CA1168507A - Whole boneless ham stuffing method and apparatus - Google Patents
Whole boneless ham stuffing method and apparatusInfo
- Publication number
- CA1168507A CA1168507A CA000375016A CA375016A CA1168507A CA 1168507 A CA1168507 A CA 1168507A CA 000375016 A CA000375016 A CA 000375016A CA 375016 A CA375016 A CA 375016A CA 1168507 A CA1168507 A CA 1168507A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- article
- casing
- piston
- loading chamber
- pliable
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A22—BUTCHERING; MEAT TREATMENT; PROCESSING POULTRY OR FISH
- A22C—PROCESSING MEAT, POULTRY, OR FISH
- A22C7/00—Apparatus for pounding, forming, or pressing meat, sausage-meat, or meat products
- A22C7/0023—Pressing means
- A22C7/003—Meat-moulds
- A22C7/0046—Containers in which meat is pressed and moulded
- A22C7/0061—Containers for moulding and pressing ham
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A22—BUTCHERING; MEAT TREATMENT; PROCESSING POULTRY OR FISH
- A22C—PROCESSING MEAT, POULTRY, OR FISH
- A22C11/00—Sausage making ; Apparatus for handling or conveying sausage products during manufacture
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
- B65B25/00—Packaging other articles presenting special problems
- B65B25/06—Packaging slices or specially-shaped pieces of meat, cheese, or other plastic or tacky products
- B65B25/065—Packaging slices or specially-shaped pieces of meat, cheese, or other plastic or tacky products of meat
Abstract
WHOLE BONELESS HAM STUFFING
METHOD AND APPARATUS
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Abstract of the Disclosure A method and apparatus for stuffing a whole boneless ham under continuous pressure into a preclipped end of a length of casing deshirred from a continuous shirred casing length while providing for the continuous venting of air from the interior of the casing length being stuffed, and clip closing the stuffed casing length.
: S P E C I F I C A T I O N
METHOD AND APPARATUS
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Abstract of the Disclosure A method and apparatus for stuffing a whole boneless ham under continuous pressure into a preclipped end of a length of casing deshirred from a continuous shirred casing length while providing for the continuous venting of air from the interior of the casing length being stuffed, and clip closing the stuffed casing length.
: S P E C I F I C A T I O N
Description
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This invention relates to meat packing, particularly to the stuffing of boneless whole meat articles into casings to make unitary packaged meat articles and, more particularly, to the packaging of whole boneless hams into lengths of casing deshirred from a continuous shirred casing supply, Back~round of the Invention Techniques for the stuffing of continuous length flexible food casings with viscous meat emulsion are now fairly well known in ~he meat packing and processed meat industries. The more recent develop~ents in this area of the technology utilize long shirred lengths of ~lexible tubular food casing for stuffing on high speed automatic stuffing apparatus to produce large size sausage products such as bolognas, liverwursts, and the like, as described, for instance, in considerable detail in U. S. Patents 4~O17J941 to Raudys et al, and 4,044,426 to Kujpcikevicius et al.
In anot'ner somewhat technologically related area of the meat packing industry, whole boneless meat articles, such as hams, have been packed into lengths of flexible tu~ular food casing and tied off at the ends to make discrete unitary packaged food articles.
Such packaging techniques generaLly have involved slow and labor intensive operations. In such practice, a whole boneless meat article, a ham typically, is manually inserted loo~ely into a cut length of presoaked casing _. -- . . . .
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I ,1 6g5~7 which has been pretied or clip-closed at one end. Inser-tion of the ham into the casing is accomplished manually or is assisted by means of one or another commercially available meat presses. In a subseq~ent pressure packing operation, the ham is tightly packed within the casing, simultaneously expelling entrapped air and shaping the ham. The ope~ator may also "stick" the casing during the pressure packing operation, providing holes to further assist in expelling air from within the packed casing.
The open end of the packed casing is then tied or clip-closed to complete the encased food article. Typical pressure packing techniques for boneless meat articles are shown and described in U. S. Patents 3,115,733 to Tipper and 3,065,585 to Rumsey, Jr. Somewhat greater automation in the boneless ~hole meat article stuffing technology is shown and described in U. S. Patent 3,919,739 to Kawai.
Kawai utilizes a continuous band casing soaker in com-bination with a carriage means to continually put the open casing end into registration with a nozzle of a packing element. With the casing soaked and thus in place, a meat article is loosely packed into the temporarily held casing length. After a first clip is applied, the unclipped end of the packed casing is pulled tight around the meat -- -ar~ticle thereby shaping said meat article and expelling air entrapped within said packed casing. The unclipped end of the casing is then tied or clip-closed and the resulting encased meat areicle is severed from the casing supply feed lPngth.
~^ While the Kawai '739 apparatus rep~esents an advance towards the goal of automatic ham stuffing, it does not provide a completely satisfactory technique.
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A significant disadvantage lies in the feeding of the casing being stuffed in a direction opposite the direction of progression of the articles being stuffed. Each stuffing action constitutes a sort of head on collision ~etween the ham and the casing length into which it is to be packaged Since, because of the apparatus design, there is no way to continually stuff the continuous casing band in a unidirectional mode with the direction of progression of the hams in process, this counterflow relationship between the casing band and the hams consti-tutes an inherent mechanical inefficiency. Another factor in the '739 patent technique which detracts from efficient packaging is that the hams are inserted into a loosely-fitting casing which is subsequently drawn tight to shape said hams and to express air out of the package article. These and other inefficiencies and drawbacks are overcome by the present invention as will be appreciated from the disclosure herein.
With this then being the state of the art, the present invention was conceived and developed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ~ND
OBJECTIVES_OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for inserting a whole boneless meat article, such as a ham, into a preclipped end of a preshirred and mounted l~ength of casing, under continuous pressure, while allowing the continuous escape of air tending to become entrapped ~- during the insertion or stuffing process, g~th:ering and clipping the open end of the stuffed casing while .
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maintaining the encased produc~ in a pressurized condition, gathering and clipping the deshirred end o~ a contiguous succeeding preshirred casing length, severing the completed stuffed product from the succeeding casing, and repeating the aforedescribed cycle after loading a next sequential meat article i~to the apparatus.
The basic concept and development of the present invention involves the adaptation and application of so~e of the principles and features of large size sausage casing manufac~ure with automatic machinery, such as described in the aforementioned U.S. Patents 4,017,9~1 and 4,0~;4,426, to automatic stuffing of whole boneless hams or the like meat articles into casing lengths to make discrete tigntly pac~ed encased food articles.
I A principal objective of the present invention is to provide a fast automatic method and apparatus for the pressure packing of whole boneless hams, or similar meat cuts, into large size tubular flexible casings.
The invention further provides positive and con9istently reproducible control over the continually ', formed products with minimal human labor and handling of ;~ the food product, and with an e~ficient and relatively uncomplicated apparatus.
An advantageous feature of the invention is its ~- ability to use shirred and compacted casing lengths, such as those shown and described in U. S. Patent 4,007,761, which do not require any prestuffing soaking.
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A further feature of the inventio~:is its ability to effect size control of the end product if-this is desired.
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Still furth~r advantageous features of the invention are its capabilities to stuff product t~ith virtually complete elimination of entrained air, and to consistently make stuffed products with proper external fat cover and proper muscle orientation.
The invention further provides for the constant pr,_ssurizatiOn of the meat during stuffing and clipping, thus eli.minating the need far a separate pressure packing or squeezing step operation to effect air removal and to shape the meat.
j~ 10 Further, and o~ significant import, is the invention's provision of greatly increased production rates with decreased operator manpower requirements.
These, and other features and advantages of the invention will be the more readily understood and appreciated from the ensuing more detailed description and in the light of the appended drawing, wherein:
Figure 1 is a sectionalized side elevation of apparatus according to the invention showing a boned whole ham in position in the apparatus loading chamber;
Figure 2 is a partial top view of the apparatus of Figure 1 showing the manner in which the meat article t~ to be stuffed is initially put under compression;
Figure 3 is a sectional view of Figure 2 taken r along lines 3-3 showing an end view of the loading chamber and meat compression apparatus; . -Figure 4 is ~he apparatus of Figure 1 shown with the loading chamber cover closed and with lateral compression fully effected;
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~ ~ 6~07 Figure 5 is a sectional view of Figure 4 taken along the lines 5-5 showing an end view of the meat article in the chamber in its compressed condition;
Figure 6 is the apparatus of Figure 1 shown with the mea~ article pushed into and partially through the stuffing horn by the firs~ piston means;
Figure 7 shows the meat article pushed co~pletely through the stuffing horn and into the casing by ~he second piston means, and Figure 8 shows the apparatus of Figure 1 with the meat i~rticle completely encased, the casing severed, the piston means fully retracted, and with the loadin~
chamber opened.
