SLICING MACHINE WITH BLADE MOUNTING DEVICE

Abstract

In order to be able to safely remove the heavy and very sharp blade from the machine, which is overhanging when mounted, in contrast to known solutions, the entire cutting unit is not swung out of the machine so far that the blade is easily accessible, but instead the cutting unit together with the blade support and blade drive remain unchanged in position in the machine, and only the blade carrier of a mounting device is brought into contact with the blade.

Then the blade can first be fixed to the protective blade carrier before the connection of the blade to the blade support is released, and then the blade carrier loaded with the blade can be removed from the machine in a simple manner, for example pulled out sideways.

Claims

1. A slicing machine, in particular slicer, for slicing product calibers into slices and, if necessary, producing shingled or stacked portions from slices, with a cutting unit with a plate shaped or bowl-shaped blade which can be rotatably driven about a blade axis and which is detachably fastened to a blade support of a blade shaft, a feed unit for feeding at least one caliber in the feeding direction to the cutting unit, a discharge conveyor for discharging the at least one separated slice, a control for controlling movable parts of the slicing machine, wherein a mounting device is provided at the slicing machine to facilitate mounting and dismounting of the blade at the blade support.

2. The slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein the mounting device comprises a blade carrier at which the blade can be received and, in particular, held in a defined position, preferably can be fastened, by means of the mounting device, the blade carrier can be moved, in particular traversed or pivoted, between a mounting position close to the blade shaft on the one hand and. either a loading position for removal from the slicing machine or a protective position for covering the blade during slicing operation, operation.

3. The slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein the mounting device comprises: drawer guides on the slicing machine for inserting the blade carrier as a drawer between them and moving in the guide direction along the drawer guides, wherein the blade support is embodied to temporarily receive the blade on the side of the blade support facing the blade support, even when the blade support is in the drawer guides.

4. The slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein the blade carrier is movable back and forth along the drawer guides between a position almost extended from the slicing machine and just guided in the drawer guides, and a loading position, in particular maximally retracted into the slicing machine against a stop, in which the blade axis of the blade held on the drawer is located at the same transverse position in the transverse direction as the blade axis of a blade mounted on the blade support.

5. The slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein the guide direction is transverse, in particular perpendicular, to the blade axis, in particular the guide direction is horizontal.

6. The slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the drawer guides is displaceable, in particular transversely or pivotable, transversely, in particular perpendicularly, to the guide plane, in particular pivotable between a mounting position pivoted towards the blade support and a loading position pivoted away from the blade support.

7. The slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein on at least one of the drawer guides there is a stop which limits the insertion of the blade carrier and/or a locking element is provided which locks the blade carrier in the correct insertion position, in particular the position inserted up to the stop.

8. The slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein the mounting device comprises: a slider guide rod, in particular with a round outer circumference, on the slicing machine for suspending the blade carrier by means of hang-up hooks at the upper end of the blade carrier and, if necessary, moving in the moving direction along the slider guide rod, wherein the blade support is embodied to temporarily receive the blade on the side of the blade support facing the blade support, even when it is suspended from the slider guide rod, in particular the attachment hooks have a locking device so that the blade carrier can only be unhooked from the slider guide rod after active unlocking.

9. The slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein the slider guide rod and the attachment hooks are embodied in such a way that the attached blade carrier can be pivoted transversely, in particular perpendicularly, to the guide direction about the slider guide rod, in particular pivotable between a mounting position pivoted towards the blade support and a loading position pivoted away from the blade support.

10. The slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein a carrier holding device is provided to fix the blade carrier in the approached mounting position.

11. The slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein a blade holding device is provided on the blade carrier to fix the blade in the defined position on the blade carrier.

12. The slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein the blade carrier has a recess, in particular a window, which is dimensioned and positioned in such a way that, when the blades are correctly positioned on the blade carrier all screw holes of the blade are within the window with the blade support in the mounting position on the slicing machine, the balancing weight present on the blade support finds room in the recess.

13. A method for mounting and dismounting a blade at a slicing machine, in particular a slicer, by means of a mounting device comprising a blade support, in particular at a slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein in case of mounting the blade carrier with the blade attached to it is inserted into the slicing machine in a loading position, the blade carrier is moved from the loading position to a mounting position in which the blade is in such a position that it can be fastened, in particular screwed, to the blade support, the blade is fixed to the blade support, the blade carrier either is brought into a protective position at, in particular, an axial distance from the blade, and acts as part of the protective cover for the blade during the slicing operation or moved to the loading position ) and removed from the slicing machine and, if necessary, transported away and stored.

