US 5,411,390 AGranted

Apparatus for producing shaped products

OwnerRudolph J. Fayinventor

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Abstract

A machine for producing configurated products including a rotary die roll having die cavities therein and a pair of feed rollers for feeding viscous product into the die cavities. The feed rollers may be easily moved away from the die roll and the die roll may be rolled out of the machine to allow replacement thereof. Relief members extend from a backing knife between adjacent die cavities of each row as the die roll rotates. These pressure relief pads reduce the amount of product contained in the pressure chamber and thereby reduce the amount of working of the material as it is forced into the die cavities. The machine includes a front shearing knife having removable and replaceable shearing inserts. The feed rolls of the machine include longitudinally extending tapered recesses with opposed recesses of the respective feed rolls being staggered at the inlet of the pressure chamber to cause particulates within the feed product to be more easily fed into the pressure chamber with less resulting damage. The motor which drives the feed rolls is a torque controlled, variable speed motor which lessens the stresses associated with feeding large amounts of product through the pressure chamber and/or feeding highly viscous product through the pressure chamber.

Claims36

Dependent claims

Apparatus for producing configurated products comprising:

a frame;
a rotary die roll rotatably supported by said frame and having a plurality of die cavities arranged in a predetermined pattern in an outer surface thereof, and
a pair of feed rolls rotatably supported by said frame and disposed adjacent said die roll and adjacent one another so as to define a nip between each of said feed rolls and said die roll and further defining a generally triangular cross section product material pressure chamber between peripheral surfaces of said feed rolls and said die roll for receiving viscous fluid product from between said feed rolls, at least one of said feed rolls having a feed roll shaft extending through first slots in said frame and supported in feed roll bearings attached to opposite ends of said feed roll shaft, said feed roll bearings being slidably mounted in tracks fixed to said frame adjacent said first slots and disposed on opposite ends of said one feed roll to allow movement of said one feed roll toward and away from said die roll and said die roll having a die roll shaft extending through second slots in said frame and supported in die roll bearings attached to opposite ends of said die roll shaft, said die roll bearings being supported for rolling movement on rails fixed to said frame adjacent said second slots such that said die roll may be rolled out of said apparatus while said die roll bearings are supported on said rails and after said one feed roll is moved away from said die roll, said die roll bearings being selectively locked in place proximate inner ends of said second slots but unlockable to allow said die roll bearings to roll along said rails.

Apparatus for producing configurated products comprising:

a frame;
a rotary die roll rotatably supported by said frame and having a plurality of die cavities arranged in a predetermined pattern in an outer surface thereof, and
first and second rotary feed rolls rotatably mounted to said frame adjacent said die roll and one another so as to define a nip between each of said feed rolls and said die roll and further defining a generally triangular cross section product material pressure chamber between peripheral surfaces of said feed rolls and said die roll, each of said feed rolls including an outer surface having a series of longitudinally extending grooves, wherein a product inlet is defined between said first and second rotary feed rolls for receiving viscous fluid product into said pressure chamber and the grooves of said first feed roll occupy different angular positions than the grooves of said second feed roll such that an outer longitudinal edge of a groove in said first feed roll is directly opposed to an intermediate point of a groove in said second feed roll when said grooves pass by said product inlet during rotation of said feed rolls.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 08/152,858Filed 15 Nov 1993
Granted: 2 May 1995
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

B30B 11/16
Presses specially adapted for forming shaped articles from material in particulate or plastic state, e.g. briquetting presses, tabletting presses:…
A23G 3/0289
Apparatus in which the material is shaped at least partially in a mould, in the hollows of a surface, a drum, an endless band, or by a…:…
B29C 43/08
Continuously movable in one direction, e.g. mounted on chains, belts: with circular movement , e.g. mounted on rolls, turntables
B30B 11/12
Using a ram exerting pressure on the material in a moulding space: co-operating with moulds on the circumference of a rotating drum