to retard the sheet 2 B as its leading edge reaches this station (Fig 8 A) and so on The effect is to reduce the spacing of the sheets to a uniform pitch of 13 8 ".

In the case of the 3-wafer sandwich shown in Figs 9, 9 A and 9 B, each third sheet, i e. 1 A, l B, 1 C is removed by the selecting conveyor 26 and the marshalling unit has to deal with a procession of sheets consisting of sheets 2 A and 3 A at 24 " pitch, followed by sheet 2 B at 48 " pitch from 3 A and so on. The gear box is adjusted to cause the marshalling chains 35 and the transfer bands 34 to travel at 15 33 ft/min and the cam shaft 49 is shifted to cause the trip cam 44 to be moved periodically from station 51 to a station 52 and back again The trip cam 44 raises a peg 41 at station 51 into each long gap in the procession and raises a peg 41 at station 52 into each short gap in the procession Thus the leading edge of sheet 2 A (which is spaced from its predecessor by a long gap) is retarded by a peg when it reaches station 51 (Fig 9) The trip cam 44 is then moved forward to station 52 (Fig. 9 M and causes the next peg 41 to rise to engage the leading edge of the next sheet 3 A as it reaches station 52 The trip cam is then moved back to station 51 (Fig 9 B) and rises to engage the leading edge of the next sheet 2 B when it reaches station SI Again the effect is to reduce the spacing of the sheets to a uniform pitch of 13 8 ". in the case of the 4-wafer sandwich shown in Pies 10 1 A l OB and l OC, each fourth sheet, i e A, 1 BB I is removed by the selecting conveyor 26 and the marshalling unit has to deal with a procession of sheets consisting of 2 A, 3 A and 4 A at 24 " pitch followed by 2 B at 48 " pitch and so on. The gear box is adjusted to cause the marshalling chains 35 and the transfer bands to travel at 17 25 ft/min and the cam shaft 44 7 fl is shifted to bring another cam into operation The trip cam 44 is then periodicallh moved from station 51 to stations 52 and 53 and then back to station Si the pegs 41 coming up in the log gaps at station SI, in the 7. first short gap at station 52 and in the second short gap at station 53 Figs 10, l OA, l OB and l OG respectively show a peg 41 being brought up to retard sheet 2 A at station 51. sheet 3 A at station 52, sheet 4 A at station 53 S: and sheet 2 B again at station 51 The effect once more is to reduce the spacing of the sheets to a uniform pitch of 13 8 ". In the case of the 5-wafer sandwich shown in Figs 11 1 A li B, l C and li D, each So fifth sheet, i e l A 1 B, IC, is removed by the selecting conveyor 26 and the marshalling unit has to deal with a procession of sheets consisting of 2 A, 3 A 4 A and SA at 24 " pitch followed by 2 B at 48 " pitch and 9 c, so on The gear box is adjusted to cause the marshalling chains to travel at 18 40 ft/min. and the cam shaft 49 is shifted to bring yet another cam into

operation The trip cam 44 is then periodically moved from station 9. 51 to stations 52 o 53 and 54 and then back to station 51, the pegs 41 coming up in the long gaps at station 51 and in the three short gaps at stations 52 and 53 and 54 Figs. 11, l A, 11 B, ll C and 11 D respectively l O 11 show a peg 41 being brought up to retard sheet 2 A at station 51, sheet 3 A at station 52, sheet 4 A at station 53, sheet SA at station 54 and sheet 2 B at station 51 The effect again is to reduce the spacing of the 1 (c 5 sheets to a uniform pitch of 138 ". In fact, the positions of station 52 are slightly different for 4 and 5-wafer sandwiches than is its position for a 3-wafer sandwich, while the position of station 53 11 i differs slightly in the case of 4 and 5-wafer sandwiches but to simplify the above explanation the positions of these stations have been assumed to be same for ail types of sandwich 115 To adjust the marshalling unit to suit the various make-ups of sandwich, the operator merely has: (a) to adjust the fingers 30 on the selecting conveyor 26, 12 t I (b) to adjust, by means of the gear box 36, the speeds of the cam shaft 49, the marshalling chains 35 and the transfer bands 34, (c) to select the appropriate carm 48 for 125 coaction with the trip cam 44. As an alternative to using movable pegs 41, the marshalling chains 35 may have pegs which project permanently from their upper run, and the cam shaft 49 may be arranged 131 785,434 may be selectively moved from an inoperative position to an operative position to vary the effective pitch of the selecting conveyor.

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* GB785435 (A)

Description: GB785435 (A) ? 1957-10-30

A new or improved sandwiching machine

Description of GB785435 (A)

