US3456576A - Automatic explosive puffing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

y 5 w. K. HEILAND ETAL 3,

AUTOMATIC EXPLOSIVE PUFFING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 2'7, 196? 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 AT ORNEY.

y 1969 w. K. HEILAND ETAL 3,456,576

AUTOMATIC EXPLOSIVE PUFFING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 27, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS WOLFGANG K. HEILAND RAYMOND G. MERCALDO A RNEY.

July 22, 1969 w. K. HEILAND ETAL 3, 56,57

AUTOMATIC EXPLOSIVE PUFFING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 27; 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig. 3

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Q g I I Q Q a $30 INVENTORS WOLFGANG K. HEILAND 24 24 RAYMOND G.MERCALDO AT TO R N E Y.

July 22, 1969 w, HE|LAND T 3,456,576

AUTOMATIC EXPLOSIVE PUFFING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 27, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 F lg. 6 25 Fig. 8

{ 51111 Nil 1 m INVENTORS WOLFGANG K. HEI LAND RAYMOND G. MERCALDO United States Patent 3,456,576 AUTOMATIC EXPLOSIVE PUFFING APPARATUS Wolfgang K. Heiland, Trevose, and Raymond G. Mercaldo, Warminster, Pa., assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture Filed Feb. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 618,629 Int. Cl. A231 1/18 US. Cl. 99-238 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An automatic pufiing apparatus for explosive pufiing of fruits and vegetables having a continuous product feed and receiver and an automatic but intermittent pufi'ing operation. A non-hinged deeply recessed lid in combination with a heavy firing spring and the internal pressure in the pufi'ing chamber provides extremely short opening times and a sideways discharge of puffed product.

A non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license in the invention herein described, throughout the world for all purposes of the United States Government, with the power to grant sublicenses for such purposes, is hereby granted to the Government of the United States of America.

This invention relates to apparatus for explosive puffing of various products. More particularly, it relates to apparatus for continuous explosive puffing of various products, especially comestibles.

Pufiing process has long been applied in the preparation of products such as read-to-eat cereals and more recently in the preparation of quick cooking dehydrated fruits and vegetables. In such pufiing process, the material is placed in a hollow pressure chamber, the chamber is sealed and heat and pressure are applied. Pressure may be applied either by external application of heat such as gas burners, electric heaters or steam jacket, and/ or by injecting superheated steam into the chamber until the moisture in the material is slightly superheated with respect to atmospheric pressure. The chamber is subsequently rapidly opened discharging the material, while a small amount of the superheated moisture in the material flashes into steam, causing the material to pulf.

Equipment in current operation for explosive pufiing exists in the form of pufiing guns of various designs. These pufiing guns, however, suffer from many disadvantages. For example, differences in such variables as time, temperature and pressure which are prevalent, adversely affect product uniformity between batches; considerable time is lost during firing and reloading of putting guns and; large individual charges require a spacious collection system.

One of the more serious draw-backs of pufling guns themselves, however, is their lid design. conventionally, such lids are hinged and are dependent exclusively on the releasing of the internal pressure for opening. T0 withstand the internal pressure and to form a pressure tight seal with the pressure chamber, such lids are heavily constructed. Because of their heavy construction, the speed of the'lids lags behind the speed of portions of the discharging material. As a result the product is damaged, as it impinges on the lid. Since the opening time of the lid determines the quality of the puff, and since in currently used apparatus the pressure for opening the lid is the same as the processing pressure, it is virtually impossible to increase the quality of the puff by decreasing the opening time of a given lid at established processing pressure.

It is therefore an object of this invention -to provide apparatus for continuous pufiing of various products, especially comestibles.

3,456,576 Patented July 22, 1969 Another object is to provide apparatus for pulling various products, which said apparatus eliminate product damage resulting from product impinging on the lid of said apparatus.

These and other objects will become apparent from the description, claims and accompanying drawings which form a part of this application.

The objects of this invention are accomplished: (1) by connecting a pressurized multiple-compartment continuous feeder valve equipped with pressurized discharge means between the conveyor which, transfers the product from the feed hopper, and the pressurized puffing chamber, (2) by providing the pressurized puffing chamber with a non-hinged lid which contains a deep recess and to which is attached a heavy compression spring to accelerate opening. This lid opens on a downward stroke like the piston of a combustion engine, and (3) by employing in combination a pressurized multiple-component continuous feeder valve and a pressurized puffing chamber containing a non-hinged lid. This combination is operative alone as well as when connected with existing apparatus.

