Said product preferably being in the form of portions of molten cheese or the like or portions of a soft or semi-hard cheese or the like, obtained by cutting a whole cheese.

Background Art A problem encountered with apparatuses of the aforesaid kind pertains to the safeguard of the product during the several movements it undergoes within the apparatuses for treating, in particular for packaging said product.

In practice, in packaging apparatuses the various operations whereby the product is moved by the various operative organs of the machine may damage, or at least modify the shape of the product, making it unattractive to consumers. Hence, there is a loss of sellable product for manufacturing companies.

In some cases, furthermore, said product moving operations can also modify the disposition of the groups of portions that is destined, for instance to be packaged in a single container or case, making it in effect impossible to carry out such a packaging operation.

Particularly known are machines to produce packages of molten cheese which comprise an appropriate metering apparatus or section, which produces and wraps individual cheese portions and, immediately downstream therefrom, a boxing apparatus or section able to place groups composed by said individual molten cheese portions in a respective box or packaging case.

In these known machines, the section for metering the portions and the boxing section are positioned one immediately after the other, so that any interruption, of any nature whatsoever, which should occur in the boxing section necessarily causes a corresponding interruption in the production of the metering section as well. This leads to considerable productive losses and excessive economic costs, due to the employment of a copious number of personnel required for monitoring and reactivating the packaging machine as rapidly as possible.

Disclosure of Invention In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus has been provided for treating a product, in particular for packaging a food product, said product preferably being in the form of portions of molten cheese or the like or portions of a soft or semi-hard cheese or the like obtained by cutting a whole cheese; the apparatus comprising a line for conveying the product between a pick up station and an offloading station, and a plurality of organs for supporting the product, movable in order to transfer the product along said line.

The use of appropriate organs for supporting the product in order to transfer the product along said line allows to safeguard the integrity of the product during the moves between the operative units or stations of the apparatus.

According to a further aspect of the present invention it is provided for each organ for supporting and transferring the product to carry a pre-defined group of product portions, which are able to define the content of an individual package or are obtained by subdividing a whole cake of said product.

In this way it is possible to safeguard the integrity of the group of portions when it is moved along the line between the operative stations of the apparatus.

The present invention further relates to an advantageous movable organ for supporting a quantity of product to be conveyed along a conveying line and an advantageous disposition of a cake on a support plane.

The present invention also relates to methods for effecting the loading and offloading of the product from a preferred and advantageous embodiment of said movable support organ.

Further technical features and advantages of the present invention shall become more readily apparent in the detailed description that follows, made with reference to the accompanying drawings which represent a form of embodiment provided purely by way of non limiting indication.

Description of the Drawings -Figure 1 shows a general diagram relating to a preferred embodiment of a machine according to the present invention; -Figure 2 shows a schematic top view of the area wherein the quantity of product is drawn by the movable support organs of the first present embodiment of apparatus or machine of the present invention; -Figure 3 shows the upper part of a first embodiment of movable organ for supporting the quantity of product, with two different operating conditions of said organ being highlighted in vertical section; -Figures 4 and 5 are schematic vertical section views of the area where the quantity of product is drawn by the movable support organ of the first embodiment, showing two different operating conditions of the support organ; -Figure 6 shows a schematic top plan view of a second embodiment of apparatus or machine according to the present invention; -Figure 7 shows a schematic top view of a detail of the conveying line of the second preferred embodiment of apparatus according to the present invention; -Figure 8 shows a schematic perspective view of a second embodiment of support and transfer organ and of the fractionated cake of cheese supported thereby.

Description of the Illustrative Embodiments With reference to Figures 1 and 2, it can be observed that a first preferred embodiment 10 of machine apparatus for packaging quantities of a food product, and in particular portions of molten cheese 14 arranged in groups 12 in a condition suitable for packaging, i. e. (as Figure 2 clearly shows) with the individual portions or items extending radially set mutually side by side, comprises a section 16 for metering and wrapping in respective aluminium containers or the like said quantities of product, which is of a type essentially known to the person versed in the art, and a packaging or boxing section 18 downstream of said metering section 16, which, also in a substantially known manner, inserts each quantity of product into a box or container, preferably made of cardboard, of suitable shape.

The present embodiment of machine further comprises, advantageously, between said metering section 16 and said packaging or boxing section 18, an intermediate line 20 for conveying said quantities of product, which preferably, though not exclusively or by way of limitation, comprises a conveyor belt 20 and sliding guides, in the form of strips 21 extending parallel in correspondence with the opposite longitudinal sides of the belt 20, which are suitable for driving, along said line, appropriate movable organs 22 for supporting a respective quantity of product 12.