PATENT SPECIFICA Ti ON Itzventor:-KENNETH FARRER. Date of filing Complete Specification: March 28, 1956. Application Date: March 29, 1955 No 9175155. Complete Specification Piiblished: Oct 30, 1957. Index at Acceptance:-Class 28 ( 1), A, H. International Classification:-A 21 c A 231. COMPLETE SPECIFICATION. A New or Improved Sandwiching Machine. We, BAKER PERKINS LIMITED, of Westwood Works, Peterborough, Northants, a British Company, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement - This invention provides a sandwiching machine for producing sandwiches consisting of layers of wafer sheets, biscuits or the like (hereinafter for brevity referred to as wafer sheets) with intervening layers of cream or other filling material (hereinafter for brevity referred to as cream). The invention provides a machine for producing wafer sandwiches comprising a conveyor for feeding creamed wafer sheets, with their creamed surfaces uppermost, successively into position against a stop, means for periodically lifting arrested wafer sheets from the conveyor and afterwards allowing the lifted wafer sheets to descend into position on top of another arrested wafer sheet, thereby forming a sandwich of superposed creamed wafer sheets in front of the stop, mechanism for incorporating at the top of each sandwich a single dry wafer sheet, and means for periodically withdrawing the stop to permit the conveyor to feed completed wafer sandwiches forward. The invention includes a machine for producing wafer sandwiches, each consisting of a dry wafer sheet on top of N creamed wafer sheets, N being a small whole number, comprising a conveyor for feeding creamed wafer sheets, with their creamed surfaces uppermost, successively into position against a stop, a reciprocating table for periodically lifting the arrested wafer sheets from the conveyor and into the grip of support fingers, the table nerforming n-1 strokes per sandwich, means for periodically opening the support fingers to allow wafer sheets held thereby to fall on top of a wafer sheet arrested by the stop, means for introducing into the support fingers a single dry wafer sheet for incorporation in each sandwich, and means operating whenever a completed wafer sandwich has been formed to withdraw the

stop and allow the conveyor to feed the wafer sandwich forward. The invention also includes a machine for producing wafer sandwiches, comprising a conveyor for feeding creamed wafer sheets, with their creamed surfaces uppermost, into position against a stop, a reciprocating table for periodically lifting the arrested wafer sheets from the conveyor, support fingers for receiving the arrested sheets from the table, dry wafer fingers located above the support fingers, means for feeding dry wafer sheets in succession to the dry wafer fingers, means for periodically opening the dry wafer fingers to allow dry wafer sheets to drop into the support fingers, means for periodically opening the support fingers to allow wafer sheets supported thereby to fall therefrom, said fingers and table cokoperating to form in front of the stop sandwiches comprising one or more superposed creamed wafer sheets and a single dry wafer sheet at the top, and means for periodically withdrawing the stop to allow the conveyor to feed the wafer sandwiches forward. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the machine comprises a main cam mechanism which, at each cycle of operation thereof, opens the support fingers and seeks to reciprocate the table and to withdraw the stop, the conveyor being arranged to feed one creamed wafer sheet into position against the stop at each cycle of operation of the main cam mechanism, and an index78 T 5435 so 785,435 ing cam mechanism adjustably geared to the main cam mechanism and serving to control the response of the table and the stop to the main cam mechanism The indexing cam mechanism also serves, at each cycle of operation thereof, to open the dry wafer fingers. The machine is adjustable, by change in the gear ratio between the main and the indexing cam mechanisms, to permit of change of the make-up of the wafer sandwiches produced The indexing cam mechanism performs one cycle of operation per N cycles of operation of the main cam mechanism, wherein N is the number of creamed wafers in the sandwich, and suppresses operation of the stop during the first nz-1 cycles of oneration of the main cam mechanism and suppresses operation of the table during the last cycle of operation of the main cam mechanism. The gear ratio between a main cam shaft, carrying the main cam mechanism, and an indexing cam shaft, carrying the indexing cam mechanism, is 1/1 for a two-wafer sandwich, 1/2 for a three-wafer sandwich, 1/3 for a four-wafer sandwich and so on. In the case of a two-wafer sandwich, a dry wafer sheet is fed to the dry wafer fingers at each cycle of operation of the main cam shaft, the table is Drevented from operating and the stop is withdrawn at each cycle of the main cam shaft A dry wafer sheet is deposited, by successive opening of the two sets of fingers, on each creamed wafer

sheet arrested by the stop. In the case of a three-wafer sandwich, dry wafer sheets are supplied to the dry wafer fingers at alternate cycles of the main cam shaft, the table is operative during the first cycle only of each Dair of successive cycles and the stop is withdrawn during the second cycle of the pair. Similarly, for a four-wafer sandwich, one dry wafer sheet is supplied to the dry wafer fingers for every three cycles of the main cam shaft, the table operates for the first two cycles only and the stop is not withdrawn until the third cycle. Preferably registering fingers are provided, these being operated at each cycle of the main cam shaft to register the sheets held by the support fingers and/or on the conveyor in front of the stop. One specific embodiment of sandwiching machine according to the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:f O Fig 1 is a diagrammatic longitudinal section through the machine; Fig 2 is a diagrammatic end elevation, looking from the left hand side of Fk 1; Fig 3 is a front elevation on a larger scale; Fig 4 is a corres Donding rear elevation; Fig 5 is an end elevation in section, looking from the right hand side of Fig 3, certain parts being omitted for the sake of clarity; 70 Fig 6 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the cams on the main cam shaft and on the indexing cam shaft for a 4-wafer sandwich; and Figs 7 A-E and 8 A-E are diagrams 75 illustrating successive stages in the formation of a 4-wafer sandwich. Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the Figures. The sandwiching machine illustrated is 80 intended to form part of a plant for the automatic production of wafer sandwiches as described in Application No 9173/55 (Serial No 785,433) This plant comprises a selecting and marshalling unit, more fully 55 described in Application No 9174/55 (Serial No 785,434) comprising a selecting conveyor, part of the downward run of which is seen at 10 in Fig 1, for diverting every inth wafer sheet from a procession of wafer W O sheets fed forward continuously from a wafer baking machine, inl being a small whole number exceeding unity The sandwiching machine, as illustrated, is organised to make 4-wafer sandwiches, but it is 95 adjustable, at later described, to produce sandwiches consisting of 2, 3, 5 or more wafers The selecting and marshalling unit is similarly adjustable The selecting conveyor 10 periodically feeds a dry wafer sheet 100 11 into position between dry wafer fingers 12 The dry wafer sheet 11 thereafter falls, as shown in Fig 1, from the dry wafer fingers 12 into su Dport fingers 13 The spacing of the remaining wafer sheets in the 105 procession above referred to is rendered uniform by the marshalling unit and these wafer sheets are then passed through a