Figure 9 is an is ometric view of the loading - chamber illustrating the product orientation guides or ribs.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIOI~
In general it can be stated that the present invention comprehends apparatus for continual stuffing of whole boneless meat articles or other pliable articles into discrete lengths of flexible tubular casing comprising, in combination: a frame; a stuffing horn assembly mounted on said frame; a stuffing horn assembly central support tube disposed coaxially within said stuffing horn assembly, having a discharge end and a flared inlet end; an article loading chamber in communication-with the flared inlet end of the central . support tube; closure means on said article loading 13 6~5n ^~
chamber moveable between opened and closed position providing lateral access to said article loading chamber when in the open position; locking means to secure said closure means in ~he closed position; a compression bar extending longitudinally of said article loading charnber, moveable between a retracted position and an extended position, having a formed face which defines a wall portion of the article loading chamber when in said extended position; actuating means operably connected to move the compression bar selectably into its retracted ;. and extendèd positions; first piston means disposed in.
longitudinally axial alignment with the central support tube of the stuffing horn assembly having an article contacting face and being moveable be~ween a first position wherein the article contacting face is disposed at the rearward end of the article loading chamber, and the second position wherein the articl contacting face is disposed in the flared inlet end of the central support tube; second piston means disposed coaxially within said first piston means having an article contacting face reciprocally moveable between a first position wherein . said article contacting face is disposed in the flared inlet end of the central support tube and the second I position wherein the article contacting face is disposed at the discharge end of the central support tube of the stuffing horn assembly; shirred casing holding means : disposed coaxially around the stuffing horn assembly - and arranged to provide a continuous deshirred ~upply of casing to be stuffed over the stuffing horn assembly 8 .
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central support tube discharge end in the direction of progression o the meat articles being packed; clipping means and severing means to clip the casing discrete lengths closed and to sever between clipped sections so as to make individual lengths of product; and motive means to drive the first and second piston means reciprocally.
The stuffing horn assembly which includes the central support tube with the inlet end and the discharge end serves as a conduit to convey whole boneless hams from the meat loading chamber connected at its flared inlet end into a casing which is deshirred from a mounted shirred casing supply stick arranged concentrically over the assembly. The meat loading chamber has a firs~
end in communication with the flared inlet end o~ the central support tube, a chamber door including means for the closing, locking and automatic reopening of ~he door,and is provided with means for the lateral compression of a meat mass place~ within said chamber. The second or rea~ard end of ~he meat loading chamber connects to a longitudinal product stuffing means comprising first and second pistons.
The longitudinal product stuffing means comprises a multistage piston adapted to be advanced and retracted longitudinally in axial alignment wi~h the meat loading chamber and the central ~uppor~ tube.
The first stage of the piston array is adapted to move through the meat loading chamber ~o the flared inlet end of the central support ~ube and thereby adv~nce a meat 9,.
1 3 ~507 mass from the meat loading chamber into the central support tube. The second stage of the piston means moves concentrically through the first stage piston through the central support tube to i~s discharge end thus further ad-vancing the meat mass completely into'a deshirred length of the prepackaged food casing article. The ~ovement of the second piston means begins after the completion of the movement of the first piston means.
A support sleeve may be advantageously journaled on the central support tube and provides means adapted to mount and detachably secure a sizing disc which is implant-ed in a preshirred tubular food casing article used in the packaging method. In the embodiments illustrated in the drawing the sizing means or disc is adapted to allow the escape of air displaced from the central support tube during the stuffing operation. Said adapted disc also permits the continuous escape of any ~ir which may be en-trained within the encased food product as stuffing pro-gresses. The air passes from the forward end of the section of casing being stuffed up over the discharge end of the central support tube of the stuffing horn assembly, through the space between the inner surface of the casing and the outer surface of the central support tube of the stuffing horn assembly and through ~he passages provided in the sizing disc. It is extremely important to emphasize at this poin~ in the disclosure the necessity to provide for the escape of air which would otherwise be entrapped within the encased food product during the stuffing operation. Towards this end, various alterna~ive forms of air venting may be provided. In the embodiment of apparatus according to the invention illustrated in the drawing, air vents 62 are provided in the sizing disc 26.
In other embod~ments of the apparatus according to the invention, those for instance wherein a sizing disc may not be involved in the apparatus but holdback of the casing is achieved by the application of an external peripheral force around the casing in a snubbing action, ~he provision for air vents may take the form o~ a loose sleeve fit between the central support tube and a lO ~ support sleeve or a 1005e fit between the central support tube or the support sleeve and a sleeve holding the shirred casing iD place. The venting of air rearward from the stuffing operation may also be accomplished by providing longitudinally extending flutes in the surface of the central support tube or whatever its structural equivalent may be in a given apparatus. The air would thus pass through the longitudinally extending flutes or notches rearward to be expelled through the open end of the bore of the casing. Other forms of air venting will, in the light of this disclosure, undoubtedly occur to persons familiar with the art, a~d it is sufficient to note here that provision for air venting mu~t be made in order to insure the el~mination of air which would otherwise be entrapped i in the finished product, this provision being by any of the aforedescribed structural features or their ~t - combinations or their equivalents.
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~ 507 The prepackaged food casing article utilized with this apparatus, comprising a sizing/air venting means and a preshirred tubular food casing, is prefera~ly like those described in detail in U.S. Patent 4,007,761. The support sleeve is adapted to be reciproeated to-and-fro to thereby manipulate the secured sizing/air venting means to predetermined fore-and-aft positions while supporting the shirred tubular casing thereon.
The apparatus also employs a snubbing means including a snubbing carriage adapted to be axially aligned with the central support tube of the stuf~ing horn assembly and mounting an annular snubbing ring adapted to be advanced over and retracted therefrom.
The snub~ing means coacts with the sizing/air venting means to effect product size ~diameter~ control in the same manner as that described in U. S. Patent 4,164,057. The snubbing carriage also mounts conventional clip-closing means and a severing means. In its retracted position, distally spaced from the stuffing horn assembly, the snubbing carriage is also adapted to be moved trans-versely from and to the axis of the central support tube to permit the loading and securing of the prepackaged s~irred casing article onto ~he support sleeve means.
Motive means are provided to operate the support sleeve ~eans and the snubbing means to regulate the position of th~ snubbing means with respect to the central support tu~e and the position of the support sleeve means rela- l ~ tive to the snu~bing means. t D
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Pneumatic actuation and control means are used to operate the support sleeve means, the meat loading chamber locking means, the lateral compression means, the longitudinal product stu~fing means, and other elements of the snubbing carriage, in combination to selectivel~
control continual cycles of successive compression, stuffing, clipping, and severing operations, and thereby produce a pressurized, stufed, clip-closed whole bone-less ham product encased in a flexible tubular casing.
- lO It should be pointed out that while the disclosed embodi-ments utilize full pneumatic control, hydraulic or electro/pneumatic actuation and control means would be f~liy satisfactory alternatives.
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1~1 '' ~ .507 Turning to the drawing, Figure 1 shows apparatus according to the invention comprising ~ frame 16 on which is mounted a stuffing ho~n assembly 18.
The stuffing horn assembly comprises in turn a central support tube 30 disposed coaxially within the stuffing horn assembly, ha~ing a discharge end 29, ~nd a flared inlet end 31. Rearward and co~municating with the flared inlet end 31 of the central support tube 30, an article loading chamber 34 is provided. Article loading chamber 34 h~s a door o~ other closure means 42 which lifts hingedly or slideably to permit access to the article loading chamber. When the closure means ; 42 of article loading chamber 34 is in its fully open position, the chamber appears as shown in Figure 2, that is to say with its maximum volume condition available for loading the article to be packed.
Figure 3 of the drawing shows an end view of the apparatus in this condition. Loading chamber door lock cylinders or locking means 48 are provided to secure the closure means 42 in the closed position.
An article compression bar 36 extends longitudinally o the article loading chamber 34 and is provided with a ~ormed face 35. Compression bar 36 is actuated reciprocally by lateral compression bar cylinders 50 shown in Figures 2 and 3 in the retracted position.
