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1,206,061. Rotary cooking and cooling apparatus. INTERNATIONAL MACHINERY CORP S.A. 2 July, 1968 [3 Aug., 1967], No. 31538/68. Heading A2D. [Also in Division B8] The apparatus comprises an elongate annular-section processing chamber within an annular-section or cylindrical housing having an elongate inlet opening and an elongate discharge opening, feed means for advancing rows of containers into said housing, each row having a length substantially equal to that of the housing, a reel rotatably mounted within said housing and including a plurality of equally-spaced pockets extending substantially the full length of the apparatus for accommodating the rows of containers therein and for advancing the containers between said inlet opening and said discharge opening, means for directing a heat treatment medium into said housing, discharge means for receiving processed rows of containers from said housing and for discharging the rows from said housing, and means for driving said reel, said reel feed means and said discharge means in timed relation. In one embodiment, a rotary pressure cooking and cooling apparatus 20, Fig. 2, comprises a rotary pressure feed valve 22 which advances cooker length rows of about 100 glass containers C in a counterclockwise direction into a rotary preheater 24 at the rate of about four rows per minute, which preheater raises the temperature of the containers C to substantially that of the sterilizing temperature. The preheater 24 advances the rows of containers into a transfer turret 26 which discharges the containers into a rotary sterilizer 28 with the aid of a rotary letdown device 30. The sterilizer 28 moves the rows of containers in a counterclockwise direction during sterilization, and thereafter discharges them into a transfer turret 32. The turret 32, with the aid of a let-down device 34, transfers the rows of containers into a rotary pre-cooler 36 which moves the rows of containers in a clockwise direction and discharges them, with the aid of a transfer device 38 and a let-down device 40 into a final cooler 42. The final cooler 42 advances the rows of containers in a counterclockwise direction and discharges them into a pressure discharge valve 44 which releases the fully processed and cooled rows of containers on to a take-away conveyer 46 for discharge from the apparatus. The apparatus may be of modular construction, e.g. four ten foot modules may be bolted together to provide a cooker having a total length of ten feet, both ends of each module being constructed as illustrated in Fig. 2. The containers C are fed into the apparatus by means of a conventional row forming device 114 and an hydraulic deflector 120. A broken glass eliminator 190 is provided adjacent the let-down device 30, and comprises spaced bars 194 that act as a screen and a screw conveyer 192 that forwards the broken glass to a vertically disposed accumulator duct (200) from which the glass is discharged periodically via a double gate valve sealing system. Steam may be directed into the transfer turret 26 to subject the glass containers C to a thermal shock which will cause all defective containers to break upstream of the broken glass eliminator 190. Transport of the containers through the preheater 24, the sterilizer 28, the pre-cooler 36 and the final cooler 42, is effected by means of annular reels 62, 170, 218, 262 respectively, driven in known manner. In the operation of the apparatus 20, the containers C on entering the preheater 24 first move into an atmosphere of air maintained under a pressure of about 30 psi gauge and then into water progressively increasing in temperature from about 140-160‹F. to about 210-250‹F. and in passing to the sterilizer 28 are maintained at a temperature of about 250-275‹F. therewithin. The containers C are maintained under pressure throughout the process until they are discharged from the final cooler 42 via the pressure discharge valve 44 by which time their temperature has fallen to about 104‹F. Inαsecond embodiment, Fig. 7, the apparatus 20a is primarily designed for processing cylindrical cans. As in the first embodiment, the apparatus 20a is loaded through a pressure feed valve 22a but differs in that the sterilizer 28a is supplied with steam under pressure and is in pressure sealed communication, via pressure transfer valves 26a, 32a with hot water under air pressure in the preheater 24a and with cooling water at atmospheric pressure in the final cooler 42a respectively. Pre-cooling is effected by introducing water under pressure into the transfer valve 32a. Since the final cooler 42a is under atmospheric pressure, the pressure discharge valve 44a may be dispensed with. A third embodiment, Fig. 9, is substantially identical in construction and operation to the apparatus 20a except for the provision of means for agitating the contents of the containers in the preheater 24b and the final cooler 42b. The preheater and final cooler housings 430, 441 are cylindrical (rather than annular) and house, in addition, agitating drums 434, 444 mounted on wheels 438, 448 driven by variable speed, reversible motors 439, 449 for rotation in either direction relative to the direction of rotation of the reels 62b, 262b to cause rotation of the containers about their longitudinal axes. In a fourth embodiment, Fig. 11, the apparatus 20c features rotary pressure feed and discharge valves 460, 462 designed to accommodate groups of, e.g. ten, containers shorter than the full cooker length rows of, e.g. one hundred, containers. The feed valve 460 feeds a series of short groups of containers on to an intermittently driven row forming feed conveyer 464 which assembles them into cooker length rows. An hydraulically actuated transfer bar 595 of a row transfer device 466 transfers the full length rows so formed into the reel 468 of the cooker 470. Transfer of the rows of containers from the cooker 470 to the cooler 474 is effected by an intermittently driven conveyer 472 which transfers one row at a time to a position adjacent the inlet opening of the cooler 474. After cooling, the rows of containers are deposited on to an intermittently driven conveyer 482 which reforms the rows into short groups for discharge via a pressure transfer device 484 and the pressure discharge valve 462 on to a take-away conveyer 486. Both heating and cooling of the containers are effected under pressure.
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