Fig. 77.
Fig. 77.
Fig. 78.
Fig. 78.
The first method of coating fondants, patented by A. Reiche of Dresden-Plauen, is not based on mechanical principles, but rather relies on a series of small appliances, represented in fig. 77. The jacketed casinga, fig. 77 containswater, and into it the pan containing coating material can be placed: that is kept in a liquid condition by heating the water in the jacket by spirit lamps or gas jets underneath. The adjoining vesselbis closed on all sides, filled with water, and also kept warm in the same manner; it serves for the preparatory warming of the objects to be coated, which are spread upon a wire network, and for that purpose two of these wire frames can be hung upon the hooks inside the box. The mass dropping from the wire frame is conveyed into the covering boxa, by means of a sheet of metal placed above it;cserves as an apparatus for turning, and we give it on a larger scale in fig. 78.
Fig. 79.
Fig. 79.
The tracingshandiin fig. 79 show the cross section and top view of the wire gratings, on which cylindrical and ball-shaped sugar goods are deposited. The other two kinds of grating are illustrated atLandM(fig. 80).
The size of the meshes of the sieve gratings depends on that of the centres to be coated.
The method of covering is as follows:
The centres for the pralinés etc. are placed in the cavities of the gratings, and, as soon as one of the gratings is full, the latter is covered up by the fine-meshed grating the half of the cross-section of which is shown in Fig. 79 and the full view in Fig. 80 (see K and N respectively), K representing the cover-grating.
Both gratings are held simultaneously by the operator at their handles and then dipped together in the liquid covering contained in the vessel a, Fig. 77, after which the superfluous covering mass is removed by knocking. The gratings are now deposited on the mechanism C, Figs. 77 or 78, as the case may be, the top sieve removed and a sheet of paper or a metal plate put in its place. It is then turned by hand to the opposite side, the grating with the impressions is removed and the cover centres are found lying in regular order, and at regular distances apart, on the metal plate. The object of the intervals between the covered centres is to prevent the running together of the latter.
Fig. 80.
Fig. 80.
Beans and rings are only dipped up to the middle, and the process repeated with the other half of the centre after the first half has cooled. This ensures a pleasing, round appearance, and has further the advantage that the cover grating need not be put on during the operation. When dipping cylindrical or ball-shaped centres, the grating K which has first been removed on dipping, is at once transferred to the heater, to prevent it cooling and withdrawing too much warmth from the covering material at the next immersion.
The dipping of pralinés etc. is exceedingly easy if the new type of dipping machine is used, a full view of which is given in Fig. 81 and which has the highly appreciable advantage of simultaneously cooling the dipped centres. All the parts are, in the main, worked by hand, only the shaking and stirring contrivances and the cooling fan requiring to be driven by motor power. The middle piece carries the actual dipping apparatus, underneath which the tank holding the covering chocolate is fixed, while the lefthand sidepiece serves for feeding; as many as four operators can be engaged simultaneously at the latter, the work consisting of laying the centres in the gratings corresponding to the mouldings desired. The construction of these gratings is, in the main, similar to the stamped trays of Anton Reiche, but they are not provided with handles and are despatched along the guide-rails by hand. The filled grating is then placed in a frame, which is dipped by means of a winch into the liquid chocolate. The top grating on the dipping frame is adjustable, and the object of this grating is to keep the centres down, as without this arrangement some of the centres might rise to the surface of the covering. The top grating is, before commencing to dip, pushed over the filled grating with the centres and is thus immersed with them. The frame having been removed, the shaker is put in action to remove the superfluous material from both the gratings and the centres. The grating is drawn out after use from below the top grating and transferred to a book-shaped ejector, on one side of which is a metal sheet covered with paper. The whole of the centres are then discharged on to the sheet, by reversing the two flap-sections.
The sheet containing the covered centres is then transferred to the cooling apparatus at the right, in which it is gradually lowered on a “paternoster” apparatus by turning round a handle. It is then conducted to the left by an endless band, and finally discharged in a cooled state by the machine. The ventilator should be supplied with air from the cellars and is arranged to blow it out in the opposite direction to the goods in the cooling apparatus.
Fig. 81.
Fig. 81.
The shape of the design-gratings is reproduced in high relief on the goods, and it will therefore be readily understood that further designs or fancy shapes can be made on the gratings. For the production of semi-dipped goods or such as are dipped round and remain uncovered at the bottom, a device is attached to the striking gear which renders it possible to regulate the depth of each immersion at will. The tank containing the covering material is surrounded by awater-jacket, which is heated by steam. The heat of the water is indicated by a thermometer. The receptacle containing the covering can easily be drawn out towards the front. In addition to this, the whole of the outside of the machine, which also constitutes a complete water-jacket, is heated by steam, and finally the ejector. The gratings containing the impressions are taken out of the ejector after use and transferred to the feeding side to be used again, so that, at the very most, four gratings are required for each design.
The daily output of the machine is 300-600 kilos, and the size of the gratings 280 by 400 millimetres, the output naturally depending on whether the machine is operated by two, three or more persons.