sandwiching machine and delivered, creamed surface upwards, by a conveyor 14 (Fig 1) 10 to the conveyor 15 of the spreading machine. The general principle of operation of the machine will first be described with reference to Fig 1 and Figs 7 and 8 The machine includes a stop 17, against which 115 the creamed wafer sheets are fed in succession by the conveyor 15 In Figs 1 and 7 A the first, 16 a, of the creained wafer sheets required to make UD a sandwich is shown having arrived in position against the stop 10 At this time the dry wafer sheet 11 for this sandwich has dropped from the dry wafer fingers 12 into the support fingers 13 The support fingers 13 then open, as shown in Fig 7 B, to allow the wafer sheet 11 to 25 drop on to the too of the wafer sheet 16 a. A table 18 then rises to lift the superposed wafer sheets 11, 16 a into the support fingers 13, which close to support these two sheets as seen in Fig 7 C The table then descends 134 ' nake-up of the sandwich This gear ratio s 1/1 for a 2-wafer sandwich, 1/2 for a 3-wafer sandwich, 1/3 for a 4-wafer sandwich and so on This change is made by changing the gears 32, 33 70 The main cam shaft 19 carries five cams 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 (Fig 5) The cam 34 actuates a metering gate 39 (Fig 1) through the agency of a follower 40 carried on a bell crank 41, pivoted at 42 and coupled to the 75 gate 39 by a link 44 The purpose of the -ate 39 is to ensure that the creamed wafer sheets 16 arrive at the stop 17 at the correct time in relation to the rise of the table 18. The gate 39 is raised once per revolution of 80 the main cam shaft 19 to intercept each creamed wafer sheet on its way to the stop and is then withdrawn, as shown in Fig 1, to allow the intercepted sheet to move on to the stop 85 The cam 35 serves to actuate the stop 17. It coacts with a follower 45 (Fig 1) on the lever 43, which is also Divoted at 42 and is coupled to the stop 17 by a pin 46 In the case of a 4-wafer sandwich, during the first 90 two cycles of operation of the main cam shaft 19 the stop 17 is prevented from descending, when the low portion of the cam 35 reaches the follower 45, by a trip member 47 This tri D member carries a 95 follower 48 co-o Derating with a cam 49 on the index cam shaft 20 (see also Fig 5). During the third cycle of the main cam shaft 19 the cam 49 moves the trip member 47 aside to allow the stop 17 to descend, when 100 permitted to do so by the camh 35 The action of the stop is shown at F in Fig 6, the downward movement of the stop being suppressed during the first two cycles of the main cam shaft 19 as indicated by chain 105 dotted lines, but permitted during the third cycle, as shown in full lines The timing of the operation of the trip member 47 is shown at K in Fig 6. The cam 36 serves to actuate the table 110 18 It coacts with a

follower 50 (Fig 1) on a lever 51, Divoted at 151 and coupled by a pin 52 to the table 18 During the first two cycles of the main cam shaft 19, a spring 53 is able to lift the table 18 when the 115 follower 50 runs on to the low portion of the cam 36 as indicated in full lines at G in Fig 6 During the third cycle, however, a trip member 54, carrying a follower 55 coacting with a cam 56 (Fig 5) on the index 120 cam shaft 20, is moved into position to prevent the lever 51 from lifting the table 18 as indicated in chain-dotted lines at G in Fig 6 The timing of the operation of the trio member 54 is shown at L in Fig 6 125 The cam 1 37 serves to actuate the support fingers 13 There are two such fingers at each side of the machine, the fingers 13 of each pair being fixed to a rod 57 journalled in the machine framework and connected 130 to allow the next creamed wafer sheet 16 b r to be fed into position against the stop 17, i as shown in Fig 7 D The support fingers 13 open again, to allow the wafer sheets 11, 16 a to dro D on to the top of tie wafer sheet 16 b (Fig 7 E) The table 18 rises again to lift the three superposed wafer sheets 11, 16 a, 16 b into the support fingers 13, which then close to support them (Fig 8 A) The table 18 then descends to allow the next creamed wafer sheet 16 c to be fed to the i stop 17 (Fig 8 B) The SU Dport fingers 13 then open, as shown in Fig 8 C, to allow the three-wafer sheets 11, 16 a, 16 b to drop on to the to D of the wafer sheet 16 c to complete the formation of the 4-wafer sandwich block indicated at 160 At the same time the dry wafer sheet 111 for the next sandwich is fed into the dry wafer fingers 12 as shown The sto D 17 is then lowered, as shown in Fig 8 D, to allow the conveyor to feed the sandwich block 160 forwards and the dry wafer fingers 12 open to drop the dry wafer 111 into the support fingers 2 i 13 The stop 17 then returns (Fig 8 E) into position to intercept the first creamed wafer sheet 161 a for the next sandwich This sequence of operations is repeated for each further 4-wafer sandwich produced by the machine. The above-mentioned o Derations are controlled by a main cam shaft 19 and an index cam shaft 20 The machine is driven by an electric motor 21 (Fig 5) which drives a shaft 22 through a chain and sprocket drive 23 The shaft 22 drives a shaft 24, through the agency of gears 25, 26 The shaft 24 drives a conveyor shaft 27 by a chain and sprocket drive 28 (see also Fig 3) The conveyor 15, which is driven by the shaft 27, consists of three belts 29 (Figs 2 and 5), the stop 17 and table 18 being bifurcated, as shown in Fig 5, to permit them to move up and down in relation to the conveyor. The shaft 24 drives the main cam shaft 19 through gears 30, 31 (Figs 3 and 5) and the main cam shaft 19 drives the index cam shaft 20 through gears 32, 33 (Fig 4). The main cam shaft 19 requires to be o driven at different speeds