.The pressurized multiple-compartment continuous feeder valve which is comprised of a housing and several individual compartments therein, provides means for continuously heating and feeding product under pressure to the pressurized pufiing chamber; these compartments rotate continuously through a circular path. For example, at one point on the circular path a compartment is aligned with the opening to the steam heated conveyor and is filled with the product to be processed. As one compartment rotates away from the opening, another compartment is aligned with the conveyor opening and is filled with the product. Simultaneously, the previously filled compartments are pressurized with superheated steam as they continue rotating toward the puffing device. When each compartment is aligned with the discharge device feed opening, it empties its contents into the pressurized puffing chamber. The putfing device makes an explosive discharge, closes the pufiing chamber which is pressurized immediately and the product from the next compartment falls into it. From the time the compartment is filled with product, the product remains under pressure until such pressure is released by the opening of the lid of the pressurized pufiing chamber.

In the instant invention, the lid is not hinged to the pufiing chamber and makes its opening stroke straight downward like the piston of a combustion engine. The lid is constructed with a deep recess which causes the product to be discharged sideways, nearly horizontal, when the lid is opened. This side discharge feature directs the product into the collection system in a more easily controlled manner. This type lid is constructed with a piston type design and provides a more positive seal against the pressure chamber as the sealing surface of the lid engages the sealing ring on the pressure chamber over its entire circum ference at the same time, while the sealing surface of the lid is washed clean of product remaining just before it closes. Attached to the lid is a heavy compression spring which is automatically cocked during lid closure. To open the lid, the stored energy in this spring is used to accelerate the lid downward through its first length of travel. Without any assistance by the pressure in the pressure chamber, this spring alone provides opening times comparable to those experienced on pufiing guns operat ing at average pressures. This feature makes possible the successful pufling of fragile materials such as blueberries and apples at very low pressures without an excessive amount of fragmenting of same by the lid and collecting system. For sturdier products, such as carrots and potatoes, this spring, augmented by the pressure in the pressure chamber, provides extremely short opening times and a high quality puff.

Referring now to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic drawing showing all equipment pertinent to the whole process.

FIG. 1A is a transverse section of the valve taken on plane 1A1A of FIGURE 1.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the assembled invention. FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the assembled invention looking at the discharge.

FIG. 4 is a schematic air diagram.

. FIG. 5 is a view, mostly in cross section along line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5A is a fragmentary section of the discharge cham- :ber taken on line 5A5A of FIGURE 5, showing the direction of product discharge.

FIG. 6 is a view mostly in cross section along line 66 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a partial view in direction 7--7 showing the air cylinder and yoke.

FIG. 8 is a partial view, mostly in cross section along line 8-8 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram showing the operation of the instant invention in combination with conventional apparatus: The material to be processed is removed from an input hopper (component #1) by a volumetric feeder (component #2) at a pre-set rate and dropped into a screw conveyor (component #3) which is comprised of a hollow, steam heated conveying screw and steam jacketed trough. Here, the product is preheated under atmospheric pressure and falls by gravity into an intermittent feeder (component #4), where the product is accumulating until a pocket of the pressurized conventional star valve (component #5) is in position for the drop. As each pocket of this star valve lines up with the feed opening, it is filled with preheated product and as it clears the feed opening, it is pressurized with superheated steam. As the star valve continues to rotate, the superheated steam heats the product until its moisture is slightly superheated with respect to atmospheric pressure. The product then transfers by gravity into the closed, prepressurized pufiing device (component #6), and as soon as the pocket is in the proper position, the lid to the pressurized puffing chamber is opened downward by a heavy compression spring and the internal pressure of the pufling chamber. The deep recess in the lid causes the product to be discharged horizontally into a semi-perforated receiver (component #7), rotating synchronously with the star valve. This receiver makes one revolution per discharge at which time its solid half is on the bottom to prevent damage to the discharging product as the steam is allowed to escape upward through the perforated half. With the axis of the receiver sloping downward, the product is gently conveyed through the receiver length to a take-away conveyor (component #8). Part of the discharging product may have enough velocity to fly clear through the synchronously rotating receiver and pass the take-away belt. In such cases, the discharging product is finally stopped by a vibrating, progressively inclined arrester (component #9), which vibrates the product back to the take-away conveyor.

Various comestibles and other products have been explosively puifed in the above described apparatus. Such products includeboth fragile and sturdy products such as carrots, potatoes, cellery, apples, rutabages, beets, turnips, blueberries. Damage-free puffed products have been repeatedly obtained.

