Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Processes – Separating a starting material into plural different...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-11
2001-04-10
Brouillette, Gabrielle (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Processes
Separating a starting material into plural different...
C426S518000, C099S553000, C099S557000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06214398
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention pertains to cling peach pitters and, more particularly, to the control and operation of the head assemblies and cutting blades that separate pits from the meat of cling peaches.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Removing pits from peaches by automated machinery is performed by a peach pitting machine. In operation, this machine twists each peach half in opposite directions in an automatic peach pit twist operation. Whole peaches are first singulated by an infeed system when entering these machines. Singulated peaches are than processed through a peach aligner and transferred, one at a time, from the aligner into a set of rotatable heads, each with a peach gripper mechanism. A set of blades cut the peach in halves until the blades penetrate the peach far enough to grab the pit. The cutting blades are positioned perpendicular to the rotating axis of the peach twisting pitting heads. The heads then rotate in opposite directions, as the pit is constrained in a stationary position by the cutting blades. The rotating, or twisting motion of the two pitter heads, with the peach halves grabbed by the gripper mechanism of the heads, rips the meat of the peach from the pit, resulting in separation of the pit from each peach half.
The peach pitter heads each are typically a set of mechanically linked components, such as cam path mechanisms and/or lever arms, that are set up to rotate the gripper mechanisms through a set degree of rotation. Because the mechanical motion transmission components have a fixed profile, the peach head twister motion is always the same, typically in the range of 150 degrees. Unfortunately, mechanical components can not be readily adjusted to change the degree of head rotation. If a change in head rotation was desired, this would require a permanent change of components to create an alternate fixed set up.
For removal of the pit, as a matter of peach physics, the peach halves do not always have to rotate 150 degrees. With a solid pit, for example, the pit can sometimes be removed from the peach half by rotating the heads as little as 60 degrees. For these peaches, the motion required for the rotating pitter heads can be considerably reduced to remove a peach pit. A reduced rotating motion requires less time and allows for an increase in machine through put.
Peach quality, ripeness, firmness, etc., may require a slightly different head rotation to insure removal of the pit. Therefore peach pitter machines are always set up for the maximum head rotation. This has resulted in standard mechanical head drive components, which are typically set up for 150 degrees rotation.
Also, the peach pitter blades are provided with a selective knife. The selective knife, imbedded in the cutting blades, will only become functional when the pit can not be removed by rotating the heads. This will be the case when pits are weak or split inside the peach. Peach halves rotated in each head with a split pit can not develop a twisting force between pit and the peach half. As a result, the pit half will remain inside each peach half. To remove these half pits, the selective knife will become active and cut the pit from the peach half during rotation of the pitter head. Depending on the shape of the selective knife, the head must now be rotated exactly 150 degrees to insure the pit is removed from the peach half.
In short, the peach pitter heads can be rotated less than 150 degrees when removing the pit from the peach half by twisting the whole pit from the peach halves. But the heads must rotate 150 degrees when the selective knife cut is employed to remove the pit from each peach half.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Briefly described, the method of the present invention for separating the meat from the pit of the peach comprises the steps of cutting substantially through an equator of the peach with a pair of cutting blades until the blades engage the pit and the pit is held by the blades, grabbing each half of the peach formed by the cutting blades with a gripper mechanism, and depending on the condition of the peach, selectively rotating the gripper mechanisms in opposite directions through a degree of rotation within the range from approximately 60 degrees to approximately 360 degrees.
According to an aspect of the invention, the step of selectively rotating the gripper mechanism includes coupling a servo motor to the gripper mechanism and selectively controlling rotation of the servo motor. Provision of a servo motor allows selective rotation of the gripper mechanisms in any direction and through any desired degree of rotation, which may be highly desirable depending on the condition of the peach. For example, a particularly ripe peach may only require 60 degrees of rotation while an unripe, green peach may require 180 degrees of rotation. In addition, it may in some circumstances be desirable to rotate the peach halves up to 360 degrees.
According to another aspect of the invention, the step of selectively rotating the gripper mechanism includes coupling a linear actuator to the gripper mechanism, for movement of the gripper mechanism toward and away from the peach, and rotating the linear actuator with the servo motor. In this manner, the gripper mechanisms can move toward and away from the peach, yet still be rotated by the servo motors. Preferably, the linear actuator includes a piston rod and the method includes the step of rotating the piston rod with the servo motor.
The method of the invention further comprises the step of processing peaches with broken, cracked or weak pits. Should the cutting blades penetrate the pit and sever the pit into pit halves, as typically happens with the aforementioned pits, a rotatable cutting knife scoops each pit half from the meat of each peach half by selectively rotating through a degree of rotation within a range from approximately 10 degrees to approximately 180 degrees.
According to this additional step of the invention, after selectively rotating the cutting knife, the method includes the step of selectively rotating at least one of the gripper mechanisms through a degree of rotation within the range from approximately 10 degrees to approximately 360 degrees and then selectively rotating the cutting knife again through a degree of rotation within a range from approximately 10 degrees to approximately 180 degrees. The combination of a selectively rotatable cutting knife and selectively rotatable gripper mechanisms provides for near total flexibility in techniques for separating the meat from the pit.
The present invention also includes an apparatus for separating the pit from the meat of a peach. The apparatus comprises a pair of cutting blades for cutting substantially through an equator of the peach until the blades engage the pit and the pit is held by the blades, a pair of head assemblies moveable toward and away from the peach for grabbing each half of the peach formed by the cutting blades, and a pair of servo motors for rotating the head assemblies selectively in opposite directions through a range of degrees of rotation from approximately 60 degrees to approximately 360 degrees.
According to an aspect of the apparatus of the present invention, a cutting knife is carried by one of the cutting blades, the cutting knife being rotatable through a range of degrees of rotation, and the apparatus further includes a servo motor coupled to the cutting knife for selective rotation of the cutting knife through a degree of rotation within the range of 10 to 180 degrees.
These and other features, objects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the best mode for carrying out the invention, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and the claims, which are all incorporated herein as part of the disclosure of the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1392518 (1921-10-01), Paranteau
patent: 3353860 (1967-11-01), Meissner
patent: 4213382 (1980-07-01), Meissner
Emerson Motion Control, “E Series Digital Servo Drive” (1997).
FMC Corporation, “Automatic Cling P
Groom Stanley
Veltman Joost
Walter Westley W.
Brouillette Gabrielle
Flehr Hohbach Test Albritton & Herbert LLP
FMC Corporation
Mai Hao
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