14. A method for mounting and dismounting a blade on a slicing machine, in particular a slicer, by means of a mounting device comprising a blade support, in particular on a slicing machine according to claim 1, wherein in case of dismounting the empty blade carrier if it is in the protective position, is moved to the mounting position, if it is outside the slicing machine, is inserted into the slicing machine into a loading position, from there the blade carrier of the mounting device is brought into the mounting position and thus in particular into contact with the blade, the blade is attached to the blade carrier and detached from the blade support, the blade carrier with the blade is removed from the slicing machine and, if necessary, transported away and stored.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the empty blade carrier is inserted into the slicing machine by pushing it in an insertion direction running transversely to the rotation axis of the blade, in particular in a horizontal direction, into a loading position, and/or the blade carrier of the mounting device is brought into contact with the blade in the mounting position by moving, at least, against the passage direction, and/or the blade is fixed to the blade carrier by locking, and/or the blade carrier, if necessary together with the blade, is removed from the slicing machine by pulling it out against the insertion direction from the loading position or by hanging it off the slider guide rod.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0061] Embodiments according to the invention are described in more detail below by way of examples, showing:

[0062] FIGS. 1a, b: A slicing machine in the form of a slicer according to the state of the art in different perspective views, with the feed belt tilted up into the slicing position,

[0063] FIG. 1c: the slicing machine of FIGS. 1a, b in side view with the panels removed so that the various conveyor belts can be seen more clearly, but with the feed belt tilted down into the loading position and the product caliber cut except for a caliber rest,

[0064] FIGS. 2a-d: different functional positions of a 1st construction design of the assembly device according to the invention when mounting a blade, in analogous viewing direction as in FIG. 1c, but with the feed conveyor folded up into the cutting position as in FIGS. 1a, b, whereby in FIG. 2a the blade carrier with inserted blade is additionally shown separately enlarged,

[0065] FIG. 3: the blade carrier with the blade inside, viewed in the direction of the blade axis of this blade, partially inserted into the drawer guides,

[0066] FIGS. 4a, b: various functional positions of an extended 1st design of the mounting device according to the invention when mounting a blade, in analogous viewing direction as in FIGS. 2a to 2d

[0067] FIG. 5a, b: various functional positions of a 2nd design of the mounting device according to the invention when mounting a blade, in analogous viewing direction as in FIGS. 2a to 2d.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0068] FIGS. 1a, 1b show different perspective views of a multi-track slicer 1 for simultaneously slicing several product calibers K on one track SP1 to SP4 next to each other and depositing them in shingled portions P each consisting of several slices S with a general passage direction 10* through the slicer 1 from right to left.

[0069] FIG. 1c and FIG. 2a show—with the caliber K inserted—a side view of this slicer 1, omitting covers and other parts not relevant to the invention, which are attached to the base frame 2 just like all the other units, so that the functional parts, especially the conveyor belts, can be seen more clearly. The longitudinal direction 10 is the feeding direction of the calibers K to the cutting unit 7 and thus also the longitudinal direction of the calibers K lying in the slicer 1.

[0070] It can be seen that the basic structure of a slicer 1 according to the state of the art is that a cutting unit 7 with blades 3 rotating about a blade axis 3′, such as a sickle blade 3, is provided with several, in this case four, product calibers K lying transversely to the feeding direction 10 next to each other on a feed conveyor 4 with projections of the feed conveyor 4 projecting from the support surface as spacers 15 in between are fed by this feed unit 20, from the front ends of which the rotating blade 3 cuts a slice S with its cutting edge 3a in each case in one operation, i.e., almost simultaneously.

[0071] For cutting the product calibers K, the feed conveyor 4 is in the cutting position shown in FIGS. 1a, b, 2a-d, which is inclined in the side view with the cutting-side front end lying low and the rear end lying high, from which it can be tilted down about a pivot axis 20′ running in its width direction, the first transverse direction 11, which is located in the vicinity of the cutting unit 7, into an approximately horizontal loading position, as shown in FIG. 1c.

[0072] The rear end of each caliber K lying in the feed unit 20 is positively held by a gripper 14a-d with the aid of gripper claws 16, as shown in FIGS. 2a-d. These grippers 14a-14d, which can be activated and deactivated with regard to the position of the gripper claws 16, are attached to a common gripper slide 13, which can be moved along a gripper guide 18 in the feeding direction 10.

