Conveyor for food articles
AssigneeBakery Equipment & Service Co., Inc.
InventorGregg E. Johnson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multi-flight conveyor for transporting food articles is formed in its entirety from metals and plastic materials that are approved for use in food processing. Each conveyor flight frame comprises a ladder like structure wherein two stainless steel side rails are interconnected by a plurality of longitudinally spaced support rods formed of a lubricious plastic material. A stainless steel drive shaft is journalled at one end of the conveyor in sealed bearings. All of the rods and the drive shaft are then enclosed in a stainless steel wiremesh endless belt, which is supported and lubricated by the plastic support rods. All flights are substantially identical, except for length, and are detachably rigidly secured in a vertically stacked array which is angularly adjustable relative to the horizontal.
Claims7
A conveyor for cooling hot baked food articles comprising:
- (1) a first conveyor flight comprising:
- a pair of elongated, stainless steel side rails disposed in laterally spaced, horizontally extending parallel relationship, each rail having a plurality of longitudinally spaced holes therein respectively aligned with the holes in the other rail;
- a plurality of lubricious plastic support rods having their end portions respectively mounted in each aligned pair of said holes;
- a pair of sealed bearings respectively secured to one end of said side rails in laterally aligned relationship;
- a drive shaft journalled in said sealed bearings and having one end projecting therethrough;
- first sprocket means secured to said projecting end of said drive shaft for rotating said drive shaft;
- second stainless steel sprocket means secured to said drive shaft intermediate said side rails;
- a stainless steel wiremesh endless belt encircling said support rods and said drive shaft intermediate said side rails, thereby defining a conveyor having an input and a discharge end;
- (2) a second conveyor flight substantially identical to said first conveyor flight except in length;
- means for mounting said second conveyor flight in substantially parallel, overlying relationship to said first conveyor flight, but having its discharge end overlying the input end portion of said first conveyor flight;
- (3) motor driven means mounted on one end of said side rails of said first conveyor flight for rotating said drive shaft of said first conveyor flight;
- means interconnecting said first sprocket means of said first and second conveyor flights to drive said wiremesh endless belt of said second conveyor flight in reverse direction relative to said wire mesh endless belt of said first conveyor flight, whereby the baked food articles discharged from the discharge end of said second conveyor flight are received by the input end of said first conveyor flight and moved to the other end for discharge therefrom;
- and
- (4) a floor engaging support for said first conveyor flight having a pair of laterally spaced, upstanding posts respectively secured to said side rails of one of said conveyor flights at a non-medial location;
- a pair of support links respectively bolted to said side rails of one of said conveyor flights and depending therefrom;
- and means for securing the bottom ends of said support links to a selected one of a plurality of longitudinally spaced positions on said floor engaging support relative to said support posts, thereby varying the angular position of both said first and second conveyor flights relative to the horizontal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.