according to the make-up of the sandwich, i e (assuming an initial production of 20 wafer sheets per minute) at 10 r p m for a 2-wafer sandwich, at 131 r p m for a 3-wafer sandwich, at 15 r p m for a 4-wafer sandwich and at 16 r p m for a 5-wafer sandwich Adjustment of the speed of the cam shaft 19 to suit changes in the make-u D of the sandwich is effected by changing the gears 25, 26 by which the shaft 24 is driven, and this change makes a corresponding adjustment in the speed of the conveyor shaft 27. The gear ratio between the main cam shaft 19 and the index cam shaft 20 also 6.3 needs to be varied in accordance with the 785,435 by a ledge 58 on which the ends of the wafer sheets rest, as indicated in Fig 1, when supported by the fingers The cam 37 coacts with a follower 60 (Fig 3) on a lever 61, pivoted on a rod 62 and connected, by links 63, to arms 64 fixed to the rods 57 The timing of the opening of the support fingers 13 is indicated at H in Fig 6. The cam 38 serves to actuate a Pair of end levellers 65 which periodically register, in a direction transverse to the run of the conveyor 15, the wafer sheets resting on the conveyor against the ston 17 The end levellers 65 are attached to rods 66, journalled in the machine framework and coupled together by a linkage consisting of arms 67 (Fig 5) fixed to the rods and a link 68 connecting the arms 67 An arm (Fig 2), fixed to one of the rods 66, is cou Dled by a link 70 (Fig 4) to a lever 71, pivoted on the rod 62 and carrying a follower 72 coacting with the cam 38 The timing of the movement of the end levellers is indicated at I in Fig 6 As there shown, the support fingers 13 are open at the time that the end levellers operate The end levellers may, as an alternative, operate to register the wafer sheets while they are supported by the fingers 13. The dry wafer sheets are guided into the dry wafer fingers 12 by means of a band conveyor 73 (Fig 1) which extends beyond the terminal sprockets 74 of the selecting conveyor 10 and over a nose piece 75 It may be more convenient to arrange for the conveyor 73 to deliver the dry wafer sheets to the fingers 12 at a level below the left hand shaft 57, e g in a horizontal direction, and to permit of this the support fingers 13 at the side of the machine nearer the conveyor 73 are cranked, as shown at 59 in Fig 5 Two dry wafer fingers 12 are provided at the front of the machine and two at the back, each nair of fingers being joined by a ledge 76 for supporting the sides of the dry wafer sheets and being fixed to a rod 77, journalled in the machine framework and extending at right angles to the rods 57 The rods 77 are joined together by a linkage consisting of arms 78 (Fig 5) fixed to the rods and joined by a link 79 One of the rods 77 carries an arm 80, coupled by a link 81 to a lever 82, pivoted on the rod 62 a and carrying a follower 83 coacting with a cam 84 on the index cam shaft

20 T'ne timing of the opening of the dry wafer fingers 12 is indicated at J in Fig 6 It may here be noted that the dry wafer fingers 12 are shown, for clarity, in Figs 7 and 8, as moving in the same direction as the support fingers 13 whereas in fact, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5 they move in a direction at right angles to that in -whlich the support fingers 13 move. The sandwich blocks, after passing the stop 17, travel on to a belt 35 (Fig 1) driven from GA a sprocket 86 (Fig 4) on the shaft 27 (Fig 3) by a chain driven (not shown). As the sandwich blocks travel along the 7 t, belt 85, they are subjected to pressure by an upper belt 87 urged downwardly by springs 88 The sandwich blocks then pass on to a further conveyor 89 which carries them to a cutting machine In Fig 6 the legends 7 A, 7 B 8 A, 8 B indicate the relationship between the positions of the two cam shafts and the positions of the members actuated thereby as shown in the corres Donding views in Figs SO 7 and 3 As already explained, the machine is illustrated as organised for producing 4waf-er sandwiches, the main cam shaft 19 making three revolutions Per revolution of the index cam shaft 20 So If it is desired to make 2-wafer sandwiches, the gear ratio is altered to 1:1 with the result that the trip member 54 is effective to prevent movement of the table 18 at every cycle of the main cam shaft 19 9 O and the tri D member 47 is rendered inoperative at every cycle of the main shaft, so allowing the stop 17 to be moved down at every cycle of the main cam shaft The stop 17 is thus moved down shortly after posi uo tion 7 83 in Fig 6, allowing a 2-wafer sandwich, as shown in Fig 7 B, to move on out of the machine In this case the dry wafer fingers 12 are opened during each cycle of the main cam shaft 100 In the case of a 3-wafer sandwich, the index cam shaft 20 is arranged to make one revolution for every two revolutions of the main cam shaft 19 Consequently, the table 18 is free to move up during the first cycle 105 of the main cam shaft but is blocked by the trip member 54 during the second cycle, while the stop 17 is freed for downward movement during the second cycle and shortly after position 7 E in Fig 6, allowing 1 11 o a 3-wafer sandwich, as shown in Fig 7 E, to move on out of the machine In this case, the dry wafer fingers 12 will be opened during each second cycle of the main cam shaft 115 As will readily be appreciated, the machine can be organised to produce sandwiches consisting of 5, 6 or more sandwiches by adjusting the gear ratio of the two cam shafts so that the index cam shaft performs 120 one revolution for every 4, 5 etc revolutions of the main cam shaft. Although the machine has been illustrated as orovided with its own driving motor 21 it may instead, to ensure synchronisation 12 3 of a comrplete wafer sand vich making plant, be driven from any other desired component of the complete plant.

