GB2030848A

GB2030848A - Food processing apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2030848A
Application number: GB7929143A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: SAKURAZAWA H
Current assignee: SAKURAZAWA H
Priority date: 1978-09-29
Filing date: 1979-08-21
Publication date: 1980-04-16
Also published as: FR2437168B1; JPS565494B2; GB2030848B; DE2937796A1; JPS5545382A; DE2937796C2; FR2437168A1

Abstract

Production of a desired number of individual cut food stuff strips by feeding a predetermined number of continuous lengths of food stuff strips 1 to a cutter means 2 which cuts said strips and concurrently and automatically counts the number of cutting operations by a counter 8 incorporated therewith. Containers 3 are successively arranged under the cutter means at a predetermined speed or at predetermined intervals. The counter 8 is connected, through a reference signal circuit, either to an actuator 17 of a transfer means 7 which transfers the containers or to a shutter means 14 which shuts or opens the passage between the cutter means and the container, thereby the transfer means moves the container under the cutter means to a next position or the shutter is opened and then closed prior to the movement of the container, when the counter means has finished a predetermined number of cutting actions. According to the above-mentioned mode of operation, the number and quantity of the food stuff strips of long and thin noodle like material to be received by each container can be predetermined and detected in a very accurate and effective manner. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Food processing apparatus The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing a desired number of individual food stuff strips such as noodles, spaghetties or the like, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for introducing a desired number of food stuff strips having a shape like noodles into a cutting means, cutting and concurrently counting the number of cutting operations and feeding into each of a successive train of containers a required number of thus cut food stuff strips determined by multiplying the number of food stuff strips to be cut per one cutting work by the number of cutting operations.

Food stuffs of cereals or grain powder having a shape like noodles orspaghetties are often cut into short lengths to be used as ingredients for soup, confectioneries after having seasoning added or as food stuffs of other kinds.

It is usual that such kind of food stuffs are sold in a market after having been packed into a container or a packing bag, accordingly, the food stuff strips in each container or bag are required to be uniform in number.

In this connection, it is required when packing this kind of food stuff strips into containers that a predetermined number thereof are contained in each container although a slight extent of variation is permitted. However, because of their noodle like shape, many difficulties have been encountered in cutting the long and thin materials of such food stuff strips and then supplying them in a predetermined number after their having been counted.

That is to say, long and thin food stuff strips of noodles or the like in the process, immediately after having been kneaded and slit, are still in an undried condition, and therefore, some of the slit food stuff strips are apt to adhere to each other due to their doughy consistency. In most cases they are introduced into a cutting step after they have gone through the steps of converting into an alpha configuration of starch and frying.

As mechanical or electrical measures for counting are not feasibly applicable to such food stuffs when they are adhered to each other, this leads nonuniformity in the supplied food stuff strips particularly when these food stuff strips are imparted with waves, the cut food stuff strips are liable to interlock or entangle, in addition to adhering, thus it becomes more difficult for electrical counting to be employed.

It sometimes occurs, even if the counting has been correctly performed, that some or all of the food stuff in a group of one counting to be introduced into a container are thrown into a subsequent container due to their aforesaid entangled state.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of producing a desired number of individual thin food stuff strips comprising feeding a predetermined number of continuous lengths of food stuff strips to a cutting means at a predetermined speed or at predetermined intervals; repeatedly cutting the continuous food stuff strips to produce individual food stuff strips, concurrently counting the number of cutting operations and replacing a container positioned under said cutting means with the next one when the cutter means has finished a predetermined number of cutting operations thereby supplying a desired number of cut food stuff strips having substantially the same length into each container.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for accompanying drawings producing a desired number of individual thin food stuff strips feed comprising means for feeding to a cutting means for feeding to a cutting means a predetermined number of continuous lengths of noodle like food stuff strips at a constant predetermined speed or at predetermined intervals, the cutter means having a roller body having a plurality of cutter blades projecting radially and outwardly from the circumference of the roller at equal spacing, a counter means correlated to said cutting means, transfer means for transfering a train of containers so as to be succesively positioned under discharge side of said cutter means to receive the desired number of cut food stuff strips, the counter means and an actuating means of said transfer means being connected through a reference signal circuit which sends a signal to supply the desired number of food stuff strips into each container in accordance with a predetermined number of counting operations counted by said counter means.

The cutter itself automatically counts the number of repetition of cuttings it has completed, thereby the number and amount of cut food stuff strips can be determined by the counted number of repetition cuttings.

