US1435285A - Blancher - Google Patents

Description

F. A. FOSTER AND J. E. FRALEYA.

BLANCHER; Arrucmon man MAR. lo, 192|.

l APatemmd Nov. M, 19222n a susers-SHEU 1.

Pur-1 ,les l F. A. FOSTER AND 1. E. FRALEY.

BLANCHER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1o. 1921.

Patented Nov. M, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

F. A. FOSTER AND J. E. FRALEY. vLANcHEn.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.10| 192|. 1,435,285, Y Patened Nov. 14, 1922,

3 lSHEETS-SHEET 3` Patented Nov. 14, 1922.

UNrrED STATS PATENT" OFFICE.;

FRANK A. vFOSTER AND JAMES n. FRALEY, OF HOOrRsToN, ILLINOIS, AssIGNoRs To SPRAGUE CANNING MACHINERY COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORA- TION OF ILLINOIS.

BLANCHER.

Application :tiled March 10, 1921. Serial NO. 451,190.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that we, FRANK A. FOSTER and J AMES E. FRALRY, citizens of the United States, residing at Ho'opeston, in the county of Vermilion and lState of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Blanchers, of which` the following is a full, clear, concise, and exactdescription, reference being had to'the'accom-panying drawings, formlng a part of this specication. l

Our invention relates to vegetable handlingapparatus and more particularly to blanchers. i

One of the objects of our invention `is to provide certain improvements in the 'construction shown in the patent to Plummer No. 697 ,272, dated April 8, 1902.

A further object is to provide an improved discharge means for the blancher.

A further object is to provide an improved construction whereby access can be readily had to the conveyor of the blancher for cleaning out, repairs, etc. A further 'object is to provide improved means for supporting the rotatable conveyor drum.

Further objects will appear from the detailed description to follow and from the appended claims. l

In the drawings in which anen'ubodiment of our invention is shown- Fig. `1 is"a vertical longitudinal section of our improved blancher.;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig.

Fig 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig.

,Fig 4 is a section on the line of Fig.

7Fig. 5 is a lrear elevational view of the blancher;

Fig. 6 is a perspectiveview showing the' dischar e lifting wing; t

Fig. is an enlarged s1de elevation of y part of the front end of the machine.-

The blancher shown comprises a cylindrical tank v10, for holding the hot water which is used in blanching, and a screw conveyor 11, located and operating in the tank 10 for carrying the peas or other vegetables from one end to the other of the tank v 10, whereby they are softened and washed -by the hot water. T he conveyor.' 11 com? lof jet perforations 24.

prises lcircular frontvand rear heads 4l2 and 13 respectlvely, inner and outer drums or cylinders 14 and 15 respectively, and a spiral or helical web 16 extending between the inner'a-nd outer drums.- The peas or other vegetables are supplied to the annular chamber between thev inner and outer drums 14 and 15 from a hopper 17 which delivers the vegetablesr to a distributing chamber 18 formed in the front end of the inner cylin` der 14, the vegetables being distributed from this chamber 18 toA vthe annular chamber between the inner and outer drums through -the discharge opening 19.

For discharging the vegetables from the screw conveyor, the reariend of the screw conveyor is provided with a number of lifting wings or chutes 20 ig. 6) secured to the rear head 13 of the screw conveyor.y i

These lifting chutes as they revolve pick up the vegetables which are conveyed to the rear end of the screw conveyor, and de- 25 withthe tubular shaft, which permits rotation of the shaft without leakage of the water at this point.

. The cylindrical tank 10 is made in upper and lower halves, the lower half 26'be1ng constructed to hold the water and the, upper half 27 serving as a cover portion.

` In order to facilitate access to the interior construction for purposes of cleaning, repair,

etc., the end 'heads 28 and 29 for the lower semi-cylindrical portion 26 of the tank are made readily detachable with respect to the semi-cylindrical shell portion 30, the vconnection bein such,- however, that watertight connection is provided at the joints. as indicated at 31. This readily detachable water-tight connection-is effected by pro- Viding the cast end heads 28 'and 29 with arcuate channels' 32 to `receive the curved as I los

edges of the semi-cylindrical sheet 'metal shell 30. A packing strip 33is tted into the channel 32 and embraces the edge of the shell 30 to eectually prevent leakage. Each of the end heads 28 and 29 is drawn and held snugly in engagement with the cylindrical shell 30 by means of a set of bolts 3 4. Each bolt extends through aligned openings in the respective end head and a lug 35 secured to the cylindrical shell 30. By drawing up these bolts 34 the end head may be drawn uniformly and firmly in position with respect to the semi-cylindrical shell 30. When -it is desired.to obtain access to the interior construction, the bolts 34 are removed, which enables the end head to be slipped away from the shell 30 to permit free access to the linterior construction. 0f course, in disconnecting this end head, it has to be detached from the end head 36 of the cover`27; rlihese connections between the lower end heads 28 and 29 and the upper end heads 36 may be effected in any suitable manner as by. means of bolts 37 extending through reglstering openings in flange portions in the upper and lower heads respectively.

