CA1215882A - Method and apparatus for manufacturing wafers - Google Patents
Method and apparatus for manufacturing wafersInfo
- Publication number
- CA1215882A CA1215882A CA000458532A CA458532A CA1215882A CA 1215882 A CA1215882 A CA 1215882A CA 000458532 A CA000458532 A CA 000458532A CA 458532 A CA458532 A CA 458532A CA 1215882 A CA1215882 A CA 1215882A
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- wafer
- roll
- bread
- sheet
- wafers
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Abstract
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING
WAFERS
ABSTRACT
Wafers are produced by guiding a sheet of bread having friable outer crusts and relatively soft center through wafer forming apparatus. The apparatus includes a pair of rolls, one of said rolls, i.e., a cutting roll having one or more wafer forming recesses or cavities therein and the other roll being a pressure roll which operates in rolling engagement with the cutting roll.
As the sheet of bread is introduced into the nip formed between the two rolls the pressure roll acts to press the bread into the cavity or cavities on the cutting roll and into engagement with the edges of the cavity or cavities to cut wafers from the sheet of bread, Each cavity is configured to have a bottom surface which rises as a gradually tapering wall to a cutting edge which is coterminious with the surface of the cutting roll. Continuous production of wafers is possible with the edges of the wafers being sharply defined, free of undesirable crumbling and devoid of fracture lines, all of which otherwise render the wafers com-mercially objectionable. The wafers may be scored or impressed with a design in their surface as they are produced.
WAFERS
ABSTRACT
Wafers are produced by guiding a sheet of bread having friable outer crusts and relatively soft center through wafer forming apparatus. The apparatus includes a pair of rolls, one of said rolls, i.e., a cutting roll having one or more wafer forming recesses or cavities therein and the other roll being a pressure roll which operates in rolling engagement with the cutting roll.
As the sheet of bread is introduced into the nip formed between the two rolls the pressure roll acts to press the bread into the cavity or cavities on the cutting roll and into engagement with the edges of the cavity or cavities to cut wafers from the sheet of bread, Each cavity is configured to have a bottom surface which rises as a gradually tapering wall to a cutting edge which is coterminious with the surface of the cutting roll. Continuous production of wafers is possible with the edges of the wafers being sharply defined, free of undesirable crumbling and devoid of fracture lines, all of which otherwise render the wafers com-mercially objectionable. The wafers may be scored or impressed with a design in their surface as they are produced.
Description
Docket. ¦¦ '': ' ' ' ' -` . ' ' #.1661 ;` ` ` lZ15~3~2 -I . METHOD AND APPARATUS F0~ MANUFACTURING
, . ` WAFERS
. , : ABSTRACT
Wafers are produced by guiding a sheet of bread having triable outer crusts and relative soft center through wafer forming apart The apparatus includes a pair of rolls one of said Rowley ire a outing roll having one or more wafer forming ruses or cavities therein and the other roll being a pressure roll which operate in rolling engagement with the cutting roll.
A the sheet Or breed is introduced into the nip formed between the two rolls the pressure roll acts to preys the bread into the cavity or cavities on the cutting roll and into engagement with the edges of the cavity or cavities to cut wafers from the sheet ox bread. Each cavity is configured to have a bottom surface which rites a a gradually tapering wall to a cutting edge which is ooterminiou~ with the surface Or the cutting roll. Continuous predation Or Ayers it pueblo with the edges Or the wafers being sharply defined, free ox undesirable crumbling and devoid Or fracture lines, all ox which otherwise render the wafers come Marshall ob~ectionabls. The waxers may be scored or impreq~ed with a Dunn in their Ursa a they are produced, eye The prevent invention relate to method and apparatus for making waxers from a shyest of bread and relates more particularly 9 to the high speed, continuous production Or such wafer wherein the waxers pus sharply defined edges, free Or fractures or crumbled edge 9 In the manufacture of waxers such a those used in the lZl.58~32 Eucharist it is known to provide thin sheets of unleavened bread from which the communion waxers are push GUY t on a punch press.
In this prior art discontinuous approach to the manufacture of communion wafers, not only it the procedure relatively slow and 5 cumbersome since the product require considerable manual alien-lion, but, also the edges of the wafers so produced ens subjected to fracturing. This, in turn, causes substantial crumbling of the wafer edges. The irregular edges make the wafers unattractive in appearance and, thus, commercially objectionable. Further, thy packages of wafers exhibit the crumbs as loose waste which further renders the wafers commercially inferior.
