Belt shield for bagel forming belt

In a machine for forming rolled ring-shaped dough pieces, the machine having a stationary frame and a flat belt circulating around two drums, said flat belt in a horizontal orientation on a top side thereof, said flat belt having lateral edges, said flat belt wrapped upwardly and threaded through a forming tube in a wrapped region of the belt, the belt translating longitudinally through said tube from a front end to a rear end thereof and a mandrel mounted fixedly to said frame and axially through said tube, the improvement comprising:

• said forming tube having a belt inlet region with a V-shaped notch through a top thereof at said front end and a cylindrical region having an encircling wall, said cylindrical region adjacent said inlet region;
• a stationary dough shield located at the entry of said belt into said cylindrical region of said forming tube, said dough shield comprising a front portion extending in front of said cylindrical region of said forming tube, a rear portion extending into said cylindrical region of said forming tube, and a belt guiding surface provided between said front portion and said rear portion, said rear portion of said shield arranged between said belt and said encircling wall of said forming tube;
• and
• a means for adjustably positioning the shield with respect to the forming tube.

A bagel forming machine comprising:

• a stationary frame;
• a drive drum driven by a motor;
• an idler drum;
• a belt wrapped around said drive drum and said idler drum;
• a forming tube positioned between said drive drum and said idler drum and surrounding a portion of said belt, said forming tube having an open upstream end with a V-shaped notch causing lateral edges of said belt to curl upwardly forming a substantially circular cross section of said belt as said belt translates longitudinally through said tube;
• a mandrel mounted to said frame and positioned axially through said tube;
• a dough shield positioned at said upstream open end of said forming tube, said dough shield having an upstream end positioned above said lateral edges of said belt and a downstream end positioned within a circumference of said forming tube above said lateral edges of said belt therein;
• and
• means for vertically adjusting the position of said shield with respect to said forming tube.