Improvements in and relating to apparatus for treating liquids or semi liquids

摘要

Homogenizing apparatus for treating mixtures of milk and butter, salad dressing, cream fillings for confectionery, and other materials, comprises a bowl or receptacle, partly shown at 10, Fig. 2, screwed on to a cylinder 3 in which moves a hollow ram 12 containing a constricted portion and a baffle. Materials placed in the bowl 10 are drawn by the descent of the ram through one or more perforations in the end 7 of the cylinder 3 and are compressed and forced through the construction and past the baffle when the ram rises, the outlet from the bowl being closed by a ball valve 6, which may be spring-controlled. The p constriction may comprise a perforated plug in the ram, or, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, may be formed by a plug 17 secured by screwing against a constriction 18 in the ram 12 and having a fine passage 19 opening into a larger passage 19a itself leading to the interior of the plug. The lower end of the plug carries the baffle 20 and contains the outlet 17a for the treated materials. The upper end of the plug M is of V-shape and supports a ball 14 which does not obstruct the passage 19 but prevents leakage from the ram should the plug 17 require to be unscrewed, as by turning a milled head 21, while in use. The cylinder 3 is secured in a bracket or a baseplate adapted to support the receptacle for the treated materials. The ram 12 is reciprocated by a lever pivoted on the bracket and having a forked and slotted end engaging a cross pin in the ram. The baffle 20 may be formed by boring fine holes in the cross-pin. In a modification, Fig. 9, passages 29 in the member 3 open, at their lower ends, into the side walls of the cylinder space 30, and, at the upper ends, beneath a mushroom baffle 31, preferably having spiral vanes 32 on its underside, arranged in the bowl 10; the materials drawn into the cylinder are at first returned to the bowl 10, thereby agitating its contents and maintaining the admixture thereof; when the rising ram closes the lower ends of the passages 29, homogenization takes place as above. The ball-valve 6 is in this case dispensed with. The mushroom fitting may be provided in any of the constructions described and the action of the ball-valve 6 is then delayed by the provision of a spring or the like. The Provisional Specification states that the apparatus may be mechanically driven.