US1496651A - Cooling device - Google Patents

Description

'June 3 1924. 1,496,651

H.BENTZ COOLING DEVICE -Filed Aug; 15, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q; HVVENiDR.

Q ATTORNEYS H. BENTZ COOLING DEVICE June 3 1924.

INVENTOR. I'M/MY Bf/VTZ 2 Shuts-Sheet 2 A TTORNEYS Filed Aug. 15, 1922 Patented due 3, 1924. l

aeatsi HARRY BENTZ, F MONTGLAIR. NEW JERSEY.

COOLING DEVICE.

Application filed Aug 11st 15, 1922. Serial No. 581,937.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY BENTZ, a citizen of the United States. residing at Montclair, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cooling Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

- This invention relates to devices for supjecting articles to changes in temperature and atmosphere, and particularly to devices for'cooling articles coming from an enrobing machine in which they have received an application or coating of a heated substance which congeals or hardens at a lower temperature. The enrobed or coated articles from the enrobing or coating-machine are commonly stored in racks in chilled rooms until the chocolate or coating has set or r hardened- This entails considerable handling, necessitates the employment of a large amount of storage space, and delays the final packing. Attempts have been made to simplify this process by conducting the coated articles upon a conveyor through a chilledchamber, but the results have been unsatisfactory for varlous reasons, such as poor control of the temperature which results in greying the chocolate if chilled too suddenly, and incomplete hardening of the coating upon the surfaces of the articles in contact with the conveyor.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for subjecting coated or enrobed articles to temperature conditions varying progressively in kind from a given starting temperature, in an ,efiicient, convenient, and expeditious manner. A furtherobject is to provide an 0 improved method and apparatus for cooling coat-ed or, enrobed articles to cause the coating to set, with which the articles may be progressively chilled on all sides concomitantly and in an eficient, eiiective and expeditious manner; which chilling can be effected within a minimum of floor space and with a minimum of handling of the articles; with which the tem eratures to which the articles are subjected can be accurately regulated; and

the apparatus of which is simple,-durab1e,

compact, convenient and inexpensive. A

form.-

further object is to provide an improved apparatus for attachment to and forming a part of an enrobing machine for continuously receiving directly therefrom the coated or enrobed articles and chilling them in a desired manner without manual handling, and for delivering the same in a condition for direct packing. Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description of an embodiment of the inventionand the novel features will be particularly pointed out in claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of an embodiment of the invention in connection with an enrobing machine;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of a portion of the same;

Fig. 3 is a plan of the portion of the deroom upon the opposite side of the partition 2. An elongated enclosure 3, rectangular in cross section is supported upon suitable frames 4 so as to extend away from the partition 2 adjacent the enrobing machine. The enclosure is composed of a number of sections connected end for end so as to form with their connected" interiors a continuous closure sections are made hollow, as at 7, to form a conduit extending lengthwise of eaclrsection, and the ends of the conduit 7 tunnel or conduit 5. The floors 6 of the en: '5

of each section are closed. The conduits of their abutting ends by pi es 8 which permit of a circulation of a liquid through the holfloor is provided beyond the end of the tu11- nel so as to form a delivery surface or plat;

the floor sections are, however, connected at inparallel horizontal relation at each'side' v of the standard 10. A shaft 12 extends crosswise of the standard and at each side projects through the opening 13, be-

tween the pair of parallel guide bars 11.

' The ends of the shaft 12 which project I A driving shaft 18 extends lengthwise of the f which is keyed thereto so as to be slidable along the shaft 18 when the bearings 17 through the openings 13 pass through bearing blocks 14 and 15 which are mounted between the guide bars 11, one at each .side, so as to permit the shaft to be shifted bodily toward and from the end section 9 forming the delivery platformv The bearing block 15 is provided with an arm 16 depending along the exterior faces of the adjacent guide bars 11 and this arm is forked at its lower end so as to provide a pair of spaced and aligned bearings 17.

enclosure, at oneside thereof, and passes through and'has bearing in the two bearin 17 of the depending arm 16. Between t e bearings 17, the shaft 18 carriesa worm 19 and the bearing block 15 are shifted along theiguide bars 11. The end of the shaft 12 which projects through the bearing block 15 is provided with a worm wheel 20 which meshes with the worm 19. i

A screw rod 21 is rotatably confined, as by cotter pins 22, in slotted bosses 23 at the ends of the bearing bars 11 upon the side of the standard 10 carrying the worm wheel 20. The screw rod isprovided with collars 24 and 25 which engage with theends of the slotted bearing bosses and limit lengthwise movement of the screw 21 while permitting rotary movement. One end of the screw rod 21 is provided withv a wing button 26 by means of which the screw rod may be rotated. The screw rod 21 passes through and has threaded engagement with the arm 16, depending from the bearing block 15,

screw rod 21.