When these actuating cylinders are energized the - - compression-bar 36 is extended to the position shown in Figure 5 of the drawing wherein the formed face 35 defines a wall portion of the article loading chamber 34.
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5~7 A multiple acting piston arrangement is provided comprising first pis~on means 54 and a second piston means 58, ~rranged in alignment with the article loading chamber 34 and with the central support tube 30 of ', the stuffing horn a~sembly 18. In the embodiment sho~m, the second piston means 58 is arranged coaxially within a cylinder formed in the first piston means 54 so that initially, the two units together consitute one acting piston. The pistons may be served by one face of the second piston as shown in the drawing or, alternatively, be provided ~ith separate article contacting faces, one being annular in form and being in effect the rim end or edge of the first piston means 54, and the other circular in form being the face of the second piston means 58. In any case, it is only necessary that the piston means be provided so as to operate in two stages, one stage to push the laterally compressed body of meat or whatever other pliable article is involved forward through the loading chamber when it is in its closed Z condition into and through the flared end of ~he central support tube and then, in the second stage of operation, completely through the central support tube to.the dis-charge end thereof where the meat is put into con~act with the clip closed leading edge of the casing being filled. In order to avoid the possibility of trapping portions of meat between the end of the first piston means 54 and the 1ared inlet end 31 of the central support tub~
30, the face of second piston means 58 should never be allowe~ to extend beyond the rim end or edge of first piston means 54 until the stuffing motion of firs~ piston means 54 has been fully completed.
The embodiment illustrated in the drawing - provides for the front end mounting of a shirred casing stick 22 coaxLlly disposed on the support s~e~ve 24 of thè stuffing horn assembly 18. The casing m~unted in 1 ~ 685~
this manner is controlled with regard to its movement by ~eans o a sizing disc 26 mounted in a retainer recess in the suppor~ sleeve 24 and c,ontrolled with regard to maintaining ~eed pressure as it is being deshirred by means of a casing slack cylinder 68.
The opera~le features and characteristics of the casing stick 22 as it is controllably deshirred in this manner are the same as those explained in U. S. Patent 4,044,426. A snubbing carriage 20 is provided at the , front or discharge end of the apparatus and comprises clipping means 70 and 74 and severing means 76 to clip the.
casing discrete lengths closed and to sever between clipped sections so as to make individual lengths of product 78. An automatically actuated pneumatic cylinder 56 is arranged with one end fixed and a moveable end attached to a yoke which drives the multistaged piston means 54, 58 through its sequential cycles.
In a given instance, it is conceivable that 20 ~ someone ~ay to wish to operate the apparatus according to the invention without the clipping and severing features, that is to say to perform these functions at some other point in the production line.
Figure 9 of the drawing is an isometric illustration of the ar~icle loading chamber shown in open conditisn and with the piston means disposed in . free body orientation, the lateral compression bar 36 ~' and its actuating cylinders 50 shown in the}r retracted ., .
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position, and illustrating an embodiment o~ the in~en~ion which inv~lves the employment of ribs 82 arranged longitudinally in the wall portions of the loading chamber. One of the ribs 82 is incorporated into the lateral compression bar as shown and the o~her two are arranged in the arcuate wall of the fixed portion of the article loading chamber. The purpose of these ribs when used in an embodiment of apparatus according to the invention, is to provide orientation lands or rifling features for the guidance of the ~am being packaged in a correct and accurate linear mode. It has been found in practice that the inclusion of such ribs in the apparatus avoids the problems of muscle and fat disorientation and the unattractive twisting of the ham product as it is being stuffed into the stuffing horn assembly and the casing.
TYPICAL MODE OF OPERATION
The snubbing carriage 20 is moved to the trans-verse loading position. A prepackaged shirred food oasing article 22 is placed on the support sleeve 24, attach-ment being made via the fingers of the sizing disc 26;
~he snubbing carriage 20 is then moved transversely so that the central axis of the snubbing ring 28 is aligned with the centrai axis of ~he central support tube 30.
With the apparatus in the reset position, Fig. l, a whole boneless ham 32 is placed in meat loading chamber 34. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the initiaI~~osition of lateral compression bar 36 allows adequate space laterally, 17~
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and the depth of the meat loading chamber Capproximately 5 inches compared to the central upport tube diameter of approximately 3.5 inches or less3.allows adequate depth so that the meat mass can be properly arranged preparatory ~o stuffing. Tha~ is to say the ham muscles 38 are arranged to lie parallel to the direction of stuffing, and the fat cover 40 is positioned so that it remains as the outside layer of the meat mass after stuffing.
As the meat loading chamber door 42 is closed, limit switch 44 shown in Figure 5 is activated initiating the machine cycle. All subsequent machine actions are automatically sequenced. The snubbing carriage 20 moves to the stuffing position, as shown in-Fig. 4.
Mea~ loading cham~er door locks 46 are activated by cylinders 48. The p~oduct compression bar 36 is moved laterally by compression bar cylinders 50, compressing the meat mass to initial di~m~ter "A" as sho~. in Fig. 5~ -When the lateral compression bar 36 is fully extended, it is locked in place.
First-stage piston 54, activated by pneumatic cylinder 56, pushes the meat mass 32 into the central support tube 30, as shown in ~ig. 6. At the completion o~ the stroke of first-stage piston 54, second-stage piston 58 starts pushing the meat mass through the central qupport tube and into a deshirred section o - food casing 60. The first-stage piston 54 serves as the . .
~- pneumatic cylinder for the activation of the-second-stage piston 58.
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I ~ 6~5~7 As the meat mass is pushed from the meat loading chamber 34 into a deshirred end of the preclipped casing 60, it is preceded by a relatively large volume of air. Said volume of air is entrapped between said meat mass and the clipped end o~ the casing, and is proportional to the volume of the central support tube. Provision must be made for the release of said air as the ham is stuffed in~o the central support tube and into the casing so as to avoid blowing the clipped end of the casing open. Air escape paths are provided by means of vents 62 in siæing disc 26, allowing entrapped air to pass through said vents and escape between the bore 64 of the shirred casing stick and the outer surface of the support sleeve 24. the importance of and alternative modes of air venting are discussed hereinabove.
Continuous pressurization of the meat mass and size control of the stuffed product are maintained during stuffing through the application of a holdback force. Said holdback force may be achieved through the coaction of annular snubbing ring 28 and sizing disc 26 in a manner similar to that described in U.S. Patent 4,077,090. While sealing ring 66 coacts with central support tube 30 to prevent meat product from backflowing into the as yet unfilled zones in the deshirring casing, the clearance between said sealing ring and said central support tube allows the free escape of air from the casing to and through the vents 62 in the sizing disc 26. Pressurization of the meat mass is maintained 1 ~ 6~50~
during stuf~ing and clipping, elIminating the necessity for a separate and subsequent press-tying operation.
Upon completion of the stroke of the second-stage piston as shown in Fig. 7, the casing slack cylinder 68 extends and retracts the shirred stick mounted on support sleeve 24. This action provides a section of loose casing. The second-stage piston 58 remains in position at the discharge end of the central support tube 30 while slacking takes place, thus maintaining pressurization of the encased product. The casing immediately behind the encased meat product is gathered and clipped by the second tie clipper 70. The compression bar 36 is unlocked as the first-stage piston 54 and second-stage piston 58 are retracted.
With the second tie clipper 70 still engaged, the snubbing carriage 20 indexes to the pretie clip position as shown in Fig. 8, carrying the encased product with it. When the first-stage piston 54 has been fully retracted, the lateral compression bar 36 retracts. The meat loading chamber door locks 46 disengage, and the chamber door 42 is opened by pneumatic cylinder 72. The machine is now ready for reloading.
Reloading can proceed as the pretie clip is automatically applied to the loose section of casing behind the clipped-closed stuffed product by the pretie clipper 74. The casing severing knife 76 then severs the casing between the clipped-closed end of the encased product and the pretie clip. Both clippers are then 20.
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opened and the casing knife is retracted. The snubbing carriage 20 returns to the "stuff" position as shown in Fig. 4, prior to the commencement of stuffing. If the snubbing carriage has not returned to the "stuff"
position at the time the "start" limit switch 44 is activated by the manual closing of the meat loading chamber door 42, the stuffing cycle is automatically delayed until the snubbing carriage moves to said "stuff" position.