Said movable support organs 22 advantageously allow, as shall become more readily apparent below, to transfer said quantities or groups of product along the line without modifying their disposition or configuration, so that they can be promptly boxed, as soon as they are received by said boxing section 18.

As shown in Figure 1, although the present intermediate line 20 is in itself able to receive and store a certain quantity of product that allows to let said metering section function in a manner that is substantially independent from operative interruptions, for instance due to the exhaustion of the stock of cardboard blanks for containment boxes in the boxing section or machine, the present embodiment of machine comprises at least one, but preferably, as shown, a first and a second accumulation, or temporary storage, buffers 24,26, which are able, when the boxing section 18 downstream is idle due to any problem whatsoever, to draw from the line 20 the movable support organs 22, loaded with the respective quantities of product 12, and to return them to the same line 20, as soon as conditions allow it, maintaining them in storage in its own interior for the necessary time interval. In order to allow the periodic return of said withdrawing organs, the downstream boxing section 18 is made to function at an operative speed exceeding by 10% the productive speed of the metering section 16. The use of one or more of such dynamic storage buffers allows considerably to increase the storage capacity of the intermediate line 20.

Optionally, one can also imagine positioning, possibly as shown between said buffers 24,26, a unit for treating the food product, which can by way of example be a tunnel 28 for cooling the still"warm"portions of molten cheese, within which tunnel the path of said conveying line 20 is deviated. This product treatment section could obviously be constituted by a treatment unit suitable for performing any operation or function on the treated product.

The present machine embodiment further comprises, indicated with dashed lines in Figure 1, means 23 suitable for loading said quantity of product 12 from the metering section 16 onto the respective support organ 22 and means 25 suitable for offloading said quantity of product 12 from said support organ 22 to the packaging or boxing section 18.

As shown in subsequent Figure 3, each movable organ 22 for supporting the respective quantity of product 12 comprises a circular portion 30 suitable for providing with its inner profile 31 for the lateral containment of the cheese wedges 14 and a bottom portion 32 for the underlying support of said group of products 12, which is movable axially in the vertical with respect to the lateral portion 30.

Suitable means are provided for moving said bottom portion 32 between a lowered position, below the upper edge 34 of said lateral containment portion 30 and a raised position wherein said bottom portion 32 is in correspondence with, or possibly above, the upper edge 34 of said lateral containment portion 30. Said means for raising and lowering said bottom portion 32 are provided in correspondence with said means for loading said quantity of product 12 from the metering machine onto the respective support organ 22 and in correspondence with said means for offloading said quantity of product 12 from said support organ 22 to the packaging or boxing section 18.

According to the preferred embodiment, the aforesaid means for raising the bottom 32 of the movable support comprise pin means 33 which engage said bottom portion 32 of the movable support organ, thanks to the fact that they are inserted in corresponding holes 33'provided in an underlying sleeve-shaped extension of said plane 32 for supporting the product, and which are able to slide within appropriate vertical guiding means 35 provided on said lateral containment portion 30.

Said guides for the pins 33 for raising and lowering the bottom 32, as shown in Figure 3, are in the form of vertical slots 35 angularly distanced and provided in said lateral portion 30 starting from an intermediate height and ending in correspondence with the upper peripheral edge of the support of the fixed part 34. As shown in said Figure 3, the aforesaid guiding slots 35 are superiorly open to allow, during the mounting phase, the introduction of the pins 33 themselves into the guide slots themselves.

As shown also in Figures 3 and 4, the pins 33, for engaging and raising the bottom 32, extend radially to the exterior of said lateral portion 30 in order to be able to be gripped by suitable means 37 which provide a bi-directional grip of said pins 33 such as to allow the raising and lowering of said bottom 32 in the vertical direction.

Indicated with the number 39 in Figure 3 and 4 is an annular projection of the external body 30 of the support organ, whose annular projection 39 can advantageously be engaged by a corresponding means 39' (shown in Figures 4 and 5) which is able to hold said portion or external body 30 motionless on the underlying belt 20, when the aforesaid bottom 32 is actuated vertically.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, said means 23 which serve to load said quantity of product 12 from the metering section 16 onto the respective support organ 22 comprise, in a manner structurally similar to said means 25 for offloading said quantity of product 12 from said support organ 22 to the packaging or boxing section (the latter not being expressly shown in the Figures), means 36 for supporting the group 12 of individual packages, whereon, thanks to appropriate means 38 for grouping said items, the group of products is positioned in a condition ready for packaging.