In conclusion, it should be mentioned that as already indicated the machine accord 130 785,435 cession to the dry wafer fingers, means for periodically opening the dry wafer fingers to allow dry wafer sheets to drop into the support fingers, means for periodically opening the support fingers to allow wafer 70 sheets supported thereby to fall therefrom, said fingers and tables co-operating to form in front of the stop sandwiches comprising one or more superposed creamed wafer sheets and a single dry wafer sheet at the 75 top, and means for periodically withdrawing the stop to allow the conveyor to feed the wafer sandwich forward.

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* GB785436 (A)

Description: GB785436 (A) ? 1957-10-30

Improvements in or relating to the manufacture of biscuits

Description of GB785436 (A)

We, BAKER PERKINS LIMITED, of West- wood Works, Peterborough, Northants, a British Company, do hereby declare the invention, for which we -pray that a patent 6 may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention provides apparatus for cutting wafer sandwich blocks into individual sandwiches and subsequently spacing the sandwiches preparatory to their passage to an enrober in which they are coated with chocolate or the like and/or to other processing equipment for instance wrapping and packaging machines. The apparatus according to the invention comprises an input conveyor for feeding wafer sandwich blocks in succession in a single column to

a cutting unit which severs the sandwich blocks transversely and longitudinally into individual sandwiches disposed in closely adjacent rows, a pair of delivery conveyors extending parallel to the input conveyor one at each side thereof to which the severed sandwich blocks are delivered alternately from the cutting unit and which feed the severed sandwich blocks forward in laterally spaced columns, the cutting unit preferably comprising a reciprocating first pusher moving transversely to the input conveyor and operative to push successive incoming sandwich blocks alternately to right and left through cutting devices which sever the sandwich blocks transversely, land a pair of ieciprocating second pushers for pushing the severed sandwich blocks through further cutting devices, which cut the sandwich blocks longitudinally, on to the delivery conveyors, a single conveyor, extending parallel to the delivery conveyors, for receiving the sandwiches therefrom and means for effecting 785,436 lateral spacing of the rows of sandwiches in the individual severed sandwich blocks and convergence of the two columns of laterally spaced sandwiches, during their passage to the single conveyor, so that the columns travel in closer spacing on the single conveyor and in paths disposed side by side. The sandwiches, after cutting, travel forward in two feed columns, in relatively staggered groups, from the cutting unit. These columns, however, are caused to converge on to a common single conveyor, the individual sandwiches in the severed sandwich blocks being at the same time laterally spaced The common conveyor may be used to conduct the sandwiches to an enrober or to other processing equipment. Preferably each delivery conveyor is arranged to conduct alternate rows of sandwiches in the severed sandwich blocks thereon to different levels, and a system of guides is provided for effecting lateral spacing of the sandwiches on both delivery conveyors and also convergence of the two columns of laterally spaced sandwiches as they pass to the common conveyor. As an alternative, however, lateral separation of the sandwiches and convergence of the two columns of sandwiches may be effected by means of separating tables associated respectively with the second pushers of the cutting unit Each table consists of narrow parallel strips, each accommodating one line of sandwiches After a severed sandwich block has been pushed on to the table, the table is moved laterally inwards towards the other table by cam action, its individual strips being at the same time separated laterally, and an overhead flight conveyor then pushes the sandwiches off the table and on to the common conveyor. One form of apparatus according to the invention, suitable for use in

