Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – Means making particulate material directly from liquid or...
Patent
1995-10-24
1997-03-11
Woo, Jay H.
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
Means making particulate material directly from liquid or...
425381, 4253823, 198850, B29C 4730
Patent
active
056098871
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for producing granular material from free-flowing viscous masses which are transferred into the form of droplets and which then rigidify or gel, the apparatus comprising a vessel charged with the free-flowing mass and provided with discharge openings which, for the purpose of forming drops, are opened or closed intermittently by a perforated belt that is moved past the openings.
A device of this type has been known from Froeschke U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,000, where an endless, continuously moving belt is guided on two guide pulleys. In order to give the belt a sufficiently high elasticity for the continuous motion and for its application against the vessel, the belt is made from a plastic material, for example from PVC. Plastic belts are subject, however, to relatively significant wear and relatively rapid aging, and this may have the result that frequent belt changes, connected with production stoppages, have to be scheduled, or that after a longer operating time the belt will no longer apply itself against the discharge slot of the vessel so that its function may become unsatisfactory, unless the belt tension is continuously readjusted.
Now, it is the object of the present invention to provide a belt which is sturdy, exhibits almost no aging phenomena and which does not present the problems of elastically yielding belts.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
By giving the belt the design according to a invention, comprising a plurality of lamellar links which are elastically joined and which, thus, are in close contact one with the other when passing the vessel, a belt having the desired properties is provided. On the one hand, the belt offers sufficiently high flexibility, which is necessary due to the relatively small dimensions of the guide pulleys of the devices mentioned at the outset. On the other hand, the individual lamellar links can be made thick enough so that the perforated openings offer a sufficiently great volume for the formation of droplets. The flexibility and elasticity of the link is determined by suitable selection of the elastic means. These properties of the belt are not impaired by the thickness of the links. being determined by the elastic means that are active between the individual links. It is for this same reason that the flexibility of the belt also does not depend on the selection of the material for the links. These may, therefore, consist of any particularly non-aging material, without the bending properties of the material having a decisive importance. If some part, for example a lamellar link, of the belt gets damaged, it will be sufficient to exchange only the defective link, which takes relatively little time, whereby unnecessarily long production stoppages can be avoided. The production of the belt is also facilitated insofar as the lamellar links and the means serving to connect the links can be produced as one piece in the form of sections, for being then cut off as necessary (i.e. according to the desired width of the belt) and provided with the openings.
From G 85 29 725 U1 it has been known to interconnect the individual slats of a shutter by elastic connection elements. The material of the elastic connection elements is selected in this case in such a way that the latter can be bonded or welded to the slats. However, such a shutter, which is intended to protect from burglary or sun radiation, has nothing in common with a device for producing granular material.
According to an advantageous further development of the invention, the lamellar links are provided, on their long sides, with undercut grooves extending substantially in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis, which are held together by pairs of parallel rods that are interconnected by resilient elements and inserted into the undercut grooves of neighboring lamellar links. This provides an effective connection between the individual links. The rods can be produced in a simple way as stock material, and can then be cut to length as required. An
REFERENCES:
patent: 3933238 (1976-01-01), Maguire
patent: 4016971 (1977-04-01), Komossa et al.
patent: 4559000 (1985-12-01), Froeschke
patent: 5185163 (1993-02-01), Wiatt et al.
Santrade Ltd.
Schwartz Iurie A.
Woo Jay H.
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