Convertible Metering Apparatus for Different Flowable Goods of Unlike Consistency

This invention relates to a fine metering apparatus for the final filling of containers with flowable goods, particularly coffee and is of the type which has a housing defining a material storage chamber, a discharge unit connected to the housing and a rotatable metering member which is accommodated in the discharge unit and which is coupled to a motor by a drive shaft.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,409 discloses a fine dosing apparatus, particularly for crystallized sugar. The apparatus includes a housing with a storage for the sugar and a tubular discharge unit connected to the housing. The discharge unit accommodates a conveyor screw which is oriented horizontally and is rotatable about its longitudinal axis. The conveyor screw is connected with a motor by means of a drive shaft. At the outlet end of the tubular discharge unit there is arranged a pre-dosing chamber having a rotary slide.

Swiss Pat. No. 627,985 shows another fine metering apparatus for crystallized sugar which has a compartmentalized wheel rotatable about a horizontal axis and serving as a metering member. The compartments of the wheel are formed by axial grooves provided in the wheel periphery.

In packaging coffee frequently the same packing machine is used for packing ground coffee or packing coffee beans. In such packing machines, according to conventional arrangements, a compromise had to be found for the supplemental fine dosing apparatus which introduces the last, accurately metered portion of material to obtain the desired overall weight for the package. Because ground coffee and unground coffee beans behave differently, the known dosing devices were not optimal for the packaging of either form of coffee.

It is an object of the invention to provide a fine metering apparatus for the final filling of containers which is capable of optimally handling two types of flowable materials having different physical properties.

This object and others to become apparent as the specification progresses, are accomplished by the invention, according to which, briefly stated, the metering member is releasably connected with the drive shaft of the metering apparatus and its discharge unit is releasably connected with the housing to provide for a replacement of the metering member and the discharge unit for a second metering member and a second discharge unit of different shape to thus permit a selective metering of two types of flowable materials having unlike physical properties.

FIG. 1 is an axial sectional elevational view of the preferred embodiment of the invention utilizing a first type of metering member.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged axial sectional elevational view of a detail of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III--III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV--IV of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an axial sectional elevational view of the preferred embodiment utilizing a second type of the metering member.

The metering apparatus illustrated in FIGS. 1-4 has a housing 1 defining a storage chamber 2 for flowable material, such as coffee beans. To the top of the housing 1 there is secured a drive motor 3 which rotates a vertically downwardly extending drive shaft 4. At the lower end the housing 1 carries a downwardly tapering outlet cone (outlet funnel) 5 which, as it may be well observed in FIG. 4, is divided into two parts 5a, 5b along a plane A containing the axis B of the drive shaft 4. The cone parts 5a, 5b are secured to one another by non-illustrated screws and have a circumferential groove 6 at their lower end.

With particular reference to FIG. 2, a discharge unit generally designated at 8 is arranged immediately below the outlet cone 5, coaxially with the drive shaft 4. The discharge unit 8 has a radially outwardly projecting annular rib 7 received in the groove 6 of the outlet cone 5. The discharge unit 8 is a three-part component and has a radially outwardly projecting pin 10 which engages into a groove 9 provided at the lower edge of the cone 5 to prevent the discharge unit 8 from rotating relative to the outlet cone 5. An upper tubular portion 15 of the discharge unit 8 includes the annular rib 7 and is, at its lower part, connected with a dish-shaped mid portion 17 by means of a flange 16 forming part of the tubular portion 15. A disc 19 is inserted between the parts 15 and 17. The discharge unit 8 has a third portion 20 which is a downwardly tapering, funnel-shaped discharge spout coupled to the mid portion 17. Between the base disc 18 of the dish-shaped mid portion 17 and the disc 19 there is inserted, with a slight play to the cylindrical inner wall 21 of the mid portion 17, a compartmentalized wheel 25 in which the compartments (chambers) 26 are formed by axial grooves provided in the wheel periphery. The compartmentalized wheel 25 is torque-transmittingly secured to a shaft portion 27 supported in the base disc 18 of the dish-shaped mid portion 17. The shaft portion 27 is torque-transmittingly connected to the drive shaft 4 by means of a push-in shaft coupler 28. The base disc 18 and the disc 19 each have a respective passage 32 and 33 in the zone of the chambers 26. As seen in FIG. 3, the passages 32 and 33 extend through less than one-half of the circumference of the compartmentalized wheel 25 and are offset with respect to one another in the circumferential direction such that the coffee beans which enter into the chambers 26 from above through the passage 33 can exit through the passage 32 only upon rotation of the drive shaft 4. The bottom outlet of the spout 20 is closed off by the shutoff slide 38.

In case the supplemental fine metering apparatus is to meter ground coffee rather than coffee beans, the compartmentalized metering member 25 shown in FIGS. 1-4 is not an optimally suited component. For the purpose of converting the apparatus to optimally handle the metering of ground coffee, one half 5a or 5b of the outlet cone 5 is removed whereupon the discharge unit 8 may be pulled out and, upon this occurrence, the shaft part 27 is pulled out of the push-in shaft coupler 28. As a replacement, as illustrated in FIG. 5, a conveyor screw 40 is inserted into the push-in shaft coupler 28. The discharge unit 41 which corresponds in function to the discharge unit 8 of FIG. 1, is tubular and is provided with an annular rib 7' of a configuration identical to that of annular rib 7 provided on the part 15 of the discharge unit 8. The annular rib 7' is received by the inner annular groove 6 of the outlet cone 5. The discharge unit 41 has an outwardly projecting pin 10' extending into the groove 9 of the outlet cone 5 to prevent a relative rotation between the outlet part 41 and the outlet cone 5. The outlet part 41 surrounds the conveyor screw 40 which, at its outlet end, is controlled by the shutoff gate 38 as was the case in the coffee bean metering arrangement of FIG. 1.

By virtue of the invention there may thus be provided a fine metering apparatus which is readily convertible by a rapid replacement of only a few individual components to optimally handle physically different flowable materials by the choice of an optimal metering member.

The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Swiss Patent Application No. 4852/87-4 (filed Dec. 11, 1987) which is incorporated herein by reference.

It will be understood that the above description of the present invention is susceptible to various modifications, changes and adaptations, and the same are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the appended claims.