The present invention relates to a bread conveying apparatus for conveying bread such as plain bread or pastry.
Bread such as plain bread or pastry is produced through a series of manufacturing processes. In a proofer process which is one process in a manufacturing process, a dough lump of bread (hereinafter referred to as bread dough) is fermented by a proofer device. In a subsequent hearth process, the fermented bread dough is baked by a griddle device which is a bread baking apparatus. Baked bread is transferred to conveying means for transportation to a subsequent process by a bread conveying apparatus included in the griddle device.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,859,713 discloses an example of the griddle device. This griddle device has a configuration in which bread dough is placed on a hearth connected to an endless belt included in a carrier conveyor, the bread dough is baked while being conveyed, and the bread dough is transferred from a placed portion to a discharge conveyor at a downstream end portion in a conveying direction of the endless belt.
A bread conveying apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 2,859,713 has a configuration in which the bread dough placed on the hearth connected to the endless belt falls freely onto a placed portion included in the discharge conveyor. Therefore, in some cases, the bread dough is placed on a place different from a predetermined position on the placed portion of the discharge conveyor, or pieces of bread dough collide with each other to cause a scratch on the bread dough to generate when the pieces of bread dough continuously fall.
The invention has been conceived in view of the above circumstances. That is, an object is to provide a bread conveying apparatus capable of transferring conveyed bread to a predetermined position.
In a manufacturing process of bread, in general, a baked article is referred to as bread, and an article to be baked is referred to as bread dough. Therefore, in the present specification, a product to be baked, having a portion baked in a conveying course by a cup plate conveyor or a hearth plate conveyor is referred to as bread dough, and a product which is (two surfaces of which are) baked in the conveying course by the hearth plate conveyor is referred to as bread.
To solve the above problem and to achieve an object, a first aspect of the invention is a bread conveying apparatus for conveying bread, includes: a conveyor device that has a container on which the bread is placed, and that conveys the container in a conveying direction;
a guide member disposed on a downstream end portion side of the conveyor device in the conveying direction to releasably support the bread in cooperation with the container; and a chute member that discharges the bread conveyed by the conveyor device.
According to a bread conveying apparatus of the invention, timing at which a restraint of bread by a container and a guide member is released and the bread is transferred to a chute member may be set, and thus the bread may be accurately transferred to a predetermined position.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Hereinafter, a description will be given of a griddle device corresponding to an embodiment to which a bread conveying apparatus of the invention is applied, that is, a bread baking apparatus 1 with reference to drawings. In the drawings, the same portion is indicated by the same reference numeral. An embodiment described below is described as an example, and does not restrict the invention.
In
As illustrated in
The top plate conveyor 3 includes a bread dough locking member, and travels in the same direction as that of the cup plate conveyor 5 (the left direction in
Further, when the bread dough held on the cup plate conveyor 5 arrives at a position around a left end rotating body 51 from a right end rotating body 52 of the cup plate conveyor 5, the bread dough falls onto the hearth plate 73 (see
The hearth plate conveyor 7 includes a downstream rotating body 75 disposed on a downstream side along the conveying direction P, an upstream rotating body 71 disposed on an upstream side, and the endless revolving body 76 wound around the downstream rotating body 75 and the upstream rotating body 71.
Two endless revolving bodies 76 are separately disposed in a vertical direction of
Bread dough placed on the hearth plate 73 of the hearth plate conveyor 7 is conveyed in the conveying direction P from the upstream rotating body 71 side to the downstream rotating body 75 side in
When the hearth plate 73 traveling the feeding course passes through the downstream rotating body 75 and arrives at a returning course (course from the downstream rotating body 75 side to the upstream rotating body 71 side in
In addition, heating means 91 having the same configuration as that of the heating means 91 disposed on the lower surface side of the hearth plate 73 is disposed on a lower surface side of the cup plate, which holds bread dough, of the cup plate conveyor 5. Therefore, one surface of bread dough is baked while the bread dough is conveyed by the cup plate. In addition, when the bread dough is transferred from the cup plate to the hearth plate 73, the bread dough is turned over. Further, the other surface of the bread dough is baked while the bread dough is conveyed by the hearth plate 73, and baking of front and rear surfaces of the bread B is completed.
Hereinafter, a description will be given of the discharge mechanism 11 which is disposed on the downstream rotating body 75 side of the hearth plate conveyor 7. The discharge mechanism 11 mainly includes the hearth plate 73, the guide member 13, and the chute member 15. The hearth plate 73 is a member included in the hearth plate conveyor 7 described above.
