EP0237715B1 - Apparatus for cutting food products - Google Patents

Abstract

In a method for cutting food products, in particular vegetables, bread or cheese, into strips or cubes, a magazine plunger (19) pushes the product to be cut, in a magazine (2), from one end cyclically through an opening (15) in the magazine at the opposite end. In front of the magazine, a severing knife (16), driven by a drive motor, for cutting off the product to be cut is arranged. After cutting by the severing knife (16), the slices of cut product which fall onto a frame (11) having a plurality of mutually spaced knives (12) are pressed through the frame having the knives by a cutting plunger (13) arranged above the frame (11) and capable of being pressed downwards onto the frame. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a device for cutting food, in particular vegetables, bread or cheese, in the form of strips or cubes, with a magazine for the material to be cut, in which a cyclically longitudinally displaceable magazine stamp from one end of the material to be cut in the horizontal direction to the opposite end pushes, a separating knife for cutting the material to be cut being arranged after this opposite end of the magazine, and several knives being provided for cutting the pre-cut slices in the form of cubes or strips.

A cutting machine of this type is described in DE-B-17 79 153 or in GB-A-15 78 721.

With the machine according to DE-B-17 79 153, a wide variety of foods can be cut into strips or cubes. The material to be cut falls from a prefilling space down into the magazine, which is generally box-shaped. After the magazine has been closed by a cover plate, the material is cut, possibly after a lateral, large-area pre-pressing by means of a lateral compression stamp. For this purpose, the magazine stamp is shifted in the longitudinal direction of the magazine from the back in cycles towards a gate knife arranged at the opposite end. The magazine stamp thus pushes the material to be cut through the gate knife.

The gate knife generally consists of two rows of knives arranged one behind the other, each lying parallel to one another, one row being perpendicular to the other row. In cross-section, this results in a large number of small rectangles, which means that the material is pressed lengthways into strips by the gate knife.

For cutting, the two rows of knives perpendicular to one another, which are each arranged in a frame, are set in a reciprocating cutting movement over the frames.

There is a rotating cutting knife in front of the gate knife, which then cuts the material to be cut in the desired length transversely to the feed direction. This creates the cube shape.

Such a machine is particularly suitable for cutting meat or hard food. Problems can arise when cutting sticky or slightly sticky products, such as cheese, or foods that can be highly compressed, such as bread. If there is a high level of friction in the magazine during the advancement of the material to be cut, while the magazine walls are also smeared in a disadvantageous manner, a correspondingly high force is required for the magazine stamp to advance. This also results in a very unclean cut. The same applies to foods that can be highly compressed. Here too, a very unclean cut is created.

From GB-A-15 78 721 a device is known in which the cut disc-shaped material to be cut falls directly onto a conveyor belt and in which a stamp presses the material laterally onto the knives.

From FR-A-25 48 573 a cutting device is known in which the magazine is arranged vertically and a transport path to the second knife unit is provided. With this device, however, either no sticky or sticky foods can be processed, or separate drive units are necessary for the transfer to the second cutting device.

The present invention is therefore based on the object of providing a device of the type mentioned at the outset, with which sticky or strongly adhering and soft foods can also be cut into strips or cubes without particular difficulty.

According to the invention this object is achieved in that a frame with a plurality of spaced-apart knives is arranged immediately after the separating knife in the bottom of an extension section, and that a cutting punch is arranged above the frame can be pressed cyclically by an adjusting device onto cut-off panes lying on the frame and onto the frame, the cutting punch being at rest at a level which is at least approximately as high as the height of the magazine and the frame being arranged interchangeably in the extension section , wherein the magazine has a fixed lateral longitudinal wall and a second lateral longitudinal wall displaceable at right angles to the longitudinal axis.