This a~orementionsd fracturing is a particular problem with communion wafers and other products produced from unleavened bread, consisting of only a wheat flour and water mixture since such bread is quite susceptible to crumbling due to it crispness or brittleness. The unleavened bread consist of opposing hard or brittle, but rather smooth or continuous crusts, between which Q ~oraminous, sorter center bread layer it situated. This center layer, being porous, yields quite readily under pressure. Thus by way of demonstration, it one exerts pressure on one outer crust or the other with a sharp tool, the brittle crust breaks since the underlying support, i.e., the porous center readily yields. As the crust breaks numerous small crust particles are produced since the broken crust actually fractures into many smell piece due to its brittleness. Consequently, in the absence Or some control, the edges of a wafer produced on a punch press become flaky, simply because the pressure exerted on the wafer edges during cutting ox the waxer our of a sheet of bread are unsupported or unconfined and ~lZ151~32 fractures develop along the opposing crust edge which leads to ! the aforementioned crumbling of the finished wafers, It is Nemo to moisten the eights of bread from which the waxers are formed to reduce the crispness or brittleness of the opposing crust of the bread during the punch and die operation in an endeavor to avoid the undesirable fracturing ox the wafer edges However, such moisturizing presents certain disadvantages. Firstly, drying lime for thy wafers formed from moistened broad increases with the amount of moisture present in the wafers. Thus, if suffix client moisture it used to wet the bread to a degree to avoid edgefrackuring in waxers formed by the punch and die method, the dry-in time for the wafer increase to a point where the process become uneconomical. The tendency, then, it to punch out the wafers from bread in essentially dry Norm and, as a consequence, accept the crumbling of the wafer edges. ~urtherJ if the sheets of bread are subjected to excessive moisturizing the bread become flaccid and sticky, making it unacceptable for wafer formation.
SMEAR OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention new and improved methods and apparatus are provided for continuously manufacturing wafers at high speed while providing waxers which have clear, crumb-free edges, said edges not being fractured or inclined to I severe crumbling and wherein, as a step in the wafer-forming pro-Swiss each wafer can be impressed or scored in its surface as l desired. In practice with the present invention sheets of unlead-end bread, each having friable outer crusts and a center which it relatively soft and porous, are successively advanced to a wafer i forming shimmer each sheet of knead in ~Ucce9sion it lZ158~Z
advanced through a nip defined between a wafer cutting roll and a pressure roll, these two roll being in rolling engagement with each other. The prescore exerted by the pressure roll forces the sheet of bread advancing through the nip to be progressively pressed into one or more cavities provided in the cutting roll These cavities each are of a generally uniform depth corresponding to the thickness of the sheets of bread. Also each cavity is configured to have a solid bottom with a generally continuous wall rising as a gradually sloping surface to a cutting edge cores-pounding to the position where the wall intersect the surface of the cutting roll. As succeeding portions of the skeet of bread are pressed into the wafer-forming cavities the outer crusts of the bread are constrained within the mold or wafer-forming cavities.
The tapered wall of each recess is formed at an angle such that the edge ox the bread being pressed into the cavity to form the wafer is constantly supported to preclude any tendency of the wafer edge to fracture. In the final phase of the wafer forming procedure, the upper bread crust is cut under the pressure exerted by the aforementioned pressure roll. Thereafter, each wafer it dropped under the force ox gravity to a receiving station as the cutting roll continues its rotation, The wafers so produced con-Norm to the mold or cavity in which they are formed, the wafers having a generally uniform thickness through the mid-section and tapering along the edges to a relatively sharp edge. A surface of I each wafer may be impressed with a design or the like, if desired by the presence of a design member situated in the recess.
It is, therefore, one oh~ect of the present invention to pro-vise a method for the continuous production ox waxers from sheets lZ~5l98Z
of bread wherein the wafers so produced have sharply defined edges, free of fracture lines and crumbling, Another object of the present invention is to provide appear-tusk for the continuous production of wafers wherein the apparatus includes one or morn cavities for forming the wafers while the edges are supported throughout the forming operation to thereby avoid fracturing or crumbling of the wafer edges.
Another object it to provide apparatus for the continuous pro-diction ox wafer wherein impressing or scoring of a surface of each wafer it accomplished during the formation of each wafer and without producing undesirable fracturing of the wafer surface which could lead to crumbling Other objects of the invention will, in part, be obvious and will, in part, appear hereinafter.