so that whenever the screw rodis rotated the bearing block 15 will act as a nut thereon and be shifted along the same and thus carry the shaft 12 in a direction lengthwise of the A screw rod 27 is confined by cotter pins 27 in slotted bosses 28 upon. the bars 11 at the opposite side of the standard 10, and has threaded engagement with: an arm 14 depending from the bearing 14, so that when the screw rod 27 is'rotated by its'wing button 26 the bearing 14 will be shifted along the opening 13 formed between the guide bars 11 at that side of the standard 10. ,By

turning the screw rods 21 and 27" the shaft 12 can be shifted bodily toward and from the end of the delivery platform 9., The

shaft 12, between the bearing bars 11 at each side, is provided with a cylinder- 29 carrying ture 33 in the partition 2 which separates the enrobing machine from the cooling device. The upper stretch of the endless belt passes lengthwise through the tunnel 5 of the combined sections of the enclosure, in close proximity to or resting upon the hollow floo 6, and emerges over and upon the delivery platform 9. The upperstretch of the'belt or conveyor passes over and around the cylinder 29 and then returns beneath jlthe tunnel to the enrobing machine, ed during its travel beneath the tunnel or enclosure by suitable idlers 34 arranged at intervals in the supporting frames 4. The lower stretch passes beneath an idler 35 beore passing upwardly through the aperture 33'to the guide bar 32 of the enrobing machine. By rotating the screw rods 21 and 27 the cylinder 29 may be shifted toward or from the end of the delivery platform 9 so as to tighten or loosen the endless belt or conveyor. 7

The shaft 18 which drives the cylinder 29 extends along the side of the enclosure of the cooling device and is supported at intervals therealong by means of bearing brackets 36 projecting from the supporting frames 4. The shaft 18 extends through the partition 2 and has a driving relation (not specifically shown) with the enrobing machine so as to, be operated concomitantly therewith. Therefore, when the enrobing machine is in operation the endless belt or conveyor 31 will be driven continuously and will carry the enrobed or coated articles, de-' posited by the enrobing machine, upon the upper stretch thereof through the partition 2, the tunnel5 from end to end, and out upon the delivery platform 9 at which point below and to the rear of the inlet conduit 38 and is curved toward the inlet end of the guide bar 32 of the enrobing' being gui-dtunnel so as to deflect the incoming current a of air toward the opposite end of the tunnel and counter to the direction of travel of the upper stretch of the conveyer. At the inlet end of the tunnel and adjacent the partition 2,

the enclosure 3 is provided with an outlet conthe tunnel 5.

mecca.

duit 40 which connects with the interior of the tunnel 5'. and also preferably with a suitable exhaust fan, so as to remove the air from A suitable deflecting plate 41 is provided in the tunnel 5, slightly spaced, above the conveyor, curved toward the opposite end of the tunnel, and arranged nearer the inlet end of the tunnel than the opening of the conduit 40, so as to deflect upwardly into the conduit 40 the current of chilled air passing through the tunnel from the inlet conduit 38.

An inlet pipe 42 is treme outer end 7 in the hollow connected to the exof the channel or conduit floor of the section 9, and

an outlet pipe 43 is connected to the channel or conduit 7 of the hollow floor 6 in the section nearest to the enrobing machine and at the end thereof nearest to the enrobing machine, so that a liquid entering the channel or conduit of the platform 9 will progress from section to section towards the enrobing .tion of the device.

machine and leave the floor through the outlet pipe 43 at the point where the conveyor first enters the tunnel. The liquid is previously chilled to a suitable temperature, such as by a cooler C which temperature may be varied, and circulated through the floor by suitable means such as by a pump D, so that the floor over which the upper stretch of the conveyor moves will be given any desire temperature and the floor becomes progressively warmer toward the entrance end 0 the tunnel due to an interchange of heat with the articles upon the conveyor. The inlet end of each pipe 8, which will be at the discharge end of each floor section, eX- tends into close proximity to the upper wall of the channel of that floor section. In this manner the air enclosed in each channel of the floor section will be carried out when the channels are filled initially with the liquid, or when air enters during the opera- The outlet pipe 43 extends into close proximity to theupper wall of the conduit of the floor section to which it is connected, so that the air which is-carried along from section to section will be eventually and entirely removed from the floor channels.

The sections of the tunnel 5 are provided at intervals with suitable windows 4A which are slidably mounted in guides 45 upon the upper face of the enclosure. so as to permit of observation of the movement of the arti-- cles through the tunnel without opening the enclosure. The window may. however. be operated so as to permit access to be had to the interior of the enclosure for removing samples at various stages in the chilling, and for the purpose of making repairs. A tray 46 -may be disposed upon the standard 10 beneath the cylinder 29 so as to receive and hold any articles falling from the conveyor as it passes around the cylinder 29.

18 will be driven therefrom,

' and when emerging from In the operation of the machine the articles which are coated or enrobed in the enrobing machine are deposited upon the upper stretch of the conveyor 31. During the operation of the enrobing machine the shaft and the shaft in turn operates throu :ll the worm l9, worm wheel 20 and cylinder 29 to drive the endless conveyor and carry the upper stretch from the enrobing machine through the tunnel. The articles deposited upon the conveyor will therefore be carried through the aperture 33 in the partition 2, then lengthwise through the tunnel 5 in the enclosure, the tunnel will be carried over the delivery platform 9.