Said grouping means 38 are provided in correspondence with said loading station and are constituted by a shaped head 40, of substantially known type, which, by its rotation, positions the wedges of molten cheese according to a configuration suitable for boxing.

These operations for positioning the individual portions of molten cheese by said head 40, being in any case already known and available to the person versed in the art, do not need to be described in detail.

The grouping and positioning means 38 comprise, in any case, to provide for said rotation for orienting said movable head 40, a shaft 42 that brings said head 40, which extends vertically, downwards, starting from a horizontal arm 44 and which is borne by means of respective bearings 46 situated on the arm 44 itself.

Said head holder shaft 40 presents, at the opposite extremity from that of the head 40, a rotating pulley 48 actuated by a transmission belt 50 which is borne by the arm 44 itself and which is driven to rotate by an additional pulley 52, at the opposite extremity of said arm 44, which pulley 52 is, in turn, commanded to rotate through a suitable shaft 54, which is supported within a vertical bushing 56 of a vertical arm 58.

The aforesaid vertical arm 58 serves to support the extremity of said horizontal arm 44 that is opposite to the one wherein the cheese portions are to be grouped. The vertical shaft 54 is appropriately actuated to rotate by suitable means (not expressly shown in the Figures), of a type that is wholly known and easily constructed by the person versed in the art, which are provided in correspondence with a base widening 60 that sustains inferiorly said vertical arm 58.

The aforesaid support means for forming the group of products 12 are advantageously constituted by a thin lamina 36, which is supported, in the horizontal position, by at least an appropriate beam 62 whereon are pivoted levers or bars 64, 66 extending upwards and hinged, to the frame of the machine, in a lower position in correspondence with the extremity opposite to the one wherein they are pivoted to the beam 62.

Said bars 64,66 are commanded to oscillate, forward and backward, in the horizontal direction (as shown by the arrows O in Figure 5), upon the impulse of appropriate actuating means (not expressly shown in the figures), commanded in such a way as to move said lamina 36 for supporting the products, between an advanced position supporting a group 12 of products (shown in Figure 4) and a rearward position for transferring or passing the group of products to the underlying bottom portion 32 in raised position (as shown in Figure 5). In practice, said lamina 36, after the organ 22 has been positioned with the related bottom 32 flush with the plane 34, is extracted from underneath said group, which is held horizontally by said head 40, being passed to said bottom 32 of the movable support organ which is situated immediately below said lamina.

According to a further characteristic of the present embodiment, appropriate means 66 are also provided which are able to position, in succession, said support organs 22 in correspondence with the grouping position of the individual molten cheese portions 14.

These positioning means comprise a wheel 68 having a peripheral edge shaped with semi-circular seats 70 able to take, through the engagement of the corresponding outer peripheral edge of the lateral portion 30, said support organs 22, in such a way that, rotating in steps in the direction shown by the arched arrow R of Figure 2, they carry and stop successive empty support organs 22 below said support lamina 36 and advance, after filling, said support organs, filled with the group 12 of products, towards the part of the feeding or conveying line 20 that is positioned downstream of the loading.

Said wheel 68 for positioning and advancing the movable supports comprises a lower portion 68a having respective seats 70a, in correspondence with which are provided respective projections 39'for retaining downward the lateral portion 30 of the support organ, and an upper portion 68b having respective seats 70b in correspondence with which are provided fork portions 43a, 43b for bi-directional gripping, in the vertical direction, for said projecting pins 33 of said movable support 22. Said second wheel 68b is moved vertically upwards and downwards (as shown by the arrows V of Figures 4 and 5) by means of a central shaft 51 that supports said upper wheel 68b and is coaxial and movable vertically with respect to a tubular shaft 53 which bears and actuates in rotation said vertically fixed lower wheel 68a. Said means for rotating and raising and lowering said wheel bearing shafts 51,53 are not expressly shown in the figures and can be of any type suitable for the purpose.

Analogous means 25, similar to the loading means 23 illustrated above, are provided for offloading and transferring the group or quantity of products to said boxing section 18. As stated, these means for offloading the movable organs are not expressly shown in the figures, however from the structural point of view they are wholly similar to said adjacent loading means 24. In these offloading means, as well, a lamina for supporting the group of products is provided, which lamina is inserted between said bottom 32 of the movable support 22 in raised condition and which subsequently sustains said group of products 12, after the bottom 32 has been lowered, and the related support organ 22 has been moved away by suitable wheel- shaped positioning means, similar to those illustrated above.

