EP2807005B1 - Bread slicer with cleaning device - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for cutting bread according to the preamble of claim 1, as known from EP2 138 286 A2 is known.

Such machines are known. They are mostly used in bakeries to offer customers freshly cut bread. A known type of bread slicing machine works with a circular blade, which circulates circularly by means of an eccentric and in this case emerges from a cutting gap in each case cuts off a slice of the slowly continuously or clocked forward pushed bread and then dips back into the cutting gap. The sliced bread can be taken out of the machine and placed on a so-called tongue to put a bag over the disc package.

A disadvantage of these known bread slicing machines that when inserting and cutting the bread as well as the transport of bread and slices of bread crumbs arise that often have to be manually swept away with a hand brush, so that the crumbs do not pollute the surfaces and machine parts. Otherwise crumbs could block the moving parts of the machine or at least interfere with the cutting process. However, the cost of cleaning is considerable. In addition, the cleaning phases can not be calculated in advance, so that a machine that is set up in a customer room and operated by a customer must be inspected by the sales staff at very short intervals and, if necessary, cleaned.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a bread slicer according to the preamble of claim 1, which removes the resulting bread crumbs efficiently and as far as possible without manual assistance from the supply and / or the Abführabschnitt.

This object is achieved in a bread slicer of the type mentioned by the features of claim 1.

The advantages of the invention are to be seen in particular in that at least one stripping agent is provided in the supply and / or discharge section, which is guided over the respective bottom and / or a respective side wall to the crumbs, deposits there in the form of Take, for example, flour and then throw it off or in any other way to remove it from the feed or the Abführabschnitt. By a preferably regular and automatic cleaning, the cutting device can be operated for many hours by different customers without a manual time-consuming and costly cleaning would be necessary by the shop staff.

Particularly preferably, the stripping means are also set in motion during advancement of the bread or the sliced bread slices and in this case strip over the respective bottom and / or a side wall of the feed or the discharge section. Preferably, this movement of the stripping means is carried out in unison with the bread or cut slices of bread. This ensures that the accumulating impurities, in particular bread crumbs, can already be detected and removed at the stage of their emergence or shortly afterwards (in particular after cutting).

A development of the invention is characterized in that the stripping means are strip-shaped. By this measure, the stripping can be in a simple and cost-effective manner as a unit produce and obstruct. Also crumbs can be collected over a large width of the soil or dust over a large height of the side walls.

It is particularly appropriate in the aforementioned context, the Abstreifmittel extending transversely to the direction of the bread or bread slices form.

According to a preferred development of the invention, the at least one stripping means in the feed section is coupled to the pushing device. When feeding the bread in the direction of the knife, the stripping agent is then automatically taken. The pusher thus fulfills not only the task of bread feed, but also the advance of Abstreifmittel. Thus, a compact transport and cleaning device is realized with a few elements including the saving of a separate drive for the Abstreifmittel.

Advantageously, at least one stripping means is arranged in a bar on the push arm, which is movable in and against the direction of pushing of the bread (see double arrow in the feed section). On the push arm, a claw is preferably arranged, which is pierceable into the bread to be cut and pulled out again, preferably automatically after inserting the bread into the feed section. The ledge preferably occupies a space below the push arm, which must anyway be driven over the bottom of the feed section with play. If it is desired to wipe over a side wall, a substantially vertical bar is preferably provided at the free end of the push arm, in which a stripping means is fixed.

If the device according to the invention is realized in the discharge section, comparable solutions as have been described for the delivery section are preferred. The corresponding, at least one stripping means is preferably coupled to a stop plate which is movable in and against the pushing direction (see double arrow in the discharge section) of the sliced slices, against which the sliced bread slices during the bread slicing process. This stop plate does not push the bread slices, but prevents the disc package from falling apart. by being displaced with substantially the same timing as the push arm in the feed section and in the same direction.

The motor-driven stop plate is hereby preferably reciprocated with an arm which advantageously extends transversely to the direction of the bread slices and along a rail, which in turn is designed in the thrust direction, in and against the thrust direction of the bread is movable. The stripping means are preferably arranged in a strip which is arranged - for stripping the bottom - on the underside of the arm. Again, the clearance between the underside of the arm and the bottom of the discharge section can be taken by the Abstreifmittel to remove the crumbs in this section. For the sweeping of a side wall, a substantially vertical bar is preferably provided at the free end of the arm, in which a stripping means is fixed.

