GB2116508A

GB2116508A - A method and an apparatus for forming several stacks which lie side by side

Info

Publication number: GB2116508A
Application number: GB08301420A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Eberhard Weckend; Wolfgang Firndt; Werner Bohme
Original assignee: Nagema VEB
Current assignee: Nagema VEB
Priority date: 1982-03-12
Filing date: 1983-01-19
Publication date: 1983-09-28
Also published as: GB2116508B; DD204073B1; FR2523074A1; FR2523074B1; DD204073A1; CH658842A5; GB8301420D0; DE3247429A1; DE3247429C2

Abstract

An apparatus for forming several juxtaposed stacks of upright flat baked products, mainly rusks Z, follows a multi-row cooling belt 1a downstream of the baking oven. The baked products are transferred automatically from the belt 1a to a stack forming conveying means with careful treatment. This is brought about in that the rusks, arriving in several rows lying flat, are progressively collected, sliding obliquely downwards, in an upright position transversely to the feed direction from row to row in one track so as to form stacks. The apparatus comprises a sloping slide compartment 4a, 4b which extends over the entire width of the cooling belt 1a and beneath which there is mounted a reciprocating transverse slide 5 associated with an oblique ascending base plate 6 which is followed by a transverse inclined conveyor provided with separating webs 2c and with a hold-back device 7a, 7b. The invention aims at increasing the capacity of such a stacking apparatus. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A method and an apparatus for forming several stacks which lie side by side The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for forming several juxtaposed stacks of upright flat baked products which keep, mainly rusks, following a multi-row cooling belt provided downstream of the baking oven.

There is already known a method for joining successive groups of flat articles, such as biscuits or the like, in which method the articles are discharged transversely to the transport direction at different levels from storage compartments which are arranged along the conveyor. The articles are moved from storage compartments on correspondingly arranged slideways and are placed one above the other thereon in the transport direction, initially in the zone of the slideways separating them, so as to form stacks and, with the movement continuing in the transport direction, are then united at the end of the slideways so as to form stacks which can be packed (DE PS 10 45 892).This method has the disadvantage that, for the formation of a stack which is in an upright position, the articles which are stacked one upon the other in a flat manner have to be turned through 900, so that the expenditure required therefor is relatively high.

There is furthermore known an apparatus for forming stacks that can be packed which consists of an endless transporting element, which is equipped with catches, and of storage compartments which are associated therewith and lie one behind the other in the transport direction. The biscuits located in the storage compartments pass via a chute on the transporting element, the catches pushing a biscuit from each storage compartment. In this way, the biscuits are placed one above the other on the transporting element so as to form stacks.

At the end of the transporting element, there is provided an ejector rake which grasps these completed stacks and passes them on to a pusher.

From there, the stacks to be packed are transferred to a packing machine (DE PS 10 45 892). This apparatus can also only be used for the formation of biscuit stacks which lie flat. These two known apparatuses also have the disadvantage that they cannot be automatically connected to a baking oven. Also known is a method for rearranging flat articles which move side by side on a moving surface and are re-arranged by deflecting devices so as to form a single row. The articles arrive there in several parallel rows, and from this arrangement they are collected in such a way that they come to lie one above the other in several layers (DE AS 10 42 484). A stack formation according to this method has the disadvantage that much space is required for arranging and that it cannot be used for high-capacity machines because of the low capacity thereof.Finally, there are known methods for forming upright stacks from flat backed products which arrive in a lying fashion. Such an automatic feeding device is characterised in that the rows are guided via a delivery chain of the packing machine and can be pressed into the chain buckets by a stack (DD PS 40 531). In another known apparatus of this kind, the biscuits are joined by means of guide plates and are set upright at an angle of 900 to the table plane by means of belts and guide plates as well as a sophisticated dispensing and braking device.

Thereafter, they are inserted in continuous succession into the bucket chain or other portion magazines by a vacuum siphon (DD PS 40 996).

These two known apparatuses have the particular disadvantage that the stacks are subjected to high stresses when they are separated from the upright strand. These mechanical stresses due to crumbs are particularly disadvantageous during the processing of rusks. In order to avoid these mechanical stresses during the separating operation, there has also become known an apparatus where the rusks are pushed into a vertical feeding compartment from a slightly ascending feeding belt. At the end of the feeding compartment, there is arranged a pair of gripping tongs, into which the rusks are pushed. After the gripping tongs have swung over a horizontal bucket chain conveyor, the gripping tongs are opened and the rusks are released.The following rusks, which are retained in the stacker compartment by a separating slide, thereafter slide to the end of the stacker compartment and are inserted into the pair of gripping tongs which have returned meanwhile (DD PS 48 941). Only small-sized stacks can be separated with this device since, due to the existing tolerances in the thickness of the rusks, the ejector slide is incapable of properly grasping all the rusks of relatively large-sized stacks.

