CA1096696A

CA1096696A - Method, a binder and an apparatus for binding sausage casings

Info

Publication number: CA1096696A
Application number: CA267,548A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Erik Madsen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1975-12-12
Filing date: 1976-12-09
Publication date: 1981-03-03
Also published as: NL7613765A; DE2656581C2; FI67772C; JPS6022888B2; NO154653C; AU512643B2; IT1065042B; DE2656581A1; FI67772B; NL187333B; NL187333C; DK160124B; FR2334299B1; AU2046576A; SE428414B; FI763542A; NO764197L; FR2334299A1; NO154653B; JPS52105267A

Abstract

A B S T R A C T

A novel sausage casing binder made of elements of plastic which are mounted against the constricted portion of the casing so as to form a clamp ring thereabout, whereafter the elements are joined by a welding operation to stabilize the rigid and entirely closed annular shape of the clamp ring. For binding the casing in the end which is going to be suspended by the smoking of the sausage a binding element is used which is provided with a suspension member forming an integral part thereofm whereby the use of special suspension members to be laid under the clamp is obviated and a very safe suspension is obtained.

Description

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~ his invention relates to a method of bindiny sausage casings whereby a clamp is mounted across a constricted casing portion in order to stabilize the constriction. The invention relates parti~
cularly, though not exclusi~ely, to such bindings which serve not only to close the sausage casiIIg9 but additionally to hold a su-spension member enabling the sausage to be suspended on a rod or the like in connection with a usual smoking treatment of the sau-sageO
Originally the ends of sausage casings were closed by tied ~tring pieces, but in modern production it is preferred to use me-tallic clips which are easy to mount on the casings simply by intro-ducing them radially over the constricted casing end portions and forcing them to clamp about these portions. At one end of the sau-sage casing the said suspension member was originally const~tuted by a loop portion of the string piece used for the binding of the casing end, but in connection with the use of the said metallic clips it is now possible to use prefabricated loop members shaped either as tied loops having a thick knot portion at one end thereof or as cast plastic eye members having a stem or shaft portion~ the outer free end of which is provided with a thickened material port~
ion; in both cases the suspension member is mountable by placing a lower portion thereof so as to be clamped between the metallic clip and a side portion of the said constricted sausage casing port~
ion with the said thick portion thereof located underneath the clipt whereby the clip will hold the upper loop or eye shaped portion of the suspenClion member against retraction from the sausage casing~
However, the known binding method involves some drawbacks, especially wit:h respect to the use o~ the metallic clips, which may mechanically dlamage the casing material and - due to a considerable contents of lead - even show a poisenous effect~ As far as sausage suspension is concerned heavy sausages cause a considerable pull in ,, 6~

