GB2164312A

GB2164312A - Apparatus for transferring by rows flat baked products

Info

Publication number: GB2164312A
Application number: GB08521759A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Eberhard Weckend; Werner Bohme; Rolf Schwanitz; Rolf Stotzner
Original assignee: Nagema VEB
Current assignee: Nagema VEB
Priority date: 1984-09-11
Filing date: 1985-09-02
Publication date: 1986-03-19
Also published as: GB2164312B; CH667257A5; DE3526217A1; DD228229A1; GB8521759D0

Abstract

An apparatus is provided for the transferring by rows and transverse aligning of flat baked products 2 arriving on an endless oven belt 1 lying horizontally in a plurality of rows, into obliquely descending stacking shafts 2, which apparatus is open at the top for ease of inspection. The apparatus includes a roller conveyor 3, driven between oven belt 1 and stacking shafts 2 at the same conveying speed as the oven belt, with which roller conveyor there is associated, at the front, a rotating transfer conveying roller 4 having notched conveying teeth in such a manner that the forward part of the baked products, slightly descending in rows from the oven belt, passes into the conveying teeth and, during the rotation of the transfer conveying roller, is received by the external flanks of the conveying teeth and, raised to the conveying level of the roller conveyor, comes to rest at the front upon the roller conveyor. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for transferring by rows flat baked products This invention relates to an apparatus for transferring by rows and transversely aligning flat baked products arriving lying in a plurality of rows on an endless oven conveyor belt into obliquely descending stacking shafts.

An apparatus has already been proposed, in which the flat baked products arriving from an oven conveyor belt are delivered directly into the stacking shafts. For bridging the gap between the radius of the change-direction roller and the start of the stacking shafts, driven rubber belts resting upon the baked products are disposed, in this known apparatus, at the end of the oven conveyor belt. These rubber belts prevent premature tilting of the baked products and assure trouble-free conveying across the gap into the stacking shaft (DD PS 204 073). This apparatus suffers from the disadvantage that the rubber belts conceal the baked products from above. In this region, therefore, no optical monitoring devices can be mounted and also a visual inspection by the operative cannot be carried out.This disadvantage can, finally, lead also to jamming in the region of the rubber belts, with the result that large losses can occur at a high throughput of baked products.

Finally, an apparatus is also known for setting upright and stacking baked slices, which are supplied, lying at irregular intervals, on a feed device.

The feed device is arranged descending in its end zone and feeds the baked slices, either directly or via a sliding track, to stacking wheels. These stacking wheels are of toothed form and the baked products slide from above into the individual teeth of the stacking wheels. With the rotation of the stacking wheels, the individual baked pieces are raised on-edge out of their inclined position and delivered onto a horizontal conveying device (DE OS 30 04 935). These stacking wheels are not suitable for the purpose of the present invention, because the baked pieces are brought into an upright position and the gap existing between the feed device and conveying device is too wide to be bridged by the individual teeth.

The objective of this invention is to avoid faults due to jamming and accumulations in the continuous process.

The task of the invention consists in assuring the transfer of the flat baked products from the oven conveyor belt into obliquely descending stacking shafts by a form of construction open above.

According to the invention this result is achieved by a roller conveyor driven between oven conveyor belt and stacking shafts at the same conveying speed as the oven conveyor belt, with which (roller conveyor) a rotating transfer conveying roller with notched conveying teeth is associated at the front in such a manner that the forward part of tha backed products passes by rows from the oven conveyor belt, slightly descendingly into the conveying teeth and, during the rotation of the transverse conveying roller, is accepted by the external flanks of the conveying teeth and, raised to the conveying level of the roller conveyor, comes down into contact at the front on the roller conveyor.

This manner of transfer permits continual observation of the feed by optical monitoring elements and the operatives themselves, so that accumulations can no longer occur. At the same time, the arriving rows of baked products are advantageously transversely aligned by the transfer conveying roller. According to a further feature of the invention, the conveying rollers disposed before the last conveying roller of the roller conveyor are formed knurled at their periphery. As a result, the aligned position is assured during conveying on the roller conveyor.

