The present invention refers to a device for mixing or amalgamating products in liquid, granular or powder form, such as paints, seeds and the like, as set forth in the preamble of claim 1.
Mixing devices generally known under the name of “shakers” have been present on the market for a long time, which devices are arranged to impart a vertical oscillation movement to a receptacle containing the product to be mixed.
A mixing device of the above-identified type is known for instance from U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,689, from which
The above-discussed mixing device is however not very suitable for mixing high-viscosity or high-density products, such as for example stucco, lime and the like, since the simple vertical oscillation movement imparted to the receptacle is not able in this case to bring about an efficient mixing action. Gyroscopic mixers would rather be necessary for mixing high-viscosity or high-density products.
The above-discussed mixing device is also not very ergonomic, since it requires the user to place manually the receptacle with the product to be mixed on the support base within the device, which operation may turn out to be quite difficult in particular with very bulky and/or heavy receptacles.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to obviate the shortcomings of the above-discussed prior art, providing a mixing device which is able to perform an efficient and quick mixing action on all the kinds of products, also on high-viscosity and/or high-density products, without thereby making the structure of the device too complicated and increasing too much the costs of the device. A further object of the invention is to provide a mixing device which is easy to use, even when very bulky and/or heavy receptacles have to be handled.
These and other objects are fully achieved according to the present invention by virtue of a device for mixing or amalgamating products in liquid, granular or powder form having the characteristics set forth in the characterizing portion of claim 1.
Further advantageous characteristics of the device of the invention are set forth in the dependent claims.
In short, the invention is based on the idea of providing a mixing device of the type set forth in the introductory part of the description, in which a driving mechanism for imparting a rotational movement to the receptacle about a vertical axis is also provided and in which this driving mechanism is arranged to be operated by the same motor as the one which operates the driving mechanism for imparting the vertical oscillation movement to the receptacle. Since a simultaneous rotational movement of the receptacle about a vertical axis is added to the vertical oscillation movement of the receptacle, the advantage of making the mixing action more efficient is clearly achieved. The time required to perform the mixing operation can thus be reduced for the same product to be mixed.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the mixing device is provided with a lower support plate for the receptacle(s) mounted in such a manner that it can be pulled out to allow the user easily to place and pull out the receptacle, which is very useful particularly in case of very bulky and/or heavy receptacles.
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will result from the detailed description which follows, given purely by way of non-limiting example with reference to the appended drawings, in which:
With reference to
The inner frame 18 carries a vertically fixed support structure 24, on which a lower support plate 26 is rotatably mounted, and a vertically movable cross-member 28, on which an upper clamping plate 30 is mounted coaxially to the inner plate. The two plates 26 and 30 perform in per-se-known way the function to clamp a receptacle or can C containing the product to be mixed. According to the invention, the two plates 26 and 30 are both rotatably mounted about a common vertical axis, indicated Z in
The mixing device according to the invention is thus able to impart a rotational movement about a vertical axis to the receptacle or can C, in addition to the usual vertical oscillation movement. Both the vertical oscillation movement and the rotational movement of the receptacle or can C are driven by a motor 32, preferably an electric motor, through a mechanism for driving the mixing movement which will be now described in detail.
The electric motor 32 is mounted on a bottom 34 of the outer frame 14, either on the rear side (as in the illustrated example) or on the front side. On the other hand, a counterweight 36 is mounted on the opposite of the bottom 34 of the outer frame 14. The electric motor 32 controls the rotation of a driving pulley 38, which is connected to a driven pulley 42 carried by an eccentric shaft 44 (
The eccentric shaft 44 is supported on the bottom 34 of the outer frame 14 by means of a pair of bearings 43 so as to be able to rotate about a horizontal axis X, and is provided at its opposite ends with a pair of eccentric pins 45, which are offset with respect to the horizontal axis X and are operatively associated to the inner frame 18. Specifically, in the illustrated embodiment the eccentric pins 45 are each arranged within a respective guide slit 47 (
Accordingly, when the electric motor 32 is activated the eccentric shaft 44 is set into rotation about the horizontal axis X and imparts to the inner frame 18, and therefore to the receptacle or can C carried thereon, a vertical oscillation movement along an approximately oval or elliptic path by means of the eccentric pins 45.
A driving wheel 48 arranged to drive the rotation of the lower support plate 26 is rotatably mounted on the support structure 24. In the illustrated embodiment, the driving wheel 48 is made as a friction wheel and is arranged with its side surface in contact with the side surface of the lower support plate 26. The friction wheel 48 is mounted at the upper end of a vertical shaft 50 supported by the support structure 24 and is driven, for example through a gear 51, by a horizontal bevel gear 52 also supported by the support structure 24. The horizontal bevel gear 52 permanently meshes with a vertical bevel gear 54 integral for rotation with a driven pulley 56, the vertical bevel gear and the pulley being both supported by the support structure 24. The driven pulley 56 is connected to a driving pulley 58, also supported by the support structure 24, through a flexible transmission member, such as a belt 60. The driving pulley 58 is driven by the eccentric shaft 44, being it for example mounted on one of the two eccentric pins 45, as can be seen in
The receptacle or can C arranged on the lower support plate 26 is thus subjected to both a vertical oscillation movement and a rotational movement about the vertical axis Z, which allows greatly to enhance the effectiveness of the mixing action compared with a conventional device in which only the vertical oscillation movement is provided.
According to a variant embodiment (not illustrated), a clutch, preferably an electromagnetic clutch, is associated to the driving pulley 58, and by means of this clutch the pulley can selectively be rotationally coupled with or uncoupled from the driven pulley 42 controlled by the electric motor 32. In this way, the user of the device can choose between a first mode of operation, in which the clutch is disengaged and therefore no rotational movement is imparted to the receptacle or can C, and a second mode of operation, in which the clutch is engaged and therefore the receptacle or can C is subjected at the same time to the vertical oscillation movement and to the rotational movement about the axis Z.
As far as the clamping of the receptacle or can C is concerned, the vertical movement of the cross-member 28 carrying the upper clamping plate 30 is driven by a mechanism similar to the one previously described with reference to the prior art. Also in this case, in fact, a pair of nut screws 62 are securely connected to the cross-member 28 and mesh with respective screws 64 rotatably supported at their upper ends by an upper plate 66 of the inner frame 18 and at their lower ends by the support structure 24. Respective pulleys 68 (
As mentioned in the introductory part of the description, according to a further aspect of the invention the lower support plate 26 is mounted on the support structure 24 in such a manner that it can slide horizontally in the front-to-rear direction of the mixing device 10 between a normal retracted position, to which in particular
Naturally, the principle of the invention remaining unchanged, the embodiments and details of construction can widely vary from those described and illustrated purely by way of non-limiting example.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
TO2005A000726 | Oct 2005 | IT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/IB06/53709 | 10/10/2006 | WO | 00 | 4/7/2008 |