equipment for PATENT SPECFICATION Inventor: -KENNETH FARRER. Date ofjfling Complete Specification: March 28, 1956. ef Application Date: March 29, 1955 No 9177/55. Complete Specification Publishedl: Oct 30, 1957. Index at Acceptance:-Classes 28 ( 1), A, H; and 31 ( 1), M 2 (G 7: J 2: Q). International Classification:-As P c A 231. COMPLETE SPECIFICATION. Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Biscuits. 4,5 7 o so 785,436 making wafer sandwiches, as described in Application No 9173/55 (Serial No. 785,433) will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:Fig 1 is a plan view of the cutting unit and separator; Fig 2 is a side elevation of the separator; Fig 3 is a side elevation of one form of batcher; Fig 4 is a detail view of a modification; and Fig 5 is a side elevation on a larger scale of an alternative form of batcher. Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the Figures. As indicated in Fig 1, wafer sandwich blocks 10, which may be conveniently produced by the sandwiching machine described 210 in Application No 9175/55 (Serial No. 785,435), are fed in succession in a single column to a cutting unit 11 by an input conveyor 12, including a pair of chains 13 and a series of spaced flights 14 extending transversely between the chains The cutting unit includes a dead plate 15, on to which the sandwich blocks are delivered by the conveyor 12, and a first Dusher 16 which pushes alternate sandwich blocks transversely from the dead plate in opposite directions, through cutters 17 each constituted by a series of vertically extending cutter blades, wires or saws These cut the sandwich blocks transversely as indicated by the lines 3,5 a in the case of the sandwich block 101. The cutting unit also includes a pair of second pushers 18, which move the transversely cut blocks (such as 101) alternately through second cutters 19, precisely similar to the cutters 17, and on to parallel delivery conveyors 20 The cutters 19 cut the sandwich blocks longitudinally, as indicated by the lines b in the case of the sandwich block 1011 The pushers 16, 18 are operated 4,5 by a single cam 21 mounted on a vertical cam shaft 22 The pusher 16 moves between guides 23, 24 and is coupled by a link 25 to a lever 26, mounted at one end on a pivot 27 and fixed to an arm 28 l 50 coupled by a link 29 to a follower 30 co. operating with the cam 21 The follower is mounted on an arm 31, pivoted at 32, and is coupled by a link 33 to a companion follower 30 a, mounted on an arm 31 a o 5.n pivoted at 32 a The pushers 18 move

between wafer block guides 34 and the cutters 17 are connected by links 35 to opposite ends of a lever 36 pivoted at 37. Fixed to the lever 36 is an arm 38, carrying Co a follower 39 coacting with the cam 21 A companion follower 39 a, mounted on an arm pivoted at 41, is coupled to the follower 39 by a link 42. The severed wafer blocks thus travel in os,5 two feed columns, in relatively staggered groups of sandwiches, from the cutting unit. The space between the constituent sandwiches 100 of the wafer blocks after cutting is only about 02 " and it would be difficult to separate them laterally by wedge shaped 70 guides The following apparatus is therefore used for effecting lateral separation of the sandwiches and bringing the two feed columns together. As shown most clearly in Fig 2, each 75 delivery conveyor 20 consists of a series of juxtaposed belts 43, 44 each supporting a single row of sandwiches, the belts 44 alternating with the belts 43 The belts 43 of each delivery conveyor carry the sandwiches 80 supported thereby horizontally forwards and deliver them to an upper conveyor 45 extending for the full width of the machine. The belts 44 of each delivery conveyor carry the sandwiches supported thereby to 85 a lower level, the sandwiches being constrained by deflectors 144 to follow the belts 44, and deliver them to a lower conveyor 46, also extending for the full width of the machine 90 The conveyors 45, 46 carry the sandwiches, downwardly and upwardly respectively, to a common level and deliver them to a narrower common conveyor 49 Fixed sets of guides 47, 48, associated respectively 95 with the conveyors 45, 46 not only effect lateral separation of the sandwiches on their respective conveyors but also cause the two columns of sandwiches to converge, as clearly seen in Fig 1, so that their paths of 100 travel on the common conveyor 49 are disposed close together. The deflection of the sandwiches to different levels permits them to enter without difficulty the guides 47, 48 which effect 105 lateral separation of the sandwiches and convergence of the columns The lateral separation of the lines of sandwiches may, however, be effected in other ways Thus alternate lines may be deflected upwardly, 110 the others travelling forward horizontally; or alternatively alternate lines may be deflected in one direction and the remaining lines in the other from the horizontal plane; again alternate lines may be deflected either up 115 wardly or downwardly from the horizontal, the remaining lines being deflected in the same direction very shortly afterwards. The common conveyor 49 may deliver the sandwiches directly to a packing station but 124 ? in what follows it will be assumed that the conveyor 49 conveys the sandwiches towards an enrober.

If the enrober is followed by a cooling tunnel along which the enrobed sandwiches 125 pass in a single plane, it is only necessary to provide for closing up of the longitudinal gaps between the spaced groups of wafer sandwiches in the two columns on the conveyor 49 and then to transfer the sandwiches 313 785,436 to a faster conveyor which se Darates them longitudinally before they reach the enrober. Where, however, the enrober delivers the enrobed sandwiches on to plaaues suitable for use in a circuitous 'cooler and the quantity of sandwiches required per plaque is not an integral number of pairs of groups, the columns of groups on the two halves of the conveyor are aligned, as explained later with reference to Fig 5 If the plaque is such an integral number, say two pairs of groups, the sandwiches are batched, before passing to the enrober, by the mechanism shown in Fig 3 As there shown, an electric motor 50 drives a shaft 51 through a chain and sprocket drive 52 and a gear box 53 The shaft 51 drives the conveyor 49 through chain and sprocket drives 54, 55. It also drives a more slowly moving conveyor 56, a cam shaft 57 through a chain and sprocket drive 58 and an overhead conveyor 59 through a chain and sprocket drive 60. The cam shaft 57 carries a cam 61, coacting -5 with a follower 62 on a bell crank 63, pivoted at 64 and carrying a gate 65 The gate is periodically lowered to the position shown in Fig 3, to enable it to arrest two 5-sandwich-long groups of sandwiches in each :io column on the conveyor 49, so de-staggering the groups of sandwiches in the columns and closing the sandwiches up longitudinally in both columns The gate 65 is then lifted by the cam 61 The overhead conveyor 59 :5 is constituted by two chains travelling at the same speed as the conveyor 49 and joined by a single pusher 66 As soon as the gate has risen, the Dusher 66 contacts the rear end of the batch of four cut blocks arrested -10 by the gate and positively transfers it to the more slowly moving conveyor 56 As soon as the batch has passed the gate 65, the gate is lowered again From the conveyor 56 the sandwiches pass to the wire band conveyor 67 leading to the enrober The conveyor 67 travels faster than the conveyor 56 and so spaces the sandwiches longitudinally, as shown The enrober, being of conventional construction, is not illustrated. 51) Wafer sandwiches normally have a cream filling but where, as is sometimes the case, they have a caramel filling there is a tendency for the sandwiches to adhere to their neighbours after cutting The use of belts a 43, 44 running at two levels, as shown in Fig 2, gives a sufficiently positive lateral separation of caramel filled sandwiches, but it may be desirable in some cases to provide also for longitudinal separation as shown in i O Fig 4 In this case, the conveyor 49 is replaced by two conveyors 149, 249, the conveyor 249 running faster