According to the invention, the material to be cut is no longer pushed through the frame with the knives in its entirety, the magazine stamp having to advance the material to be cut from behind, but instead the material to be cut is divided into individual disks, which are then individually cut through the direct pressure of a cutting stamp is pressed through the frame with the knives. This means that much less effort is required for the magazine stamp to advance the material to be cut in order to cut it into individual slices using the cutting knife. Through the individual treatment of the separated discs, which automatically fall forward after the cut by the cutting knife due to the next feed cycle and thus lie on the frame, perfect cuts in the form of cubes or strips can also be achieved. The force to be applied by the cutting punch for cutting a single disk is significantly lower than the force to be generated for a magazine punch when the latter has to press the entire material to be cut through a gate knife. If only several rows of knives are spaced apart and parallel to one another in the frame, a strip shape is obtained, and if rows of knives are also arranged transversely to this, a gate frame is formed which cuts the material to be cut into cubes. Because the cutting punch presses the material to be cut directly through the frame, a very clean cut is achieved even with a soft and / or lubricating material to be cut. This means that an additional reciprocating movement of the individual knives can generally be omitted. Of course, it is also possible within the scope of the invention to give the knives a translatory movement.

The frame is interchangeably arranged in the extension section to adapt to different sized stripes or cubes.

You can collect or transport it under the frame a receptacle or a conveyor belt can be arranged, which transports the parts cut into strips or cubes to a further processing point.

Because the cutting punch is in the rest position at a level which is at least approximately as high as the height of the magazine, the separating cut and the overturning of the severed disk is not hindered. At the next cycle, the cutting punch then moves down and then back to its rest position before the next feed cycle of the magazine stamp.

The cutting punch can be driven in any way. A hydraulic or pneumatic unit will be used in a simple manner for this.

In a very advantageous development of the invention, it can be provided that a holder for a frame of a gate knife is arranged at the front magazine opening.

In this way, a universal use of the device according to the invention is possible. For example, the material to be cut can be separated in the manner described above, or, with appropriate stopping of the cutting punch and, if appropriate, a covering of the frame in the extension department, cutting material to be cut in a known manner after inserting a gate knife into the holder.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention, from which further advantages and features according to the invention emerge, is described in principle on the basis of the drawing.

Fig. 1:

einen Horizontalschnitt nach Linie I-I der Fig. 2 (ohne Schneidestempel)

Fig. 2:

eine Vorderansicht aus der Pfeilrichtung A gemäß Fig. 1 (ohne Trennmesser)

Fig. 3:

einen Längsschnitt nach Linie III-III der Fig. 1.

It shows:

Fig. 1:

a horizontal section along line II of FIG. 2 (without cutting stamp)

Fig. 2:

a front view from the direction of arrow A of FIG. 1 (without cutting knife)

Fig. 3:

a longitudinal section along line III-III of Fig. 1st

A magazine 2 is arranged on a machine frame 1, one vertical side wall 3 of which is fixed, while the other side longitudinal wall is formed by a pre-compression ram 4. A compression wall 5 of the pre-compression stamp 4 represents the second vertical side wall for the magazine 2. Of course, the wall 5 can also be designed as a normal side wall, like the side wall 3.

A prefilling chamber 7 is arranged above the magazine 2. The compression stamp 4 is further provided with a horizontal cover plate 9 which extends in the direction of the opposite side wall 3 of the magazine. The width of the cover plate 9 is chosen so that in the closed state, ie in the front position of the compression ram 4, in which the compression wall 5 forms the second side or longitudinal wall of the magazine 2, a filling opening 10 between the prefilling space 7 and the Magazine 2 is completely covered by the cover plate 9. 2, the pre-compression stamp 4 is in its retracted position Position and shown in Fig.1 in the advanced position. In front of the magazine there is an extension section 6 which has a trough shape, the bottom 8 of which is approximately at the same level as the bottom of the magazine. A frame 11 is embedded in the bottom 8 of the extension section 6, in which a plurality of rows of knives 12 lying parallel and crosswise to one another are fastened. In this way a gate knife is formed. A cutting punch 13 is arranged vertically above the frame 11 and can be displaced downwards on the frame by a hydraulic unit 14 with a cylinder and a piston. A separating knife 16 is pivotably arranged in a gap between a front opening 15 of the magazine 2 and the extension section 6. For this purpose, the cutting knife can be attached laterally to a rotary shaft 17, which is cyclically driven by a drive motor 18, not shown.

