JPH0731449A - Device for taking out gelatinized substance - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the subject device which is equipped with a container holding a gelatinized substance and having an opening part at one side, mutually separable opposed cutters, and a cutter driving device, eliminates a stuck state of the container by a cutter, readily takes out the gelatinized substance and has excellent operation efficiency. CONSTITUTION:This device for taking out a gelatinized substance is equipped with a container 12 holding a gelatinized substance 14 and having an opening part 12a at one side and a pair of cutters 46 and 47 having an external shape part approximately equal to a cross-sectional shape of the container from the opening part 12a of the container 12 toward the bottom. A first cutter driving device 30 for inserting a pair of the mutually opposing cutters 46 and 47 in a contact state of at least their tip parts into the gelatinized substance 14 and second cutter driving devices 42 and 43 for moving the pair of the cutters 46 and 47 inserted into the gelatinized substance 14 in the mutually separating direction in the container 12 are installed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gelled substance take-out device for taking out a substance, such as agar or gelatin, which is gelled in a container, from the container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a Tokoten manufacturing plant, heated sol-shaped agar is placed in a large number of rectangular containers connected to a conveyor chain, which are successively placed in a cooling water tank for a predetermined time. After that, the gelled agar was sequentially taken out from the container, and in a subsequent step, the gelled agar was projected so as to be a thin rod-shaped so-called so-called tenten. Here, in a factory for mass production, the container for solidifying agar is relatively large and long, and the gelled agar is taken out from the container, manually cut into a predetermined length, and carried to the subsequent sticking out process. I was out. In addition, the gelled agar has a skin-like film that adheres to the container,
The agar itself is also in close contact with the inner surface of the container, and in order to take out the agar from this container, it is necessary to separate this film and allow air to flow into the container. Therefore, conventionally, when the agar is taken out of the container, the film is manually separated, and an air hole is formed in the bottom of the container that contains the gelled agar, and a lid member normally biased by a spring or the like is used. Closed the air hole, and when taking out the agar, the lid member was separated from the air hole at the bottom of the container so that air could enter the bottom of the container, and the agar was slid out of the container.

[0003]

In the case of the above-mentioned conventional technique, the container for handling food must be easy to clean from the viewpoint of hygiene, and the shape thereof is preferably simple.
However, the container for gelling agar has an air hole and its lid member and a biasing spring at the bottom thereof, and the heated sol-like agar in the gap between the air hole and the lid member. However, there is a problem in that it is difficult to wash the agar that has entered the gap due to gelation by the subsequent cooling. Further, in order to surely wash this, the container must be removed from the transport chain and the lid member and the like must be disassembled and washed every time, which is extremely inefficient. There is also a problem that such a container with an air hole is complicated and expensive, and the cost of the device is also high.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art, and provides a gelled substance take-out device which has a simple structure and can take out a gelled substance from a container quickly and reliably. The purpose is to

[0005]

The present invention deals with gelled substances such as agar, gelatin, tofu, konjac, etc., and has a container having an opening on one side and containing the gelled substance, A pair of cutters having an outer shape portion approximately equal to the container cross-sectional shape in the bottom direction from the opening of the container, facing the container so as to be movable back and forth and contactable and separable from each other,
The pair of cutters, with at least their tip portions in contact with each other, the first cutter driving device for inserting and extracting in the gelling substance, and the pair of cutters inserted in the gelling substance with respect to each other. It is a gelled substance take-out device provided with a second cutter driving device for moving in the container in the direction of separation and approach. Further, the container is attached to a transport chain at a plurality of predetermined intervals, the pair of cutters and the first and second cutter driving devices are attached to a movable arm, and the container is driven by the transport chain and the opening of the container is inclined at a predetermined angle. An arm drive device is provided to drive the arm between a position facing the opening of the container and a retracted position when the position reaches the downward position at an angle, and further slides out of the opening of the container. In addition, a receiving member for receiving the gelled substance is provided.