Fig 1 is a block diagram illustrating the continuous process for the manufacture ox wafers;
Fig 2 is a perspective view illustrating the apparatus for delivering sheets of bread to the wafar-forming station and appear- us or transfer ox the wafers and residue to a separation station;
Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of one section Or the cut-tying roll illustrating details ox a wafer-formingcavity;
Fig. 4 is a view taken along lines 4-4 ox Fig. 3;
Fig. 5 is an elsvational view of a wafer formed by the prior art punch-and-die method;
Fig. 6 is an alevational view of a wafer manufactured in accordance with the method and apparatus of the present invention;
Figs. 7 and 8 are detail views illustrating successive .-~_ L5~8Z
positions of a sheet of bread with respect to a cutting roll and companion pressure roll as the bread it formed into wafers, and jig. 9 is A cross-~ectional view of a wafer formed in act cordanco with the present invention duplicating the opposing crusts and porous center there between and showing the formation of the waxer eddy DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Throughout the specification and claim the terms "bread' will be employed or convenience. It it to be understood that in utilizing this term it is intended to embrace all types of products produced prom a dough and the like which possess opposing friable outer crusts enclosing a porous or relatively soft center.
With reference initially to Fig. and 2 of the drawing sheets of bread 10, which may be unleavened bread ox the type from which wafer used in thy Eucharist are made, are deposited in a humidifier 12. The bread being made from wheat flour and water, ~ormsd into sheets measuring generally 13 inches by 19 inches and approximately c070 inches thick may be preconditioned by being permitted to reside in the humidifier oven 12 in an environment of approximately 90 percent relative humidity and about 115 degrees F for generally I minutes. It it to be understood that humid-lien 12 is equipped with conventional conveyor mechanism for hold-in a plurality of sheets of bread and for devouring those sheets in sequence to chute lo aligned with the exit of the conveyor whereupon the sheets are advanced one-by-one to a wafer forming station 16 which include a wafer cutting roll 18 and a companion, smooth surface pressure roll 20. The two roll 18 and 20 are mounted on respective shafts 22 and 24 carried in suitable support ISLES
bearing (nut shown), with the roll lo and, 20 in turn, being driven in unison by conventional means such as sprockets and chains from a common power source which may be an electric motor (not shown. Rolls 18 and 20 have surfaces of steel, are of the deferent diameters and are driven at the save rate of speed, Jay, 60 RUM with rotation ox the respective rolls being in the dire I lions as indicated by thy arrows 28 in Fig. 2 The sheets of bread 10 are carried through the nip between roils 18 and 20 where each sheet in succession is cut into wafer 30 with the remnants 32 of the bread sheet breaking away prom the waxers during the waxer formation at station 16. The worry 3Q and remnants 32 provided at station 16 fall by gravity into a chute 36 where they slide along into a rotating generally horizontally disposed barrel or solve 38 where the remnant 32 are separated out from the waxers I
by walling through holes 40 into a scrap tray 1~2. Solve 38 may bay slightly canted downwardly prom the solve end which is proximate to chute 36 90 that the wafers 30 are conveyed to the remote end ox the solve where they are dried and packaged. Drying ox the waxers processed in accordance with the description her0inbe~0re describe L
can be accomplished by exposure ox 3 minutes at a temperature of 70 degrees I and humidity at 50 percent relative humidity and this step may be accomplished simultaneously with separation ox ¦
the waxers from the remnants in solve I or a a separate down-stream step.
With more specific attention now to wafer formation at stay lion 16, it will be observed particularly prom Figs, 2 and 3 that ¦
cutting roll I is provided with a series of cavities 50 which, f simply by way ox example, may each be of 2.75 inches in diameter.
1~15~ Z
The maximum depth of these cavities 50 coincide with the thicluness of the sheets of bread 10~ That is to say with the bread of the present example being ,070 inches, the depth of' each recess 50 on waxer worming roll 18 would also be .070 inches the web and the ¦ other irregular shaped areas 52 between the recesses 50 are situp-ted approximately .050 inches below the roll surfs To pricked production ox a large web each of the cavities is joined by a cut-tying edge 56 which cuts the web into the aforementioned bread reran ants 32. Edge 56 is coterminous with the outside diameter of roll 18 and cutting of the remnants via edge 56 us effected as the surface of pressure roll 20 contacts said edges.