the suspension members, and the corresponding pressure of the said thickened portions thereof against the clips will exert an opening action on the clips, whereby there is a certain waste of sausagees falling down from the suspension rods in the smoke ovenO For in-creased security the suspension members may be secured by means of two or even more clips placed one after the other~ but this in~
volves increased mounting time, clip consumption and casing material consumptionO
It is the purpose of the inventlon to provide a binding method whereby in an easy manner it is possible to achieve an advantageous and effective bindingO
The method according to the invention is characterized in that for forming the clamp one or more plastic elements are arranged about the constriction and forced or tightened thereagainst so as to form a split annular member, the closed annular shape of which is fixed by joining the material portions ad~acent said split or splits or otherwise rigidly anchoring the elements together, pre-ferably by weldingO Hereby is provided about the constriction a strong and entirely closed clamping ring of plastics which show no poisenous effect and is unliable to damage the casing materialO
At the suspension end of the sausage or sausage casing it will of course be possible to make use of the known suspension members which may be held safely by the clamping ring, but the invention provides for a possibility to completely avoid the special mounting operation of the suspension member, because when elements of pla-stic are used for forming the clamping ring it is possible to make use of elements shaped integrally with suitable suspension members, e g. die cast with a suspension eye, or plastic suspension members may be welded to the elements~ Hereby a very safe suspension bind-ing is obtainable in an easy and cheap manner~
The invention further comprises a sausage binder and an appa-ratus for use with the method according to the invention, as de-fined in the appended claimsO
In the following the invention is described in more de-tail with reference to -'he accompanying drawing, in which -FigO 1 is a perspective v.iew of a sausage binder accordîng tothe invention, Pig. 2 is a side view, pa:rtly in section, illustrating an arrangement for mounting of thle binder on a sausage casing, FigO 3 is a top vie~l of this arrangement, FigO 4 is a perspecti~e view of a sausage ready to be suspen-ded and closed at both ends by the method according to the invention~
FigO S is a perspec-tive view of a modified binder element9 and FigO 6 is a perspective view of a modified sausage binde.r according to the invention~
The sausage binder shown in figO 1 is made of weldable plastics such as nylon and comprises two parts, vizo a U-shaped part 2 having parallel legs 4 and a bottom portion 6~ and a separate cross bar part 8 which is receivable between the legs 40 The inner sides of the legs are profiled in a convex manner while the end faces 10 of the cross bar 8 are correspondingly conca~ely profiledO The bin-der is usable simply by introducing the U-part 2 laterally over the constricted casing portion and forcing the cross bar 8 into the space between the legs and a~ainst the said casing portion, where-after welding heat is supplied to the areas adjacent the ends o~
the cross bar 8 while the portions 6 and 8 are urged towards each other and thus against the constricted casing portion, and prefarably by simultaneously applying a lateral pressing force urging the Iegs 4 against the cross bar ends lOo When the parts 2 and 8 have thus been welded together they form a ring member tightly closed about the constriction. The welding heat may be supplied by means of an ultrasonic welding head engaging the exterior side of the cross bar 8, whereby a single weldin~ head is s~f~icient for closing the splits at both ends of the bar 80 As shown in dotted lines in fig~ 1 the cross bar 8 may be provided with a suspension member 12, which could alternatively be connected with the U-shaped part 20 The inside corners of the exterior ends of the legs may be cut as oblique guiding surfacesO
FigO ~t shows an end 14 of a sausage or a sausage casing placed in an application station for binders, comprising a maga2ine 16 for the U-shaped parts 2 7 a magazine bottom plate 18 and a piston 20 which, in a manner not shown9 is connected with means for reci-procating it along the bottom plate ~ for successively supplying U-parts 2 to the application position from one sideO At the oppo-site side thereof is located, but not shown, a supply arrangement for successively feeding a cross bar part 8 to a position on a support 22 in which the bar is backed by a welding head 240 When a cross bar part is brought into this position the piston 20 is actuated to push a ~ part 2 into a position about -the constricted portion of the sausage casing until the bottom portion 6 of the U-part 2 is clamped against the casing; the outer ends o~ the legs 4 of the U-part 2 will then receive the cross bar 8 and project rearwardly therefrom7 as also shown in ~igO 30 FigO 3 additionally shows that in addition to the longitudinal clamping of the sausage casing between the clamp portions 6 and 8 a transverse clamping of the leg portions 4 against the ends 10 of the cross bar 8 may be effected by means of clamping shoes ~ When thereafter the weld--ing head 24 i.s actuated to heat the cross bar 8 the ends of this element will get welded to the respective inner sides of the legs 4, whereby a rigid clamp ring is formed about the constricted sausage casing portion~
For a subsequent release of the sausage or sausage casing from the cla~lp application station the two arrangements located - . ,.

