GB1118660A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for applying icing fluid to bakery and confectionery products - Google Patents

Abstract

1,118,660. Photoelectrically controlled icing apparatus. SUCREST CORP. 11 Aug., 1966, No. 36086/66. Heading A2A. In apparatus, Figs. 1 and 2, for applying liquid icing to bakery and confectionery products 62, such as pastries in containers, carried on a light-transparent conveyer 59, the products pass between a lighted electric lamp 23 extending above and across said conveyer, and a plurality of photoelectric cells 17, which are disposed, beneath and across the conveyer, in a housing 27 mounted on an arm 26, turnable about the axis of the lamp. Preferably, the lamp has a reflector 24 provided with a turnable shutter 25, and the housing 27 is provided with a turnable shutter 31. By adjustably turning these shutters, the width of the beam of light, which is directed towards the photoelectric cells, may be varied. A light-transparent window is preferably secured to the upper, lightreceiving end of the housing 27. As the products 62 pass between the lamp 23 and the photoelectric cells, they pass under an icing dispenser 11, Fig. 1, having a plurality of dispensing ports (100), Fig. 3 (not shown), arranged across the conveyer. Each port can be closed by the point 67 of a needle 66, Fig. 6, having, at its other, upper end, a collar 101, Fig. 1, which is urged, by a spring 73, against a collar 74 at the lower end of a push rod 102. The upper end of each rod 102 is received in a solenoid 49, which is connected, through a cable 64, a control cabinet 29 incorporating a relay, and a cable 30 to the associated photoelectric cell, so that, when light from the lamp 23 is impinging on said cell, the solenoid 49 is energized and moves the needle 66 downwardly, against the action of the spring 73, into a position in which it closes the port. When, however, a product intercepts the light from the lamp, the solenoid 49 is not energized, and the spring 73 moves the needle upwardly, so that the port is opened, and icing liquid, under pressure in the dispenser 11, is dispensed on to the intercepting product.