Rotary cutter handling system

Details Rotary cutter handling system Rotary cutter handling system

1997-03-14

2003-03-11

Dexter, Clark F. (Department: 3724)

Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus

With apparatus assembly or dismantling means or with idle part

For press shaping surface

C425S298000, C425S308000, C083S346000, C083S563000, C083S564000, C083S662000, C083S698410, C083S932000, C426S503000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06530771

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to machinery for processing foods and, more particularly, to a sheeting head or “sheeter” for processing dough into relatively thin sheets out of which corn tortillas, tortilla chips, sheeted corn chips, sheeted potato chips, and similar food products are cut and to an improved system for handing the rotary cutter which cuts the dough sheet.
2. Description of Related Art
Maize (corn) is the chief cereal grain of the Americas, but dried maize cannot be readily steamed into a palatable staple like rice. Consequently, the native American peoples developed a technique in which they cooked dried maize with calcium carbonate or other alkali and then ground the resulting cooked kernels to produce a sticky dough known as masa.
Traditionally masa dough was shaped by hand and baked on a stone griddle to make tortillas. The popularity of tortillas and other comestibles made from masa has continued to increase. Today special machines called sheeting heads form the masa into relatively thin sheets from which tortillas and other food products such as chips or tortillas are cut. As shown in cross-section in
FIG. 1
a,
a typical sheeting head comprises a pair of parallel counterrotating rollers, a front-roller
12
and a rear roller
14
, rotating on horizontal axes between a spaced pair of side plates
17
. Masa dough
16
is loaded into the sheeting head, where it is drawn between the rollers and formed into a thin sheet
18
in a pinch point or extrusion zone.
The dough is sticky and tends to cling to both rollers. However, differential roller motion or a physical stripping device like a wire or a “doctor blade” transfers the dough sheet to the front roller
12
. As the rollers rotate, the sheet of dough is carried away from the extrusion zone by the front roller
12
.
A rotary cutter,
24
sometimes called a cutter roller, counterrotates on a shaft
25
and is in contact with the front roller
12
. The surface of the rotary cutter
24
bears a series of raised ridges that define the shapes of the tortillas, chips, or other products to be cut from the masa dough sheet
18
. When the rotary cutter
24
rotates into contact with the dough sheet
18
, carried by the front roller
12
, the ridges cut the dough sheet
18
into pieces
26
. The cut dough pieces
26
still stick to the front roller
12
, but as the cut dough pieces
26
are moved along by the rotation of the front roller
12
, they come into contact with a stripper wire
22
which scrapes the dough pieces from the front roller
12
.
The dough pieces
26
fall onto a moving conveyor belt
28
which carries them into an oven or fryer for final cooking. In some sheeting heads an ingenious system of grooves and bands on the front roller retains edge remnants of the dough sheet on the roller. Thus, only the desired cut dough pieces
26
are removed by the stripper wire
22
. The front roller
12
carries the dough remnants or “rework” back into the top of the sheeting head to be added back in to the main mass of dough for recycling.
The rotary cutter
24
requires rather frequent attention. It is not unusual to replace the rotary cutter
24
during a shift either because chips or tortillas of a different size or shape are desired or because the rotary cutter
24
has become worn or damaged.
Some sheeters include a mechanism that alternately engages or disengages the rotary cutter
24
from interaction with the dough sheet
18
.
FIGS. 1
a
to
1
c,
for example, show an air cylinder
32
including a piston
37
attached to a pivoting lever arm
34
which terminates in a yoke
38
that carries the rotary cutter
24
. When the cylinder
32
is energized as in
FIG. 1
a,
the lever arm
34
pivots upward to bring the rotary cutter
24
into contact with the dough sheet
18
. When the cylinder
32
is not energized as in
FIG. 1
b,
the weight of the rotary cutter
24
causes the lever arm
34
and the attached rotary cutter
24
to swing away from the dough sheet
18
. An advantage of this arrangement is that whenever the sheeting head power is turned off, the rotary cutter
24
is automatically moved out of contact with the dough sheet
18
into a removal position where the rotary cutter can be removed from the lever arm
34
.
Nonetheless, severe removal problems still exist because, as shown in
FIGS. 1
a
-
1
c,
the rotary cutter
24
is inaccessibly located between the side plates
17
and beneath the front roller
12
, making it difficult to reach the cutter from the back of the sheeting head or from the side. The conveyor belt
28
and other mechanisms generally make it impossible to access the rotary cutter from the front side as well. Accordingly, the side plates
17
in a conventional sheeting head are provided with access ports or lower cut outs
19
, as shown, so that the rotary cutter
24
can be inserted and removed from the side.
The rotary cutter
24
is typically removed through the access port
19
, as shown in
FIG. 1C
, by laboriously lifting it out of the yokes
38
of the pivoting lever arms
34
and then carefully guiding it through the access port
19
in one of the side plates
17
. Cutter replacement is accomplished by reversing this process. In either case, it is troublesome, time-consuming, and may result in injury to the operator or damage to the rotary cutter.
There remains a considerable need, therefore, for a system that makes cutter replacement simple and avoids the need to work through the side plates and under the rollers of the sheeting head to service or replace the rotary cutter.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a simple system to improve the ease of cutter replacement; and
It is a further objective of the present invention to permit simple cutter replacement from the rear of the sheeting head without having to reach under the rollers and then guide the rotary cutter laterally through a side plate.
These and other objectives are met by a cutter replacement system that consists of a pair of guide rods located on the inner surfaces of the left and right hand side plates of the sheeting head. These rods are parallel and are oriented horizontally at right angles to the longitudinal axes of the rollers. The rotary cutter is held at either end by a cutter carriage that slidingly engages the guide rods. The cutter carriage is preferably equipped with a rotary cutter engagement system that moves a pivot arm and attached rotary cutter into an operational position in relation to the sheeting head. When the rotary cutter is to be serviced or replaced, the engagement system is released allowing the pivot arm to move the rotary cutter away from the front sheeting head roller, and cutter carriage holding the rotary cutter is slid rearward along the guide rods under the back roller so that it is readily accessible from a back side of the sheeting head.


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patent: 5811137 (1998-09-01), Clark et al.

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