[0073] In this case, both the feed of the gripper slide 13 and of the feed conveyor 4 can be driven in a controlled manner, whereby, however, the actual feed speed of the calibers K is effected by a so-called upper and lower product guide 8, 9, which are also driven in a controlled manner and which engage on the upper side and lower side of the calibers K to be cut open in their front end regions near the cutting unit 7:

[0074] The front ends of the calibers K are each guided through a so-called eyeglass opening 6a-d of a plate-shaped cutting frame 5, whereby the cutting plane 3″, in which the blade 3 rotates with its cutting edge 3a and thus cuts off the protrusion of the calibers K from the cutting frame 5 as a slice S, moves directly in front of the front end face of the cutting frame 5, which points downwards at an angle. The cutting plane 3″ runs perpendicular to the upper run of the feed conveyor 4 and/or is spanned by the two transverse directions 11, 12 to the feeding direction 10.

[0075] Here, the inner circumference of the product openings 6a-d of the cutting edge 3a of the blade 3 serves as a counter cutting edge.

[0076] Since both product guides 8, 9 can be driven in a controlled manner, in particular independently of each other and/or possibly separately for each track SP1 to SP4, these determine the—continuous or clocked—feed speed of the calibers K through the cutting frame 5.

[0077] The upper product guide 8 can be displaced in the 2nd transverse direction 12—which is perpendicular to the surface of the upper run of the feed conveyor 4—in order to adapt to the height H of the caliber K in this direction. Furthermore, at least one of the product guides 8, 9 can be embodied to run around one of its deflecting rollers in order to be able to change the direction of the strand of its guide belt lying against the caliber K to a limited extent.

[0078] The slices S, which are at an angle in the space when they are separated, fall onto a discharge unit 17 which starts below the cutting frame 5 and runs in the passage direction 10*, and which in this case consists of several discharge conveyors 17a, b, c arranged one behind the other with their upper runs approximately aligned in the passage direction 10*, of which the first discharge conveyor 17a in the passage direction 10 can be designed as a portioning belt 17a and/or one can also be designed as a weighing unit.

[0079] The slices S can hit the discharge conveyor 17 individually and at a distance from each other in the passage direction 10* or, by appropriate control of the portioning belt 17a of the discharge conveyor 17—the movement of which, like almost all moving parts, is controlled by the control 1*—form shingled or stacked portions P, by stepwise forward movement of the portioning belt 17a.

[0080] Below the feed conveyor 20 there is usually a roughly horizontal residue conveyor 21, which starts with its front end below the cutting frame 5 and directly below or behind the discharge conveyor 17 and with its upper run thereon—by means of the drive of one of the discharge conveyors 17 against the passage direction 10—transports falling rest pieces to the rear.

[0081] FIGS. 2a-2c show the side view of the slicing machine 1 showing the process of mounting a new blade on the blade support 7A, which rotates with the blade shaft and on whose front surface, in this case pointing downwards to the left, the blade 3 must be screwed, whereby a balancing weight 22 projects over this mounting surface of the blade support 7A in a partial area in order to compensate for the asymmetrical shape of the blade 3, which is designed as a sickle blade, as can be seen in FIG. 3.

[0082] The mounting device 30 comprises on the one hand two drawer guides 28a, 28b, which have an approximately U-shaped cross section visible in FIGS. 2a-2d and are directed towards each other with their U-openings, and are dimensioned and spaced in such a way that a plate-shaped blade carrier 29 can be inserted between them, as shown in FIG. 3 and already done for mounting a new blade in FIG. 2a.

[0083] At least one of the drawer guides, in this case the upper drawer guide 28a, can be pivoted back and forth by a limited angle of about 20° relative to approximately the lower drawer guide 28b or the lower edge of the inserted blade carrier 29, preferably about a pivot axis lying in the horizontal transverse direction 11 to the blade axis 3′.

[0084] The lower drawer guide 28b can be embodied with regard to its U-shaped recess in such a way that a blade carrier 29 guided in the drawer guides 28a, b is held securely and with sufficient positional accuracy in this lower drawer guide 28b, irrespective of which of the two swivel positions the upper drawer guide 28a is in, whereby a pivoting capability of this lower drawer guide 28b can be dispensed with.

[0085] For this purpose, the left, lower flank of the U-opening of the then mostly no longer pivoting drawer guide 28b is tapered towards the bottom of the U-recess.