Each cavity 50 is generally constituted as a depression in the surface of roll 18 having a lower smooth surface 60 hollowing -the contour of said roll 18. Surface 60 blends into a gradually tapered wall 62 which rises and terminates at a cutting edge 64 at the Upper surface of' roll 18~ Tapered wall 62 generally resembles ¦
a pair of truncated cones, one sitting on top of' the other as depicted in jig. I As seen in Fig. 4, cutting edge 64 is wormed as a flat surface of' ~002 - .003 inches wide by ride against pressure roll 18. Tapered wall 62 is carefully configured to sup-port the ergs of' each wafter as the wafter is cut and formed by the cooperative action of' cutting roll lo and pressure roll 20~ That is, as a sheet of bread 10 enters thy nip between rolls I and 20, l as shown in jig. I the first crust 70, it that crust ox the bread which first enters recess 50 is pressed past cutting edge Al and enters the cavity. requiring of that crust is prevented since the crust edge is captured and supported on tapered wall 62 as seen in Flog 7. As rolls 18 Andy continue to rotate -the bread 10 moves in a ~traight-line path as shown in Fig 8 with the ~lutting-edge 61~ of a given cavity 50 passing through the relatively Swift mid-section 72 ox the sheet of bread, and then through the opposing bread crust 74. Tapered wall 62 is desirably held to a dimension such that each waxer produced has a uniform thickness across substantially it pull dimension with only that portion ox each wafer adjacent to its outer ergs being tapered The tapered walls 62 are thus carefully formed to provide support for each opposing bread erupt 70 and 74 to prevent fracturing or flaking I thereon which would otherwise occur when thy bread described was cut. By way of example, it 5 it a representation of R wafer cut by prior art methods such as by being punched out through a die.
Since the edges 78 and 80 ox the wafer 82 are not confined but, rather, are tree to fracture during passage out ox the relatively thin die, flaking occurs the minute bread particles released from the wafers epochal from the edges 78 and 80. This condition yield waxers having uneven, flaky edges Theccrumbs produced by such slaking become loose waste on the wafer and in the package containing the wafers. This results in a commercially objection-able predate In clear contradistinction to the prior art applicants invention precludes any fracturing of the edge of the wafers En-hanging this advantageous result it the configuration of the cavities 50 in the cutting roll lo. It has already been mentioned that each recess comprises a bottom or lower surface 60 which blends into a tapered wall 62 generally resembling a pair of triennial acted cones, one an top of the other, with said wall 62 rising to !
cutting edge 64 at the surface of roll 18. An angle on -the wall , _~_ lo 62 ox between 45 and 70 degree has been found to produce acceptable results in thy environment sot forth herein or manufacturing waxers devoid ox edge fracturing.
l A further feature of the present invention is the ability to , ¦ impress or score each wafer a it is being formed without producing fractures which could otherwise lead -to the undesirable crumbling of the wafer surface hsreinbefore discussed Thus as illustrated in bet in Figs. 2, 4, 7 and 8 a boss or forming element 849 here shown as a boss fo~making a cross in one surface of each waler, is formed integrally with roll 18 and rises in the center ox each cavity 50. The boss I is of course, but one design that can be impressed into the surface ox the wafer and is hot merely as an example an element. Boss 84 stands upwardly fry the bottom 60 l of cavity 50 or approximately .050 inches to preclude its cutting through the wafer. In addition to the advantage ox being able to impress or Coors each wafer as a simultaneous step in waxer Norma-lion, the present embossing technique has the further advantage tilt the impressing or storing of each wafer is accurately positioned and repeatable throughout the wafer manufacturing process. Thy if the design to by impressed into the ~urfaee of the waxers is a cross, that cross can be accurately situated in the center of each aye Avery wafer simply by injuring that each separate forming element is positioned in the center of its associated cavity 50 at the manufacturing of cutting roll 18. Manufacturing of cutting roll 18 may be achieved by employment of the technique known as electric discharge machining.
It should be appreciated that the instant invention is not to be construed as being limited by the example and operating con '-1 O- I
lo i 588Z
dictions set worth Harrison It is to ye understood that the present invention may be embodied in other forms and that the operating conduit owns as discussed herein may be varied without departing prom the spirit or essential attributes of the invention, all of oboe I art nCOrva5~e d by thy I purred d
, . ` WAFERS
. , : ABSTRACT
Wafers are produced by guiding a sheet of bread having triable outer crusts and relative soft center through wafer forming apart The apparatus includes a pair of rolls one of said Rowley ire a outing roll having one or more wafer forming ruses or cavities therein and the other roll being a pressure roll which operate in rolling engagement with the cutting roll.
A the sheet Or breed is introduced into the nip formed between the two rolls the pressure roll acts to preys the bread into the cavity or cavities on the cutting roll and into engagement with the edges of the cavity or cavities to cut wafers from the sheet ox bread. Each cavity is configured to have a bottom surface which rites a a gradually tapering wall to a cutting edge which is ooterminiou~ with the surface Or the cutting roll. Continuous predation Or Ayers it pueblo with the edges Or the wafers being sharply defined, free ox undesirable crumbling and devoid Or fracture lines, all ox which otherwise render the wafers come Marshall ob~ectionabls. The waxers may be scored or impreq~ed with a Dunn in their Ursa a they are produced, eye The prevent invention relate to method and apparatus for making waxers from a shyest of bread and relates more particularly 9 to the high speed, continuous production Or such wafer wherein the waxers pus sharply defined edges, free Or fractures or crumbled edge 9 In the manufacture of waxers such a those used in the lZl.58~32 Eucharist it is known to provide thin sheets of unleavened bread from which the communion waxers are push GUY t on a punch press.
