Butchering – Sausage making
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-08
2001-09-11
Little, Willis (Department: 3643)
Butchering
Sausage making
C452S045000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06287187
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reusable cartridge for manufacturing a skinless sausage, having a tubular middle section and at least one adjoining sealing end made of a flexible synthetic material
2. Description of Related Art
Manufacturing skinless sausages is already known, in that sausage meat is infected into an endless cellulose gut which is then twisted off into lengths of the finished sausages at corresponding distances. After the ripening process the sausages, with the exception of frying sausages, are smoked, cooked and cooled, and the cellulose gut is then peeled off. The peeling process of the cellulose gut is carried out by hand and accordingly represents a time-intensive procedural step which is not entirely safe from the hygiene point of view. In addition, the cellulose guts can be used once only, so that during manufacture of the sausages a large quantity of used cellulose gut accrues which for the most part has to be disposed of and represents a high cost factor in sausage manufacturing.
Sausages cannot be manufactured fully automatically by the necessary procedural steps when carried out by hand.
Attempts have been made in the past to manufacture skinless sausages with the aid of cartridges. Here, a separate cartridge is provided for each subsequent sausage, into which the sausage mass is introduced.
A process of this type is described in DE-OS 25 23 506, for instance.
The essential problem which restricts the use of such cartridges for the manufacture of sausages lies in the expensive structure and complicated handling of the sealing caps. On the one hand, the sealing caps are to seal tightly, and on the other hand they are to enable the sausage meat to expand in the cartridge.
A cartridge is already known from DE-OS 41 34 249 which is equipped with a closure sleeve which is expansive to construct. In this connection, the closure sleeve is provided directly with a closure device which tightly seals an opening after filling. The sealing cap is connected solidly to the sleeve both during and after the filling process. As with the other known prior art, the sealing cap has to be set manually on both ends of the cartridge and later removed for cleaning the mould.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to improve the known cartridges such that they can be reused many times over, and also to enable simple cost-efficient manufacturing of the cartridges and the sausages.
This task is solved according to the present invention by the middle section of the cartridge being designed integrally with the sealing end.
This design of the cartridge has substantial advantages compared to the prior art. Since the sealing end is designed integrally with the tubular middle section of the cartridge, the procedural steps of placing and later removing the cartridge required to date in the prior art are dispensed with here. The cartridge according to the present invention enables the process to be carried into effect fully automatically, as no additional manual steps are required.
Of particular advantage also is the fact that the cartridge can be manufactured very easily with use of a single mould, substantially reducing cartridge manufacturing costs.
In a preferred embodiment of the cartridge the tubular middle section can be designed on both sides and on the front with an adjoining sealing end. In this way filling of the sausage meat and later ejection of the finished sausage is clearly simplified.
To obtain the desired shape of the finished sausage, the sealing end can be beneficially designed with the same diameter as the middle section where it connects to the tubular middle section, whereby it tapers towards the end at a distance from the tubular middle section. The characteristic half-shaped sausage end is obtained directly from the manufacturing and moulding process.
It is preferred if the end diameter of the sealing end corresponds to approximately two thirds of the diameter of the tube.
The sealing end is preferably designed with less wall thickness than the tubular middle section. In this respect, it has proven particularly advantageous if the wall thickness of the tubular middle section equals approximately three times the wall thickness of the sealing end. In this way, adequate elasticity of the sealing end is obtained which is especially necessary in sealing and forming the finished sausage.
In a preferred manner the sealing end can be provided, in the vicinity of its inner wall, with protruding rib elements which extend essentially over the length of the sealing end. It is particularly preferred here if the rib elements extend over a middle section of the sealing end connecting with the end of the sealing end and connecting with the area connecting with the tubular middle section. It is also preferred if five or six rib elements are provided.
The positioning of rib elements enables the sausages to be provided at both ends with various folds which simulate the classic twist-off effect in conventional sausages. At the same time the rib elements reinforce the stability of the sealing end, without influencing the necessary flexibility.
In accordance with another preferred embodiment a filling and ejection element is designed on the end of the sealing end lying opposite the tubular middle section.
The design further supports the fully automatic manufacture of a skinless sausage, because filling, sealing and subsequent ejection of the sausage can be effected without additional steps previously necessary, and the process is thus further simplified.
It has eventuated particularly advantageous if the tubular middle section, the sealing end and the filling and ejection element are designed integrally, with a filling and ejection element being provided on each sealing end. By making available a single shape which simultaneously serves as filling, sealing and ejection, any additional steps which were previously necessary, as already mentioned, are now dispensed with, where the filling element has to be connected manually to the cartridge.
To facilitate filling the filling and ejection element is designed preferably as a funnel-shape, where the end diameter of the filling and ejection element corresponds to double the diameter at the connection point to the connection end. A filling and ejection element designed in the form of a funnel has proven to be particularly preferable for supporting continuous filling of the sausage meat in the cartridge.
According to a preferred embodiment of the shape the filling and ejection element is designed with a wall thickness which corresponds approximately to two thirds of the wall thickness of the tubular middle section. In addition to this, to facilitate filling a flange can be designed at the end of the filling and ejection element at a distance from the sealing end and extending in a circle around this end. This flange can equally be used as bearing and support edge in a device.
According to a preferred embodiment the tubular middle section is designed with a diameter to length ratio of 1:4.4. It is also preferred if the ratio of lengths between the tubular middle section, the sealing end and the filling and ejection is 20:1:2.4.
The cartridge is preferably manufactured from a foodstuff-safe flexible synthetic material. PTFE or Teflon are particular preferences here.
The cartridge can also be bent in the vicinity of the tubular middle section to produce curved sausages.
In practice, it has proven particularly preferable to use a sealing device for closing off the sealing end of the reusable cartridge according to the present invention, comprising at least two convergent guideways which can be moved reciprocally transversely to their longitudinal extension, which delimit an opening surrounding the sealing component whose clear cross-section can be made smaller by reciprocal movement of the guideways in the manner of a sealing stop.
The sealing end is introduced into the opening between two mobile guideways only, which are moved reciprocally for closing for closi
Bachman & LaPointe P.C.
Inotech GmbH
Little Willis
LandOfFree
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