Improvements in and relating to the manufacture of beverages and the like

摘要

In a process for the manufacture of a citrus fruit product comprising comminuting the fruit in bulk or limited bulk quantities in a plurality of comminuting devices, the fruit is directed to the comminuting devices by feeding it to a jigging conveyer having a plurality of guideways extending to respective comminuting devices, feeding of the fruit to the guideways being assisted by the jigging action. Oranges are discharged on to a shaker conveyer 23, Fig. 1, from the lower end of skips 10, Fig. 3, which are supported on a cammed (17) rocker shaft 16 actuated by a hydraulic motor 18. From the shaker conveyer the fruit is elevated by a conveyer 25 to a hopper 34 from which it is loaded into compartments of a Ferris wheel 38 upon withdrawal of a baffle 36 by a hydraulic motor 37. (An optional weighing mechanism is not shown.) During the anticlockwise rotation of the wheel the fruit passes through a bath of steam-heated water located in the lower part of the wheel and then falls down a shoot 50 into one of two jigging conveyers 51, 52, Fig. 2. The first section of each jigging conveyer at 53, 54 is smooth surfaced and this leads to four corrugated guides at 55, 56, for delivering the fruit through vertically-disposed guide tubes to the respective one of eight comminuting devices 63 of the form described in Specification 934,348. The liquid fruit product and solids resulting from the comminution are fed by screw conveyers 70, 71 to a collecting hopper 74 for separation as described and claimed in Specification 934,348. Operation of the hydraulic motor 37 may be regulated by cam pegs 83 and 84 on the Ferris wheel cooperating with cam followers 85 and 86. Means (unspecified) may be provided to prevent overfeed of fruit into the Ferris wheel.