GB405344A - Improvements in and relating to wrapping machines - Google Patents

Abstract

405,344. Slicing bread &c. TRIGGS, W. W., 57, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.- (American Machine & Foundry Co. ; 511, 5th Avenue, New York, U.S.A.) June 21, 1932, No. 33765/33. Divided on 404,976, [Group XVII]. [Class 5 (i).] A wrapping machine, in which a loaf of bread or like article is moved through a slicing mechanism before arriving at the wrapping mechanism, is arranged so that the slicing mechanism may be rendered inoperative, and the machine may be used to wrap sliced or unsliced articles. Safety devices for preventing incorrect operation are provided. The slicing mechanism, shown in an inoperative position in Fig. 2, comprises a frame 92 mounted on rubber cushions on bars 100 extending between and fastened to guide rods 101 adapted to slide in the frames 20, 21. The entire mechanism may be moved from the position shown to an operative position in front of an elevator plate 57 by the action of a hand crank 106 on a threaded shaft. The blades 86 are arranged in two series, carried respectively by two frames, in such relation that the blades on the rear frame 88 enter the loaf shortly after the rear edges of the series on the forward frame have passed into the loaf, so that the side pressure of each series is sustained by the thickness of two slices of bread. The series are staggered to the extent of the thickness of one slice. The upper ends of the frames are pivotally supported by guide shoes 91 sliding in guides on the frame 92, and at their lower ends are connected to eccentrics 93, 94 oppositely mounted so that the two series of blades carried by the frames are oppositely reciprocated. An independent motor 96 drives the shaft 95 so that the operation of the slicer is separate from that of the wrapping mechanism. The slicer is positively locked in one or the other position by the engagement of a spring lever with one of two grooves in one of the guide rods 101. The motor is provided with a switch which prevents it from being started when the slicing mechanism is in the inoperative position. The loaf is pushed through the slicer by a pronged pusher and adjustment of the slices can only take place when the pusher is fully withdrawn so as to prevent damage to the blades. In order to prevent adjustment of the slicing mechanism when the pusher member is in an advanced position between the blades, the safety device shown in Fig. 5 is employed. A locking lever 285 engages one of two grooves 293 in the lower surface of one of the guide rods 101, corresponding to the operative and the inoperative positions. A spring 292 normally holds the lever 285 in the locking position ; and the lever 289, and consequently the lever 285 cannot move from this position except when a notch 296 and stud 291 are in register. The notch is on a disc 295 on the main shaft 38 and is so positioned that it registers only when the pronged pusher is fully withdrawn from the blades. A lifting device carries the loaf from the slicer table to a delivery table.