The invention aims at increasing the capacity of such stacking apparatuses.

It is the object of the invention to transfer baked products which keep and arrive from the cooling belt automatically to a stack forming conveying means along with a careful treatment. According to the invention, this is brought about in that the rusks, which arrive in several rows in a lying fashion, are progressively collected, sliding obliquely downwards, in an upright position transversely to the feed direction from row to row in one track so as to form stacks. A stack formation performed in this way has the advantage that the stack can be formed automatically without any mechanical gripping or grasping of the baked products that keep. In addition to the careful treatment resulting therefrom, no additional workers are required therefor.According to a further feature of the invention, following the joining-together of the desired stack size, the completed stacks are moved to an adjacent track. This makes it possible to form smaller stacks if the rows arriving from the cooling belt are higher than the number of the individual baked products of a stack. This solution makes it furthermore possible to use the method for large plants since the rows arriving on the cooling belt can always be taken off without any discharging difficulties in that the stack size is changed.

The apparatus for the performance of the method is characterised in that the cooling belt has, at the end, a sloping slide compartment which extends over the entire width thereof and beneath which there is mounted an angular reciprocating transverse slide which engages at a right angle to the oblique slideway and is provided with a correspondingly obliquely ascending base plate, at the same level of which there follows a transverse conveyor which is inclinedly arranged in the same way and is provided with separating webs and with a hold-back lock at the inlet, Due to the design of the apparatus, the rusks are brought into the desired stack position by the cooling belt gently and without any high mechanical stress.

This also applies to the double-track design of the transverse conveyor which is provided with an individual slide which transfers the lined-up stacks on the adjacent track.

The invention will be explained in an exemplified embodiment with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a top view of the entire apparatus, Figure 2 shows the same, with the stack formation advanced, Figure 3 shows a section along the line A-A in Fig. 1, and Figure 4 shows a section along the line B-B in Fig. 2.

The apparatus for the performance of the method consists substantially of a cooling belt 1 which is arranged behind a baking oven not shown, a two-track transverse conveyor 2 and a delivery belt 3. The cooling belt 1 is composed of a wire belt 1 a and conveying rollers 1 b, of which only the rear conveying roller is visible in Figs. 3 and 4. At the rear portion of this cooling belt 1, there is provided at the top a contact-pressure belt 1 c for securing the position of the rusks Z to be processed. At the end, the cooling belt 1 has a sloping slide compartment 4 which extends over the entire width thereof. This slide compartment 4 consists of two side walls 4a, 4b so that there is formed between these a slideway in the thickness of the rusks. Beneath the slide compartment 4, there is mounted a first angular reciprocating transverse slide 5 provided with a base plate 6.

The transverse slide 5 is so arranged that it engages at right angles to the oblique slide compartment 4, the base plate 6 rising obliquely in a corresponding manner. In the starting position, the front part 5a of the transverse slide 5' is flush with the rear side wall 4a of the slide compartment 4 so that, after having left the slide compartment 4, the rusks come into abutting contact therewith. By contrast, the upper part of the transverse slide 5b, which part is angled at a right angle, is dimensioned in such a way that, in the end position, it covers the slide compartment 4. At the level of the base plate 6, there is contiguous to this latter the transverse conveyor 2 which is inclinedly arranged in the same way.This transverse conveyor comprises separating webs 2c which are spaced in the width of the rusks and is provided at the front with a hold-back lock 7 which consists of separating slides 7a, 7b which engage from the top and from the bottom respectively. The first track 2a of the transverse conveyor 2, which track is dimensioned to the maximum stack size, is so designed that initially half of the rusks Z, which arrive on the cooling belt 1 in twelve rows, are received. This corresponds to a stack formation of respectively six rusks Z.

