Foods and beverages: apparatus – Means to treat food – Subdividing into plural products
Patent
1986-07-31
1988-09-13
Simone, Timothy F.
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Means to treat food
Subdividing into plural products
99537, 99567, 99588, A23N 413, A23N 700
Patent
active
047700920
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention is concerned with the preparation of potato food products, and specifically the invention relates to apparatus for removing potato flesh from potato halves to produce potato skins. A known method of preparing a potato is to cut it in half, and to then cut out or scoop out from each potato half some of the potato flesh to leave behind a "potato boat" consisting of potato outer covering and some potato flesh attached to the outer covering. Such food items are generally known as "potato skins" (even though the items include some potato flesh) and the expression "potato skin" will be used in this Specification to describe such a food item. Potato skins are usually served stuffed with flavoured stuffing material. If the potato skin is to be consumed at breakfast time then an egg and bacon flavoured stuffing may be used, and of course other flavoured stuffing can be provided appropriate to the time of day or to suit personal tastes.
BACKGROUND ART
Potato skins can be prepared by manually removing the potato flesh, but of course manual methods are slow and/or expensive. A machine has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,494 (published after the priority date of the present Application) in which a spray of slurry or solid particles is directed onto the exposed cut surface of a potato half so as to abrade away the central potato flesh. This machine has two disadvantages. Firstly it can only be used on potatoes which have been partially cooked so that the machine cannot produce a raw (uncooked) potato skin, and secondly the potato flesh removed (which is usually in the form of a slurry) has to be thrown away or has to be dried out before it can be used.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
This invention provides apparatus for separating potato skins from potato flesh, which apparatus comprises potato holding means, cutter means for cutting each potato in half, separator means for removing potato flesh from each half of the potato, and indexing means for indexing the potato firstly to the cutter means and then to the separator means, the separator means being such that the potato flesh removed from the potato halves is in the form of reusable solid pieces.
This invention also provides apparatus for separating a solid piece of potato from a potato half, said means comprising a support adapted to support the rounded uncut portion of a potato half, restraining means to restrain the potato half on said support, and separator means adapted to separate a solid piece of potato from the supported and restrained potato half.
As will be apparent from the detailed description given below, apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of this invention is capable of producing uncooked potato skins from raw potatoes, and the potato flesh is removed from the potato halves in the form of solid pieces which are suitable for use, for example, in the production of potato chips.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of a machine according to the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a side view of the machine with parts of the casing broken away to show detail;
FIG. 2 is a view on the line II--II of FIG. 1 showning a shuttle mechanism of the machine which removes solid pieces of potato from potato halves;
FIG. 3 is top plan view of the machine of FIG. 1,
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the shuttle mechanism mentioned above;
FIG. 5 is a view of a blade of the machine of FIGS. 1 to 4, this Figure also showing a drive mechanism to vibrate the blade to produce a sawing action, and
FIGS. 6 to 9 are perspective diagramatic sequential views showing the way in which a solid piece of potato is cut from a potato half.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus comprises: a conveyor 2 which is driven in the direction of the arrow A; potato carrying means 4 attached to the conveyor; a dividing station 6 at which potatoes are divided into two halves whilst the potato is held in the potato carrying means; and a separating station 8 at which s
REFERENCES:
patent: 3320988 (1967-05-01), Armstrong
patent: 3565144 (1971-02-01), Annemans
patent: 3780435 (1973-12-01), Farha
patent: 3937850 (1976-02-01), Farha
patent: 4420494 (1983-12-01), Glantz
patent: 4526093 (1985-07-01), Fogerson
Allen Michael
Curtis Stephen S.
Decamoor Limited
Simone Timothy F.
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