Apparatus for shaping "soft" baking dough and the like by rotary molding apparatus

In a rotary molding apparatus for producing shaped articles from baking doughs and like media, of the general type having a rotary die roll with a plurality of molding cavities in its outer surface and a longitudinal axis of rotation, a supply hopper disposed generally above said die roll axis for holding a quantity of the media to be molded, means for feeding such media from the hopper to said die roll for shaping by the said cavities thereof, and a take-off conveyor extending into complementary engagement with at least the lower extremities of said die roll for removing the shaped articles of soft media from the die roll cavities in which they are shaped and conveying the removed articles away for further processing, the improvement comprising:

• article-retention means disposed adjacent an arcuate segment of the surface of said die roll between said supply hopper and said take-off conveyor, for retaining the soft media in place within the individual molding cavities of said die roll during rotation of the die roll from the elevated position of the supply hopper to the said lower extremity position of the die roll where engagement with said take-off conveyor occurs.

In a rotary molding apparatus for producing shaped articles from baking doughs and like media, of the general type having a rotary die roll with a plurality of molding cavities in its outer surface and a longitudinal axis of rotation, a supply hopper disposed generally above said die roll axis for holding a quantity of the media to be molded, means for feeding such media from the hopper to said die roll for shaping by the said cavities thereof, and a take-off conveyor extending into complementary engagement with at least the lower extremities of said die roll for removing the shaped articles of soft media from the die roll cavities in which they are shaped and conveying the removed articles away for further processing, the improvement comprising:

• means for pressurizing the media fed from said hopper to said die roll to thereby cause the media to flow into and fill the confines of said molding cavities without leaving voids as a result of the fluid pressure imposed on said media;
• and media-reentry means disposed adjacent the effective junction of the die roll and the front wall of the supply hopper and extending along said front wall, for facilitating reentry into said hopper of media carried with said die roll upon rotation thereof beyond said take-off conveyor and to said junction.

In a rotary molding apparatus for producing shaped articles from baking doughs and like media, of the general type having a rotary die roll with a plurality of molding cavities in its outer surface and a longitudinal axis of rotation, a supply hopper disposed generally above said die roll axis for holding a quantity of the media to be molded, means for feeding such media from the hopper to said die roll for shaping by the said cavities thereof, and a take-off conveyor extending into complementary engagement with at least the lower extremities of said die roll for removing the shaped articles of soft media from the die roll cavities in which they are shaped and conveying the removed articles away for further processing, the improvement comprising:

• a rotary feed roll communicating with the interior of said hopper, for pressurizing the media within the hopper in a zone adjacent the die roll surface and for filling the molding cavities by the fluid pressure of the media within such zone, said feed roll having a plurality of longitudinally-extending mutually-spaced grooves in its outer surface, said grooves being disposed at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the feed roll.