As illustrated in
The guide member 13 and the chute member 15 are fixed to a housing 17 to face the hearth plate 73 when the hearth plate 73 passes round the downstream rotating body 75. The guide member 13 has a radius curvature which is larger than an outer diameter dimension of the downstream rotating body 75, and the guide member 13 is positioned such that a center of curvature R thereof is identical to a center of rotation r of the downstream rotating body 75. Therefore, the hearth plate 73 travels inside a substantially arc-shaped space defined by the downstream rotating body 75, the guide member 13, and the chute member 15 in front view of
The guide member 13 includes an upper end portion 13a disposed on a feeding course side of the endless revolving body 76, a lower end portion 13b disposed on a returning course side of the endless revolving body 76, and an arc-shaped portion 13c which connects the upper end portion 13a to the lower end portion 13b and has a concave shaped surface. A support 55 is connected to the arc-shaped portion 13c such that the support 55 extends perpendicular to the arc-shaped portion 13c in planar view of
The support 55 is connected to a U-shaped member 65 having a U-shape in planar view illustrated in
In the present embodiment, a center of curvature of the arc-shaped portion 13c (center of rotation r of the guide member 13) is coaxial with a center of curvature of the arc-shaped hole 69. The upper end portion 13a and the lower end portion 13b of the guide member 13 may be positioned when the support 55 is shifted in a direction of an arrow T along the arc-shaped hole 69 and fixed by the fastening means.
Further, an L-shaped member 61, which has an L-shape in planar view of
As described above, in
As illustrated in
A chute fixing portion 60 for supporting the upper end portion 15a is connected to the L-shaped member 61 through a main chute fixing body 62 described below. The chute fixing portion 60 is engraved with a slot 60a extending in a vertical direction in
In addition, the main chute fixing body 62 includes two horizontal slots 63 extending in a horizontal direction in
As described above, the chute member 15 may be positioned with respect to the L-shaped member 61 such that the chute member 15 is adjustable in the direction of the arrow D and a direction of an arrow E of
In
In addition, a position at which a nipping state is released is defined by the guide member 13 and the downstream edge portion 73b, and thus the bread B may be stably supplied to a predetermined position on the inner surface 15c of the chute member 15. As a result, the bread B is stably transferred to the belt conveyor 101 of the subsequent process through the chute member 15. The inner surface 15c of the chute member 15 extends in a shape of a straight line, and thus the bread B smoothly slides on the inner surface 15c, and is transported to the subsequent process.
In addition, in the present embodiment, the chute fixing portion 60 and the main chute fixing body 62 are configured from one component, and adjusting means for adjusting a tilt angle of the chute member 15 (an angle at which the inner surface 15c of the chute member 15 extends with respect to the horizontal direction) is not included. However, it is possible employ a configuration in which the tilt angle can be changed. In the case of this configuration, the tilt angle may be adjusted in consideration of impact received by bread when the bread falls onto a placed portion, on which bread is placed, of a belt conveyor of a subsequent process, sliding characteristics of bread on the inner surface 15c, and etc.
The present embodiment corresponds to a configuration having a positional relation in which the center of curvature R of the guide member 13 is identical to the center of rotation r of the downstream rotating body 75. However, the invention is not restricted to this configuration. For example, when the guide member 13 and the downstream rotating body 75 are configured such that the center of curvature R and the center of rotation r can relatively move, it is possible to change a shortest distance between the hearth plate 73 and the guide member 13 included in the substantially arc-shaped space, and to increase a design freedom of a position at which the bread B is restrained and a position at which the restraint is released according to a thickness dimension, etc. of the bread. As described above, the bread B is smoothly and reliably transferred to the subsequent process by adopting a configuration in which the guide member 13 and the chute member 15 can be positioned independently of each other.
In the present embodiment and a modified example, bread dough and bread are used as an object to be conveyed of the bread conveying apparatus. The bread conveying apparatus of the invention is incorporated in the bread baking apparatus 1. However, the conveying apparatus of the invention is not restricted to the bread baking apparatus, and may be used in various apparatus that process food.
Hereinbefore, the embodiment of the invention has been described. However, the invention is not restricted to the embodiment, and may be variously modified and changed within a range of a subject matter thereof.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2017-045513, filed Mar. 10, 2017, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2017-045513 | Mar 2017 | JP | national |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20180255790 A1 | Sep 2018 | US |