As stripping agents, which come into contact with the crumbs, various materials can be used. It has proven to be advantageous to use plastic lips - similar to motor vehicle windscreen wiper blades - which combine the advantages of easy cleaning, long life, easy interchangeability, low price and good sweeping. As alternatives offer felt strips or brush strips, which also develop a good cleaning effect.

Advantageously, the stripping means are designed such that they can strike both in and against the thrust direction over the bottom of the feed and the Abführabschnitts. An elaborate lift-off mechanism of the stripping means in, for example, the return of Abstreifmittel is not necessary. It is also possible with the double sweeping, for example, to take along with the return movement not detected crumbs during the return movement and to remove from the sliding path of the bread or slices of bread.

An elimination of the crumbs from the bottom of the feed or Abführabschnitts using the Abstreifmittel can be advantageously realized by at least one opening is provided in each floor. This opening may extend transversely, obliquely, curved or along the direction of thrust. Openings in the transverse direction have the advantage that they can be arranged parallel to the stripping means and thus the crumbs can be pushed into the openings over the entire width of the stripping means. In other opening curves, for example, by tilting the corresponding soil also a suitable Krümelentfernung be realized.

Alternatively or additionally, the crumbs are slidable over at least one edge of at least one end face of the respective soil in order to eliminate the crumbs down into a discharge chute. A related embodiment provides that the Abstreifmittel run over a arranged between the Zuführund the Abführabschnitt knife gap and drop into this crumb. The knife emerges from the knife gap for cutting and then back into it after cutting. This embodiment can be realized both for stripping means in the feed and in the discharge section.

An embodiment which has already been mentioned provides that the bottom of the feed and / or the discharge section-preferably both-is designed to be inclined downwards toward the front of the device. In this case, the one or more floors advantageously at least partially downwardly open leading edges over which the crumbs can slip due to their gravity down, set in motion by the Abstreifmittel.

Advantageous developments of the invention are characterized by the features of the subclaims.

Figur 1

eine Draufsicht auf eine erste Ausführungsform einer erfindungsgemäßen, schematisch dargestellten Schneidevorrichtung;

Figur 2

eine schematische Stirnseitenansicht der Ausführungsform gemäß der Figur 1 im Schneidbetrieb;

Figur 3

eine perspektivische Teilansicht des Zuführabschnitts;

Figur 4

eine Schnittansicht des Zuführabschnitts entlang der Schnittlinie I-I in Figur 3;

Figur 5

eine perspektivische Teilansicht des Abführabschnitts, und

Figur 6

eine Schnittansicht des Zuführabschnitts entlang der Schnittlinie II-II in Figur 5.

In the following the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to figures. Show it:

FIG. 1

a plan view of a first embodiment of a cutting device according to the invention, schematically illustrated;

FIG. 2

a schematic end view of the embodiment according to the FIG. 1 in cutting operation;

FIG. 3

a partial perspective view of the feed section;

FIG. 4

a sectional view of the feed section along the section line II in FIG. 3 ;

FIG. 5

a partial perspective view of the Abführabschnitts, and

FIG. 6

a sectional view of the feed section along the section line II-II in FIG. 5 ,

In the Figures 1 and 2 a first embodiment of a cutting device 1 according to the invention is shown. The FIG. 1 schematically shows a plan view of the device 1 with a housing 2, in which in particular a feed section 3 and a discharge section 4 are provided and which can be closed by a hood 17. The feed section 3 comprises a preferably made of stainless steel bottom 8 with a flat receiving surface on which the bread B to be cut is placed. Furthermore, in the feed section 3, a claw 22, which can be pivoted up and down, is connected to a three-pronged push arm 23, which runs perpendicular to the direction of thrust (see arrow P) of the bread B (see also further details in FIGS Figures 3-6 ). By manual or automatic swinging down the claw 22 is pushed into the facing her end of the loaf of bread B. Of the Push arm 23 and with it the claw 22 are motor driven (motor not shown) movable along a linear direction in the direction of thrust, linear rail 24 to push the bread B in the direction of a circular blade 14 (see arrow P). In the FIG. 1 three different positions of the push arm 23 are shown: In solid lines, the initial position is shown, while a middle and the end position after completion of the cutting process are shown in dashed lines.