[0006]

The gelled substance extracting device of the present invention divides the gelled substance in the container with a pair of cutters, and further moves the cutter in contact with the gelled substance in the container to move the gelled substance. The substance deforms in the container,
The gelled substance slides between the inner surface of the container and the close contact state disappears, and air can enter between the inner surface of the container and the gelled substance so that the gelled substance can be easily taken out. It will be. Further, the gelled substance easily slides out of the container by its own weight by performing the division and the movement by the cutter in a state where the container is inclined.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show a gelling substance removing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The gelling substance removing device used in this embodiment is agar, and the gelling substance removing device used in the device for producing agar paste from agar. Is. As shown in FIG. 4, the spinning machine according to this embodiment has a carrier chain 10 which is circulatively driven by a drive device (not shown) and elongated rectangular containers 12 which are attached to the carrier chain 10 at predetermined intervals. The rectangular container 12 is filled with agar 14. The agar 14 is poured into the container 12 in a sol state by being heated, and the agar 14 in the container 12 gels while passing through the cooling water tank 16.

The apparatus of this embodiment has a sprocket 18 on which a carrier chain 10 is hung, and a swingable movable arm 20 is provided outside the sprocket 18. The arm 20 includes a swing shaft 22 as shown in FIG.
Is provided so as to be swingable integrally with the swing lever 26, and the swing lever 26 is an arm drive device that is an arm drive device that is horizontally provided.
Is connected to the operating member 25 and is swingable between a predetermined operating position and a retracted position.

The tip of the arm 20 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 3, an air cylinder 30 that is a cutter driving device that is attached in a direction substantially perpendicular to the tip end portion of the arm 20 and a cutter device 32 that is attached to an operating member 31 of the air cylinder 30 are provided. ing. Further, the cutter device 32 is provided with a pair of guide bars 34 as shown in FIG.
The arm 20 is inserted into a pair of bearings 38 of the holding member 36 at the tip of the arm 20 and is provided so as to be movable back and forth in a predetermined direction.

The cutter device 32, as shown in FIG.
A holding member 40 provided at the tip of the operating member 31 and air cylinders 42 and 43, which are cutter driving devices fixed to both ends of the holding member 40, are provided. The actuating members 44 and 45 are opposed to each other and are mounted close to each other at the protruding position. Cutters 46 and 47 having the same shape are fixed to the tip ends of the operating members 44 and 45, respectively. Cutters 46, 47
Has a shape whose outer shape is substantially the same as the cross section of the inner space of the container 12 from the opening 12a toward the bottom surface.
Further, at the base end portions of the cutters 46 and 47, receiving plates 48 and 49 are attached so as to cover almost half of the opening of the container 12. Furthermore, at the base ends of the cutters 46 and 47,
A cutter guide 51, which is attached to the holding member 40 and prevents the cutters 46 and 47 from tilting, is provided.

On the other hand, a limit switch 50 is provided around the sprocket 18 to detect that the container 12 carried by the carrier chain 10 has reached a predetermined position. Further, in front of the sprocket 18 and below the arm 20, receiving members 52 and 53 for receiving the agar 14 that has slid out of the container 10 and sliding it to a predetermined position are provided.

The operation of the gelled substance removing apparatus of this embodiment is as follows. First, heated sol-like agar is poured into the container 12, and the carrier chain 10 causes the container 12 to
It is slowly transported to the cooling water tank 16 and cooled with water. Then, while being moved in the water tank 16, the sol-like agar is cooled and gelled. Then, the container 12 containing the solidified agar 14 is sprocket 1 together with the transport chain 10.
8 and the container 12 also rotates accordingly. Then, when the opening 12a of the container 12 is slightly downward at a predetermined angle, the container 12 contacts the limit switch 50 and urges the limit switch 50. As a result, the control device (not shown) is informed that the container 12 has reached the predetermined position, and the drive of the transport chain 10 is stopped.

In this state, the arm 20 moves the container 12
Rock toward. At this time, the cutters 46 and 47 at the tips of the arms 20 face each other and are placed in contact with each other, and the tips of the cutters 46 and 47 are also in contact. After the cutters 46 and 47 are located in front of the opening 12a of the container 12, the swing of the arm 20 is stopped and the air cylinder 3
0 is operated to insert the cutters 46 and 47 into the central portion of the agar 14 while contacting each other. Cutter 4
When the tips of 6, 47 reach the bottom of the container 12,
By operating the pair of air cylinders 42 and 43, the cutters 46 and 47 are moved in the container 12 in the directions away from each other. As a result, the agar 14 is divided into two parts, the film on the surface is also cut off and peeled off from the container 12, and the divided agar 14 is compressed by the side wall of the container 12 and the cutters 46 and 47. As shown by the dotted line, it bulges toward the opening 12a. At this time, since the agar 14 is simply elastically deformed, there is no deformation or cracking.

