Apparatus for producing shaped products
First Claim
1. 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, anda 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.
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. Apparatus for producing configurated products comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. Apparatus for producing configurated products comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. Apparatus for producing configurated products comprising:
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a frame; a rotary die roll rotatably supported by said frame and having a plurality of cavities arranged in a series of longitudinal rows and circumferential columns; a pair of feed rolls rotatably supported by said frame and disposed 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 for receiving viscous fluid product from between said feed rolls; and
,a cutoff knife extending into the nip between one of said feed rolls and said die roll and having a plurality of removable shearing knife inserts, said inserts bearing against said die roll and each being disposed over a column of said cavities, said shearing knife inserts each having a shearing leading edge exposed to said pressure Chamber. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. Apparatus for producing configurated products comprising:
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a frame; a rotary die roll rotatably supported by said frame and having a plurality of cavities arranged in a series of longitudinal rows and circumferential columns; a pair of feed rolls rotatably supported by said frame and disposed 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 for receiving viscous fluid product from between said feed rolls; a backing knife extending into the nip between one of said feed rolls and said die roll; and
,a plurality of relief members connected to said backing knife and extending into said pressure chamber, each of said relief members being disposed between adjacent columns of cavities in said die roll. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification