US2142963A - Deflector for vertical mixing machines - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 3, 1 939. w; F. DEHUFF 2,142,953

'DEFLECTOR FOR VERTICAL MIXING MACHINES I Filed Dec. 10, 1957 INVENTOR WALTER E DEHUFF results have arisen: vlz,, reference character D, and is shown in combina- 25 First, the length of time consumed is comtion with a bowl l2, supported in a base I4 of mercially objectionable; known type, in a vertical mixing machine of the Second, and by far the more important, the general type of which an example is illustrated 30 construction of the foam, in the end product, and described in the application of De Huff for when the batch should be finished, according to United States Letters Patent, S rial N- 73,853, 30

accepted practice, is not as uniform as it should filed April 11, 1936. be, owing to the fact that the first foam created The vertical mixer as herein illustrated, in by the heater or whipper has been'whipped too Fig. 1, includes a complete head l which carries 35 long in order to build up all of the liquid or semia heater or whipping device l3, and owing to the liquid into a proper foam construction. fact that as the beater l3 rotates about its own 35 Such undesired results have proved detriaxis it is also revolved, in the direction of the mental to the finished product, from the standarrow in Fig. about e e e al axis of the point of economical commercial production, as beater, which coincides with the center of the 40 they have caused one portion of the batch to be circle also bearing an arrow in Fig. 2, it follows 40 Patented Jan. 3, 1939 nnmc'ron. FOB. vnn'nou. mxmo monmns Walter F. Dehufl, Glen Rock, Pa., assignor to American Machine & Foundry Company, a corporation of New Jersey Application December 10, 1937, Serial No. 179,036

2 Claims. (Cl. 259-1) This invention relates to a mixing machine, This improved deflector element is found, in

especially to a mixer of the vertical type, and is practice, to deflect the revolving liquids in such a more particularly useful when embodied in such manner that the foam structure is built up unia machine in which foam batches are whipped formly throughout the complete mixing opera- 5 up from liquid or semi-liquid materials, although tion, and its use has materially lessened the time my invention is intended to be used in anyfleld required to secure uniform construction of foam. 6 for which it is adapted by the nature of the im- The advantages of the invention will be set provements herein disclosed. forth more at length in the description of the In whipping up foam batches in vertical mixers, accompanying drawing, in which like characters 10 a diiliculty in operation arises from the liquid or of reference have been applied to similar parts 10 semi-liquid character of the ingredients, which in the several views which make up the drawing, causes them to collect at a point remote from the in which: beater, owing to the beater-induced centrifugal Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation, taken on the force which causes a swirling action of the maline il of Fig. 2, of a mixing machine of the x5 te'rial around the inside of the bowl, making it vertical typ showing how the deflector is asrather diiiicult for the heater or whip operating sembled with the bowl; upon this material to collect it and to-change the Fig. 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in material from its liquid state to the desired foamy Fig. 1; and structure. Fig. 3 is a detail view, in rear elevation, of a The above-described condition is more apparent deflector element in the construction of which 6 in proportion as the diameter of the bowl is inthe present invention has been embodied, the creased, and it follows naturally that the over-all same being shown separately, time required to convert the liquid or semi-liquid In a now-preferred embodiment of the invenmaterial into the desired condition of foam intion, selected for illustration and description, the creases to a point where two very undesirable deflector element is designated generally by the over-worked, until the last portion of the batch naturally that inasmuch as the beater rotates should be properly worked. at the rate of approximately four turns for every After extended research and experimentation revolution of the beater bodily around the aforewith variously modified forms of heaters and said axis of the beater head, the material being whippers, in the effort to trap this swirling liquid, mixed takes up the direction outlined by the 45 it was decided not to pursue further such an series of arrows in Fig. 2. unfruitful course of procedure, and the present The tendency to swirling action is caused by applicant conceived the idea. of providing a the above two motions, constituting a planetary deflector device, comprising, in its now-premotion of the blade l3 around the sun motion ferred form, a light element which can be readily of the head. 50 slipped onto the edge of the bowl, and removed To counteract the aforesaid swirling action, in therefrom, and which, when in operative position, pursuance of the invention, provision is made of will protrude into a position designed to cause a deflector element D, which is shown in its the material, as it swirls, to be deflected from a operative position in full lines at III in Fig. 1, as fixed path into the path of the beater. while the beater I3 is shown, in full lines, in its nearestproaimitytothedeflectorD,andbydotand-dash lines in its most remote position from saiddeflartorD.

'lhe deflector, in the form illustrated. consists as a unitary structure stamped up from sheet metal, being formed with an operating part it which comprises diverging wings having medial notches II at theirspacedrnedialrearmargins. and an attachmentpart II which includes a web It spanning the upper portion of the space hetweensaidwingaandhavingarearwardlyoflset upper portion 2|, bent downwardly in the form 'ofahandle ",endinginaspringtonrue adapted tobeengagedatitstipll withtheouterwallof the bowl, co-operating with said web at to embrace said wall retentively at a region remote from the rim II of the bowl, while said distal: portion fl rests upon said rim, thus limitingthe downward projection of the deflector into the bowl, so that it will extend properly through the upper surface of the mix, and into the space between the orbit of the beater i8 and the inner wall I! of the bowl.

