Bakery pan indexing apparatus

Apparatus for manufacturing bakery products using pans made of magnetic material, said individual pans including a series of pockets, each pocket having an irregular bottom surface, said bakery products being made from individual dough packets that are deposited in the individual pockets,

• said apparatus including
• a conveyor for moving individual pans in series along a predetermined path,
• an endless belt including magnets that has a portion thereof in said path, so that a pan is magnetically coupled to the belt upon being advanced by said conveyor to the belt,
• a sensor nearby a predetermined position along said path where an individual dough packet is deposited in a pan at said position,
• a mechanism which mounts said sensor to enable the position of the sensor to be changed to compensate for pans of different configurations, said mechanism including a spring member to move the sensor towards and away from the irregular bottom surface in response to the irregular bottom surface as said pan rides over the sensor as the pan advances along said path, said sensor providing a control signal upon said pan moving to said position, and
• a motor for driving the belt, said motor having a brake and a clutch, said belt advancing a pan held thereby along said path upon actuation of the clutch, and said belt stopping the advance of a pan held thereby upon actuation of the brake, and
• a control circuit for operating said brake and clutch in response to said control signal.

Apparatus for manufacturing bakery products where an individual dough packet is deposited in a pan made of magnetic material, including

• a conveyor which advances individual pans in series along a predetermined path,
• an endless belt including magnets that has a portion thereof in said path to couple magnetically a pan to the belt upon being advanced by said conveyor to the belt,
• a sensor nearby a predetermined position along said path where an individual dough packet is deposited in a pan at said position, said sensor providing a control signal upon a pan moving to said position,
• a mechanism which mounts said sensor to enable the position of the sensor to be changed to compensate for pans of different configurations, and
• a motor for driving the belt, said motor having a brake and a clutch, said belt advancing a pan held thereby along said path upon actuation of the clutch, and said belt stopping the advance of a pan held thereby upon actuation of the brake,
• a signal generator that provides a timing signal indicating that a dough packet has been deposited in a pan, and
• a control circuit for operating said brake and clutch, said timing signal and control signal enabling the control circuit to operate the brake and clutch so that the belt moves a pan in a step-wise fashion past said predetermined position.