Conveyors: power-driven – Conveyor system having auxiliary section for storing items... – Auxiliary section has the same entrance and exit
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-26
2001-05-01
Pyon, Harold (Department: 1722)
Conveyors: power-driven
Conveyor system having auxiliary section for storing items...
Auxiliary section has the same entrance and exit
C425S150000, C425S454000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06223881
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an accumulator for molds for use in a system for making confectionery articles, such as chocolate articles, and, more specifically, an accumulator for accumulating molds free of their driving means and operating according to a first-in-first-out logic in which, the first mold entering the accumulator will be the first mold exiting said accumulator.
As is known in the prior art, for making confectionery articles, such as chocolate bars or chocolates, patterns or molds, including a plurality of recesses which are filled by a fluid confectionery mass and then subjected to a solidifying process in refrigerating systems are conventionally used.
These confectionery article making systems are provided with system parts or stations operating with different operating speeds.
For example, due to production quality reasons, the patterning, cooling and mold releasing stations are operatively coupled with one another and, accordingly, they perform synchronous movements, said stations continuously operating to have a number of operating interruptions as small as possible.
For example, in a refrigerating system it is indispensable to hold the confectionery articles at preset temperatures for strictly constant times, to provide an end product having a desired quality.
On the contrary, the packaging or paperwrapping of said confectionery articles is carried out by systems having independent driving means.
In particular, the operating speed of a wrapping unit may vary from 0% to 130% of a constant operating rate of said molding or patterning, cooling and releasing stations.
The mentioned wrapping unit operating rate variations are caused, for example, by interruptions necessary for supplying and replacing packaging materials, as well as for maintenance or jamming reasons.
Thus, because of the mentioned different operating rates of the operating unit or stations provided on a same making line, excess amounts of products are made, which must necessarily be accumulated.
At present, for allowing a continuous operation, between the releasing station and the wrapping machines, released confectionery article accumulating stations are provided, in which the mold released products are handled either individually or by rows or courses of products, for preventing product damage and product jamming which can lock the system.
For preventing possible jammings or “packings” between the confectionery product rows coming from the same mold and possible damages to the products, it would be indispensable to handle each individual product row. For performing such a handling operation, conventional accumulating devices have been designed, which comprise very complex handling mechanisms taking the confectionery articles from conveyor means and depositing them on suitable storing plates or slabs, anchored to conveyor and storing systems, arranged, for example, off-line.
Said prior accumulators have the further drawback that the made confectionery products are held in a waiting for wrapping condition in the accumulator, upon releasing from the mold, thereby said products can be polluted and damaged.
The above mentioned accumulators are usually arranged downstream of the patterning or molding line, between the releasing section and the wrapping line.
The above mentioned approach, in addition to problems related to the released product handling and storing operations (such as damages, pollution, contamination and the like) present the further problem of properly handling the confectionery product supporting plates from a storing position to a loading position thereof.
Moreover, prior continuous line systems have the further drawback that it is necessary to perform, upon sending the plate supported products to the paper wrapping machines, a proper managing of the empty return plates. Thus, in order to control the empty plates, further accumulators must be provided in the return branch of the making line.
Accordingly, prior accumulating stations for accumulating the full and empty plates have a very large overall size.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thus, the aim of the present invention is to overcome the mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and facilitate the storing of the confectionery products by a very simple construction and small size accumulator.
This aim of the invention is achieved by an accumulator for molds, for use in a system for making confectionery articles, characterized in that, near a bottom and a top portion of said accumulator horizontal conveyor means for forward feeding full molds and respectively returning empty molds are provided, that at the inlet of said full molds into said accumulator are successively arranged, between said horizontal conveyor means, controllable vertical conveyors which can be controllably driven for handling said molds, that, before the outlet of said full molds from said accumulator, between said horizontal conveyor means, controllable vertical conveyors which can be controllably driven for handling said molds are further arranged, that between said vertical conveyors a controlled horizontal conveying device for horizontally driving said molds is arranged, and that said horizontal conveyor device can be controllably driven and located along a vertical axis.
The accumulator according to the invention is arranged inside the confectionery article making line to directly handle the molds. Accordingly, the handling mechanisms are very simple construction wise, since they must not handle the mold released products and must not deflect the confectionery articles from their making line and reintroduce again them into said line.
Thus, the invention allows to greatly reduce the space occupied by the accumulating system, since a separated accumulating station or accumulator is not required for the empty plates, thereby providing a further constructional simplification.
A particular advantage is that, in this system, the molds instead of the confectionery articles are handled, thereby the confectionery articles, held in the mold recesses, will be less exposed to possible polluting agents and handling damages.
Moreover, since the accumulator directly manages or handles the molds, said accumulator can be arranged in the making line upstream of the mold releasing apparatus. Thus, it will be possible to control the releasing station depending on the requirements of the following paper wrapping stations. In this manner, from said molds only the articles which are immediately sent to the wrapping operation will be released, thereby reducing to a minimum a possible polluting and damaging of said articles.
Furthermore, since the accumulator is arranged between the refrigerator and the mold releasing station, it can be easily integrated in the managing logic designed for managing or controlling the overall making line.
Accordingly, the mold releasing station is physically separated from the patterning or molding line driving unit, and provided with a dedicated driving assembly, independently from the patterning or molding system and synchronously operated with the paper wrapping units.
The movements of the mold accumulator are synchronized or timed with the upstream station (the refrigerator) and the downstream station (the releasing station). Thus, the vertical conveyors, which are successively arranged at the accumulator full mold inlet, are operatively coupled to the driving devices of the station arranged upstream of the confectionery article making system, for example the refrigerator.
The vertical conveyors, arranged before the accumulator full mold output are, on the contrary, operatively coupled to the driving device of the stations arranged downstream of said accumulator in said confectionery article making system, for example the releasing station.
For allowing the molds to be reintroduced with a spaced relationship into the making line, the horizontal conveyor means provided for evacuating said molds from said accumulator are provided with a releasing device for step by step releasing said molds.
For taking the molds from the h
Carle & Montanari S.p.A.
Kirschstein et al.
Luk Emmanuel S.
Pyon Harold
LandOfFree
Accumulator for molds does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Accumulator for molds, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Accumulator for molds will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2490441