The claw 22, the push arm 23, the rail 24 and the feed motor (not shown) are parts of a pusher 21 for transporting the bread B from the feed section 3 to the knife 14. The circular blade 14 moves in a vertical cutting plane and extends during rotation a gap 16, which separates the feed section 3 from the discharge section 4, out and back into this.

As the schematic representation according to the FIG. 2 in which many parts have not been shown for the sake of clarity, the circular blade 14 is mounted eccentrically about a shaft 15 and is driven by a motor 19 controlled by a controller 20. It is in the FIG. 2 three different positions of the circular blade 14 are shown by way of example, two of them with dashed lines. In particular, it can be seen how the circular knife 14 is able to cut the bread B into slices. The exact eccentric mechanism is not shown; However, the skilled person is familiar with corresponding constructions. In the present case, they are not essential to the invention.

The discharge section 4 comprises in the illustrated embodiment, a bottom 5, which preferably consists of stainless steel and just like the bottom 8 is inclined relative to a horizontal plane to the machine front side 1 a (s. FIG. 2 ; in FIG. 1 not shown). Towards the operator side or machine front side 1 a, a side wall 9 for the bread slices S projects in the region of the front edge of the base 5. The side wall 9 is present towards a vertical plane to the front 1 a inclined towards (s. FIG. 2 ). Support surface 5 and side wall 9 are in this case substantially perpendicular to each other. Likewise, the feed section 3 has a corresponding side wall 10, which runs in the same plane as the side wall 9 (s. Figures 1 and 2 ).

In the Figures 1-2 Furthermore, a pneumatic cylinder 18 is shown with which the hood 17 can be opened and closed. The pneumatic cylinder 18 is presently connected to the controller 20 (details not shown), for example, to open the hood 17 when the cutting operation is completed. When the knife 14 is running, however, the hood 17 can not be opened.

Shown is also a stop plate 32 for the first cut slice of bread, the stop plate positioned at the beginning of the cutting close to the knife 14 and with the help of a direction P to the vertical, by a motor (not shown) driven arm 37 along a in the direction P extending rail 38 is moved together with the claw 22 in the same direction by the almost nearly the same or a slightly larger way and in the same direction P. The first cut slice S falls against the stop plate 32, which thus ensures the cohesion of the disc package. In the FIG. 1 the stopper plate 32 is shown at the end of the cutting process.

In the FIGS. 3 and 4 (Sectional view along II of the FIG. 3 ), the pusher 21 is shown in more detail. The claw 22 is stored in a cuboid claw housing 25 (in FIG. 1 for the sake of clarity), which has on its side facing the bread B openings 25a for each prong of the claw 22. Through these openings 25a, the tines occur when the bread is gripped before the start of cutting. The claw 22 is further provided with a shaft 26 (in FIG FIG. 1 not shown), which runs parallel to the push arm 23 and by means of a not shown Motors the claw 22 is able to pivot. The gripping end detected by the claw 22 lies partially, penetrating a lower recess 25b of the claw housing 25, in the claw housing 25, whereby it is even better fixed. Also, the upper edge of the recess 25b holds the thus fixed end of the wire firmly when the claw 22 is pulled up from the end of the wire after completion of the cutting process.

Along the back, ie the side facing away from the blade of the push arm 23, a fixing rail 27 is mounted in accordance with the invention, which has a longitudinal groove 27 a on its underside. In this longitudinal groove 27a, a stripping 28 is used in the form of a downwardly tapered plastic lip, which has a spring-like in cross-section holding profile; the plastic lip similar here a motor vehicle windshield wiper. The plastic lip extends, as well as the push arm 23, across the width of the bottom 8 of the feed section 3 and is hereby wider than the widest loaves B, which can be cut with the machine 1. It rests against the floor 8 with pressure, so as to carry along this floor 8 crumbs and other contaminants in the closed gap which it forms with the floor 8. The plastic lip moves in this case with a distance a to the end of the bread over the bottom 8 (s. FIG. 4 ).