A further and more detailed illustration of the instant invention is demonstrated when a product, such as one of those named above, reaches the pressurized pufiing chamber. Referring now mostly to FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5, after the heated product reaches the pressurized pufiing valve to admit compressed air to the rod 16 end side of air cylinder 17. Fastened to the rod end 16 of air cylinder 17 is a yoke 18 having two hooked ends 19 which at this time are engaged with two outboard roller bearings 20 on the knee joint shaft 21. At this time, the center line of knee joint shaft 21 is located a small distance to the right of a straight line between upper 22 and lower 23 pivot pins which are connected to each other by a. pair of upper 24 and lower 25 links as in FIG. 2 and FIG. 6. Right side movement of knee joint shaft 21 is limited by adjustable stop 26 and knee joint shaft center roller 27. Pivot mounting 28 of air cylinder 17, gravity and extension spring 29 cause the yoke 18 to remain in contact with outboard rollers 20, as the compressed air retracts rod end 16 moving knee joint shaft 21to the left. As the knee joint shaft 21 moves past the connecting line of pivots 22 and 23, the whole knee joint mechanism becomes unlocked. The pull ofyoke ends 19 on rollers 20 and the steadily increasing force components of co-mpression spring 30 (FIG. 5), transmitting its force through floating sleeve 31, anvil 32 to upper pivot pin 22 and the pressure in chamber 11 acting on lid 33, through lid-shaft 34, transmitting its force to upper pivot pin 22 causing knee joint 21 to swing counter clockwise around lower pivot pin 23. Rollers 20 move ahead to the moving hooked ends 19 of yoke 18. As the knee joint 21 moves through this arc, the upper pivot pin 22 with anvil 32, lid 33 and lid shaft 34 move straight downward until this movement is gradually stopped by the arrester mechanism as the anvil 32 makes contact with Teflon heat shield 35 (FIGS. 2 and 6), supported by a horse-shoe-shaped rubber bumper 36, spring housing 37, compression spring 38 and automotive shock absorber 39, all of which are mounted in an arrester housing 40, bolted to the lower frame 41. The downward movement is finally stopped when lower end of spring housing 37 and collar 42 contact rubber stop 43. In the meantime, the product in chamber 11 is explosively discharged through discharge opening 44 (FIG. 3) of inter mediate housing 45 as the lid 33 makes its down stroke. Spring 38 returns spring housing 37, rubber bumper 36 and heat shield 35. At the same time, anvil 32, and with it lid 33 and lid shaft 34 are raised a small amount. In the meantime, retraction of air cylinder rod 16 has come to an end as an adjustable stop screw 46 on yoke 18 tripped limit switch 47 mounted on the face of air cylinder 17 causing solenoid 48 (FIG. 4) to become energized, shifting 4-way valve 49 to the right and compressed air is admitted to the bottom end of air cylinder 17, while the rod end side is now exhausting to the atmosphere, causing the rod 16 and with it yoke 18 to move out starting from position depicted in FIG. 7. This forward movement, controlled by flow control valve 50, cocks the knee joint mechanism as the bumper 51 contacts roller 27 in center of knee joint shaft 21 and moves it on an are around lower pivot 23 until this movement is stopped by adjustable stop 26. Through the hollow center of this stop 26, a pin 52 extends by a small amount into the pass of roller 27 which, as the knee joint snaps past dead center, is fired to the right, tripping limit switch 53. Limit switch 53 in turn energizes solenoid 54 causing 4-way valve 49 to shift to position shown in FIG. 4. Check valve 55 and the closed valve 15 prevent compressed air from entering the rod end 16 side of air cylinder 17. With. the bottom side of air cylinder 17 connected to the exhaust part of valve 49 through flow control valve 50 and check valve 56, two

extension springs 57, mounted one on each side of-the chamber, theinstant invention operates as follows: Cam

disc 12 located on star valve shaft (component #5) actuates limit switch 13 energizing solenoid 14 which opens yoke'18 and air cylinder 17 retract the cylinder rod 16 and yoke 18 slowlyas make-up air is allowed to enter the rod end side of air cylinder through check valve 58. Piston rod 16 and "yoke 18 rolling on rollers 20 are retracted by springs 57 until hooked ends 19'of yoke. 18 snug-up on rollers 20. Earlier, during cocking of the knee joint mechanism, upper pivot 22, (FIG. 5), anvil 32,