The two-track transverse conveyor 2 is connected to a drive not shown, by which the moving forward in rows of the separating webs 3c is initiated. In the exemplified embodiment shown, the first track 2a of the transverse conveyor 2 is filled with six rusks Z. In the corresponding track, there is provided, instead of the transverse slide 5, an individual slide 8 which can carry out a stroke which is twice as long. This enables this slide to move the stack which has been collected on the first track 2a to the second track 2b. In the zone of this individual slide 8, there is arranged between the first and second tracks 2a, 2b of the transverse conveyor 2 a hold-back lock 9. This lock consists, similar to the hold-back lock 7, of individual separating slides 9a, 9b which engage from the top and bottom respectively.Considered in the transport direction of the transverse conveyor 2, the individual slide 8 is again followed by a transverse slide 5 with a base plate 6 and a holdback lock 7 directly behind the cooling belt 1, as has already been described. In this width, there is fastened between the first and second tracks 2a, 2b of the transverse conveyor 2 a stationary holdback strip 10, against which the inclinedly abutting rusks of the previously collected stack butt in a forwardly sliding manner. In the zone behind the cooling belt 1 , the transverse conveyor 2 is provided with a stop 11 along the bottom so as to prevent the collected stacks from slipping out. The delivery belt 3, which adjoins the transverse conveyor 2 at a right angle, then takes over the stacks arriving in two rows and these are fed by this belt in one row to a wrapping machine not shown.

The method and the mode of operation of the apparatus for forming the stacks is the subject of the following description.

The rusks arriving from the baking oven not shown on the cooling belt 1 in twelve rows in a lying fashion slide, after having left the cooling belt 1, obliquely downwards in the slide compartment 4. While the cooling belt 1 moves continuously, the two-track transverse conveyor 2 is driven in a stepwise manner. With each indexing step, this conveyor moves on, with its separating webs 2c, by the width of one row. The rusks Z are set upright in the slide compartment 4 so that, sliding past the transverse slide 5 which is in the starting position, they pass onto the base plate 6 in an upright position, as shown in Fig. 3. In this way, all of the twelve rusks arriving side by side initially pass onto the base plate 6. The individual slide 8 arranged in the centre also is in a starting position during this process, as shown in Fig. 1.

The extending of the transverse slide 5 causes the rusks Z to be moved on the track 2a of the transverse conveyor 2. The following rusks, which accumulate in the slide compartment 4 in the meantime, rest in this position on the upper part 5b of the transverse slide 5. Before the transverse slide 5 is returned, the hold-back lock 7 comes into action in that the separating slides 7a, 7b come into abutting contact with the rear of the last rusk Z that is located on that track 2a of the transverse conveyor 2. Thereafter, the transverse slide 5 is returned to its starting position. In this way, the rusks are progressively collected from row to row in one track on the transverse conveyor so as to form stacks. After the accumulation of twice six rusks Z on the corresponding row, the first track 2a of the transverse conveyor 2 is filled at this point.The complete row of stacks which has accumulated in front of the individual slide 8 is moved onto the adjacent second track 2b of the transverse conveyor 2 by the extension of this individual slide 8. At this point, too, the hold-back lock 9 comes into action before the individual slide 8 is returned.

Following the return of the individual slide 8 to its starting position, the transverse conveyor 2 is moved on by one working stroke. The second stack which has accumulated on the first track 2a is then transported from the zone of the cooling belt 1 , where this stack is protected from dropping from the transverse conveyor 2 by the stop 1 The stack which has been moved on the second track 2b is transported further thereon from row to row, the stationary hold-back strip 10 preventing the rusks Z from sliding back onto the first track 2a.

When complete stacks have been formed on the two tracks 2a, 2b of the transverse conveyor 2, respectively two juxtaposed stacks of six rusks are transferred in an upright position to the adjoining delivery belt 3. The described method of forming stacks of rusks is so advantageous because, with high capacities being attainable, this sensitive material to be packed is treated carefully without the use of operators.

Claims

1. A method for forming several juxtaposed stacks of upright flat baked products which keep, mainly rusks, directly following a multi-row cooling belt provided downstream of the baking oven, characterised in that the rusks, which arrive in several rows in a lying fashion, are progressively collected, sliding obliquely downwards, in an upright position transversely to the feed direction from row to row in one track so as to form stacks.

2. A method as claimed in Claim 1, characterised in that following the joiningtogether of the desired stack size, the completed stacks are moved to an adjacent track.

3. An apparatus for the performance of the method as claimed in Claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the cooling belt (1) has, at the end, a sloping slide compartment (4) which extends over the entire width thereof and beneath which there is mounted an angular reciprocating transverse slide (5) which engages at a right angle to the oblique slideway (4) and is provided with a correspondingly obliquely ascending base plate (6), at the level of which there follows a transverse conveyor (2) which is inclinedly arranged in the same way and is provided with separating webs (2c) and with a hold-back lock (7) at the inlet.

4. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 3, characterised in that the inclinedly arranged transverse conveyor (2) is double-tracked in design and is provided with an individual slide (8) which transfers the lined-up stacks to the adjacent track (2b).

5. A method for forming several juxtaposed stacks of upright flat baked products substantially as described with reference to the method disclosed herein.

6. An apparatus for forming several juxtaposed stacks of upright flat baked products substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.