In this prior art discontinuous approach to the manufacture of communion wafers, not only it the procedure relatively slow and 5 cumbersome since the product require considerable manual alien-lion, but, also the edges of the wafers so produced ens subjected to fracturing. This, in turn, causes substantial crumbling of the wafer edges. The irregular edges make the wafers unattractive in appearance and, thus, commercially objectionable. Further, thy packages of wafers exhibit the crumbs as loose waste which further renders the wafers commercially inferior.
This a~orementionsd fracturing is a particular problem with communion wafers and other products produced from unleavened bread, consisting of only a wheat flour and water mixture since such bread is quite susceptible to crumbling due to it crispness or brittleness. The unleavened bread consist of opposing hard or brittle, but rather smooth or continuous crusts, between which Q ~oraminous, sorter center bread layer it situated. This center layer, being porous, yields quite readily under pressure. Thus by way of demonstration, it one exerts pressure on one outer crust or the other with a sharp tool, the brittle crust breaks since the underlying support, i.e., the porous center readily yields. As the crust breaks numerous small crust particles are produced since the broken crust actually fractures into many smell piece due to its brittleness. Consequently, in the absence Or some control, the edges of a wafer produced on a punch press become flaky, simply because the pressure exerted on the wafer edges during cutting ox the waxer our of a sheet of bread are unsupported or unconfined and ~lZ151~32 fractures develop along the opposing crust edge which leads to ! the aforementioned crumbling of the finished wafers, It is Nemo to moisten the eights of bread from which the waxers are formed to reduce the crispness or brittleness of the opposing crust of the bread during the punch and die operation in an endeavor to avoid the undesirable fracturing ox the wafer edges However, such moisturizing presents certain disadvantages. Firstly, drying lime for thy wafers formed from moistened broad increases with the amount of moisture present in the wafers. Thus, if suffix client moisture it used to wet the bread to a degree to avoid edgefrackuring in waxers formed by the punch and die method, the dry-in time for the wafer increase to a point where the process become uneconomical. The tendency, then, it to punch out the wafers from bread in essentially dry Norm and, as a consequence, accept the crumbling of the wafer edges. ~urtherJ if the sheets of bread are subjected to excessive moisturizing the bread become flaccid and sticky, making it unacceptable for wafer formation.
SMEAR OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention new and improved methods and apparatus are provided for continuously manufacturing wafers at high speed while providing waxers which have clear, crumb-free edges, said edges not being fractured or inclined to I severe crumbling and wherein, as a step in the wafer-forming pro-Swiss each wafer can be impressed or scored in its surface as l desired. In practice with the present invention sheets of unlead-end bread, each having friable outer crusts and a center which it relatively soft and porous, are successively advanced to a wafer i forming shimmer each sheet of knead in ~Ucce9sion it lZ158~Z
advanced through a nip defined between a wafer cutting roll and a pressure roll, these two roll being in rolling engagement with each other. The prescore exerted by the pressure roll forces the sheet of bread advancing through the nip to be progressively pressed into one or more cavities provided in the cutting roll These cavities each are of a generally uniform depth corresponding to the thickness of the sheets of bread. Also each cavity is configured to have a solid bottom with a generally continuous wall rising as a gradually sloping surface to a cutting edge cores-pounding to the position where the wall intersect the surface of the cutting roll. As succeeding portions of the skeet of bread are pressed into the wafer-forming cavities the outer crusts of the bread are constrained within the mold or wafer-forming cavities.
The tapered wall of each recess is formed at an angle such that the edge ox the bread being pressed into the cavity to form the wafer is constantly supported to preclude any tendency of the wafer edge to fracture. In the final phase of the wafer forming procedure, the upper bread crust is cut under the pressure exerted by the aforementioned pressure roll. Thereafter, each wafer it dropped under the force ox gravity to a receiving station as the cutting roll continues its rotation, The wafers so produced con-Norm to the mold or cavity in which they are formed, the wafers having a generally uniform thickness through the mid-section and tapering along the edges to a relatively sharp edge. A surface of I each wafer may be impressed with a design or the like, if desired by the presence of a design member situated in the recess.