[0086] Mounting a new blade 3 is carried out as follows:

[0087] First of all, outside the slicing machine, i.e., with the blade carrier 29 pulled completely out of the drawer guides 28a, b—which is also shown enlarged in FIG. 2a—the desired new blade 3 is placed on the blade side of the blade carrier 29, usually in a slight recess provided there.

[0088] The blade holding devices 26, shown here in the form of rotary latches 26, distributed around the circumference of the inserted blade 3, are then closed so that they thereby hold the blade 3 securely and in an exact relative position to the blade carrier 29, which, in the case of a rotary latch 26 as a blade holding device, only requires the rotary latch to be rotated by about 90° so that the holding lug of the rotary latch projects radially inwards over the blade 3.

[0089] Then the blade carrier 29 together with the blade 3 is pushed in the insertion direction 28′—see FIG. 3—between the two drawer guides 28a, b until it comes to rest against a stop 25 formed on one or both of the drawer guides 28a, b. The blade carrier 29 can be secured in this end position, the assembly position MP, by activating a locking element 24, such as a locking pin pretensioned into the locking position. In this end position, the assembly position MP, the blade carrier 29 can be secured by activating a locking element 24, such as a locking pin biased into the locking position, which can be provided on one or both of the drawer guides 28a, b.

[0090] During insertion, one or both of the in this case pivoting drawer guides 28a, b is in its loading position LP swiveled away from the blade support 7A, which must be pivoted away from the blade support 7A, that when the blade carrier 29 together with a blade 3 is pushed in, there is no collision with the balance weight 22 projecting over the front side of the blade support 7A or with another part of the blade support 7A which, with a blade 3 mounted on the blade support 7A—see figure lc—projects axially not only over the blade support 7A but even over the blade 3.

[0091] From this loading position LP, the blade carrier 29 is pivoted upwards together with at least the pivoting, in this case upper drawer guide 28a—usually operated manually, not by motor—into the assembly position MP, in which the blade 3 is located with its blade plane 3″ parallel and preferably in contact with the front surface of the blade support 7A.

[0092] In this assembly position MP, the upper drawer guide 28a is first secured against unintentional lowering by means of a carrier holding device 27, which in turn can consist of a simple rotary latch mounted stationary on the machine.

[0093] If the blade 3 is correctly mounted in the blade holder 29 and the blade carrier 29 is correctly positioned against the stop 25 in the drawer guides 28a, b, the screw holes 3b and any central opening 3c of the blade 3 should be aligned with the mating elements behind them, e.g., threaded holes in the blade support 7A. The screw holes 3b and any central opening 3c of the blade 3 should now be aligned with the mating elements behind them, i.e., threaded holes, of the blade support 7A, so that—as shown in FIG. 2b—the blade 3 can now be screwed to the blade support 7A using corresponding retaining screws 31, since the screw holes 3b are all located in the area of the one or more windows 23 through the blade carrier 29.

[0094] After the blade 3 has been mounted in the slicing machine 1 in this way and fixed to the blade support 7A, the blade holding devices 26 are first deactivated as shown in FIG. 2c and the carrier holding device 27 is also deactivated as shown in FIG. 2d.

[0095] The upper drawer guide 28a together with the blade carrier 29 can then be swiveled back down to the loading position LP and the blade carrier 29 can be removed from the drawer guides 28a, b and thus from the slicing machine 1 by pulling it out to the side.

[0096] FIGS. 4a, b show an extension of the 1st design of FIGS. 2a to 2d:

[0097] FIG. 4a shows the blade carrier 29 already retracted into the loading position LP with the blade 3 attached to it in the same way as in FIG. 2a. However, in the enlarged cross-sectional view of the blade carrier 29 in FIG. 4a, it can be seen that, in addition to the plate-shaped base body, it now has an edge 29a projecting further over the blade 3 on both sides of the blade.

[0098] After the blade support 29 with the blade 3 has been swiveled up into the mounting position MP, the blade 3 has been fixed to the blade support 7A and the blade holding device 26 has been released, the blade support 29—instead of being removed from the slicing machine 1 without the blade—can now be moved to a certain distance from the blade 3, e.g., in the direction of the blade axis 3′. In this protective position SP, the blade carrier 29 offers protection against a blade 3 or blade parts flying away.

[0099] Preferably, for this purpose, in the protective position SP the blade carrier 29 is axially distanced from the blade 3 only to such an extent that the blade plane 3″ still passes through the projecting, circumferential edge 29a of the blade carrier 29.

