GB1099019A - Wafer feed device - Google Patents

Abstract

1,099,019. Apparatus for making sandwich biscuits. T. & T. VICKERS Ltd. March 10, 1966 [March 25, 1965], No. 12596/65. Heading A2A. [Also in Division B8] . In apparatus Fig. 1, for making laminated sandwich biscuits, wafers are fed, one at a time, as by a conveyer 8 unloading a magazine 6, on to the upper run of an endless conveyer 10, at a wafer-receiving and wafer-delivering station 24, where wafer-sensing devices 46 and a counter 44, e.g. an electronic counter, are provided. A source of radiation, such as light, and a radiation senser, such as a photo-electric cell, may constitute the sensing devices 46. The counter 44 is set to allow a predetermined number, e.g. three, wafers to be delivered from the upper run of the conveyer 10, on to the upper run of an endless conveyer 12, which delivers the wafters to a coating device 2, where a filling substance, such as cream or jam, is spread on each wafer. The coated wafers are then passed to a laminating device 4, where they are stacked to form an incomplete sandwich biscuit, which is conveyed, on the upper run of an endless conveyer 14, to an assembly point 16. When said predetermined number of wafers have been delivered on to the conveyer 12, the counter 44 e.g. acting through an adjustable electronic time delay, sends a signal to a waferdeflecting device, at the station 24, causing this device to deflect the next wafer from the upper run of the conveyer 10 on to an upper endless conveyer 18, which carries this uncoated wafer to the assembly point 16, where it is deposited, e.g. through an electrically or pneumatically operated gate (not shown) controlled by a sensing device 40 (which synchronise the final assembly) on top of the incomplete sandwich biscuit, to complete the biscuit e.g. a four-wafer biscuit. The deflecting device may comprise a roller 20, which contacts the underside of the upper run of the convey 10, and is secured to the rod of a hydraulic or pneumatic ram. The said signal causes the ram to raise the roller 20 and the upper run of the conveyer 10. When said next wafer has thus been transferred on to the conveyer 18, the said conveyer run is lowered to its normal position. In an alternative construction, Figs. 3 and 4, the conveyer 10 comprises two spaced-apart, parallel endless belts, and the deflecting device comprises a roller 34, which is raised between the upper conveying runs of said belts to make direct contact with said next biscuit 42. In a further alternative construction (not shown): a blast of air is used to raise said next biscuit.