BEST MODE OF THE INVENTION
A preferred apparatus according to the invention can be constructed exactly in accordance with the detail of the figures of the drawing presented herein. The structural components are made preferably of stainless steel or aluminum with the plastic part thereof, such as for instance the formed face portion of the lateral compression bar, made of nylon, high density polyethylene or the like suitable materials conventionally used in the handling of food productsO
Assembly of the parts is made preferably with welding for the rigid parts which are not to be disassem~led for routine maintenance and with the parts that are to be disassembled for routine maintenance with nuts, lock washers, etc.
The preferred energy for actuation of the machine is standard plant air pressure at, for example, 80 psig with control pressure reduced through a pressure reducing station to 50 psig. It has been found through 21.
1 ~ 6~507 experience that the preferred angle rate of the tapered edge a~ the rear of the central tube which defines the stuffing horn should be about 15 from the horizontal.
This presents a gradual reduction in the cross sectional area of the meat which avoids undue jamming or distortion of the muscle structure and fat cover. The ribs 82 installed in the side walls of the article loading chamber 34, one of them being shown in the face 35 of the lateral compression bar 36, are preferably made of stainless steel. Approp~iate notches can be formed in the circumferential walls of the piston means to accommodate passage of the piston along the guide members as the piston progresses through the article loading chamber. The article contacting surface of the piston means may advantageously be perforated with venting holes so that in retracting same from the discharge end of the central tube, no vacuum will be formed between the piston face and clip closed end of the next to be filled casing segment. The formation of such vacuum would, of course, tend to pull the casing back into the stufing horn assembly central tube and create an undesirable malfunction or slow down the operation. Casing breaks can therefore be avoided by the simple expedient of including perforations in the piston face.
With an apparatus constructed in accordance with the above outlined specifications and physically and dimensionally in accordance with the drawing included in the application, apparatus according to the invention has been successfully operated at stuffing rates of between 8 and 9 hams per minute on 30 ham piece runs. With complete training of personnel who operate the machine it is possible to attain the rate of the packaging at 10 hams per minute.
In the light of the foregoing disclosure it is conceivable that numerous alternative embodiments of this invention will occur to persons familiar with the art and the disclosure is therefore to be taken as 1~ descriptive only and not construed in any limiting sense, it being intended to limit the invention hereof in accordance with the appended claims.
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This invention relates to meat packing, particularly to the stuffing of boneless whole meat articles into casings to make unitary packaged meat articles and, more particularly, to the packaging of whole boneless hams into lengths of casing deshirred from a continuous shirred casing supply, Back~round of the Invention Techniques for the stuffing of continuous length flexible food casings with viscous meat emulsion are now fairly well known in ~he meat packing and processed meat industries. The more recent develop~ents in this area of the technology utilize long shirred lengths of ~lexible tubular food casing for stuffing on high speed automatic stuffing apparatus to produce large size sausage products such as bolognas, liverwursts, and the like, as described, for instance, in considerable detail in U. S. Patents 4~O17J941 to Raudys et al, and 4,044,426 to Kujpcikevicius et al.
In anot'ner somewhat technologically related area of the meat packing industry, whole boneless meat articles, such as hams, have been packed into lengths of flexible tu~ular food casing and tied off at the ends to make discrete unitary packaged food articles.
Such packaging techniques generaLly have involved slow and labor intensive operations. In such practice, a whole boneless meat article, a ham typically, is manually inserted loo~ely into a cut length of presoaked casing _. -- . . . .
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I ,1 6g5~7 which has been pretied or clip-closed at one end. Inser-tion of the ham into the casing is accomplished manually or is assisted by means of one or another commercially available meat presses. In a subseq~ent pressure packing operation, the ham is tightly packed within the casing, simultaneously expelling entrapped air and shaping the ham. The ope~ator may also "stick" the casing during the pressure packing operation, providing holes to further assist in expelling air from within the packed casing.
The open end of the packed casing is then tied or clip-closed to complete the encased food article. Typical pressure packing techniques for boneless meat articles are shown and described in U. S. Patents 3,115,733 to Tipper and 3,065,585 to Rumsey, Jr. Somewhat greater automation in the boneless ~hole meat article stuffing technology is shown and described in U. S. Patent 3,919,739 to Kawai.
Kawai utilizes a continuous band casing soaker in com-bination with a carriage means to continually put the open casing end into registration with a nozzle of a packing element. With the casing soaked and thus in place, a meat article is loosely packed into the temporarily held casing length. After a first clip is applied, the unclipped end of the packed casing is pulled tight around the meat -- -ar~ticle thereby shaping said meat article and expelling air entrapped within said packed casing. The unclipped end of the casing is then tied or clip-closed and the resulting encased meat areicle is severed from the casing supply feed lPngth.
~^ While the Kawai '739 apparatus rep~esents an advance towards the goal of automatic ham stuffing, it does not provide a completely satisfactory technique.
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A significant disadvantage lies in the feeding of the casing being stuffed in a direction opposite the direction of progression of the articles being stuffed. Each stuffing action constitutes a sort of head on collision ~etween the ham and the casing length into which it is to be packaged Since, because of the apparatus design, there is no way to continually stuff the continuous casing band in a unidirectional mode with the direction of progression of the hams in process, this counterflow relationship between the casing band and the hams consti-tutes an inherent mechanical inefficiency. Another factor in the '739 patent technique which detracts from efficient packaging is that the hams are inserted into a loosely-fitting casing which is subsequently drawn tight to shape said hams and to express air out of the package article. These and other inefficiencies and drawbacks are overcome by the present invention as will be appreciated from the disclosure herein.
With this then being the state of the art, the present invention was conceived and developed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ~ND
OBJECTIVES_OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for inserting a whole boneless meat article, such as a ham, into a preclipped end of a preshirred and mounted l~ength of casing, under continuous pressure, while allowing the continuous escape of air tending to become entrapped ~- during the insertion or stuffing process, g~th:ering and clipping the open end of the stuffed casing while .
f 3 68~J
maintaining the encased produc~ in a pressurized condition, gathering and clipping the deshirred end o~ a contiguous succeeding preshirred casing length, severing the completed stuffed product from the succeeding casing, and repeating the aforedescribed cycle after loading a next sequential meat article i~to the apparatus.
The basic concept and development of the present invention involves the adaptation and application of so~e of the principles and features of large size sausage casing manufac~ure with automatic machinery, such as described in the aforementioned U.S. Patents 4,017,9~1 and 4,0~;4,426, to automatic stuffing of whole boneless hams or the like meat articles into casing lengths to make discrete tigntly pac~ed encased food articles.
I A principal objective of the present invention is to provide a fast automatic method and apparatus for the pressure packing of whole boneless hams, or similar meat cuts, into large size tubular flexible casings.
The invention further provides positive and con9istently reproducible control over the continually ', formed products with minimal human labor and handling of ;~ the food product, and with an e~ficient and relatively uncomplicated apparatus.
An advantageous feature of the invention is its ~- ability to use shirred and compacted casing lengths, such as those shown and described in U. S. Patent 4,007,761, which do not require any prestuffing soaking.
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A further feature of the inventio~:is its ability to effect size control of the end product if-this is desired.
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Still furth~r advantageous features of the invention are its capabilities to stuff product t~ith virtually complete elimination of entrained air, and to consistently make stuffed products with proper external fat cover and proper muscle orientation.
The invention further provides for the constant pr,_ssurizatiOn of the meat during stuffing and clipping, thus eli.minating the need far a separate pressure packing or squeezing step operation to effect air removal and to shape the meat.
j~ 10 Further, and o~ significant import, is the invention's provision of greatly increased production rates with decreased operator manpower requirements.
These, and other features and advantages of the invention will be the more readily understood and appreciated from the ensuing more detailed description and in the light of the appended drawing, wherein:
Figure 1 is a sectionalized side elevation of apparatus according to the invention showing a boned whole ham in position in the apparatus loading chamber;
Figure 2 is a partial top view of the apparatus of Figure 1 showing the manner in which the meat article t~ to be stuffed is initially put under compression;
Figure 3 is a sectional view of Figure 2 taken r along lines 3-3 showing an end view of the loading chamber and meat compression apparatus; . -Figure 4 is ~he apparatus of Figure 1 shown with the loading chamber cover closed and with lateral compression fully effected;
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~ ~ 6~07 Figure 5 is a sectional view of Figure 4 taken along the lines 5-5 showing an end view of the meat article in the chamber in its compressed condition;
Figure 6 is the apparatus of Figure 1 shown with the mea~ article pushed into and partially through the stuffing horn by the firs~ piston means;
Figure 7 shows the meat article pushed co~pletely through the stuffing horn and into the casing by ~he second piston means, and Figure 8 shows the apparatus of Figure 1 with the meat i~rticle completely encased, the casing severed, the piston means fully retracted, and with the loadin~
chamber opened.