The invention is explained by an example of embodiment in the drawing.

The drawing shows: Figure 1 is a side view Figure 2 is a plan view.

The apparatus for transferring by rows is a component of a packing line for the wrapping by stacks, in continuous operation, of rusks arriving lying flat. In the drawing, only the rear part of the oven conveyor belt 1 with the change-direction roller la is shown, on which rusks Z arrive lying in rows out of the oven, not shown. This oven conveying belt 1 is continuously driven in the direction of arrow X. Of the packing line, moreover, only the forward part of obliquely descending stacking shafts is represented by a slide track 2. Between the oven conveyor belt 1 and slide track 2, there is a roller conveyor 3, driven at the same speed of conveying as the oven conveyor belt 1. The roller conveyor 3 is equipped, at the front, with a rotating transfer conveying roller 4, which possesses notched conveying teeth 4a.The individual conveying rollers 3a of the roller conveyor 3 are journalled in a frame 3b and possess at their end toothed drive wheels 3c, over which a drive chain 3d is conducted, as can be seen particularly from Figure 2. The transfer conveying roller 4 is likewise journalled in the frame 3b and equipped with a drive wheel 4b. This drive wheel 4b meshes, via an intermediate wheel not shown, with the corresponding drive wheel of the next conveying roller 3a. The conveying rollers 3a disposed before the last conveying roller 3a are constructed ribbed or knurled at their periphery. Before the last conveying roller 3a, a photo-optical monitoring device 5 is mounted.

The method of functioning of the apparatus is described in the following section.

The rusks Z are conveyed towards the slide track 2 at a speed dependent upon the baking process, lying horizontally in rows on the oven conveyor belt 1. At the end of the oven belt 1, in the region of the guide roller la, the rusks Z slide slightly downwards due to the path of the descending oven belt. The forward part of the rusks Z thereby becomes seated in the conveying teeth 4a of the transfer conveying roller 4. This seating of the rusks in the conveying teeth 4a causes transverse alignment of the rows. During the rotation of the transfer conveying roller 4, the forward part of the rusks is received by the external flanks of the conveying teeth 4a and raised to the conveying level of the roller path 3 and then placed at the front on the roller conveyor. The rollers 3a of the roller conveyor 3 revolve, driven by the drive wheels 3c, at the same conveying speed as the oven conveyor belt 1. Due to the knurled form of the conveying rollers 3a, the aligned position of the rusks is maintained during conveying on the roller conveyor 3. The last roller 3a of the roller conveyor 3 before the slide track 2 is not knurled, so that the rows of rusks can easily tilt over this roller 3a onto the slide track 2 of the stacking shafts. The photooptical monitoring device 5 thereby records the orderly feed in accordance with the conditions necessary for the succeeding forming of stacks.

Claims

1. Apparatus for transferring by rows and transversely aligning flat baked products arriving on an endless oven conveyor belt lying in a plurality of rows into obliquely descending stacking shafts, characterized by a roller conveyor (3), driven between the oven conveyor belt (1) and stacking shafts (2) at the same conveying speed as the oven belt (1), with which (roller conveyor) there is associated at the front a revolving transfer conveying roller (4) with notched conveying teeth (4a) in such a manner that the forward part of the baked products (Z) passes by rows from the oven belt (1) slightly falling into the conveying teeth (4a) and is received, during the rotation of the transfer conveying roller (4), by the outer flanks of the conveying teeth (4a) and, lifted to the conveying level of the roller conveyor (3), arrives at the front on the roller conveyor (3).

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the conveyor rollers (3a) disposed before the last conveying roller (3a) of the roller conveyor (3) are knurled at their periphery.

3. Apparatus for transferring by rows and transversely aligning flat baked products arriving on an endless oven conveyor belt as claimed in Claim 1, substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated by the example shown in the accompanying drawings.