It is, therefore, one oh~ect of the present invention to pro-vise a method for the continuous production ox waxers from sheets lZ~5l98Z
of bread wherein the wafers so produced have sharply defined edges, free of fracture lines and crumbling, Another object of the present invention is to provide appear-tusk for the continuous production of wafers wherein the apparatus includes one or morn cavities for forming the wafers while the edges are supported throughout the forming operation to thereby avoid fracturing or crumbling of the wafer edges.
Another object it to provide apparatus for the continuous pro-diction ox wafer wherein impressing or scoring of a surface of each wafer it accomplished during the formation of each wafer and without producing undesirable fracturing of the wafer surface which could lead to crumbling Other objects of the invention will, in part, be obvious and will, in part, appear hereinafter.
Fig 1 is a block diagram illustrating the continuous process for the manufacture ox wafers;
Fig 2 is a perspective view illustrating the apparatus for delivering sheets of bread to the wafar-forming station and appear- us or transfer ox the wafers and residue to a separation station;
Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view of one section Or the cut-tying roll illustrating details ox a wafer-formingcavity;
Fig. 4 is a view taken along lines 4-4 ox Fig. 3;
Fig. 5 is an elsvational view of a wafer formed by the prior art punch-and-die method;
Fig. 6 is an alevational view of a wafer manufactured in accordance with the method and apparatus of the present invention;
Figs. 7 and 8 are detail views illustrating successive .-~_ L5~8Z
positions of a sheet of bread with respect to a cutting roll and companion pressure roll as the bread it formed into wafers, and jig. 9 is A cross-~ectional view of a wafer formed in act cordanco with the present invention duplicating the opposing crusts and porous center there between and showing the formation of the waxer eddy DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Throughout the specification and claim the terms "bread' will be employed or convenience. It it to be understood that in utilizing this term it is intended to embrace all types of products produced prom a dough and the like which possess opposing friable outer crusts enclosing a porous or relatively soft center.
With reference initially to Fig. and 2 of the drawing sheets of bread 10, which may be unleavened bread ox the type from which wafer used in thy Eucharist are made, are deposited in a humidifier 12. The bread being made from wheat flour and water, ~ormsd into sheets measuring generally 13 inches by 19 inches and approximately c070 inches thick may be preconditioned by being permitted to reside in the humidifier oven 12 in an environment of approximately 90 percent relative humidity and about 115 degrees F for generally I minutes. It it to be understood that humid-lien 12 is equipped with conventional conveyor mechanism for hold-in a plurality of sheets of bread and for devouring those sheets in sequence to chute lo aligned with the exit of the conveyor whereupon the sheets are advanced one-by-one to a wafer forming station 16 which include a wafer cutting roll 18 and a companion, smooth surface pressure roll 20. The two roll 18 and 20 are mounted on respective shafts 22 and 24 carried in suitable support ISLES
bearing (nut shown), with the roll lo and, 20 in turn, being driven in unison by conventional means such as sprockets and chains from a common power source which may be an electric motor (not shown. Rolls 18 and 20 have surfaces of steel, are of the deferent diameters and are driven at the save rate of speed, Jay, 60 RUM with rotation ox the respective rolls being in the dire I lions as indicated by thy arrows 28 in Fig. 2 The sheets of bread 10 are carried through the nip between roils 18 and 20 where each sheet in succession is cut into wafer 30 with the remnants 32 of the bread sheet breaking away prom the waxers during the waxer formation at station 16. The worry 3Q and remnants 32 provided at station 16 fall by gravity into a chute 36 where they slide along into a rotating generally horizontally disposed barrel or solve 38 where the remnant 32 are separated out from the waxers I
by walling through holes 40 into a scrap tray 1~2. Solve 38 may bay slightly canted downwardly prom the solve end which is proximate to chute 36 90 that the wafers 30 are conveyed to the remote end ox the solve where they are dried and packaged. Drying ox the waxers processed in accordance with the description her0inbe~0re describe L
can be accomplished by exposure ox 3 minutes at a temperature of 70 degrees I and humidity at 50 percent relative humidity and this step may be accomplished simultaneously with separation ox ¦
the waxers from the remnants in solve I or a a separate down-stream step.
With more specific attention now to wafer formation at stay lion 16, it will be observed particularly prom Figs, 2 and 3 that ¦
cutting roll I is provided with a series of cavities 50 which, f simply by way ox example, may each be of 2.75 inches in diameter.
1~15~ Z
The maximum depth of these cavities 50 coincide with the thicluness of the sheets of bread 10~ That is to say with the bread of the present example being ,070 inches, the depth of' each recess 50 on waxer worming roll 18 would also be .070 inches the web and the ¦ other irregular shaped areas 52 between the recesses 50 are situp-ted approximately .050 inches below the roll surfs To pricked production ox a large web each of the cavities is joined by a cut-tying edge 56 which cuts the web into the aforementioned bread reran ants 32. Edge 56 is coterminous with the outside diameter of roll 18 and cutting of the remnants via edge 56 us effected as the surface of pressure roll 20 contacts said edges.