In assembling the deflector with the bowl, the deflectorisflrstclippedovertherimliofthe bowl in a hcrisontal position indicated by the dotand-dash outline lti inl'ig. 1, and is then swung into the vertical position Ill, from which it is pushed down, alongside of the inner wall II of the howl, into its operating position Ii.

In operation, as the beater i3 revolves around thecentral vcrticalaxisofthebowl l2,inaclochwise direction, it rotates in a counter-clockwise directim at greater speed around its own axis, and produces a wash in the batch which would continue to travel along the inside wall E2 of the bowl, were it not that the wash encounters the deflector and derives therefrom a centripetal moment of force which overcomes the moment of centrifugal force induced by the rotation and/or g when a separately formed deflector is used, as

illustrated.

While the separately formed deflector is conside'red preferable, it is not intended to exclude fran the province of the present invention the employment of a deflector element of equivalent form and deflecting action integral with the wall of the bowl, or as a permanent flxtum thereon.

80 also, the deflector element, of any suitable shspeand material, may be mounted on the overhead support which carries the heater and, under favorable conditions, may be caused te move in an orbit suitably related to that of the beater.

'lhebeater l8 isillustratedasawhipping device which may be desirably fabricated of wire,

and may be of any desired form, as for example, oneoi'thesamegeneraltypedisclosedinthe above-mentioned De Hufl' application for Letters Patent. The invention has been found, in practice,toyieldgreatlyincreased eiilciencyin the opgreases erationofaverflealmixsrequippedwithsuaha ,Ihceedeflectorscanbeused,ingenerai,inconnectionwithabowlofanysise,butsuchadeflectorisofparticularadvantsgewhenusedina bowlofrelstivelylsrgeshehsvinassyacapacity effromiioquartsandupward.

lnabowlodverylargesiaasayoffldoquart capacity, the use of two such deflectors has been found advantageous and it is possible that more than two could be used to advantage.

Thedeflectorhsebeenfoundtoaidintheincorpcatiomintoafoamstructuraofflourand otherdryihsredients,ifsuchbeused,forthedeflectingactienseemstohelpintheassimilation ot the dry contents, since it apparently gives directiontothebatch,evenafterthebetchisvery nearly or completely flnished.

This is, of course, very important, particularly whenmakingsuchbatchesasthosedesignedfor angelfoodcakesndspongecekainwhichitis imperative that the smallest possible amount or agitation shall be used to incorporate the flnsl flour, for too much agitation will toughen the flnished cake and affect its commercial value.

From the foregoing disclosure it will be ohserved that the deflector means, being generally wedgeshaped, increasing in width from bottom to top, hasafacedisposedatanengletotheinnerbowl wall, extending to an edge removed from said wall toward the upright axis of rotation of the beater, and presents a broad deflecting surface protruding toward the beaters periphery at the upper levels of the mix.

Accordingly, the deflector acts for a substantial portion of its length to deflect liquid particles of the mix tending to swirl outside the path of the beater under the action of centrifugal force, so that said particles will be thereby returned into the beater somewhat near the top of the beater, whereby said particles are then impelled downward to the bottom of the bowl, thus imparting to the liquid being broken up a circulating motion having a vertical component, such directional effect causing a combination of the centrifugal motion of the batch with the action of the beater upon said re-directed portion of the batch for the purpose of developing the liquid rapidly into a foam structure.

What is chimed is:

1. A batch-mixing machine of the type which includes a bowl adapted to receive the ingredients of the mix, at least one of which is substantially liquid; a heater device having a sup-port from which it is extended into said bowl through the upper surface of the mix, said beater working through the body of the mix at substantially all levels; and means to impart to said beater a rotary movement around its own axis, and a movement of translation in an orbit circumadjacent to, but spaced from, the inner wall of the bowl; said machine comprising, in combination with said bowl and heater, a deflector meanssupported in position to intervene between the orbit of the beater and the inner circumference of the bowl, said deflector being generally wedge-shaped, increasing in width from bottom to top. having at least one face disposed at an angle to the inner bowl wall and extending to an edge removed from said wall toward the upright axis of rotation of the beater, so that the deflector presents e broad deflecting surface protruding toward the beaters periphery at the upper levels of the xnix, acting for a substantial portion of its length to deflect' particles of the mix tending to swirl outside the path of the beater under the influence of centriiugal force, and thus said particles will be thereby returned into the path of the beater somewhat near the top of the beater, whereby said particles are then impelled downward to the bottom of the bowl, thus imparting to the liquid being broken up a circulating motion having a vertical component, such directional efl'ect cansing a combination of the centrifugal motion of the batch with the action of the beater upon said redirected portions of the batch for the purpose of developing the liquid rapidly into a foam structure.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a deflecting means for a mixing bowl, comprising an element adapted to intervene between an inner side wall of the bowl and a heater operating therein, and to be engaged with a circumferential beater-inducedfiow of ingredients, said element being wedgeshaped, decreasing in width from top to bottom and extending below the upper surface of the batch to be treated, acting to deflect said flow into the path of the beater, while permitting orbital movement of the heater, so that said element causes the normal moment of centrifugal force derived from said orbital movement of the beater to be combined with the action of said beater upon the redirected portions of the batch to impart a substantially vertical flow of the batch downward through the heater for the purpose of developing the liquid rapidly into foam structure.

WALTER F. DEHUFF.

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