Cutting – With means to clean work or tool
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-28
2003-09-23
Ashley, Boyer D. (Department: 3724)
Cutting
With means to clean work or tool
C083S932000, C083S751000, C083S758000, C083S768000, C083S786000, C083S481000, C083S487000, C083S571000, C083S581100, C083S425300, C083S954000, C083S699210, C083S827000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06622602
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for slicing loaves and other bakery products, such as for example cakes and pastries. These bakery products may optionally be completely frozen, or frozen just on the outside, in particular in order to allow cutting of soft bakery products or of bakery products with a filling which is soft at room temperature, such as pies. In addition, the invention relates to a cutting-blade carrier for a device of this kind and to the cleaning of the cutting blades of a device of this kind.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A known device for slicing loaves is described in GB-1,464,604. This device is provided with two cutting-blade carriers, which are disposed one behind the other, as seen in the passage direction of the loaves. The two cutting-blade carriers are each guided in a straight line, substantially perpendicular to the passage direction of the loaves, in the frame of the device and are moved in a reciprocating manner in opposite phases.
In generally known bread-cutting devices, the cutting-blade carriers are driven with a rectilinear, reciprocating movement, which has an amplitude of between 30 and 45 millimeters and a frequency of 700 to 800 reciprocating movements per minute. Another known device has only one cutting-blade carrier, which is driven with a rectilinear, reciprocating movement which has an amplitude of 3 millimeters and a frequency of approximately 3000 reciprocating movements per minute.
In practice, the known devices have proven unsatisfactory. Particularly if the bread was baked shortly before, it adheres to the cutting blades, with the result that it is desirable, not to say necessary, to regularly remove the bread material which adheres to the cutting blades during the cutting operation. This is because bread residues adhere to the cutting blades to an ever increasing extent as the cutting blades become dirtier.
For the purpose of cleaning the cutting blades, it is generally known in the case of the devices of the large-amplitude type to provide one or more scraper members, which are disposed outside the path through the cutting device for the loaves, the cutting blades being scraped clean on moving past a cutting member. In practice, the loaves to be cut are frequently so high, approximately 15-20 centimeters as seen in the longitudinal direction of the cutting blades, that the central part of the bread-cutting length of the cutting blades does not move past one of the scraper members in these known devices, and is therefore not cleaned. In the case of the known small-amplitude device, it is impossible to clean the cutting blades in this manner during cutting of the bread.
It is also known to apply a small quantity of an edible lubricant to the cutting blades during the cutting operation, particularly when cutting bread with a low fat content. The application of lubricant can also only take place outside the path of the loaves. Owing to the considerations outlined in the preceding paragraph, it is clear that in many cases the known devices do not allow satisfactory lubrication of the cutting blades.
A further drawback of the known devices is that the cutting operation entails an undesirably high loss of bread material, owing to the formation of crumbs. The crumbs are mainly formed as a result of the contact between the sides of the cutting blades and the bread, in particular at the location of the transitions between that edge of each cutting blade which is provided with cutting formations and the substantially flat sides of this cutting blade.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to eliminate the abovementioned problems. Furthermore, the invention aims to eliminate a considerable number of other drawbacks of the known devices. These drawbacks include the fact that the known cutting-blade carriers are expensive and that exchanging a cutting-blade carrier requires a maintenance person and takes up considerable time, during which time cutting cannot take place. The present invention also aims to provide measures which improve the cleaning of the cutting blades, so that the cutting blades last longer and fewer crumbs are formed.
According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a device for slicing loaves and other bakery products, comprising a frame, which is provided with support means for the loaves, which support means define a path for the loaves through the device, a cutting-blade carrier, which holds a plurality of thin, elongate cutting blades next to one another and at a distance from one another, each cutting blade having a cutting edge which has cutting formations for cutting the loaf, drive means for creating a reciprocating movement of the cutting blades with respect to the support means for the loaves, which reciprocating movement is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the cutting blades, characterized in that the drive means of the cutting-blade carrier provide a first movement, which is characterized by a first amplitude in the longitudinal direction of the cutting blades and a first frequency, and also provide a second movement, which is characterized by a second amplitude in the longitudinal direction of the cutting blades and a second frequency, the first amplitude being greater than the second amplitude and the first frequency being lower than the second frequency, and in that the drive means are designed to superimpose the first movement and the second movement to form a resultant movement, and in that the drive means drive the cutting blades with the resultant movement, which preamble is based on GB-1,464,604, which device is characterized by the above-described characterizing part of the description.
The characteristic part of the device provides for the movement of each cutting-blade carrier to be the resultant of the low-frequency first movement, which may also be an intermittently executed movement, having a large amplitude, on the one hand, and a high-frequency, preferably continuous, second movement having a small amplitude, on the other hand.
In one preferred embodiment, the cleaning means may comprise, for example, two cleaning devices, one below and one above the path for the loaves, in which case, for example, the position of the top cleaning device is adjustable with respect to the support means for the loaves, so that the position of the top cleaning device can be matched to the height of the loaves to be cut. In a variant, only one cleaning device may be provided, for example at a short distance below the path for the loaves. The invention provides for the cutting action of the cutting blades to be effected substantially by the second movement and for the first movement to serve primarily to allow the cutting blades to move past the cleaning means over their entire bread-cutting length.
In another preferred embodiment, the effect is achieved that the cutting blades not only move in a rectilinear, reciprocating manner in the longitudinal direction of the cutting blades, as in the case of known devices, but also each cutting blade executes small loop movements with a high frequency. This loop movement is very advantageous for the cutting action of the cutting blades when cutting bread and other bakery products. The loop movement is also advantageous if the sides of the cutting blades bear against scraper surfaces of a scraper member, because in this case a type of polishing effect is achieved.
The advantageous direction of the loop-like movement is an arc-like path from a top point situated furthest away from the support means towards a bottom point situated closest to the support means, with a first deviation with respect to the imaginary straight line between the top point and the bottom point, which first deviation is directed counter to the passage direction, and in which the loop-like movement also describes an arc-like path from the bottom point to the top point, with a second deviation with respect to the imaginary straight line between the bottom point and the top point, which second deviation is likewise directed counte
Ashley Boyer D.
Hoffmann & Baron , LLP
Rompa Patent Beheer B.V.
LandOfFree
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