lid 33 and lid shaft 34 moved upward until upper end of anvil 32 contacted floating sleeve 31, lifting it ofi bumper 59 and in turn compressing spring 30 as the lid 33 closed with its annular sealing surface 60 against sealing ring 61 of pressure chamber 11. Just before the lid 33 closes, a plurality of fine jets 62 (FIG. 8) of superheated steam wash off any product remaining on sealing surface 60. The instant the lid 33 is closed a quick opening steam valve (not shown) activated by a second cam disc 63 locatedon the star valve shaft admits superheated steam through port 64 into chamber 11, pressurizing same prior to the next compartment of the star opening to the pressure chamber 11. Thus, as soon as this next compartment starts to open into the feed opening 65 of chamber 11, internal pressures of compartment and chamber 11 are identical as the product drops by gravity into chamber 11, the compartment of which is designated by 33A in FIGURES 5 and 5A.

To prevent impact loads on floating sleeve 31 (FIG. 5) and other vital parts, the floating sleeve is air cushioned before it hits bumper 59 by means of shaft seal 66 closing against the lower, cylindrical portion of floating sleeve 31.

To provide a positive sealing of lid 33 against sealing ring 61, through the full range of manufacturing tolerances, the lower pivot 23 (FIG. 6) of the knee joint mechanism is adjustable. T o accommodate a central arrangement of the arrester mechanism, the lower pivot 23 consists of two pins 23a and 23b. Rotatably secured to an eccentric portion 67 of pins 23 are the lower links 25 of the knee joint mechanism by means of needle bearings 68. Spur gears 69 on both pins 23 and on both ends of jack shaft 70 (FIG. 2) secure the lower pins 23 to each other and when jack shaft 70 is rotated by means of flats on its protruding end, both lower links 25 are raised or lowered together. After the correct position of the lower pins 23 toward positive sealing of lid 33 against sealing ring 61 is established, both lower pins 23 are locked in place by tightening set screws 71 which in turn are secured from becoming loose through tightening of nuts 72 against arrester housing 40. To facilitate removal and installation of sealing ring 61 (FIGS. 5 and 8), its retaining groove is only partly machined into chamber 11. The outer part of the retaining groove is formed by a ring 73 which, through crank 74, miter gears.75, drive pinion 76, split ring gear 77 and driven pinions 78 can be lowered. To prevent any hard shock from being transmitted to the floor, the entire apparatus is bolted to the floor by means of four shock mounts 79.

We claim:

1. The combination of a pressurized feeder valve and a pressurized puffing chamber with a non-hinged lid to which is connected a compression spring which upon release opens said non-hinged lid; said feeder valve discharging pressurized product into said non-hinged pressurized chamber.

2. In an apparatus for explosive puffing of comestibles and other products, the improvement consisting of the combination of a pressurized feeder valve and a pressurized pufling chamber with a non-hinged lid, said nonhinged lid containing a recess for side-way discharge of puffed product, said non-hinged lid being connected to a compression spring which when released opens said lid in a downward manner.

3. In an apparatus for the explosive pufling of comestibles and other products, the improvement comprising a pressurized pufiing chamber having a nonhinged lid and a compression spring connected to said lid acting with the internal pressure in the pufling chamber, said compression spring acting in combination with said internal pressure to maximize the opening speed of the non-hinged lid.

4. The pressurized pufling chamber of claim 3 wherein said non-hinged lid contains a recess for side-way discharging of puffed product upon opening.

5. An automatic pufiing apparatus for explosive pufiing of fruits and vegetables having a continuous product feed and receiver and an automatic but intermittent pufiing operation, the pufling chamber of said apparatus being provided with a non-hinged deeply recessed lid, said lid being connected to a heavy compression spring which exerts its force on the lid in the same direction as that of the force exerted by the internal pressure in said puffing chamber, said lid and spring in combination with the internal pressure in the puffing chamber providing extremely short opening times at low pressures for discharge of puffed product.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,445,742 2/ 1923 Blair.

1,639,909 8/ 1927 Suzuki.

1,655,618 1/1928 Mason 99--238 X 1,793,711 2/ 1931 Mitscberling 99238 X 1,824,221 9/1931 Mason.

2,304,543 12/1942 Chapman l62-21 X 2,539,991 1/1951 Chapman l62247 2,585,170 2/1952 Prather.

2,622,985 12/ 1952 Haughey et al. 9981 2,627,221 2/ 1953 Doyle 99-238 3,094,059 6/ 1963 Graham et al. 99--238 2,567,447 9/1951 Ramsden et al. 99237 XR 3,128,690 4/1964 Maehl 99-238 3,288,053 11/1966 Perttula 99-238 BILLY J. WILHITE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 99-8l; 146-223

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