Steam for heating the water in the tank may be supplied through the steam supply pipe 38. Water is supplied to the tank by the water supply tank pipe 39 (Fig. 5).

vThe screw conveyor 11 which operates in the tank 10 is'surrounded by a number of combination bearing ring and drive gear members 40, by means of which the screw conveyor is supported for rotative movement and driven.

A pair of rollers 41 is provided for engagement with the bearing ring, portion 42 of each of the members 40 (Figs. 2 and-3). ln order to ,enable the supporting rollers 4l to be adjusted so that all of the bearing ring portions 42 will bear substantially equally on the supporting rollers, each roller is made adjustable by means of a pair of screws 43, threaded in a roller supporting bracket 44 and engaging a sliding bearing block 45. These sliding bearin blocks 45 are slidably mounted 'n the rollr supporting brackets 44, so that adjusting the screws 43 will cause these bearing brackets 45 .to be moved in or out. rBy this adjustment of the bearing rollers 41, the screw conveyor 11 may be supported uniformly throughout its length regardless of slight inaccuracies in manufacturing orv assembling the blancher. This is an important feature as the blanchers are often of considerable length, and it is practically impossible to secure such accuracy in manufacture and assembly as would give a uniform support for the rotatable drum, unless provision for adjusting the support were made.

rllhe screw conveyor' 11 is driven. from a sprocket wheel 46, mounted on a longitudinally extending shaft 47,' which extends inside the cover 27 from one end to the other, and has a number of spur pinions 48 secured on it. with the gear portions 49 of the members 40. rllhe discharge conveyor screw 22 is driven from the shaft 47 through a sprocket wheel 50 mounted on the shaft 47 a sprocket chain 51 driven from the sprocket 50, a sprocket 52 driven from the chain 5l, a shaft 53 on which the sprocket 52 is mounted, a pinion 54 mounted on the shaft 53, and a spur gear 55 meshing with the pinion 54 and mounted on the conveyor screw shaft 23.

ln operation, the vegetables, such as peas', which are to be blanched, are supplied to the lhopper 17, water issupplied to the necessary height in the tank 10, the water heated to the necessary temperature through the steam supply pipe 38, and the machine is put in operation to cause the operation of the screw conveyor 11 and the7 discharge conveyor 22. The rotation of the screw conveyor 11 carries the peas through the tank, to the rear end of the screw conveyor 11, where the peas are liftedby the lifting chutes 20 and delivered to the discharge hopper or chute 21. The discharge screw conveyor 22 operating in this discharge chute 21 insures the removal of the peas, this removal being facilitated by the supply of water througih the jet openings 24,` this water acting as a sort of lubricant.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A blancher comprising a cylindrical tank, a screw'conveyor operating in said tank, sald screw conveyor comprising .a horirThese spur pinions mesh.

zontal hollow perforated cylinder, and a helicalweb in said cylinder, and means for discharging the vegetables from the blancher comprismga delivery chute, and a conveyor operating in said chute, and means f or delivering the vegetables from said perforated cylinder to said chute.

2. A blancher comprising a' cylindrical` tank, a screw conveyor operating in said tank, said screw conveyor comprising a horizontal hollow perforated cylinder and a helical web in said cylinder, and means for discharging the vegetables from the blancher comprising a delivery chute, and a screw conveyor operating in said chute, and means for delivering the vegetables from said perforated cylinder to said chute.

3. A blancher comprising acylindrical tank, a screw conveyor operating in said tank, said screw conveyor comprisin a horizontal hollow perforated cylinder and a-helical web in said cylinder, and means for dis.

charging the vegetables from the blancher comprislng a delivery chute, and a conveyor operating in said chute, and meansfor delivering the vegetables from said perforated cylinder to said'chute, said chute extending inslde said perforatedV cylinder.

vcal web in said cylinder, 'means for discharging the vegetables from the blancher, comprislng a delivery chute, and a conveyor operating said chute, and means for delivering the vegetables from said perforated cy 1- inder to said chute, said chute being open 1 0 at the top, and extendin inside saiddrum, and lifting Wings insi e said. perforated cylinder for delivering the vegetables to the open top of said delivery chute. v 4

In'witness whereof, we have hereunto sub- 15 scribed our names.

. FRANK A. FOSTER.

JAMES E. FRALEY.

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