Amf Gmbh

Amf Machinery Systems, Inc.

Automated Machinery Systems, Inc.

Donald L Cummins

A dough piece rounder and method where the belt used for conveying the dough pieces past the rounder bar is supported by a thin film of air between the underside of the conveyor belt and a perforated plate which forms the upper flat side of a plenum chamber. The principal part of the apparatus is supported on a horizontal cantilever cylinder so that the belt can be readily replaced from one side and the apparatus can be tilted so that the inlet and exit of the dough pieces can be at different levels.

Dough piece rounder and method

An apparatus and method for continuously dispensing dough for making bread, rolls, buns and the like by pressurizing and homogenizing the dough by a pair of open-flighted augers in a tunnel having minimal clearances so that the dough is provided with a uniform texture and density which permits a division into pieces having weights with tolerances within one-half of one percent.

Method for pumping, homogenizing and dividing dough and the like

An apparatus and method for dividing a mass of dough into a plurality of individual streams by means of a manifold and fine tuning the flow rate of the individual streams by weir type diaphragm valves so the streams have identical flow rates. Each of the individual streams of dough are simultaneously cut into identical dough pieces by a rotating driver by a four-bar link mechanism.

Method for dividing and cutting dough and the like

A linear peristaltic type pump capable of moving high viscosity material without creating an appreciable amount of heat includes a flexible conduit that is progressively compressed by a series of gear-driven compressing shoes that move linearly into and out of contact with the conduit by reciprocating motion, with a dwell time provided for each conduit compression event. A specific gear and linkage drive system is provided, including interengaged gears driving the compressing shoes via links on either side of the shoes.

Linear peristaltic pump

A rotating drum divider and an improved assembly for use in a cylinder of the rotating drum type dough divider comprising a sleeve positioned in the cylinder forming seals on both sides of a pair of diametrically opposed guide slots connected to atmosphere and a pair of ducts communicating with the cylinder at opposite ends of the sleeve which are alternately connected to pressure and vacuum, a double acting piston having a head in each end of the cylinder and a piston rod portion extending from each head into the sleeve, and a scaling rod joining the adjacent ends of the piston rod portions together, and reciprocating to cause the rod portions and their heads to reciprocate together in the cylinder as a double ended piston.

Rotary drum dough divider

A pan indexer for use with a moulder/panner with a gate and a conveyor, having a carrier for a cantilevered template with a spaced series of tangs for successively engaging and releasing pans on the conveyor when the template is moved up and down in synchronism with dough pieces being deposited through a gate from the moulder/panner to pans on the conveyor.

Pan indexing apparatus

A rounder bar with a biased flexible foot portion responsive to surface irregularities of a conveyor for maintaining a continuous contact with the conveyor along the full length of the rounder bar.

Rounder bars

The apparatus for aligning two plys of limp material being fed into a work station employs a pair of bi-directional motor driven belts operating in electrical circuit relationship with closed loop servo control and a pair of photo-diodes with light source sensing beams employed in retro-reflective configuration for generation of a bi-polar signal in response to the movement of the belts. A pair of pressure plates mounted in proximity to said belts, provide a nip between the belts and the plates for material gripping. The belts being movable in response to dark/light bi-polar signals generated by the presence or absence of material at the center line of each of said photo-diodes and the closed loop servo control is actuated to govern the movement of said belts with respect to any deviation from said center lines. A pair of rate detector wheels are disposed in the line of travel of said plys of material and are in electrical circuit relation with a digital position servo motor to permit adjustment of the relative opposing force of each of the pressure plates in response to information imparted by the rate detector wheels into a differential computer operating in subtract mode and acting upon said servo motor through a controller.

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Mechanicsville, VA, United States of America

Donald L Cummins