Figure 9 is an is ometric view of the loading - chamber illustrating the product orientation guides or ribs.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIOI~
In general it can be stated that the present invention comprehends apparatus for continual stuffing of whole boneless meat articles or other pliable articles into discrete lengths of flexible tubular casing comprising, in combination: a frame; a stuffing horn assembly mounted on said frame; a stuffing horn assembly central support tube disposed coaxially within said stuffing horn assembly, having a discharge end and a flared inlet end; an article loading chamber in communication-with the flared inlet end of the central . support tube; closure means on said article loading 13 6~5n ^~
chamber moveable between opened and closed position providing lateral access to said article loading chamber when in the open position; locking means to secure said closure means in ~he closed position; a compression bar extending longitudinally of said article loading charnber, moveable between a retracted position and an extended position, having a formed face which defines a wall portion of the article loading chamber when in said extended position; actuating means operably connected to move the compression bar selectably into its retracted ;. and extendèd positions; first piston means disposed in.
longitudinally axial alignment with the central support tube of the stuffing horn assembly having an article contacting face and being moveable be~ween a first position wherein the article contacting face is disposed at the rearward end of the article loading chamber, and the second position wherein the articl contacting face is disposed in the flared inlet end of the central support tube; second piston means disposed coaxially within said first piston means having an article contacting face reciprocally moveable between a first position wherein . said article contacting face is disposed in the flared inlet end of the central support tube and the second I position wherein the article contacting face is disposed at the discharge end of the central support tube of the stuffing horn assembly; shirred casing holding means : disposed coaxially around the stuffing horn assembly - and arranged to provide a continuous deshirred ~upply of casing to be stuffed over the stuffing horn assembly 8 .
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central support tube discharge end in the direction of progression o the meat articles being packed; clipping means and severing means to clip the casing discrete lengths closed and to sever between clipped sections so as to make individual lengths of product; and motive means to drive the first and second piston means reciprocally.
The stuffing horn assembly which includes the central support tube with the inlet end and the discharge end serves as a conduit to convey whole boneless hams from the meat loading chamber connected at its flared inlet end into a casing which is deshirred from a mounted shirred casing supply stick arranged concentrically over the assembly. The meat loading chamber has a firs~
end in communication with the flared inlet end o~ the central support tube, a chamber door including means for the closing, locking and automatic reopening of ~he door,and is provided with means for the lateral compression of a meat mass place~ within said chamber. The second or rea~ard end of ~he meat loading chamber connects to a longitudinal product stuffing means comprising first and second pistons.
The longitudinal product stuffing means comprises a multistage piston adapted to be advanced and retracted longitudinally in axial alignment wi~h the meat loading chamber and the central ~uppor~ tube.
The first stage of the piston array is adapted to move through the meat loading chamber ~o the flared inlet end of the central support ~ube and thereby adv~nce a meat 9,.
1 3 ~507 mass from the meat loading chamber into the central support tube. The second stage of the piston means moves concentrically through the first stage piston through the central support tube to i~s discharge end thus further ad-vancing the meat mass completely into'a deshirred length of the prepackaged food casing article. The ~ovement of the second piston means begins after the completion of the movement of the first piston means.
A support sleeve may be advantageously journaled on the central support tube and provides means adapted to mount and detachably secure a sizing disc which is implant-ed in a preshirred tubular food casing article used in the packaging method. In the embodiments illustrated in the drawing the sizing means or disc is adapted to allow the escape of air displaced from the central support tube during the stuffing operation. Said adapted disc also permits the continuous escape of any ~ir which may be en-trained within the encased food product as stuffing pro-gresses. The air passes from the forward end of the section of casing being stuffed up over the discharge end of the central support tube of the stuffing horn assembly, through the space between the inner surface of the casing and the outer surface of the central support tube of the stuffing horn assembly and through ~he passages provided in the sizing disc. It is extremely important to emphasize at this poin~ in the disclosure the necessity to provide for the escape of air which would otherwise be entrapped within the encased food product during the stuffing operation. Towards this end, various alterna~ive forms of air venting may be provided. In the embodiment of apparatus according to the invention illustrated in the drawing, air vents 62 are provided in the sizing disc 26.
In other embod~ments of the apparatus according to the invention, those for instance wherein a sizing disc may not be involved in the apparatus but holdback of the casing is achieved by the application of an external peripheral force around the casing in a snubbing action, ~he provision for air vents may take the form o~ a loose sleeve fit between the central support tube and a lO ~ support sleeve or a 1005e fit between the central support tube or the support sleeve and a sleeve holding the shirred casing iD place. The venting of air rearward from the stuffing operation may also be accomplished by providing longitudinally extending flutes in the surface of the central support tube or whatever its structural equivalent may be in a given apparatus. The air would thus pass through the longitudinally extending flutes or notches rearward to be expelled through the open end of the bore of the casing. Other forms of air venting will, in the light of this disclosure, undoubtedly occur to persons familiar with the art, a~d it is sufficient to note here that provision for air venting mu~t be made in order to insure the el~mination of air which would otherwise be entrapped i in the finished product, this provision being by any of the aforedescribed structural features or their ~t - combinations or their equivalents.
~, 11.
~ 507 The prepackaged food casing article utilized with this apparatus, comprising a sizing/air venting means and a preshirred tubular food casing, is prefera~ly like those described in detail in U.S. Patent 4,007,761. The support sleeve is adapted to be reciproeated to-and-fro to thereby manipulate the secured sizing/air venting means to predetermined fore-and-aft positions while supporting the shirred tubular casing thereon.
The apparatus also employs a snubbing means including a snubbing carriage adapted to be axially aligned with the central support tube of the stuf~ing horn assembly and mounting an annular snubbing ring adapted to be advanced over and retracted therefrom.
The snub~ing means coacts with the sizing/air venting means to effect product size ~diameter~ control in the same manner as that described in U. S. Patent 4,164,057. The snubbing carriage also mounts conventional clip-closing means and a severing means. In its retracted position, distally spaced from the stuffing horn assembly, the snubbing carriage is also adapted to be moved trans-versely from and to the axis of the central support tube to permit the loading and securing of the prepackaged s~irred casing article onto ~he support sleeve means.
Motive means are provided to operate the support sleeve ~eans and the snubbing means to regulate the position of th~ snubbing means with respect to the central support tu~e and the position of the support sleeve means rela- l ~ tive to the snu~bing means. t D
126~1 .50~J
Pneumatic actuation and control means are used to operate the support sleeve means, the meat loading chamber locking means, the lateral compression means, the longitudinal product stu~fing means, and other elements of the snubbing carriage, in combination to selectivel~
control continual cycles of successive compression, stuffing, clipping, and severing operations, and thereby produce a pressurized, stufed, clip-closed whole bone-less ham product encased in a flexible tubular casing.
- lO It should be pointed out that while the disclosed embodi-ments utilize full pneumatic control, hydraulic or electro/pneumatic actuation and control means would be f~liy satisfactory alternatives.
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1~1 '' ~ .507 Turning to the drawing, Figure 1 shows apparatus according to the invention comprising ~ frame 16 on which is mounted a stuffing ho~n assembly 18.
The stuffing horn assembly comprises in turn a central support tube 30 disposed coaxially within the stuffing horn assembly, ha~ing a discharge end 29, ~nd a flared inlet end 31. Rearward and co~municating with the flared inlet end 31 of the central support tube 30, an article loading chamber 34 is provided. Article loading chamber 34 h~s a door o~ other closure means 42 which lifts hingedly or slideably to permit access to the article loading chamber. When the closure means ; 42 of article loading chamber 34 is in its fully open position, the chamber appears as shown in Figure 2, that is to say with its maximum volume condition available for loading the article to be packed.
Figure 3 of the drawing shows an end view of the apparatus in this condition. Loading chamber door lock cylinders or locking means 48 are provided to secure the closure means 42 in the closed position.
An article compression bar 36 extends longitudinally o the article loading chamber 34 and is provided with a ~ormed face 35. Compression bar 36 is actuated reciprocally by lateral compression bar cylinders 50 shown in Figures 2 and 3 in the retracted position.
When these actuating cylinders are energized the - - compression-bar 36 is extended to the position shown in Figure 5 of the drawing wherein the formed face 35 defines a wall portion of the article loading chamber 34.
