What is Roll Cleaning in Food Processing?
Doctoring a roll was invented for papermaking machinery in 1909 by Frederick William Vickery, and is the process of using a blade to remove contamination and excess water from a roll’s surface.
Vickery and Kadant
2025 marks 105 years since the Vickery brand was created. The Vickery brand was created by Vickery’s Limited (now a part of Kadant U.K. Limited). Vickery’s was dedicated to research and development and over the years was granted 139 patents for innovative designs related to machinery in the paper production process and other industries.
In the company’s inaugural year, Frederick William Vickery applied for a patent for a doctor incorporating the innovative feature of a fully flexible and free-floating blade. The first doctor with this feature was installed at Empire Paper Mills in November 1920 and proved an instant success.
Vickery’s continued developing doctoring technologies that are still in use 105 years later. Most notably in 1931, the company launched the first composite doctor blade. This innovation set the scene for paper machines across the world, some of which are still using the exact same composite material.
What does this have to do with roll cleaning in food processing? During the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, food manufacturing technologies advanced rapidly. Process rolls became a common component of mass food production. With rolls being used, there was a need to clean the rolls. Today, the concept of doctoring in papermaking has morphed into roll cleaning in food processing.
The term “doctoring” has not translated to food processing, but other terms such as roll cleaning, scraping, flaking, and continuous wire and belt cleaning are used to describe the same technology. The outcome continues to be the same, to clean or remove contaminants or food product from a roll’s surface.
The continuous cleaning of rolls, belts, and wires in food processing is where Kadant’s roll cleaning technology improves production, safety, and product quality. The VeriLite™ roll cleaner assembly is a unique, compact, continuous roll cleaner to keep rolls free of contamination. The VeriLite roll cleaner assembly along with several roll cleaning blades, scrapers, and knives are HACCP International food safe certified. Check out the case study, “UK Chocolate Producer Increases Continuous Cleaning and Reduces Roll Damage,” to learn more about the positive effects of continuous roll cleaning.
