Surface for supporting cut fruit in fruit juicer

Details Surface for supporting cut fruit in fruit juicer Surface for supporting cut fruit in fruit juicer

1984-03-29

1985-04-09

Simone, Timothy F.

Presses

With additional treatment of material

Cutting, breaking, piercing, or comminuting

99507, 99508, 100130, 100135, A23N 100

Patent

active

045094187

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is related to PCT/US 83/00111, received Jan. 24, 1983, for "Fruit Cutter and Juicer," in the name of the same party as the present invention.


FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to apparatus for automatically obtaining juice from citrus fruit, particularly oranges, lemons, and grapefruits. Apparatus of this type is generally well known and employed in both commercial juicing operations and in food serving establishments where juice is freshly squeezed for the consumer.
In such operations, it is necessary that the citrus fruit, particularly oranges, lemons, and grapefruits, be fed to a surface where a cut surface of the citrus fruit is exposed, for example by halving the fruit, and then squeezing the cut pieces so as to extract the juice, without removing the undesirable flavor components from the rind or peel. The juice which has been expressed from the pieces is then recovered, while the rinds are discarded.
Many patents have described the type of machinery generally used in accordance with the present invention. For example, an overall system for fruit juice extraction is shown by Matthews, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,723,618, and 2,311,565 in the name of Talbert G. Nelson. Each describes a system where oranges, for example, are cut into halves, the halves are advanced, cut surface downward, over stationary male press elements and then squeezed by cup-like female press elements which are moved down axially to interact with the male press elements. When the female press elements are retracted, the rinds are ejected, while the juice from the citrus fruit is recovered.
Similar machines and operations are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,629,317, Nelson; U.S. Pat. No. 2,572,286, Smith; U.S. Pat. No. 2,413,866, DuLamey; U.S. Pat. No. 2,531,026, Cadella; U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,072, Rickard; U.S. Pat. No. 2,199,876, Brown; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,070, Montagroni et al.
These patents, and others in the field, describe various means for supporting the cut fruit which is squeezed between male and female press elements. Generally, these platforms are rigid, formed of, for example, metal. In the afore-referenced Matthews patent, U.S. Pat. No. 2,723,618 a rubber apron is employed as illustrated, for example, in FIGS. 4 and 9 through 11 of that patent. The sheet is positioned such that the supports for the apron are parallel to the cutting knife which severs the fruit.
It has been found that this type of rubber surface for supporting the cut fruit, while the most widely used in the field, presents problems, particularly when soft fruit is to be squeezed.
The apron or stripper pad described in the afore-referenced Matthews U.S. Pat. No. 2,723,618 patent has a series of slots which are perpendicular to the support members for the sheet and a series of ridges which are parallel with the support. This allows for some flexing of the rubber apron as it is moved downwardly against the cones under the influence of the female press members. However, particularly as illustrated in FIG. 12 of that patent, there is a severe stretching of the rubber sheet during this squeezing operation, resulting in extreme wear.
The Nelson patents previously referred to, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,311,565 and 2,629,317, employ rigid, possibly metallic platforms to support the orange halves as they are moved downwardly over the cone members by the female press members. The platforms are described as P--P' in the '565 patent and as 110 in the '317 patent. Mechanism must be provided to allow these platforms to move downwardly with their carried fruit pieces, so that the male and female press members may co-act on the cut fruit. Obviously, there is not the extreme stretching and wear on these platforms that is experienced with the rubber apron of Matthews, but substantially more mechanism is required because of the movement necessary to allow the platforms to work in conjunction with the squeezing or pressing elements.
In accordance with this invention, a support surface for the cut

REFERENCES:
patent: 2723618 (1955-11-01), Matthews

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