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5~7 A multiple acting piston arrangement is provided comprising first pis~on means 54 and a second piston means 58, ~rranged in alignment with the article loading chamber 34 and with the central support tube 30 of ', the stuffing horn a~sembly 18. In the embodiment sho~m, the second piston means 58 is arranged coaxially within a cylinder formed in the first piston means 54 so that initially, the two units together consitute one acting piston. The pistons may be served by one face of the second piston as shown in the drawing or, alternatively, be provided ~ith separate article contacting faces, one being annular in form and being in effect the rim end or edge of the first piston means 54, and the other circular in form being the face of the second piston means 58. In any case, it is only necessary that the piston means be provided so as to operate in two stages, one stage to push the laterally compressed body of meat or whatever other pliable article is involved forward through the loading chamber when it is in its closed Z condition into and through the flared end of ~he central support tube and then, in the second stage of operation, completely through the central support tube to.the dis-charge end thereof where the meat is put into con~act with the clip closed leading edge of the casing being filled. In order to avoid the possibility of trapping portions of meat between the end of the first piston means 54 and the 1ared inlet end 31 of the central support tub~
30, the face of second piston means 58 should never be allowe~ to extend beyond the rim end or edge of first piston means 54 until the stuffing motion of firs~ piston means 54 has been fully completed.
The embodiment illustrated in the drawing - provides for the front end mounting of a shirred casing stick 22 coaxLlly disposed on the support s~e~ve 24 of thè stuffing horn assembly 18. The casing m~unted in 1 ~ 685~
this manner is controlled with regard to its movement by ~eans o a sizing disc 26 mounted in a retainer recess in the suppor~ sleeve 24 and c,ontrolled with regard to maintaining ~eed pressure as it is being deshirred by means of a casing slack cylinder 68.
The opera~le features and characteristics of the casing stick 22 as it is controllably deshirred in this manner are the same as those explained in U. S. Patent 4,044,426. A snubbing carriage 20 is provided at the , front or discharge end of the apparatus and comprises clipping means 70 and 74 and severing means 76 to clip the.
casing discrete lengths closed and to sever between clipped sections so as to make individual lengths of product 78. An automatically actuated pneumatic cylinder 56 is arranged with one end fixed and a moveable end attached to a yoke which drives the multistaged piston means 54, 58 through its sequential cycles.
In a given instance, it is conceivable that 20 ~ someone ~ay to wish to operate the apparatus according to the invention without the clipping and severing features, that is to say to perform these functions at some other point in the production line.
Figure 9 of the drawing is an isometric illustration of the ar~icle loading chamber shown in open conditisn and with the piston means disposed in . free body orientation, the lateral compression bar 36 ~' and its actuating cylinders 50 shown in the}r retracted ., .
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position, and illustrating an embodiment o~ the in~en~ion which inv~lves the employment of ribs 82 arranged longitudinally in the wall portions of the loading chamber. One of the ribs 82 is incorporated into the lateral compression bar as shown and the o~her two are arranged in the arcuate wall of the fixed portion of the article loading chamber. The purpose of these ribs when used in an embodiment of apparatus according to the invention, is to provide orientation lands or rifling features for the guidance of the ~am being packaged in a correct and accurate linear mode. It has been found in practice that the inclusion of such ribs in the apparatus avoids the problems of muscle and fat disorientation and the unattractive twisting of the ham product as it is being stuffed into the stuffing horn assembly and the casing.
TYPICAL MODE OF OPERATION
The snubbing carriage 20 is moved to the trans-verse loading position. A prepackaged shirred food oasing article 22 is placed on the support sleeve 24, attach-ment being made via the fingers of the sizing disc 26;
~he snubbing carriage 20 is then moved transversely so that the central axis of the snubbing ring 28 is aligned with the centrai axis of ~he central support tube 30.
With the apparatus in the reset position, Fig. l, a whole boneless ham 32 is placed in meat loading chamber 34. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the initiaI~~osition of lateral compression bar 36 allows adequate space laterally, 17~
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and the depth of the meat loading chamber Capproximately 5 inches compared to the central upport tube diameter of approximately 3.5 inches or less3.allows adequate depth so that the meat mass can be properly arranged preparatory ~o stuffing. Tha~ is to say the ham muscles 38 are arranged to lie parallel to the direction of stuffing, and the fat cover 40 is positioned so that it remains as the outside layer of the meat mass after stuffing.
As the meat loading chamber door 42 is closed, limit switch 44 shown in Figure 5 is activated initiating the machine cycle. All subsequent machine actions are automatically sequenced. The snubbing carriage 20 moves to the stuffing position, as shown in-Fig. 4.
Mea~ loading cham~er door locks 46 are activated by cylinders 48. The p~oduct compression bar 36 is moved laterally by compression bar cylinders 50, compressing the meat mass to initial di~m~ter "A" as sho~. in Fig. 5~ -When the lateral compression bar 36 is fully extended, it is locked in place.
First-stage piston 54, activated by pneumatic cylinder 56, pushes the meat mass 32 into the central support tube 30, as shown in ~ig. 6. At the completion o~ the stroke of first-stage piston 54, second-stage piston 58 starts pushing the meat mass through the central qupport tube and into a deshirred section o - food casing 60. The first-stage piston 54 serves as the . .
~- pneumatic cylinder for the activation of the-second-stage piston 58.
18.
I ~ 6~5~7 As the meat mass is pushed from the meat loading chamber 34 into a deshirred end of the preclipped casing 60, it is preceded by a relatively large volume of air. Said volume of air is entrapped between said meat mass and the clipped end o~ the casing, and is proportional to the volume of the central support tube. Provision must be made for the release of said air as the ham is stuffed in~o the central support tube and into the casing so as to avoid blowing the clipped end of the casing open. Air escape paths are provided by means of vents 62 in siæing disc 26, allowing entrapped air to pass through said vents and escape between the bore 64 of the shirred casing stick and the outer surface of the support sleeve 24. the importance of and alternative modes of air venting are discussed hereinabove.
Continuous pressurization of the meat mass and size control of the stuffed product are maintained during stuffing through the application of a holdback force. Said holdback force may be achieved through the coaction of annular snubbing ring 28 and sizing disc 26 in a manner similar to that described in U.S. Patent 4,077,090. While sealing ring 66 coacts with central support tube 30 to prevent meat product from backflowing into the as yet unfilled zones in the deshirring casing, the clearance between said sealing ring and said central support tube allows the free escape of air from the casing to and through the vents 62 in the sizing disc 26. Pressurization of the meat mass is maintained 1 ~ 6~50~
during stuf~ing and clipping, elIminating the necessity for a separate and subsequent press-tying operation.
Upon completion of the stroke of the second-stage piston as shown in Fig. 7, the casing slack cylinder 68 extends and retracts the shirred stick mounted on support sleeve 24. This action provides a section of loose casing. The second-stage piston 58 remains in position at the discharge end of the central support tube 30 while slacking takes place, thus maintaining pressurization of the encased product. The casing immediately behind the encased meat product is gathered and clipped by the second tie clipper 70. The compression bar 36 is unlocked as the first-stage piston 54 and second-stage piston 58 are retracted.
With the second tie clipper 70 still engaged, the snubbing carriage 20 indexes to the pretie clip position as shown in Fig. 8, carrying the encased product with it. When the first-stage piston 54 has been fully retracted, the lateral compression bar 36 retracts. The meat loading chamber door locks 46 disengage, and the chamber door 42 is opened by pneumatic cylinder 72. The machine is now ready for reloading.
Reloading can proceed as the pretie clip is automatically applied to the loose section of casing behind the clipped-closed stuffed product by the pretie clipper 74. The casing severing knife 76 then severs the casing between the clipped-closed end of the encased product and the pretie clip. Both clippers are then 20.
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opened and the casing knife is retracted. The snubbing carriage 20 returns to the "stuff" position as shown in Fig. 4, prior to the commencement of stuffing. If the snubbing carriage has not returned to the "stuff"
position at the time the "start" limit switch 44 is activated by the manual closing of the meat loading chamber door 42, the stuffing cycle is automatically delayed until the snubbing carriage moves to said "stuff" position.
BEST MODE OF THE INVENTION
A preferred apparatus according to the invention can be constructed exactly in accordance with the detail of the figures of the drawing presented herein. The structural components are made preferably of stainless steel or aluminum with the plastic part thereof, such as for instance the formed face portion of the lateral compression bar, made of nylon, high density polyethylene or the like suitable materials conventionally used in the handling of food productsO
Assembly of the parts is made preferably with welding for the rigid parts which are not to be disassem~led for routine maintenance and with the parts that are to be disassembled for routine maintenance with nuts, lock washers, etc.
