Steam and water conservation system for pasteurizers

Claim 1

A process of conserving the use of water and steam in pasteurizing the contents of containers which comprises: moving the containers from a load end through successive pre-heating showering zones for delivering a heating liquid onto said containers to progressively elevate the contents of the containers toward pasteurizing temperature, then through pasteurizing and temperature holding showering zones for delivering a liquid onto said containers at a pasteurizing temperature, and thence through successive pre-cooling showering zones for delivering a cooling liquid onto said containers to a discharge end; interchanging water between the successive pre-heating zones and successive pre-cooling zones and showering the containers in such zones for maintaining substantial thermal balance in the process; supplying steam for elevating the temperature of water to effect pasteurization of the contents of the containers; storing heated water collected from the pre-heating and pasteurizing zones; collecting cooling water from the pre-cooling zones; and on the occurrence of skippers entering the loading end, applying the stored heated water and the collected cooling water to the respective pre-cooling and pre-heating zones in a predetermined sequence for substantially sustaining the thermal balance between the pre-heating and pre-cooling zones as the skipper progresses to the discharge end.

Claim 3

A method for conserving the use of outside water and the use of steam during movement of skippers through container pasteurizing apparatus having a series of pre-heating showering zones leading into and a series of pre-cooling showering zones leading from a pasteurizing showering zone, the method comprising: (a) collecting heating water showered into the pre-heating zones from the pre-cooling zones and holding the collected heating water adjacent the pasteurizing zone; (b) collecting cooling water from the pre-cooling zones and holding the collected cooling water for movement into the series of pre-heating zones for showering in the series of pre-cooling zones; (c) sensing the increased temperature of water in the series of pre-heating zones due to the presence of skippers, and admitting cool ambient water and cooling water collected from the series of pre-cooling zones into the series of pre-heating zones for movement into the series of pre-cooling zones to substitute for the missing cooling effect caused by the skipper in the pre-heating zones; and (d) sensing the decreased temperature of water in the series of pre-cooling zones due to the presence of skippers moved into the pre-cooling zones, and admitting said heating water from the collected heating water into the series of pre-cooling zones for movement into the series of pre-heating zones to substitute for the missing heating effect caused by the skipper in the pre-cooling zones.

Claim 4

A method for conserving the use of outside water and the use of steam during movement of skippers through container pasteurizing apparatus having a series of pre-heating showering zones leading into and a series of pre-cooling showering zones leading from a pasteurizing showering zone, the method comprising: (a) collecting heating water showered into the pre-heating zones from the pre-cooling zones and holding the collected heating water adjacent the pasteurizing zone; (b) collecting cooling water from the pre-cooling zones and holding the collected cooling water for movement into the series of pre-heating zones for showering in the series of pre-cooling zones; (c) sensing the increased temperature of water in the series of pre-heating zones due to the presence of skippers, and admitting cool ambient water and cooling water collected from the series of pre-cooling zones into the series of pre-heating zones for movement into the series of pre-cooling zones to substitute for the missing cooling effect caused by the skipper in the pre-heating zones; and (d) sensing the decreased temperature of water in the series of pre-cooling zones due to the presence of skippers moved into the pre-cooling zones, and admitting said heating water from the collected heating water into the series of pre-cooling zones for movement into the series of pre-heating zones to substitute for the missing heating effect caused by the skipper in the pre-cooling zones.