The invention concerns a machine for applying a coat¬ ing to cheeses and comprising a conveyor on which the cheeses are moved below and past a plurality of nozzles for spraying coating material, as well as means for distributing the applied material over the cheeses.

Until recently, the coating applied to cheeses has predominantly been paraffin, but lately it has become more usual to use plastics as a coating material, there being plastics types, e.g. PVA plastics, having better properties for this purpose than paraffin, e.g. improved stability and greater tenacity, i.e. less tendency to break. Plastics also makes it easier for the cheeses to release water and improves their durability. However, plastics is much more expensive than paraffin, and it is therefore important to minimize waste of material during application.

In the known machines of the present type, the material distributing means are beaters consisting of rotating rolls, on whose cylindrical face strips of a bendable material are attached, e.g. rubber, leather or plastics, and the cheeses are moved below these after spraying of the coating material. This method of distribution results in much waste of material and requires the machine to be enclosed and necessitates comprehensive cleaning procedures.

The object of the invention is to provide a machine of the present type which gives savings in material, does not require enclosure of the machine and is easy to clean.

This object is achieved in that the machine comprises stop means to stop each cheese in a pre-determined position and means to generate, in this. osition, relative movement between the cheese and rolling or scraping distributing means in contact with each other. This structure has the effect that practically all the material applied through the nozzles stays on and are evenly distributed on the cheeses so that the environment is not polluted.

A good distribution effect can be obtained by the feature stated in claim 2, and simple means for performing the necessary relative movement between cheese and distribution means are stated in claim 3.

Claim 4 defines an embodiment of the conveyor and the elevator which is particularly useful for the purpose Rotation of the rotatable disc additionally improves the distribution.process. Further, the distribution means in this structure is only to have a length corresponding to half the largest dimension of the cheese.

Expedient details of the mounting and the operation of the distribution means are stated in claim 5, and claim 6-8 provide special distribution means for processing of the lateral edge faces of the cheese.

The feature defined in claim 9 permits the distribu- tion means to adaptto irregularities in the outer contour of the cheeses.

The destribution means may expediently be formed by such rolls as are defined in claim 10.

The invention will be explained more fully below with reference to the drawing, in which

figs. 1 and 2 are a vertical anda .horizontal view, respectively, of an embodiment of the machine of the invention in a neutral position, and

figs. 3 and 4 are similar views of the machine in the working position.

In the drawing the numeral 10 designates two transport chains running in parallel with each other, and each of them runs in a ϋ-rail 11. These chains in combination form a conveyor, on which the cheeses 12 to be provided with a coating material, e.g. PVA plastics, are placed. When a cheese has reached a pre-determined position, in which it is shown in the drawing, it actuates a sensor or a detector (not shown), e.g. a photocell, which stops the conveyor. In this position, the cheese is disposed below a plurality of nozzles 13 connected through hoses 14 to a manifold 15, which receives liquid coating material from a metering pump 16, preferably a diaphragm pump, througha conduit 17. The pump is fed from a reservoir (not shown) through a conduit 18 and is activated when the cheese has reached its position to release a pre-determined amount of coating material, some of which is applied to the surface of the cheese through the nozzles 13.

The manifold 15 is mounted on the underside of a carrier beam 19 which is incorporated in a frame (not shown). Also, a pair of rails 21 forming a guide track for a slide 20 and a pneumatic cylinder 23, whose piston rod 24 is connected with the slide and

serves to reciprocate it in the guide track, are sus¬ pended from the beam 19 by means of posts 20. A lever is rotatably mounted about a shaft 25 in the slide, said lever comprising a substantially vertical part 26, an angle member 27 attached on the upper end of said part, and an obliquely downwardly directed arm 28 which is attached to the Tower end of the part and having its lower end formed with a perpendicularly bent flange 29. A rectangular plate 30 is so placed on the inner side of the flange 29 and connected with it that can rotate through a limited angle about an axis at right angles to the flange, and this plate mounts the short leg of an L-shaped bracket 31 whose long leg rotatably mounts a roll 32 whose cylindrical face is coated with a fur-like material, e.g. of nylon. A tension coil spring 34 is stretched between the free end of the angle member 27 and an upright 33 on the slide, .said spring affecting the lever to engage an adjustable stop means 35 on the slide. In this position of the lever 26, 27, 28, the roll 32 is dis¬ posed somewhat above the cheese 12, as shown in fig. 1.

A fixed, vertical shaft (not shown) is disposed on either side of the conveyor 10 in the frame, and two hollow shafts are rotatably mounted on this shaft, the upper one of which being designated by 36 and the lower one by 37. The two hollow shafts engage each other with end flanges 38 and also rotatable with respect to each other.