The preferred energy for actuation of the machine is standard plant air pressure at, for example, 80 psig with control pressure reduced through a pressure reducing station to 50 psig. It has been found through 21.
1 ~ 6~507 experience that the preferred angle rate of the tapered edge a~ the rear of the central tube which defines the stuffing horn should be about 15 from the horizontal.
This presents a gradual reduction in the cross sectional area of the meat which avoids undue jamming or distortion of the muscle structure and fat cover. The ribs 82 installed in the side walls of the article loading chamber 34, one of them being shown in the face 35 of the lateral compression bar 36, are preferably made of stainless steel. Approp~iate notches can be formed in the circumferential walls of the piston means to accommodate passage of the piston along the guide members as the piston progresses through the article loading chamber. The article contacting surface of the piston means may advantageously be perforated with venting holes so that in retracting same from the discharge end of the central tube, no vacuum will be formed between the piston face and clip closed end of the next to be filled casing segment. The formation of such vacuum would, of course, tend to pull the casing back into the stufing horn assembly central tube and create an undesirable malfunction or slow down the operation. Casing breaks can therefore be avoided by the simple expedient of including perforations in the piston face.
With an apparatus constructed in accordance with the above outlined specifications and physically and dimensionally in accordance with the drawing included in the application, apparatus according to the invention has been successfully operated at stuffing rates of between 8 and 9 hams per minute on 30 ham piece runs. With complete training of personnel who operate the machine it is possible to attain the rate of the packaging at 10 hams per minute.
In the light of the foregoing disclosure it is conceivable that numerous alternative embodiments of this invention will occur to persons familiar with the art and the disclosure is therefore to be taken as 1~ descriptive only and not construed in any limiting sense, it being intended to limit the invention hereof in accordance with the appended claims.
23.
Claims (11)
1. An apparatus for the continual stuffing of pliable articles into discrete lengths of flexible tubular casing comprising, in combination a frame;
a stuffing horn assembly mounted on said frame;
shirred casing holding means disposed coaxially on the stuffing horn assembly, arranged and disposed to provide a continuous deshirred supply of casing to be stuffed with said pliable articles;
a stuffing horn assembly central support tube disposed coaxially within said stuffing horn assembly, having a discharge end and a flared inlet end;
an article loading chamber in communication with the flared inlet end of the central support tube;
closure means on said article loading chamber moveable between open and closed positions providing lateral access to said article loading chamber when in the open position;
a compression means extending longitudinally of said article loading chamber, moveable between a retracted position and an extended position, having a formed face which defines a wall portion of the article loading chamber when in said extended position;
actuating means operably connected to move the compression means selectably into its retracted and extended positions;
piston means disposed in longitudinally axial alignment with the central support tube of the stuffing horn assembly, having an article contacting face;
actuating means operably connected to said piston means arranged and disposed to move said piston means in multistage operation sequentially in a first stage from a first position wherein said article contacting face is disposed at the rearward end of the article loading chamber, through said article loading chamber into a second position wherein said article contacting face is disposed at the flared inlet end of the central support tube, and in a second stage from a first position wherein said article contacting face is disposed at the flared inlet end of the central support tube, through said central support tube into a second position wherein said article contacting face is disposed at the discharge end of the central support tube and maintained there under pressure exerted by said actuating means until the discrete casing length which has been just filled is clip-closed;
air passage means arranged and disposed for the venting of air expelled from said central support tube and from the package article being formed;
holdback means arranged and disposed for restraining said continuous deshirred supply of casing during stuffing of said flexible tubular casing; and casing clipping and casing severing means to clip casing discrete lengths closed, and to sever between clipped sections so as to make individual lengths of product.
a stuffing horn assembly mounted on said frame;
shirred casing holding means disposed coaxially on the stuffing horn assembly, arranged and disposed to provide a continuous deshirred supply of casing to be stuffed with said pliable articles;
a stuffing horn assembly central support tube disposed coaxially within said stuffing horn assembly, having a discharge end and a flared inlet end;
an article loading chamber in communication with the flared inlet end of the central support tube;
closure means on said article loading chamber moveable between open and closed positions providing lateral access to said article loading chamber when in the open position;
a compression means extending longitudinally of said article loading chamber, moveable between a retracted position and an extended position, having a formed face which defines a wall portion of the article loading chamber when in said extended position;
actuating means operably connected to move the compression means selectably into its retracted and extended positions;
piston means disposed in longitudinally axial alignment with the central support tube of the stuffing horn assembly, having an article contacting face;
actuating means operably connected to said piston means arranged and disposed to move said piston means in multistage operation sequentially in a first stage from a first position wherein said article contacting face is disposed at the rearward end of the article loading chamber, through said article loading chamber into a second position wherein said article contacting face is disposed at the flared inlet end of the central support tube, and in a second stage from a first position wherein said article contacting face is disposed at the flared inlet end of the central support tube, through said central support tube into a second position wherein said article contacting face is disposed at the discharge end of the central support tube and maintained there under pressure exerted by said actuating means until the discrete casing length which has been just filled is clip-closed;
air passage means arranged and disposed for the venting of air expelled from said central support tube and from the package article being formed;
holdback means arranged and disposed for restraining said continuous deshirred supply of casing during stuffing of said flexible tubular casing; and casing clipping and casing severing means to clip casing discrete lengths closed, and to sever between clipped sections so as to make individual lengths of product.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said piston means comprises a first piston having an article contacting face and a second piston concentrically disposed in the first piston and having an article contacting face, the article contacting face on the first piston and the article contacting face on the second piston together comprising said article contacting face on said piston means.
3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the actuating means operably connected to said piston means is arranged to move said first piston and said second piston together through said first stage, and said second piston through said second stage.
4. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said second piston has an article contacting face which is perforated with venting holes.
5. Apparatus according claim 1 wherein said article loading chamber comprises means providing orientation and guidance of said pliable articles in an accurate linear mode when said piston means is actuated from said first stage first position to said second stage second position.
6. A method for the stuffing of a pliable article into flexible tubular casing comprising, in combination, the steps of:
a.) depositing a pliable article in alignment with a tubular passage adjacent an inlet end thereof;
b.) laterally compressing the pliable article to a condition wherein its cross sectional area is smaller than its initial cross sectional area and larger than the cross sectional area of the tubular passage means;
c.) longitudinally forcing the compressed pliable article into the tubular passage means;
d.) pushing the compressed pliable article through said tubular passage means to and through the end thereof and into a clip-closed end of a casing length;
e.) continually supplying under a restraining holdback force, a casing length concurrently with the pushing of the pliable article thereinto until said pliable article is completely encased;
f.) continually venting air, which would other-wise be entrained in the casing length, from the casing length as it is being stuffed with the pliable article;
g.) clip closing the casing length on the encased pliable article;
h.) maintaining said pliable article under constant pressurization during steps b.) through g.) by combination of said holdback force of step e.) and the action of step d.); and i.) severing the encased pliable article from the continuous casing length.
a.) depositing a pliable article in alignment with a tubular passage adjacent an inlet end thereof;
b.) laterally compressing the pliable article to a condition wherein its cross sectional area is smaller than its initial cross sectional area and larger than the cross sectional area of the tubular passage means;
c.) longitudinally forcing the compressed pliable article into the tubular passage means;
d.) pushing the compressed pliable article through said tubular passage means to and through the end thereof and into a clip-closed end of a casing length;
e.) continually supplying under a restraining holdback force, a casing length concurrently with the pushing of the pliable article thereinto until said pliable article is completely encased;
f.) continually venting air, which would other-wise be entrained in the casing length, from the casing length as it is being stuffed with the pliable article;
g.) clip closing the casing length on the encased pliable article;
h.) maintaining said pliable article under constant pressurization during steps b.) through g.) by combination of said holdback force of step e.) and the action of step d.); and i.) severing the encased pliable article from the continuous casing length.
7. Method according to claim 6 wherein said pliable article is a meat article and said holdback force is sufficient to encase the meat article under pressurization sufficient to eliminate the need for subsequent pressure packing and shaping of the encased meat.