66~D6 at the opposite sides of the casing as illustrated by ~igsO 2 and 3 may be movable away from each other, or one of the clamping shoes 26 may be swung away ~rom its clamping position, wherea~ter upon retraction of the welding head 24 and the piston 20 the sausage casing end may be moved laterally out of the slot de~ined between the supports 18 and 220 As shown in ~ig D 3 the free leg ends projecting beyond the cross bar 8 may be cut off by means of knives 28 or other suitable cutting meansO
The interior side of the cross bar is preferably curved in a convex manner as apparent from figO 2, whereby when the parts are clamped together the cross bar will engage the casin~ material with a concentrated pressure9 though in a gentle manner due to the said convexity, and when the welding is accurately controlled it is achievable that the cross bar material is softened such that some material from the interior side of the cross bar enters into the folds of the casing7 whereby the resistance against axial tear off of the binder from the sausage end is increased considerably~ Gene-rally for obtaining this advantage in connection with suspension binders it would be possible to effect softening of further or all portions of the closed plastic ring memberO
PigO 4 shows a finished sausage ready to be suspended on a support rodO The figure shows a preferred embodiment of the cross bar 8 as provided with the suspension member 120 In practice it is preferable that the suspension member is associated with the cross bar instead of with the U-part 9 because both parts are then easier to handle automaticallyO It should be mentioned that the suspension member may be arranged so as to project not in the longitudinal direction as shown~ but radially outwardly, whereby a row of lying sausages may be conveyed direct onto a smoking rod~ from which they will then hang down with the bendable suspension members cor-~66~6 respondingly bent, as illustrated by a stem portion 12' shown in ditted lines~
In fig~ 5 is shown a cross bar element having no suspension member~ Por facilitating automatic handling of the element it is shaped with a groove 30 whereby it is guidable along a guiding rod~
It will be appreciated that a closed plastic clamp ring member may be assembled or provided about the constricted casing portion in a variety of different manners and with starting elements of any suitable designs 7 eOgO two curved or angular members instead of a U-part and a straight cross partO Moreover, as illustrated in figO 6, the binder may have a bendable strap portion 32 cooperating with a holder block 34~ the ends of the strap being drawn through a passage in the block and thereafter secured to the block e~gO by welding~ One end of the strap is shown in dotted lines, because one strap end may be previously secured to the block, eOgO by being die cast in one piece with the blockO The block may additionally be provided with a suspension member 12 as an integral partO
Though as mentioned welding will be the preferred way of join-ing the ring forming elements it will nevertheless be possible to join them or otherwise cause a rigid fixation of the clamping ring structure by other means, eOgO by cementing or riveting or - as an extreme example - by clamping together by means of a metalllc clip the free ends of the U-legs 4 entending beyond the cross bar 8 as viewed in figsO 2 and 3 to thereby lock the cross bar in its clamp-ing positionO The binder shown in figO 6 has some similarity with a known type of cable bunch holders~ in which9 however the strap 32 is provided w.ith kind of teeth or barbs cooperating with a holding edge inside t]he block 34 to prevent retraction o~ the strap loop~
such an ancho.ring system might be usable in connection with a 3 sausage binde.r according to the invention, though the binders for security should have to be produced with a very high degree of .. .. . . . . .

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accuracy, especially binders for use at the suspension end of the sausage casing~ whether or not provided additionally with an inte-gral suspension memberO
The method according to the invention will generally be well suited to be carried out automatically, but it is not the purpose of this invention to disclose rnore detailed methods and equipment of special advantage in this respect, and for this reason the appa-ratus illustrated in ~igs~ 2 and 3 has been shown and described schematicallyO

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A method of binding sausage casings in which a clamp is mounted across a constricted casing portion in order to stabilize the constriction, characterized in that for forming the clamp one or more plastic elements are arranged about the constriction and forced or tightened thereagainst so as to form a split annular member having closed annular shape, which shape is fixed by rigidly anchoring the elements together.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1,in which the elements are anchored together by forcing material portions adjacent each split.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2,in which the forming is effected by welding.

4. A method according to claim 1, whereby from one side of the constriction a U-shaped clamp member is pushed onto the constriction while at the opposite side a cross member bridging the legs of the U-member is forced towards the bottom portion of the U-member and secured to said legs.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4,in which the bottom portion is secured to the legs by ultrasonic welding.

6. A method according to claim 1, by which concurrently with the mounting of the clamp a suspension member is secured to the sausage casing, characterized in that for the forming of said annular member there is used a plastic element provided with said suspension member as an integral portion thereof.

7. A sausage binder for use in binding sausage casings which binder comprises a pair of plastic elements assemblable to form a closed, split clamping ring about a constricted area of the sausage casing and adapted to be rigidly anchored together in this shape.

8. A sausage binder according to claim 7, and comprising a U-shaped element and a cross element mountable so as to bridge opposed portions of the legs of said U-shaped element for welding thereto.

9. A sausage binder according to claim 8, in which the cross element is receivable between the insides of said legs.

10. A sausage binder according to claim 9, in which the opposite ends of the cross element are shaped with profiled grooves or protrusions for reception in or by correspondingly profiled protrusions or grooves, respectively, of the insides of the legs of the U-shaped element.

11. A sausage binder according to claim 7, and including a suspension member enabling the sausage to be suspended, characterized in that the suspension member is provided as an integral part of the plastic material forming the binder element or elements.

12. A sausage binder according to claim 11. in which the suspension member in integral with said cross element.