Compact dough dividing and forming machine

A dough batch receiving shaping, dividing and forming machine for making dough bodies of predetermined size and configuration from an initially unshaped batch of dough in a continuous manner, said machine comprising;

• an infeed conveyor for receiving a bath of unshaped dough and conveying it to a preshaping location;
• a pair of laterally spaced dough batch width preshaping means at said preshaping location for preshaping said batch into a uniform width;
• a pair of top and bottom preshaping and dough advancing means for preshaping said batch into a uniform height and advancing said batch from between said width shaping means to a divider location;
• dough divider means at said divider location for receiving said dough batch in a preshaped configuration, shaping it to a generally rectangular cross section strip of dough and advancing the strip to a cut-off location;
• dough cut-off means at said cut-off location for dividing said strip into generally rectangular cross section parts of determinate length, separating such parts in sequence from said strip and delivering them individually to a forming location, wherein said cut-off means includes a cut-off blade mounted on a revolving support member to periodically engage said strip to divide a dough part therefrom and further comprises blade wiper means for wiping a divided dough part off of said cut-off blade, said wiper means including a wiper blade having first and second ends, means adjacent one end for pivotally mounting said wiper blade on said support member relative said cut-off blade so that said second end is movable into engagement with a dough part adhering to said cut-off blade;
• and
• dough forming means at said forming location for receiving individual dough parts of generally rectangular cross section and forming them into a desired configuration, the improvement wherein said blade wiper means further comprises:
• a cam follower on said one end of said wiper blade;
• a wiper activating cam means positioned to be engaged by said cam follower as said revolving support member revolves said cut-off blade past a dough strip dividing position to cause pivoting of said wiper blade second end to a cut-off blade wiping position due to the camming action between said wiper activating cam means and said cam follower on said wiper blade one end.

A dough receiving, shaping, dividing and forming machine for making dough bodies of predetermined size and configuration from an initially unshaped batch of dough in a continuous manner, said machine comprising:

• an infeed conveyor for receiving a batch of said unshaped dough and conveying it to a preshaping location;
• a pair of laterally spaced dough batch side roller shaping means at said preshaping sides of said batch;
• a pair of top and bottom roller preshaping and dough advancing means for preshaping said batch into a uniform height and advancing said batch from between said side roller shaping means to divider location;
• dough divider means at said divider location for receiving said dough batch in a preshaped configuration, shaping it to a generally rectangular cross section strip of dough and advancing the strip to a cut-off location;
• dough cut-off means at said cut-off location for dividing said strip into parts of determinable size, separating such parts in sequence from said strip and delivering them individually to a forming location;
• dough forming means at said forming location for receiving said individual dough parts and forming them into a desired configuration;
• sensor means for sensing the buildup of the dough batch on said dough divider means as it is being shaped into said strip;
• and
• means for varying the advancement of said dough batch by said advancing means on to said dough divider means in response to the amount of buildup of dough thereon sensed by said sensor means.

In a dough receiving, shaping, dividing and forming machine for making dough bodies of predetermined size and configuration from an intially unshaped batch of dough in a continuous manner, said machine having:

• an infeed conveyor for receiving a batch of unshaped dough and conveying it to a preshaping location;
• a pair of laterally spaced dough batch side roller shaping means at said preshaping sides of said batch;
• a pair of top and bottom roller preshaping and dough advancing means for preshaping said batch into a uniform height and advancing said batch from between said side roller shaping means to a divider location;
• dough divider means at said divider location for receiving said dough batch in a preshaped configuration, shaping it to a generally rectangular cross section strip of dough and advancing the strip to a cut-off location;
• dough cut-off means at said cut-off location for dividing said strip into parts of determinable size, separating such parts in sequence from said strip and delivering them individually to a forming location wherein said cut-off means includes a cut-off blade mounted on a revolving support member to periodically engage said strip to divide a dough part therefrom and further comprises blade wiper means for wiping a divided dough part off of said cut-off blade, said wiper means including a wiper blade having first and second end, means adjacent one end for pivotally mounting said wiper blade on said support member relative said cut-off blade so that said second end is movable into engagement with a dough part adhering to said cut-off blade;
• dough forming means at said forming location for receiving said individual dough parts and forming them into a desired configuration;
• sensor means for sensing the buildup of the dough batch between said top and bottom roller preshaping and dough advancing means and said dough divider means;
• and
• means for varying the advancement of said dough batch by said advancing means in response to the amount of buildup of dough sensed by said sensor means, the improvement wherein said blade wiper means further comprises:
• a cam follower on said one end of said wiper blade;
• a wiper activating cam means positioned to be engaged by said cam follower as said revolving support member revolves said cut-off blade past a dough strip dividing position to cause pivoting of said wiper blade second end to a cut-off blade wiping position due to the camming action between said wiper activating cam means and said cam follower on said wiper blade on end.