GB1274863A - Machine for forming potato dough pieces for fat frying - Google Patents

Abstract

1,274,863. Moulding French fry potato bodies. AMERICAN POTATO CO. 30 April, 1969 [30 April, 1968], No. 20438/68. Heading B5A. [Also in Division A2] French-fry potato bodies F are formed from a water reconstituted dried potato dough D which is intermittently extruded through spaced parallel wires 54, and then cut by smaller wires 58, which are located beneath and parallel to the wires 58 during the extrusion, and are displaced parallel to the plane of the wires 54. In a manually actuated apparatus, Fig. 1, a polyethylene bag 19, containing the dough D, is located at the open end thereof between plates 25, 26 and the closed end, which passes through a gap 30 in an extrusion plunger 28, is gripped by a cross-member 22. The extrusion plunger 28 is intermittently advanced to squeeze the bag 1a and extrude the bodies F, by a rack-and-pinion drive 34, 36, the pinion shaft whereof is rotated by a toothed wheel 39 thereon which is intermittently engaged by 180 degrees spaced apart pegs, e.g. 41b, of a disc 42 on a hand crank 50 rotated shaft 40, reverse movement of plunger 28 being prevented by a manually actuated pawl (43), Fig. 2 (not printed), which engages a tooth 39. The wires 58 are mounted in a frame 57 which slidingly engages within a frame supporting the wires 54 and which is reciprocated, at a follower frame 63 connected thereto, by a cam (65), Fig. 4 (not printed), on a shaft 66 which is constantly rotated by a bevel drive 67 from the shaft 40. The configuration of the cam (65) produces a dwell in the motion of the wires 58 during the extrusion and a reciprocatory cutting displacement into alignment with the next but one of the wires 54, the displacement in each direction being intermediate an extrusion whereby the bodies F are cut by a single action. In an alternative embodiment, Fig. 7, wherein the working parts are automatically driven from a reversible motor 94 actuated through a control circuit, a cylindrical extrusion chamber H is disposed horizontally, or at a slight inclination, and is provided with similar wires in a frame 206, through which the dough is extruded, and with similar cutting wires in a frame 216 similarly reciprocated, via a pinion drive 96 through an electromagnetic clutch 95. The frames 206 and 216 are hingedly mounted to facilitate cleaning of chamber H. The dough is extruded by a plunger which is reciprocated, between positions K2 and K1, by the reversible motor- 94, via a Geneva mechanism and rack-and pinion drive 82, 84 to a plunger rod 80. Dry potato particles are metered from a hopper L to the chamber H by a metering device M comprising a cylinder 132, provided with an adjustable volume regulating end wall, which is arcuately rotatable, by a crank drive from a rocker arm 148, between a position to which it is urged by a spring 152 at which an open side thereof is in alignment with the hopper L, and a position in which the open side thereof is aligned with an inlet 112 of the chamber H and to which it is displaced as the end of plunger rod 80 abuts the arm 148 during the movement of the plunger to the retracted K2 position. During movement of the plunger to the K position, water is supplied to inlet 112 in a metered quantity and at a regulated temperature, and the plunger is retained in the K position for a predetermined time, as indicated by a warning light, by a time delay mechanism. Advancement of the plunger from the K to the K 1 position is initiated by a manually operated push-button, but the operational cycle is thereafter automatically controlled by a camshaft 108 actuated electric relay circuit, Fig. 11 (not printed). The plunger includes a resilient seal (234), Fig. 12 (not printed), which is mounted on the plunger rod 80 at a lost-motion connection permitting the ingress of air during the retraction of the plunger, a stepped portion of the chamber H adjacent the inlet 112, or adjacent the wires at the outlet, Fig. 16 (not printed), permitting the expulsion of air entrapped in the chamber. In starting up the apparatus in the alignment shown, a removable plug (200), Fig. 15 (not printed), may be utilized in the chamber H, or an impermeable plate may be inserted between the end of the chamber 4 and the cutting mechanism if the chamber H is vertically aligned. The plunger may be fully advanced to clean the machine at the termination of extrusion.