Noise levels halved for toffees
9 Aug 2001
No, not a reflection on the current sorry state of Everton FC, but a success story from that other well-known name in toffee, Thorntons.
At its Belper, Derbyshire, factory the company has just installed a new high-speed toffee breaker and sorter which, apart from almost doubling toffee output, incorporates new acoustic controls that reduce noise levels by over 50 per cent.
Supplied by Corby-based Rutland Handling, the standalone toffee breaker is enclosed in a removable acoustic canopy that brings noise levels down to between 80 and 83dB(A), depending on ambient noise levels. According to Thorntons' engineering manager, Neil Hardy, 'as with other solutions from Rutland Handling, the engineering-build quality is first class.
The 'smash, rattle, tumble' noise of toffee breaking is unavoidable - and low frequency sound is difficult to control as it travels along floors and walls - but we have worked around it with excellent results.'
The new breaker takes more than 20 slabs of Special Toffee per minute. Each slab enters the breaker from a conveyor, is automatically broken, and the pieces sorted and graded in either of two Trommel-like rotating sieves. Sorted toffee is then transferred to a vibratory take-off conveyor for packaging.