[0100] For this purpose, both drawer guides 28a, b can preferably be moved together from the mounting position MP to the protective position SP, i.e., preferably in the axial direction of the blade axis 3′, and fixed there.

[0101] FIGS. 5a, b show a 2nd design of the assembly device 30, in which assembly operations are facilitated by the fact that the insertion of the blade 3, which is held on a blade carrier 29, into the slicing machine 1 is very simple in that the operator only has to hook the blade carrier 29 with hang-up hooks 32 projecting therefrom in the upper region onto a slider guide rod 28, which runs horizontally in the transverse direction 11, so that the blade carrier 29 then hangs downwards from the rod 28 under the force of gravity.

[0102] In this suspended position, the blade carrier 29 is automatically locked by means of a locking device 33 shown here on the hang-up hooks 32, so that without actively unlocking this locking device 33, the blade carrier 29 can no longer unintentionally detach from the bar 28.

[0103] In the direction of view of FIG. 5a, behind the last hang-up hook 32 there is a stop analogous to the stop 25 in FIG. 3, so that the blade carrier 29, initially suspended in a not exactly defined transverse position, only has to be pushed in the direction of view of FIG. 5a, the transverse direction 11, up to this stop and has then reached its loading position LP.

[0104] The rod 28 and the attachment bars 32 are positioned or dimensioned and fastened in relation to the blade carrier 29 in such a way that by simply pivoting the blade support 29 upwards around the slider guide rod 28, which has a round outer contour for this purpose, in the direction of the blade support 7A, the blade support 29 reaches its mounting position MP, in which the blade 3 it supports can be screwed to the blade support 7A, as has already been done in FIG. 5b.

[0105] Of course, also with this design the blade carrier 29 can be temporarily secured in this mounting position MP, e.g., by means of a carrier holding device 27 not shown at the lower end of the blade carrier 29, as shown analogously at the upper end in FIG. 2c.

[0106] After the blade holding device 26 has been released and the blade carrier 29 alone has been pivoted back into the vertically suspended starting position as in FIG. 5a, the blade carrier 29 can be unhooked from the bar 28 and removed from the machine by actively, usually manually, unlocking the locking device 33.

[0107] Of course, it can also be provided in this 2nd design that instead of removing the empty blade carrier 29, it is merely brought to a small distance from the blade 3 mounted in the machine into a protective position SP and in this position serves as part of the blade cover during slicing operation.

REFERENCE LIST

[0108] 1 slicing machine, slicer

[0109] 1* control

[0110] 2 base frame

[0111] 3 blade

[0112] 3 rotation axis

[0113] 3″ blade plane, cutting plane

[0114] 3a cutting edge

[0115] 3b bolting opening

[0116] 3c central opening

[0117] 4 feed conveyor, feed belt

[0118] 5 cutting unit

[0119] 6a-d product opening

[0120] 7 cutting unit

[0121] 7A blade support

[0122] 8 upper product guide, upper guide belt

[0123] 8.1 contact run, lower run

[0124] 8a cutting side deflecting roller

[0125] 8b deflecting roller facing away from the cutting side

[0126] 9 bottom product guide, lower guide belt

[0127] 8.1 contact run, upper run

[0128] 9a cutting side deflecting roller

[0129] 9b deflecting roller facing away from the cutting side

[0130] 10 transport direction, longitudinal direction, axial direction

[0131] 10* passage direction through machine

[0132] 11 1. transverse direction (width slicer)

[0133] 12 2. transverse direction (height-direction caliber)

[0134] 13 gripper unit, gripper slide

[0135] 14.14a-d gripper

[0136] 15 projection, spacer

[0137] 16 gripper claw

[0138] 17 conveyor unit

[0139] 17a, b, c portioning belt, discharge conveyor

[0140] 18 gripper guide

[0141] 19 height sensor

[0142] 20 feed unit

[0143] 21 end piece conveyor

[0144] 22 balance weight

[0145] 23 window

[0146] 24 latching element

[0147] 25 stop

[0148] 26 blade holding device, rotary latch

[0149] 27 carrier holding device, rotary latch

[0150] 28 slider guide rod

[0151] 28a, b drawer guide

[0152] 28′ guide direction

[0153] 28″ guide plane

[0154] 29 blade carrier

[0155] 29a edge

[0156] 30 mounting device

[0157] 31 retaining screw

[0158] 32 hang-up hook

[0159] 33 locking device

[0160] K product, product caliber

[0161] KR end piece

[0162] LP loading position

[0163] MP mounting position

[0164] S slice

[0165] P portion