Each cavity 50 is generally constituted as a depression in the surface of roll 18 having a lower smooth surface 60 hollowing -the contour of said roll 18. Surface 60 blends into a gradually tapered wall 62 which rises and terminates at a cutting edge 64 at the Upper surface of' roll 18~ Tapered wall 62 generally resembles ¦
a pair of truncated cones, one sitting on top of' the other as depicted in jig. I As seen in Fig. 4, cutting edge 64 is wormed as a flat surface of' ~002 - .003 inches wide by ride against pressure roll 18. Tapered wall 62 is carefully configured to sup-port the ergs of' each wafter as the wafter is cut and formed by the cooperative action of' cutting roll lo and pressure roll 20~ That is, as a sheet of bread 10 enters thy nip between rolls I and 20, l as shown in jig. I the first crust 70, it that crust ox the bread which first enters recess 50 is pressed past cutting edge Al and enters the cavity. requiring of that crust is prevented since the crust edge is captured and supported on tapered wall 62 as seen in Flog 7. As rolls 18 Andy continue to rotate -the bread 10 moves in a ~traight-line path as shown in Fig 8 with the ~lutting-edge 61~ of a given cavity 50 passing through the relatively Swift mid-section 72 ox the sheet of bread, and then through the opposing bread crust 74. Tapered wall 62 is desirably held to a dimension such that each waxer produced has a uniform thickness across substantially it pull dimension with only that portion ox each wafer adjacent to its outer ergs being tapered The tapered walls 62 are thus carefully formed to provide support for each opposing bread erupt 70 and 74 to prevent fracturing or flaking I thereon which would otherwise occur when thy bread described was cut. By way of example, it 5 it a representation of R wafer cut by prior art methods such as by being punched out through a die.
Since the edges 78 and 80 ox the wafer 82 are not confined but, rather, are tree to fracture during passage out ox the relatively thin die, flaking occurs the minute bread particles released from the wafers epochal from the edges 78 and 80. This condition yield waxers having uneven, flaky edges Theccrumbs produced by such slaking become loose waste on the wafer and in the package containing the wafers. This results in a commercially objection-able predate In clear contradistinction to the prior art applicants invention precludes any fracturing of the edge of the wafers En-hanging this advantageous result it the configuration of the cavities 50 in the cutting roll lo. It has already been mentioned that each recess comprises a bottom or lower surface 60 which blends into a tapered wall 62 generally resembling a pair of triennial acted cones, one an top of the other, with said wall 62 rising to !
cutting edge 64 at the surface of roll 18. An angle on -the wall , _~_ lo 62 ox between 45 and 70 degree has been found to produce acceptable results in thy environment sot forth herein or manufacturing waxers devoid ox edge fracturing.
l A further feature of the present invention is the ability to , ¦ impress or score each wafer a it is being formed without producing fractures which could otherwise lead -to the undesirable crumbling of the wafer surface hsreinbefore discussed Thus as illustrated in bet in Figs. 2, 4, 7 and 8 a boss or forming element 849 here shown as a boss fo~making a cross in one surface of each waler, is formed integrally with roll 18 and rises in the center ox each cavity 50. The boss I is of course, but one design that can be impressed into the surface ox the wafer and is hot merely as an example an element. Boss 84 stands upwardly fry the bottom 60 l of cavity 50 or approximately .050 inches to preclude its cutting through the wafer. In addition to the advantage ox being able to impress or Coors each wafer as a simultaneous step in waxer Norma-lion, the present embossing technique has the further advantage tilt the impressing or storing of each wafer is accurately positioned and repeatable throughout the wafer manufacturing process. Thy if the design to by impressed into the ~urfaee of the waxers is a cross, that cross can be accurately situated in the center of each aye Avery wafer simply by injuring that each separate forming element is positioned in the center of its associated cavity 50 at the manufacturing of cutting roll 18. Manufacturing of cutting roll 18 may be achieved by employment of the technique known as electric discharge machining.