Magazine 2 is also open on the back. At this point there is a magazine stamp 19 which extends essentially over the height and width of the magazine 2. The magazine stamp 19 is also moved in a manner not shown by a hydraulic unit 20 in the longitudinal direction of the magazine 2.

Under the extension section 6 is in the area of Frame 11 a conveyor belt 21. The parts falling on the conveyor belt 21 and cut into strips or cubes can be transported away by the conveyor belt 21 for further processing or for packaging.

The device according to the invention now works in the following way.

Cuttings 22 reach the magazine 2 via the pre-filling chamber 7. Subsequently, the pre-compression ram 4 is moved in any direction, for example as shown, by a mechanical actuating device 23 for closing the magazine in the direction of the arrow. The cover plate 9 closes the magazine on the top and the compression wall 5 represents the second longitudinal wall of the magazine. The magazine stamp 19 then moves forward and thus pushes the material to be cut 22, which may have been pre-compressed by the pre-compression stamp 4, in the direction on the cutting knife 16. The material to be cut 22 is shifted beyond the cutting knife 16 by the desired cutting width, after which a stop cycle is inserted. During the stop cycle, the cutting knife 16 is set in rotation by the drive motor 18 and thus cuts a disk from the material to be cut 22. The cutting knife 16 is stopped outside so that the further advance of the material to be cut 22 is not hindered. During the further feed or after the front pane has been cut off, it falls onto the frame 11 with the knives 12 lying directly in front of it. If the cutting punch 13 is now moved downward by a corresponding activation of the hydraulic unit 14 and presses on the pane lying on the frame 11 - dashed in the 3 - this disk is pressed through the openings in the frame between the knives 12 during the further advancement of the cutting punch 13, whereby the desired strip or cube shape is created.

Side walls of the extension department are used for lateral guidance of the separated disc.

1 and 3, a holder 24 is shown in dashed lines in front of the front magazine opening 15, into which, if necessary, a gate frame with gate knives can be inserted or attached to it. In this way, if necessary, the same device can also be used in a conventional manner, e.g. Meat, first cut into longitudinal strips and then cut into cubes by the cutting knife 16.

Claims (6)

1. Apparatus for cutting food products, especially vegetables, bread or cheese, into strips or cubes, comprising a magazine (2) for the material to be cut, in which a magazine plunger (19) which is longitudinally displaceable in a timed sequence pushes the material to be cut in a horizontal direction from one end to the opposite end, a cutting blade (16) for cutting the material being arranged after this opposite end of the magazine (2), and a plurality of blades (12) being provided to cut the rough-cut slices into cubes or strips, characterised in that a frame (11) having a plurality of blades (12) situated at a distance from one another is arranged immediately after the cutting blade (16) in the base (8) of a discharge compartment (6), and that a cutting plunger (13) is arranged above the frame (11) and can be pressed in a timed sequence by a control means (14) against cut slices lying on the frame (11) and against the frame, the cutting plunger (13) lying, in the rest position, at a level at least approximately equal to the height of the magazine and the frame (11) being removably arranged in the discharge compartment (6), the magazine having a fixed lateral longitudinal wall (3) and a second lateral longitudinal wall (5) displaceable perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterised in that a plurality of blades (12) are arranged crosswise in the frame (11) for cutting the material into cubes.
3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that a receiver for the cut material is arranged under the frame (11).
4. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that a conveyor belt (21) is arranged under the frame (11).
5. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the control means (14) for the cutting plunger (13) has a hydraulic or pneumatic unit (14).
6. Apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that a holder (24) for a latticed blade is arranged at the front opening (15) of the magazine.

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