than the conveyor 149, and a device is provided at the junction of the two conveyors for positively i 5 breaking adhesion between successive sandwiches In the case illustrated, a driven roll 68 located above the transfer point coacts with the end rolls 69, 70 of the conveyors so as to deflect each sandwich slightly downwards and then u Dwards again, as 70 shown, to break the joint between the sandwiches Alternatively, a separate roll could be provided above each of the rolls 69, 70 and driven at the same speed as the roll beneath it The faster driven roll will then 75 tend to pull each sandwich away from the immediately following sandwich. In this case the arresting type batcher shown in Fig 3 could be dispensed with and a marshalling unit, similar to that described 80 in Application No 9174/55 (Serial No. 785,434) used to convert the groups of sandwiches on the conveyor 249 into a continuous stream of uniformly spaced sandwiches with the two columns aligned This 85 formation would be suitable for an enrober with a tunnel type cooler In the case of an enrober with a circuitous cooler, a further marshalling unit could be used for converting the uniformly spaced stream of sand 90 wiches into batches. Fig 5 shows an alternative form of batcher for use in the case in which the quantity of sandwiches per plaque is not an integral number of pairs of groups, this 95 batcher being arranged immediately following the conveyors 45 and 46 (Fig 2) The batcher comprises a conveyor 149, receiving the sandwiches from the conveyors 45, 46 and serving to feed the two columns of 100 sandwiches on to a dead Dlate 80 mounted on a rod 81 A cam (not shown) periodically actuates a link 86 and arm 87 to rock the rod 81 to lift the dead plate 80 to the position shown in chain-dotted lines, the 105 dead plate 80 rising immediately after the last sandwich of the batch is clear of it At the same time a sto D 82 attached to a rod 83 is rocked by a link 88 into the position shown in chain dotted lines to arrest the 110 oncoming leading sandwich of the next batch Oncoming wafer sandwiches are arrested on the conveyor 149 by the raised dead plate, which is afterwards lowered again to permit a batch of sandwiches to be 115 fed forward on to a faster conveyor 84, leading to the enrober and serving to space the batched sandwiches longitudinally. Side guides, one of which is shown at 85, are provided for the sandwiches 120 The longitudinal space between the end of the dead plate 80 and the stop 82 caters for the time it takes the dead plate to rise (during which time the leading sandwich will be continuing to move forward) and for 125 slight variation in the lengths of the individual sandwiches Thus this batcher does not need a ready made gap between the trailing sandwich of one batch and the leading sandwich of the next The stop 82 also 130 785,436 serves to hold down the rear end

of the trailing sandwich of the preceding batch while the front end of the leading sandwich of the next batch is raised by the dead plate 80, so ensuring that the two sandwiches cannot stick together. The batcher shown in Fig 5 closes gaps between individual sandwiches and also closes up gaps between groups of sandwiches, the front ends of the leading sandwiches of each batch being in line across the conveyor 84 as they leave the batcher.

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* GB785437 (A)

Description: GB785437 (A) ? 1957-10-30

Improvements in head-rests for chairs for dental and like purposes

Description of GB785437 (A)

A high quality text as facsimile in your desired language may be available amongst the following family members:

DE1634202 (U) FR1061424 (A) DE1634202 (U) FR1061424 (A) less Translate this text into Tooltip

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The EPO does not accept any responsibility for the accuracy of data and information originating from other authorities than the EPO; in particular, the EPO does not guarantee that they are complete, up-to-date or fit for specific purposes.