After the lamina, in correspondence with the offloading extremity, has withdrawn the corresponding group of articles 12 from the related movable support 22, said lamina can be removed from the withdrawal position, carrying with it the group of products it supports, in view of their definitive offloading within the boxing section 18. This move away of the lamina makes it possible for an additional loaded support organ 22 to approach with a raising actuation, on the impulse of means similar to those of the loading section 23, of the movable bottom 32 of the support organ. Said means for actuating the bottom 32 carrying said bottom in correspondence with the upper edge 34 of the lateral portion of the movable organ in such a position as to allow the insertion of said lamina, returning from said advanced position of offloading into the boxing section, between the underlying part of the respective group of products and the upper surface of said bottom 32 of the movable support organ.

Advantageously, the provision of an intermediate feeding line, and of related organs for supporting and transferring the product along said intermediate line, allows to obtain a machine wherein any interruptions in the packaging or boxing apparatus located downstream are"dampened"or"buffered"in said intermediate line, which, even if the boxing operation is interrupted, is able to receive a certain number of quantities of products coming from the metering section or apparatus located upstream, without it being necessary immediately to interrupt also the production of the same metering apparatus located upstream. All production losses that instead occur in prior art machines are thereby avoided and it is possible to employ a lesser number of personnel tasked with monitoring and restoring the operation of said machine than the number required by known machines.

Hence, provided herein are a packaging machine, an organ for the movable support of a quantity of product and related usage procedures which allow to enhance the productive efficiency of the packaging phase, as well as the flexibility of the entire packaging system itself, in that they allow to provide the system with a plurality of additional functions for the treatment of the product or other purposes without thereby having appreciably to modify the layout of the machine. It is also possible drastically to decrease the number of personnel necessary to monitor the machine under operating conditions.

With reference to the subsequent Figures from 6 to 8, it can be observed that a second preferred embodiment 100 of apparatus according to the present invention comprises a cutting section 116, which can be constructed in the form of a cutter of a type wholly known to the person versed in the art and which it is not therefore necessary to illustrate in detail, which cuts a whole cake 112 of a soft or semi-hard cheese, such as for instance a cake of"stracchino", but that could also be a cake or whole piece of any other cheese or possibly of another food product, into a plurality of portions 114 to be wrapped individually.

The present second preferred embodiment of apparatus further presents a support frame 115 and, to transfer the product from the cutter to the wrapping machines, a line 120 for conveying the product, which in turn comprises a first conveying and distributing section 120a, wherefrom extend a first and a second section 120b, 120c for branching and conveying towards respective portion wrapping machines, which are not shown in the accompanying drawings and which can be of a type wholly known and easily constructed by the person versed in the art.

The transfer of the individual portions from the respective conveying sections 120b, 120c to the wrapping machines or units can be performed by operators who, manually draw the individual portions 114 one by one and provide them to said packaging machines.

Said conveying sections 120a, 120b, 120c can be realised by any conveyor or other transfer means, however, as shown, they are preferably in the form of respective conveyor belts.

To transport the cut product along the line, the one or more organs 122 for supporting the product are used, which allow to safeguard the integrity of the cheese portions which, being rather soft, would risk being damaged or otherwise deformed during the movement phase.

The organ 122 for supporting and transferring the product is fed to the cutting section, where it will receive the cake 112 fractionated into portions 114 to be packaged individually, thanks to a conveyor belt 123 or other conveying means, starting from a magazine or feeding unit (not shown in the accompanying drawings).

Also provided is the use of an appropriate unit, in particular in the form of a conveyor belt 121, able to transfer the support organs from the cutter station to the line 120a and use could be made of corresponding units able to transfer the support organs from the conveyors 120b, 120c to the wrapping machines, replacing the aforesaid operators.

In particular, the organ 122 for supporting and transferring the product of this second embodiment comprise a substantially rigid support plane for the product, which plane is realised by a plank having substantially quadrangular profile which presents the upper surface for supporting the product provided with means for draining any liquids which may be released by the product. In particular, on the surface of said plank are provided a plurality of channels 125a, 125b, which mutually intersect and run substantially parallel to the edges of the quadrangular support plank.

The plank, or even simply the support plane for the product, is preferably made of plastic material, in particular of plastic material for use with foodstuffs.

In order to transfer the products from the main line 120a to the branch lines 120b, 120c, which in the case illustrated herein extend orthogonally to the main line 120a, the organs for supporting and conveying the product which travel along the belt 120a are stopped in correspondence with the secondary belts 120b, 120c, by means of appropriate arresting means.