As described above, the agar 14 is bisected and deformed in the container, so that the close contact between the agar 14 and the inner surface of the container 12 disappears, and air enters between the inner surface of the container 12 and the agar 14. The agar 14 easily slides out under its own weight due to the inclination of the container 12. And the air cylinder 4
2 and 43 are operated in the opposite direction to return the cutters 46 and 47 to the original facing and abutting positions, and the air cylinder 3
0 is operated to retract the cutters 46 and 47. As a result, the agar 14 leans against the receiving plates 48, 49 and comes out on the receiving member 52. Further, by swinging and retracting the arm 20 to the retracted position, the agar 14 that has come out is guided onto the receiving member 53, and is conveyed to the ejecting step via a chute and a conveyor (not shown).

According to the gelled substance take-out apparatus of this embodiment, the structure of the container 12 is simple, easy to clean and hygienic, and the work of separating the agar and the work of taking it out from the container 12 are performed at the same time. It is done and is extremely efficient.

In the gelled substance extracting device of the present invention, the gelled substance is cut by a cutter having an outer shape substantially similar to the predetermined cross section of the container, and the gelled substance is sectioned and deformable by the cutter. The shape of the container and the shape of the cutter may be semi-elliptical or semi-elliptical other than rectangular. In addition to the air cylinder, the arm and cutter may be driven by a hydraulic cylinder or a motor. Further, the driving of the arm may be linear motion other than swinging, and the position for taking out the gelled substance from the container may be appropriately set depending on the gelled substance, and may be other than sliding by its own weight.
Further, the gelling substance of the present invention may be a gel other than agar, gelatin, tofu, konjac, etc., and can also be used for taking out a gelled substance other than food from a container.

[0017]

The gelled substance removing device of the present invention is
The material that gelled in the container can be removed by simply cutting it with a cutter and deforming it to release the close contact with the container and take it out. It is hygienic. Further, the manufacturing cost of the container and other devices can be reduced. Further, by pointing the container opening downward, the gelled substance slides out as the cutter retreats, so that the gelled substance can be reliably taken out and the working efficiency is improved. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a gelled substance removing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA immediately before the cutter of the gelled substance removing device of FIG. 1 enters a container.

FIG. 3 is a schematic left side view showing an operating state of an arm of the gelled substance removing device of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a cooling and agar extracting part of a placenta manufacturing apparatus in which the gelling substance extracting device of this embodiment is used.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Conveyor Chain 12 Container 12a Opening 14 Agar (Gelified Substance) 20 Arm 24 Air Cylinder (Arm Driving Device) 30 Air Cylinder (First Cutter Driving Device) 42, 43 Air Cylinder (Second Cutter Driving Device) 46 , 47 Cutter 52, 53 Receiving member

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A container having an opening on one side and containing a gelled substance, and an outer shape portion having a container cross-sectional shape substantially in the bottom direction from the opening of the container, capable of advancing and retreating and contacting and separating from each other. A pair of cutters facing each other, a first cutter driving device for inserting and extracting the pair of cutters into and out of the gelled substance in a state in which at least the tip portions thereof are in contact, and inserted into the gelled substance A second cutter driving device for moving the pair of cutters in the container in a direction in which they are spaced apart from each other and close to each other. 2. The container is attached to a transport chain at a plurality of predetermined intervals, the pair of cutters and the first and second cutter driving devices are attached to a movable arm, and the container is driven by the transport chain so that an opening of the container is opened. An arm drive device is provided for driving the arm between a position facing the opening of the container and a retracted position when reaching a position facing downward at a predetermined inclination angle, and sliding from the opening of the container. The gelled substance removing device according to claim 1, further comprising a receiving member for receiving the gelled substance that has come out.