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

Improvements in Head-rests for Chairs for Dental and like Purposes We, ADAM SCHNEIDER A1UrIENGESELL- SCHAFT, a Body Corporate dulv organised nnder the Laws of the Federal Republic of Western Germany of Fennstrasse 31, merlin N.65, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may he granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to he particularly described in and by the following statement :- This invention relates to head rests for ehairs for dental and like purposes. The head rests or holders which are fitted on dental chairs, operating chairs, or the like, must be disposed in such manner as to be widely articulated and adjustable, partly in order to permit adaptation to different heights, and partly in order to permit different positions of the head. It is therefore customary to insert between the rocking bow shaped member holding the head rest and the holder mounting the head rest on the back of the chair, a clamping member which contains adjustable joints for connecting the parts which can be loosened and retightened as required. Bali joints are usually employed, but the use of joint pins has already been proposed because, unlike ball joints, these always secure the head centrally in relation to the body of the patient. Pin joint arrantBements hitherto used are not however satisfactory, because they wear rapidly and can only be adjusted by a complicated process. The present invention relates to a head holder which in respect of thqe clamping member is distinguished by particular simplicity and which cannot suffer any wear which may impair the damp action, while it is of compact construction and of attractive external shape. In accordance with the invention the clamping member which connects in articulated manner the head-rest rocking bow shaped member to the holder mounted on the back of the ch & ir, is constituted by a link member cast as a length of metal with opposite ends adjacent, the folds of which casting are constructed as cylindrical bearings in which there are mounted cylindrical joint pins on the parts to be connected. Further details of the invention can he seen from the drawing, which illustrates one exemplified embodiment by way of example and in which :- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the clamping member arrangement and headrest. Fig. 2 shows the link member itself in side elevation and Fig. 3 shows a portion of the link member with clamp operating means partly in section to a larger scale. In Fig. 1, 5 denotes the rocking bow shaped member holding the

head-rest 6 and held adjustably, by means of a clamping member, consisting of link member 7 and clamp operating means 11 and a holder 8, on the back of an operating chair or the like. In order that the head-rest 6 may be adjustable within wide limits, the parts 5 and 8 are mounted in articulated manner in the link member 7, namely with the aid of pins 9 and 10 which can turn in the link member 7 as soon as the clamp operating means 11 is slackened. The link member 7, as can be seen more fully in Fig. 2, consists of a single casting, which at its ends has cylindrical bearing eyes 12 and 13 for the joints pins 9 and 10. Screws 16 and 17 (shown in Fig. 1), can be turned in and through radially directed bores 14 and 15, and engage in peripheral grooves in the joint pins and thus hold them in their axial position. While the lower part 18 of the link member constitutes a continuous, preferably slightly upwardly arched bridge, the upper part of the link member consists of the halves 19, 20 which are so dimensioned that on the one hand a gap 91 is left between them and the base 1S and on the other hand a gap 22 is left between their facing ends. Through the upper parts 19, 20 and the base 18 runs a transverse bore 23, in which the screw shaft 24 of the clamp operating means 11 is inserted (see Fig. 3). This shaft, which is rot at ably anchored in the base 18, runs freely through the bore 23 in the region of the upper parts 19, 20 and with its thread engages in a threaded bush 25 on the handle 26. The arrangement of the clamp screw 11 may of course also be selected differently, provided only that it has the effect, when turned, of pressing the parts 19, 20 and 18 against one another and thereby clamping fast the joint pills 9, 10 in the bearings 12, 13. Since the two joints may wear unequally, and also in order that the upper parts 19, 20 of the link member may be able to follow differently the pressure of the clamp operating means, a separate arrangement is provided for the trans- mission of the clamp pressu.re, as shown in Fig. 3. As can be seen in Figs. 2 and 8, there are provided on the upper side of the upper parts 19, 20 of the link member, near the middle gap 22, small cross-pieces or humps 27, 28. On these humps rests a disc 29, which is pushed freely over the screw shaft 24, and the centre bore 30 of which, provided for the purpose, is slightly larger than the diameter of the screw 24: On its upper side 31 the dis@ 29 is part spherical in shake. It bears against a correspondingly shaped coacting dise 32 which is joined to the threaded bush 25. When in such an arrangement the handle 26 is tightened, the dise 29 acts as a ball joint or balance beam, which adapts itself to the upper parts 19, 20 of the link member even when these yield miequally

against the base 18 of said link member under the action of the clamp operating means, in consequence of different degrees of wear of the bearings 12, 13 or of the joint pins 9, 10. What we claim is :- 1. A head-rest for chairs for dental and like purposes, eharacterised in that the clamping member which connects in articulated manner the head-rest roclcing bow shaped member to the holder mounted on the baelS of the chair, is constituted by a link member cast as a length of metal with opposite ends adjacent the folds of which casting are constructed as cylindrical bearings in which there are mounted cylindrical joint pins on the parts to the connected, and wherein the ends of the link member which face one another can be drawn against the base of said link member by clamp operating means. 2. A head-rest as claimed in Claim 1, characterised in that the clamp operating means consists of a screwshaft situate in the base of the link member, said shaft acting in conjunction with a handle having a threaded bush to bring the adjacent ends of the link member against the base of said link member. 3. A head-rest as claimed in Claim 1, characterised in that the joint pins mounted in link bearings are provided with peripheral grooves, and can be secured in their axial position bv screw boils engaging in the grooves, from the outside of the fold. 4. A head-rest as claimed in Claim 1, further eharacterised in that the slot existing between the base and the upper part of the link incaiber is slightly curved. O. A head-req. as claimed in Claim 2, eharaeterised in that between the clamp operating means and the upper parts of tile link member a disc is inserted which is @ushed freely over the screw shaft Joined to the clamp hand and lies freely with 9 spherical surface against the correspondingly shaped underside of the clamp handle. 6. A head-rest as claimed in Claim 6, @urther eharacterised in that the upper parts ol the link member are provided. near their ends facing one another. with humps bearing against the intermediate disc. 7. A head-rest constructed and arr@nged for use substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.