It should be appreciated that the instant invention is not to be construed as being limited by the example and operating con '-1 O- I
lo i 588Z
dictions set worth Harrison It is to ye understood that the present invention may be embodied in other forms and that the operating conduit owns as discussed herein may be varied without departing prom the spirit or essential attributes of the invention, all of oboe I art nCOrva5~e d by thy I purred d
Claims (10)
1. Apparatus for manufacturing wafers from a sheet of bread having opposing friable outer crusts enclosing a center which is softer than said crusts comprising wafer-forming means including a rotatable forming roll having at least one wafer former thereon, said wafer former comprising a cavity formed in the surface of said roll, said cavity having a bottom portion situated in said roll with a tapered side wall extending from said bottom and ter-minating at a cutting surface, a rotatable pressure roll posi-tioned in rolling engagement with the cutting surface of said wafer former, means for guiding the sheet of bread between said forming roll and said pressure roll as said forming roll and pres-sure roll are rotated, said pressure roll acting to press the sheet of bread into said cavity and onto said cutting surface to thereby form and cut a wafer from said sheet, said wall of said former acting to engage and support the edge of said wafer which is pro-duced as said wafer is cut to thereby substantially preclude crumbling of said wafer edge during cutting on said cutting surface.
2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including an impressing element positioned in said cavity for impressing a surface of said wafer.
3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said tapered side wall is at an angle of between 45 degrees and 70 degrees to the surface of said forming roll.
4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including an humidifier for preconditioning a plurality of sheets of said bread, means for advancing said sheets serially to said wafer forming means to thereby form and cut wafers from each of said sheets with remnants of bread being produced as said wafers are cut from said sheets, and separator means for receiving said wafers and said remnants from said wafer forming means for separating said wafers from said remnants.
5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said forming roll has a plurality of wafer formers thereon.
6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the bottom portion of each said cavity is situated at a distance below the surface of said forming roll corresponding generally to the thickness of said sheet of bread.
7. Apparatus for manufacturing wafers from a sheet of bread having opposing friable outer crusts enclosing a center which is softer than said crusts comprising, wafer forming means including a rotatable forming roll having a generally smooth surface with at least one wafer former therein, said wafer former comprising a cavity formed below the surface of said forming roll, said cavity having a bottom portion with a tapered side wall extending from said bottom portion and terminating at a cutting surface, said cutting surface being a portion of the smooth surface of said forming roll, a rotatable pressure roll positioned in rolling engagement with the surface of said forming roll, means for guiding the sheet of bread between said forming roll and said pressure roll as said forming roll and said pressure roll are rotated, said pres-sure roll acting to press the sheet of bread into said cavity and onto said cutting surface to thereby form and cut a wafer from said sheet, said wall of said former acting to engage and support the edge of said wafer which is produced as said wafer is cut to thereby substantially preclude crumbling of said wafer edge during cutting on said cutting surface.
8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 5 including cutting means spanning the space between adjacent wafer formers to cut remnant sections of said sheet of bread,
9. Apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein said cutting surface surrounds said cavity and is .002 - .003 inches wide.
10. Apparatus for manufacturing wafers from a sheet of bread having opposing friable outer crusts enclosing a center which is softer than said crusts comprising, wafer forming means including a rotatable forming roll having a surface with at least one wafer former formed in said surface, said wafer former comprising a cavity formed below the surface of said forming roll, said cavity having a bottom portion with a side wall extending from said bottom portion and terminating at a cutting surface, said sidewall being configured as a pair of truncated cones one sitting on top of the other, said side wall being tapered at an angle of between 45 and 70 degrees to said cutting surface, a rotatable pressure roll positioned in rolling engagement with the surface of said forming roll, means for guiding the sheet of bread between said forming roll and said pressure roll so said forming roll and said pressure roll are rotated, said pressure roll acting to press the sheet of bread into said cavity and onto said cutting surface to thereby form and cut a wafer from said sheet, said wall of said former acting to engage and support the edge of said wafer which is produced as said wafer is cut to thereby substantially pre-clude crumbling of said wafer edge during cutting on said cutting surface.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000458532A CA1215882A (en) | 1984-07-10 | 1984-07-10 | Method and apparatus for manufacturing wafers |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000458532A CA1215882A (en) | 1984-07-10 | 1984-07-10 | Method and apparatus for manufacturing wafers |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1215882A true CA1215882A (en) | 1986-12-30 |
Family
ID=4128279
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000458532A Expired CA1215882A (en) | 1984-07-10 | 1984-07-10 | Method and apparatus for manufacturing wafers |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1215882A (en) |
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN109006912A (en) * | 2018-07-12 | 2018-12-18 | 陕西天朵食品有限公司 | A kind of imperial face cutting device |
-
1984
- 1984-07-10 CA CA000458532A patent/CA1215882A/en not_active Expired
Cited By (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN109006912A (en) * | 2018-07-12 | 2018-12-18 | 陕西天朵食品有限公司 | A kind of imperial face cutting device |
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