At the same time, a. current of chilled air will be forced by a pump or fan through the conduit 38 into the interior of the tunnel near the outlet thereof. The deflector plate 39 is disposed so as to clear the articles moving with the conveyor and is curved to dGfiGCtlhlS incoming current of air lengthwise of the tunnel toward the end where the conveyor enters the tunnel. The air passing through the tunnel will pass around the articles carried by the conveyor and will chill .the same to the desired temperature and upon reaching the end of the tunnel where the articles enter, .the air will be the curved plate 41 into the outlet conduit 40. Theoutlet 40 is also pref erably connected with an exhaust fan or pump so as to facilitate the movementpf air along the tunnel counter to the direction of movement of the conveyor.

At the same time, water is forced under pressure through the inlet pipe 42 into the channel or conduit 7 of the platform floor section?) and thence from section .to section of the hollow floor until it reaches the end adjacent theenrobing machine where it is conducted away through the outlet pipe 43. The water passing through the hollow floors is previously chilled'to the desired temperature and will accordingly chill the upper surface of the floor. The upper stretch of the conveyor movesin close proximity to the floor, and preferably rests upon its travel through the tunnel. of heat will consequently occur through the conveyor betweenthe enrobed. or coated articles and the cool liquid in so that the articles will be chilled upon the surface upon which they rest concomitantly with their chilling by the current of air passing. through the tunnel.

By varying the rate of travel of the air and water through the tunnel and floor respectively, and by varying the initial tern peratures, can be accurately controlled, so as to prevent too rapid chilling with consequent greying of the chocolate when the device is used for chocolate cnrobed articles.

same, during, An exchange:

the hollow floor,

the rate of chilling of the articles When the arti cles emerge from the tunnel, the coating or coverin has been chilled and set on all of its sur aces so that as they moveover the platform 9 attendants can remove and pack the same directly in cartons.

Broken particles will fall from the 0011- of the articles unadvoidably pass attendants they will fall into the receptacle 46 and can then be subsequently removed. The corrugated peripheral surface of the rubber coating 30 of the cylinder 29 insures a firm and positive drive for the conveyor, and by turning the screws 21 and 27 the c 7 inder may be adjusted to tighten the belt equally or unequally at opposite sides so as to compensate for slackness or inequalities in t e conveyor. The conveyor after passing around the cylinder 29 is guided idlers 34 and 35 beneath the enclosure back to the enrobing machine, a new deposit of enrobed or coated articles. The universal couplings 37 in the shaft 18 serve to prevent binding of the shaft in the bearings which might be due to non-alignment of the bearings, and to permit of the extension of the shaft when other tunnel sections are added to the chilling device.

e conveyor is and is provided upon its outer face with a layer of wax paper, oreis otherwise glazed so as to prevent sticking of the articles. deposited thereon.

I have found are obtained when the air is admitted to the tunnel at a temperature of 40 F., .and when the water is admitted at a temperature ranging from 36 to 40 F., but obviously other temperatures will be utilized when changes in the rate of chilling of the articles is desired. The enrobing machine is usually operated in a room havin a temperature considerably above that desired for the room in which the articles are packed, and the partition 2 serves to separateft ese rooms and permit of a maintenance of different temperatures therein, the aperture 33 in the partition serving to permit of the passage of the conveyor from one room to the other.

It'will be obvious that various changes in the details and arrangements of parts herein described and illustrated for the purpose of explainin the nature of the invention, may be made those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention.

I claim:

. 1. Cooling apparatus for chocolate coated articles compr sing an elongated enclosure having therein a tunnel through the tunnel and a circulation of the gas throughthe tunnel upon the l where it receives b preferably formed of fabric, f

that very satisfactory results .f

carry articles to be chilled, th

weasel counter to the direction of travel of the conveyor in the tunnel in order to progressively chill the articles.

Cooling apparatus comprising an elongated enclosure having therein a tunnel, a

passing through the tunnel and iniveyor travels in that the articles will be approximately uni tormly cooled on their entire surface. 1

the conveyor over the same, whereby the articles will be chilled close proximity thereto, so

from thelr under sides as well as from the upper sides.

;5. In enrobing devices, an enrobing ma-' chlne in which the articles are coated with chine, an enclosure having therein a tunnel .through which the loaded stretch of the the tunnel bein hollow, and means for circulating a fluid through the hollow floor in a direction counter to the direction of travel the tunnel being hollow, completely closed of the conveyor through the tunnel. and cut oil from the atmosphere, and means 7. Candy cooling epparatus comprising for circulating a cooling fluid through the 10 an enclosure having therein a tunnel, a conhollow floor. 5 veyor passing throughthe tunnel in close In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe proximity to the floor thereof and adapted my signature. to carry articles to be chilled,- the floor of HARRY BENTZ.

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