First arresting means comprise a first and second movable organ 127,127, which are movable transversely to the line to insert laterally between successive support planks 122 arresting the advance of the one that, according to the direction of advance along the line, is positioned upstream.

Said movable organs 127,127 are in particular realised by projecting portions 127a, 127a of corresponding arms 127b, 127b, which, in the arresting position, are positioned parallel to the direction of advance of the support organs 122.

Said arms 127b, 127b are pivoted in respective points indicated with the numbers 129,129 in Figure 7, in such a way as to be actuated in rotation in a plane parallel to the transport plane by suitable actuating means (not shown in the accompanying figures).

As shown in Figure 6, fixed arresting means, in the form of a ledge surface 131, are provided in correspondence of the terminal extremity of the conveyor belt 120a.

As shown in particular in Figures 7 and 8, the plank 122 presents in correspondence with a side a first and a second recesses which extend from opposite longitudinal sides of the plank and are such as to guarantee the insertion of the arresting means 127a, 127a, to allow the engagement and arrest of the plank that follows along the conveying line.

As illustrated, each of said recesses is obtained realising a chamfer, or inclined edge, in correspondence with a related corner of the rear side of the individual plank 122.

To deviate the organs for supporting the product from the main line 122a towards the secondary lines 122b, 122c, the present embodiment provides for the employment, in correspondence with each arresting organ, of appropriate translating or thrusting means 133,133, which engage the organs for supporting the product moving them from a conveyor belt to the other.

The translating means essentially comprise movable means 135 for engaging the product support organs which are actuated, by appropriate means, to translate towards and against a respective support organ and hence to drive said organ towards a new position.

The actuating means comprise, as shown, a pneumatic cylinder 137, whose stem 139, movable, forward and backward, between an advanced position and a rearward position, supports the aforesaid means 135 for engaging the product support organ.

Advantageously, said means for engaging the product support organs comprise a first part 141 defining a surface for engaging a lateral edge of the product support organs and which is such as to provide for moving these organs towards the new destination, and a second part 143, lying in the same plane as the first part, which is able to engage, by sliding, the forward edge of the successive product support organ, in such a way as to block its advance.

In this way it is possible to transfer a product support organ from a conveyor belt to the other with a simple round-travel translating movement.

According to the illustrated embodiment, the means for engaging the product support organs are in the form of a"L"shaped element whose forward wing defines said translating part 141, whilst the other wing defines the part 143 for arresting the advance of the successive product support organ.

As shown, in particular in Figures 7 and 8, the cake of cheese 112 presents a substantially quadrangular profile and the product portions 114, which are derived from said cake, are obtained by means of cuts which are effected according to directions substantially parallel to the sides of the form itself so that individual portions 114 also present a substantially quadrangular shape.

Advantageously, it is provided for said portioned shape 112 to be positioned on said support and transfer plane 122 oriented obliquely with respect thereto, in such a way as to present a vertex of the shape 112, as well as a vertex of the respective portions 114 oriented towards a direction for withdrawing the portions which considerably facilitates manual pick-up operations by the operator.

In practice, according to the illustrated embodiment, according to this disposition of the portioned cake on the transport organs, the diagonals of said quadrangular cake are set according to the median lines that connect opposite sides of the quadrangular plank supporting the product. This disposition allows to present to personnel, who must manually take each individual portion of cheese to position it on a wrapping machine, cheese portions that present one of their vertices oriented according to the natural direction along which the hand travels to approach the portioned cake. In order to take each individual portion, the operator generally moves the thumb and the fingers of the hand in opposite directions to grip, as would the jaws of a pincer, against the faces of the portion that extend from the same vertex of that portion (see Figure 8).

The present disposition allows to perform this gripping operation in an extremely easy manner with no need for the hand, which is moved to approach the portion, in a direction perpendicular to the corresponding side of the plank, to perform difficult bending motions with respect to the arm Thanks to the present disposition, this pick-up is extremely easy for all portions cut from a whole cake. By picking up first the vertex portion, indicated with reference 114a in Figure 8, an easy access is obtained to the vertex and to the lateral faces, which depart therefrom, also of the successive portions 114b and 115c.

The pick-up of said portion 114b and 114c similarly allows free access to the corresponding grip areas of the successive portions and so on for all other portions.

The invention thus conceived can be subject to numerous modifications and variations, without thereby departing from the scope of the inventive concept.

Moreover, all details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements.