Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – Means feeding fluent stock from plural sources to common... – Extrusion shaping means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-01
2001-01-16
Yeung, George C. (Department: 1761)
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
Means feeding fluent stock from plural sources to common...
Extrusion shaping means
C083S932000, C264S148000, C264S167000, C425S142000, C425S287000, C425S308000, C425S466000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06174154
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for continuously cutting and shaping food products, such as a bean-jam bun or bean-jam rice dumpling, from two-layered bar-shaped food material consisting of a filling and a crust.
PRIOR ART
As prior art, an apparatus for cutting and shaping food products by opening and closing a central opening surrounded by a shutter assembly, while feeding two-layered bar-shaped food material consisting of a filling and a crust to the central opening in the downward direction, is disclosed, e.g., in Japanese Patent Kokoku No.
5-53453.
In it, the shutter assembly comprises six shutter members of an identical shape, and each shutter member has a cutting surface and two sliding surfaces, namely, the first sliding surface and the second sliding surface, that abut the cutting surface. The central opening is formed by parts of the cutting surface of each shutter member. The shutter assembly is held in a polygonal housing equipped with six inner guide surfaces. The shutter members are combined such that the first sliding surface is made to slide on the cutting surface of an adjacent shutter member, and the second sliding surface is made to slide on an inner guide surface of the housing. By moving a shutter member in the horizontal direction to open and close the central opening by a driving means, the adjacent shutter member is moved in the same direction, so as to open and close the central opening so that the food material passing therethrough can be cut and shaped.
However, this prior-art apparatus has problems in that each shutter member encased in the housing tends to expand and be clogged by heat generated during the cutting and shaping operation, which prevents each sliding surface from smoothly sliding. Thus, the six shutter members cannot smoothly move in the horizontal direction to open and close the central opening, and the effects of cutting and shaping food material are not attained.
The prior-art apparatus has another problem in that since the first sliding surface and the second sliding surface of each shutter member are made to slide on the cutting surface of an adjacent shutter member and a guide surface of the housing, respectively, the accuracy of the dimensions of all three surfaces, namely, a cutting surface and two sliding surfaces, needs to be very high. Thus, the processing cost becomes high.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
To overcome these problems of the prior-art apparatus, this invention is provided.
One object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for continuously cutting and shaping a spherical food product from bar-shaped food material consisting of a filling and a crust by continuously opening and closing a central opening of a shutter assembly, while feeding the bar-shaped food material in a downward direction to the central opening, characterized by the shutter assembly comprising at least three shutter members positioned adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction, each shutter member having a convex cutting surface and concave sliding surface abutting each other, a top surface and bottom surface, the shutter members being so combined that one sliding surface of a shutter member slides on the cutting surface of an adjacent shutter member for opening and closing the central opening surrounded by the cutting surfaces, holding members, each bridging and holding two adjacent shutter members to guide one sliding surface of a shutter member along the cutting surface of an adjacent shutter member, a shaft fixedly mounted on each shutter member, equidistantly disposed on an imaginary circle such that each shutter member is moved in the horizontal direction for opening and closing the central opening by the rotation of the shaft, and driving means that synchronously moves every shutter member in the horizontal direction for opening and closing the central opening through the rotation of the shaft.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for continuously cutting and shaping from bar-shaped food material consisting of a filling and a crust a food product consisting of a filling and a crust, wherein the top part of the product is devoid of a crust so that the filling is exposed at its top, by continuously opening and closing a central opening of a shutter assembly, while feeding the bar-shaped food material in a downward direction to the central opening, characterized by the shutter assembly comprising at least three shutter members positioned adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction, each shutter member having a cutting surface and a sliding surface abutting each other, each cutting surface being shaped such that its bottom extends forwardly toward the central opening from its top, each sliding surface being shaped complementary to the cutting surface, an edge being provided at a tip of the bottom of each cutting surface, the shutter members being so combined that one sliding surface of a shutter member slides on the cutting surface of an adjacent shutter member for opening and closing the central opening surrounded by the cutting surfaces, holding members, each bridging and holding two adjacent shutter members to guide one sliding surface of a shutter member along the cutting surface of an adjacent shutter member, a shaft fixedly mounted on each shutter member, equidistantly disposed on an imaginary circle such that each shutter member is moved in the horizontal direction for opening and closing the central opening by the rotation of the shaft, and driving means that synchronously moves every shutter member in the horizontal direction for opening and closing the central opening through the rotation of the shaft.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for continuously cutting and shaping from bar-shaped food material consisting of a filling and a crust a food product consisting of a filling and a crust, wherein the bottom part of the product is devoid of a crust so that the filling is exposed at its bottom, by continuously opening and closing a central opening of a shutter assembly, while feeding the bar-shaped food material in a downward direction to the central opening, characterized by the shutter assembly comprising at least three shutter members positioned adjacent to each other in the circumferential direction, each shutter member having a cutting surface and a sliding surface abutting each other, each cutting surface being shaped such that its top extends forwardly toward the central opening from its bottom, each sliding surface being shaped complementary to the cutting surface, an edge being provided at a tip of the top of each cutting surface, the shutter members being so combined that one sliding surface of a shutter member slides on the cutting surface of an adjacent shutter member for opening and closing the central opening surrounded by the cutting surfaces, holding members, each bridging and holding two adjacent shutter members to guide one sliding surface of a shutter member along the cutting surface of an adjacent shutter member, a shaft fixedly mounted on each shutter member, equidistantly disposed on an imaginary circle such that each shutter member is moved in the horizontal direction for opening and closing the central opening by the rotation of the shaft, and driving means that synchronously moves every shutter member in the horizontal direction for opening and closing the central opening through the rotation of the shaft.
Another object of this invention is to provide a method for continuously cutting and shaping a spherical food product from bar-shaped food material consisting of a filling and a crust, comprising two steps, the first step comprising rotating synchronously at least three shutter members in the horizontal direction for closing a central opening through which the food material can pass until an indentation is formed by the gathering of parts of the shutter members at the top center thereof, and the second step comprising further rotating the shutter members in the same direction until the indentation for
Limbach & Limbach L.L.P.
Rheon Automatic Machinery Co. Ltd.
Yeung George C.
LandOfFree
Apparatus for cutting and shaping food products does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Apparatus for cutting and shaping food products, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Apparatus for cutting and shaping food products will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2444227