An arm 39 is attached to the upper shaft 36 at a short distance above the flanges 38; the free end of the arm 39 is rotatably connected with the piston rod 40 in

a pneumatic cylinder 41, which itself is rotatably suspended in a bracket 42 secured to the underside of the beam 19. Another arm 43 is attached to the lower shaft 37 at a short distance below the flanges 38. A tension coil spring 44, whose spring tension can be adjusted by means of a screw 45, figs. 2 and 4, is stretched between the two arms 39 and 43. This spring holds a stop means 46 on the arm 43 in engagement with the arm 39 in the neutral position shown in figs. 1 and 2.

A third arm 47 is attached to the shaft 37 adjacent its lower end, having an end flange 48 perpendicular to the arm. A rectangular plate 49 is so disposed on the inner side of this flange and connected with it that it can rotate through a limited angle about an axis perpendicular to the flange, and this plate mounts one leg of an L-shaped bracket 50, whose other substantially vertical leg rotatably mounts a roll 51 similar to the 'roll 32. This roll is substantially parallel with the axis of the cheese and disposed at some distance from the lateral edge face of the cheese in the neutral position shown in figs. 1 and 2. As appears from figs. 1 and 3, the two rolls 51 are offset some- what vertically with respect to each other on their respective sides of the cheese.

Nozzles 52 are placed in a manner not shown in detail so as to be able to spray coating material onto the lateral edge face of the cheese, and these nozzles, like the nozzle

13, are connected with the manifold 15 through hoses 14.

A rotatable disc 53 is positioned between the trans¬ port paths 10 and below the cheese 12 in its

processing position and is secured to the upper end of a vertical shaft 54. This shaft is so slidably and rotatably journalled and partly coupled, to a motor, partly connected with a lifting cylinder in a generally known manner as to be rotatable and movable up and down between the position shown in fig. 1, in which the rotatable disc 53 is disposed at a short distance below the cheese 12, and the position shown in fig. 3, in which the rotatable disc supports the cheese and has lifted it clear of the conveyor.

When the cheese 12 has been moved to the processing position by the conveyor 10, the lifting cylinder of the shaft 54 and the drive motor are activated so that the rotatable disc 53 lifts the cheese upwardly over the conveyor and rotates it. The lifting movement causes the cheese to contact the spring-loaded roll 32 as shown in fig. 3. Moreover, the cylinders 44 are activated to retract their piston rods 40, thereby rotating the arms 39 on the upper shafts 36 in a direction toward the cheese. Through the springs 44, they entrain the arms 43 and thus the lower shafts 37 as well as the roll-carrying arms 47 on these until the rolls 51, as shown in figs. 3 and 4, engage the lateral edge face of the cheese with a force determined by the tension in the springs 44. Simultaneously with these processes, the diaphragm pump 16 is activated and sprays the pre-determined amount of coating material to the surface and the lateral edge face of the cheese through the manifold 15, the hoses 14 and the nozzles 13 and 52. Additionally, the cylinder 23 is activated and causes the upper roll 32 to reciprocate above the surface of the cheese. The combination thus established of a relative rotational movement and a linear movement between the roll 32 and the surface of the cheese provides an even distribution of the coating material

sprayed onto it through the nozzles 13. The previously described connection between the carrier bracket 31 and carrier arms 28, 29 of the roll 32 enables the roll to maintain good contact with the surface of the cheese even if it is not quite plane. The material sprayed onto the lateral edge face of the cheese through the nozzles 52 is evenly distributed over this face by the side rolls 51. The previously described connection between the carrier brackets 50 and carrier arms 47, 48 of these, in connection with the vertically offset position of the two side rolls with respect to each other enables these rolls to maintain good contact with the lateral edge face of the cheese even if it is not quite cylindrical.

After processing, the cheese is moved into a drying chamber in which it stays for a certain period of time, e.g. 5 minutes, and it :Ls then turned and fed to another machine of the same type for application of a coating on its other side.

The structure described above and shown in the drawing may be amended in many ways within the scope of the invention. Thus, the upper roll does not have to reciprocate, but may optionally be stationary and disposed substantially along a radius on the surface of the cheese. Further, the rolls might be driven instead of idling, and the side rolls might then optionally be used for turning the cheese. Instead of the roll, also other forms of scraping means might be used. Many other variations of the constructional details are possible as well.

Nor do the cheeses have to be round as shown in the drawing, since the speed of rotation of the rotatable disc and the spring load on the side rolls may be

adapted so that they can follow the contour of the cheeses even if they have edges.