8. An article loading chamber for single article stuffing apparatus comprising in combination, chamber closure means moveable between open and closed positions providing lateral access to said article loading chamber when in the open position;
compression means extending longitudinally of said article loading chamber, moveable between a retracted position and an extended position, having a formed face which defines a wall portion of the article loading chamber when in said extended position; and actuating means operably connected to move the compression means selectably into its retracted and extended positions.
compression means extending longitudinally of said article loading chamber, moveable between a retracted position and an extended position, having a formed face which defines a wall portion of the article loading chamber when in said extended position; and actuating means operably connected to move the compression means selectably into its retracted and extended positions.
9. Apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said compression means extending longitudinally of the article loading chamber comprises an arcuate faced lateral com-pression bar, and said actuating means operably connected to move the compression means selectably into its retracted and extended positions comprises a pair of pneumatic actuating cylinders.
10. Apparatus according to claim 9 wherein article guiding means are provided in the face of said lateral compression bar and in the article loading chamber wall.
11. Apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said guiding means are elongate longitudinally extending rib elements.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US14290780A | 1980-04-23 | 1980-04-23 | |
| US142,907 | 1980-04-23 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1168507A true CA1168507A (en) | 1984-06-05 |
Family
ID=22501763
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000375016A Expired CA1168507A (en) | 1980-04-23 | 1981-04-08 | Whole boneless ham stuffing method and apparatus |
Country Status (19)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| JP (1) | JPS609766B2 (en) |
| AR (1) | AR225667A1 (en) |
| AU (1) | AU537377B2 (en) |
| BE (1) | BE888526A (en) |
| BR (1) | BR8102447A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1168507A (en) |
| CH (1) | CH640391A5 (en) |
| DE (2) | DE8111750U1 (en) |
| DK (1) | DK180281A (en) |
| ES (2) | ES8206150A1 (en) |
| FI (1) | FI70775C (en) |
| FR (1) | FR2481226B1 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB2075459B (en) |
| IE (1) | IE51398B1 (en) |
| IT (1) | IT1211026B (en) |
| NL (1) | NL8101978A (en) |
| NO (1) | NO811349L (en) |
| SE (1) | SE8102505L (en) |
| ZA (1) | ZA812451B (en) |
Families Citing this family (18)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4467499A (en) * | 1981-05-01 | 1984-08-28 | Union Carbide Corporation | Stuffing method and apparatus |
| NZ200366A (en) * | 1981-05-01 | 1986-07-11 | Union Carbide Corp | Cored high density shirred food casing |
| US4516387A (en) * | 1982-03-31 | 1985-05-14 | Union Carbide Corporation | Apparatus for stuffing large meat articles |
| AU2446584A (en) * | 1983-02-28 | 1984-09-06 | W.R. Grace & Co. | Molded meat vacuum packaging |
| DK172999B1 (en) * | 1983-05-20 | 1999-11-01 | Corp Viskase | Apparatus for stuffing a flowable product in continuous lengths of tubular casing, a method of use |
| US4672793A (en) * | 1984-01-06 | 1987-06-16 | W. R. Grace & Co. | Molded meat vacuum packaging |
| GB8407717D0 (en) * | 1984-03-24 | 1984-05-02 | Mateline Automation Ltd | Pumping plastics materials |
| CA1248813A (en) * | 1984-11-01 | 1989-01-17 | John H. Beckman | Composite shirred casing article with cored high density shirred casing and method of using same and production thereof |
| IT1201701B (en) * | 1986-11-17 | 1989-02-02 | Inox Meccanica Srl | FORMING, BAGGING AND CLIPPING MACHINE FOR FOOD PRODUCTS |
| JP2006230234A (en) * | 2005-02-23 | 2006-09-07 | Asahi Giken Kk | Automated ham product-packaging equipment |
| US7284359B2 (en) * | 2005-06-16 | 2007-10-23 | Poly-Clip System Corp. | Breech loader |
| FR2912982B1 (en) | 2007-02-26 | 2009-07-31 | Corentin Desbois | DEVICE FOR MOVING ON SNOW |
| DE102007023328A1 (en) | 2007-05-16 | 2008-11-20 | Anders Agil Gmbh | Warm meat packaging equipment for packing of piece of meat into section of hose, is provided with clamp within area of opening for guidance of hose section of intended hollow body |
| DE202009003326U1 (en) * | 2009-03-07 | 2010-08-19 | Schröder Maschinenbau KG | Device for filling products from meat, fish or poultry |
| ITMO20090056A1 (en) * | 2009-03-16 | 2010-09-17 | Salumificio Rugiada Di Galloni Clau Dio & C S N C | METHOD TO OBTAIN A FOOD AND ITEMS PRODUCT. |
| ITMO20130037A1 (en) * | 2013-02-15 | 2014-08-16 | Graft System Di Rabitti Enrico & C S A S | PROSCIUTTO OF CONFORMED PIG, PROFILING PRESS AND RELATIVE METHOD |
| ITMO20130239A1 (en) * | 2013-08-19 | 2015-02-20 | Graft System Di Rabitti Enrico & C S A S | PROFILING PRESS FOR CONFORMED PORK HAM AND RELATIVE METHOD |
| US11202452B2 (en) | 2019-04-08 | 2021-12-21 | Provisor Technologies, Inc. | Apparatus and method for cutting meat products into blocks of meat |
Family Cites Families (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4044426A (en) * | 1975-10-30 | 1977-08-30 | Union Carbide Corporation | Stuffing apparatus |
-
1981
- 1981-04-08 CA CA000375016A patent/CA1168507A/en not_active Expired
- 1981-04-13 ZA ZA00812451A patent/ZA812451B/en unknown
- 1981-04-16 CH CH257181A patent/CH640391A5/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1981-04-16 AU AU69650/81A patent/AU537377B2/en not_active Ceased
- 1981-04-18 DE DE8111750U patent/DE8111750U1/en not_active Expired
- 1981-04-18 DE DE3115717A patent/DE3115717A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1981-04-21 AR AR285022A patent/AR225667A1/en active
- 1981-04-21 ES ES501512A patent/ES8206150A1/en not_active Expired
- 1981-04-21 JP JP56059308A patent/JPS609766B2/en not_active Expired
- 1981-04-21 SE SE8102505A patent/SE8102505L/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1981-04-21 NO NO811349A patent/NO811349L/en unknown
- 1981-04-21 FI FI811236A patent/FI70775C/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1981-04-21 IT IT8121303A patent/IT1211026B/en active
- 1981-04-22 BE BE0/204578A patent/BE888526A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1981-04-22 DK DK180281A patent/DK180281A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1981-04-22 GB GB8112423A patent/GB2075459B/en not_active Expired
- 1981-04-22 NL NL8101978A patent/NL8101978A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1981-04-22 FR FR8107985A patent/FR2481226B1/en not_active Expired
- 1981-04-22 IE IE893/81A patent/IE51398B1/en unknown
- 1981-04-23 BR BR8102447A patent/BR8102447A/en unknown
-
1982
- 1982-03-31 ES ES510999A patent/ES510999A0/en active Granted
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| DE8111750U1 (en) | 1986-01-16 |
| AU6965081A (en) | 1981-10-29 |
| ES501512A0 (en) | 1982-08-16 |
| BR8102447A (en) | 1981-12-29 |
| IE810893L (en) | 1981-10-23 |
| SE8102505L (en) | 1981-10-24 |
| IT1211026B (en) | 1989-09-29 |
| DK180281A (en) | 1981-10-24 |
| NO811349L (en) | 1981-10-26 |
| FR2481226B1 (en) | 1986-05-23 |
| GB2075459B (en) | 1984-06-20 |
| IE51398B1 (en) | 1986-12-24 |
| BE888526A (en) | 1981-10-22 |
| ZA812451B (en) | 1982-04-28 |
| ES8206150A1 (en) | 1982-08-16 |
| IT8121303A0 (en) | 1981-04-21 |
| FR2481226A1 (en) | 1981-10-30 |
| GB2075459A (en) | 1981-11-18 |
| AU537377B2 (en) | 1984-06-21 |
| AR225667A1 (en) | 1982-04-15 |
| DE3115717A1 (en) | 1982-03-04 |
| FI70775C (en) | 1986-10-27 |
| JPS5733534A (en) | 1982-02-23 |
| JPS609766B2 (en) | 1985-03-13 |
| ES8303035A1 (en) | 1983-02-01 |
| ES510999A0 (en) | 1983-02-01 |
| CH640391A5 (en) | 1984-01-13 |
| NL8101978A (en) | 1981-11-16 |
| FI811236L (en) | 1981-10-24 |
| FI70775B (en) | 1986-07-18 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
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| MKEX | Expiry |