Similar is how the FIG. 3 can be seen, a vertical rail 29 is provided, which is inserted from the end face of the rail 27 and partially into the claw housing 25 and fixed there further extends upward. In the rail 10, a substantially vertically extending longitudinal groove is also provided (more precisely: according to the inclination of the side walls 9 and 10 inclined relative to the vertical), in which a stripping means 30 is fixed. Also in this case, the stripping means 30 is formed as a plastic lip, which is pushed by the pusher 23 on the side wall 10 in order to wipe away flour, small adhering crumbs, dust, etc. from there.

In the FIGS. 5 and 6 (Sectional view along II-II of FIG. 5 ) An inventive embodiment of the invention in the discharge section 4 is shown. Here, a fixing rail 33 is integrally connected with the aforementioned arm 37. On the side facing the blade 14, the aforementioned stop plate 32 is attached. The fixing rail 33 has also in this case a downwardly open, transversely to the thrust direction P (s. FIG. 1 ) running longitudinal groove, in which a stripping means 34 is inserted in the form of a plastic lip. In the sectional figure 6, the cross-sectionally spring-shaped holding profile 34a of the plastic lip 34 is shown in more detail.

On the arm 37 is - according to the stripping means 30 in the feed section 3 - an upwardly projecting Abstreifmittel 36, which is also enclosed here in a corresponding fixing rail 35, is provided. The trained as a plastic lip Abstreifmittel 36 is the side wall 9 opposite and wipes during the process of the arm 37 on this side wall. 9

The bottom 5 has three parallel, running in the direction of thrust P slots 6 through which the forks of a lifting table (not shown) can go to lift the bread slices S from below and to move up from the discharge section 4, so that a customer to take out of the cut bread does not have to reach deep into the machine 1. Through the slots 6 crumbs entrained by the stripping means 34 can pass into a discharge chute 12 below the bottoms 5, 8. Also by the inclination of the bottom 5 crumbs can slip to the machine front 1 a and fall on their way through the slots 6.

Another dropping mechanism for the contaminants is realized in this case by passing over preferably all stripping means 28, 30, 34, 36 via the knife gap 16. As the FIG. 1 shows in its left half in dashed lines, the push means 21 pushes the last, still held by the claw 22 last disc on the knife gap 16 against the other slices S until the disc package between the stop plate 32nd and the last engaged disc is compacted, so no significant gaps between the individual slices S are present. As a result, the stripping means 28, 30 also travel over the knife gap 16 and throw the contaminants into the discharge chute 12.

The same applies to the Abstreifmittel 34, 36, but only after removing the slices S from the Abführabschnitt 4, either after manual removal or after booting through a lift table, removal of the disc package and shutdown of the lift table under the bottom 5. Then, the arm 37 with the stop plate 32 and the Abstreifmitteln 34, 36 also go over the blade gap 16 and discard the impurities down.

In the present case, the front edges of the floors 5 and 8 openings, ie the side walls 9 and 10 do not close tightly to the floors 5 and 8, but are either separate, built-in gap with the floors 5 and 8 elements or There are openings 11 between the bottoms 5 and 8 and the side walls 9 and 10, respectively. In the FIG. 1 such openings 11 are provided with a substantially semi-circular shape through which impurities may fall downwards.

The above-described processes, both for the timed pushing and cutting of the bread B and thus the clocked advancing the discharge means 28, 30 and the feed at the end of the entire cutting process, and also the method of the arm 37 together with the discharge means 34, 36 before next cutting operation are preferably adopted by the controller 20. Other control concepts with decentralized controls are possible without further ado.

The invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment. Modifications within the scope of the claims are possible at any time. Also, the invention designed according to the thruster 21 additional Transport facilities for the bread and / or slices in the invention possible, both passive and active means of transport come into question. For example, the bottom may form an inclined plane inclined downwards by the blade 14, which is thus inclined both to the machine front side 1 a and laterally in the thrust direction P (a passive means of transport). Instead of the plastic lips, brushes or felt strips can also be used for the stripping means 28, 30, 34, 36. Alternatively or in addition to pushing the crumbs over edges (knife gap 16, edges 11) other methods for removing the impurities are possible, for example by suction. Also, automatic cleaning by means of the scrapers 28, 30, 34, 36 at certain intervals feasible, especially in times when no breads are cut, so that the floors 5, 8 and side walls 9, 10 are always clean.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

cutter

1a

Front of the device

1b

Rear of the device

2

casing

3

feeding

4

discharge section

5

Bottom of the discharge section

6

slots

8th

Bottom of the feed section

9

Side wall of the discharge section

10

Side wall of the feed section

11

openings

12

chute

14

circular blade

15

wave

16

gap

17

Hood

18

lifting cylinder

19

engine

20

control

21

pusher

22

claw

23

push arm

24

rail

25

claws housing

25a

openings

25b

recess

26

wave

27

fixing rail

27a

longitudinal groove

28

stripping

29

fixing rail

30

stripping

32

stop plate

33

fixing rail

33a

longitudinal groove

34

stripping

34a

retaining profile

35

fixing rail

36

stripping

37

poor

38

rail

B

loaf

S

bread slices

Claims (13)

1. A device for slicing bread (B) into bread slices (S) and having at least one preferably eccentrically rotating circular blade (14) guided between a feeding segment (3) for feeding the bread (B) to be sliced to the blade (14) and a discharge segment (4) for receiving the sliced bread slices (S), and having at least one pusher device (21) for pushing the bread (B) from the feeding segment (3) to the blade (14), at least one reciprocating wipe-off means (28, 30, 34, 36) being provided in the feeding and/or discharge segment (3, 4) in and opposite to the pushing direction (P) of the bread (B) or the bread slices (S) for carrying along impurities, particularly crumbs, flour, dust, etc. in the feeding or discharge segment (3, 4) at least in the pushing direction (P) or in the opposite direction, characterized in that at least one wipe-off means (28, 34) is designed for wiping when the bread (B) or the sliced bread slices (S) are pushed forward across the respective base (5, 8) of the feeding or discharge segment (3, 4), and that at least one of the wipe-off means (28, 34) can be guided across at least one opening (6) in the respective base (5, 8) or across at least one edge at at least one end face of the respective base (5, 8) in order to remove the crumbs into a discharge chute (12).
2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one wipe-off means (30, 36) is designed for wiping when the bread (B) or the sliced bread slices (S) are pushed forward across a respective side wall (9, 10) of the feeding or discharge segment (3, 4).
3. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one wipe-off means (28, 30, 34, 36) is designed for wiping synchronously with the bread (B) or the sliced bread slices (S) across the respective base (5, 8) and/or a side wall (9, 10) of the feeding or discharge segment (3, 4).
4. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one wipe-off means (28, 30, 34, 36) is elongated in design.
5. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one wipe-off means (28, 30, 34, 36) extends transverse to the pushing direction (P) of the bread (B) or the bread slices (S).
6. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one wipe-off means (28, 30) is coupled to the pushing device (21) in the feeding segment (3).
7. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one wipe-off means (28, 30) is disposed in a strip (27, 29) on a pusher arm (23) in the feeding segment (3), said arm being displaceable in and opposite to the pushing direction (P) of the bread (B).
8. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one wipe-off means (34, 36) is disposed in a strip (33, 35) on an arm (37) in the discharge segment (4), said arm being displaceable in and opposite to the pushing direction (P) of the bread (B).
9. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one wipe-off means (34, 36) in the discharge segment (4) is coupled to a stop plate (32) displaceable in and opposite to the pusher direction (P) of the sliced bread slices (S), which the first sliced bread slice (S) makes contact with during the bread-slicing process.
10. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one wipe-off means (28, 30, 34, 36) is made from a material selected from a group comprising the following:

    a) plastic;

    b) felt;

    c) brushes.
11. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one wipe-off means (28, 30, 34, 36) is designed for wiping both in and opposite to the pusher direction (P) of the bread.
12. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one of the wipe-off means (28, 34) traverses a blade gap (16) of the blade (14) disposed between the feeding and discharge segments (3, 4) and disposes of breadcrumbs through the same.
13. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bases (5, 8) of the feeding and/or discharge segments (3, 4) are sloped downward toward the front side of the device and comprise front edges (11) opening downward at least in segments and facing toward the front side of the machine (1a).

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