The plurality of food stuff containers which are carried by the transfer means are positioned under said cutter means at a constant speed or at predetermined intervals so as to receive the cut stuff strips falling down thereinto and transfer them to the next station.

A count of the number of repetition cuttings counted by the counter may be transmitted by wiring to a reference signal circuit, which is connected to an actuating means of said transfer means for controlling the actuating means.

Alternatively, said transfer means is pre-setto perform a predetermined motion, and said reference circuit is connected to a shutter which opens or closes the path between the cutter and the containers, thereby said containers are moved per each predetermined number of repetition counts and a shutter is arranged to open or shut prior to the movement of the container. This can also be performed by such a manner that both the transfer means and the shutter means are controlled by said reference circuit.

As can be clearly understood from the foregoing description, this invention concerns a method and an apparatus for producing a desired number of the food stuff strips of noodle like configuration and since counting of the number of cut food stuff strips is by means of counting the number of cutting operations, therefore, it is possible to correctly count the number of cut strips regardless of whether the food stuff strips adhere to or are entangled with each other.

Accordingly, a desired number of food stuff strips can be automatically supplied to each container and also due to the fact that cutting means also plays a role as a part of counting means, construction of the entire apparatus can be simplified.

Reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic elevational view showing a typical embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic elevational view showing another embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 is a schematic elevational view showing a further embodiment of the present invention Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, wherein several means such as a waving means A, a means B for converting starch of the food stuffs into alpha (a) configuration, a means C for expanding, a means D for frying a feeding means 4 and a means for cutting and concurrently counting the number of cut food stuff strips according to the present invention are arranged in series.

The means Afor waving not only acts to slit a flat web of kneaded food stuffs lengthwise into a predetermined number of strips of noodle like shape but further imparts substantially uniform waves to the slitted strips by applying necessary frictional resistance to the slitted strips in advance.

Thus slitted strips are divided into a predetermined number of groups at the time when they have been slitted. This grouping is performed by placing a number of partition discs immediately down stream side of the slitter means, thereby the cut strips are guided on a conveyor means into a plurality of groups, each of which are separated by a predetermined length of space.

Accordingly, the number of food stuff strips in each group is maintained entirely the same. Next, the slitted strips constituting each group are introduced into said means B for converting starch of the food stuff into alpha configuration, wherein the starch of the food stuff strips are passed through an atmosphere filled with steam while they are carried by a conveyor, thereby starch in the food stuff material is converted into alpha configuration.

Food stuff strips thus having their starch converted into alpha configuration are expanded by said expanded C such that waves thereof imparted by said means for waving A can be moderated to a suitable extent.

That is, said expander C is composed of a conveyor having a higher speed than that of the means B such that the food stuff strips fed out through the means B for converting starch of the food stuff into alpha configuration is expanded by utilizing frictional force generated between the conveyor and the food stuff strips carried thereon.

Since the expanded strips have their starch already converted into alpha configuration, thus it becomes considerably elastic, consequently, the strips are not rendered straight but maintain to some extent their wavy or crimpy state even after they were expanded.

In other words, expanded food stuff strips are left in a somewhat less wavy state than that given by the waving means A, that is, having slight curvature with long wave length and low wave height.

Subsequently, the expanded food stuff strips are heattreated in boiling oil in a frying means D, in which a net conveyor carrying the food stuff strips passes through boiled oil in a pan while it is being immersed therein. An endless conveyor is also used to hold down the food stuff strips in the pan to prevent the strips from rising over the surface of the boiling oil. The net conveyor for the frying means D may be used also to play a role as an expander as the expander C does.

Alternatively, other heating and drying means are used in lieu of said frying means D, when so-called non-fried noodles are required to be produced.

Next, the fried food stuff strips are introduced by a feeder means 4 into a cutter means 2 through a bridge member 9. The feeder means 4 of this embodiment is composed of a cooling chamber 10 equipped with a cooling fan or fans and an endless conveyor 11, which removes the heat absorbed by the food stuff strips during the frying operation.

The food stuff strips to be introduced into the cutter means are still in continuous, long and thin noodle shape being separated into several groups into which they have been formed by the waving means.

As said strips of noodle like food stuff 1 of predetermined number divided into separate groups are continuously or intermittently moved and fed into a rotary cutter 2, they are cut with the same time intervals into short strips of predetermined length and are supplied into containers at the outlet part of the cutter means.

In the drawing, the cutter 2 has cutter blades 6 projecting from a peripheral surface of a roll body 5 and is arranged to cut the continuous strips between the cutter blade 6 and a mating roll 12 upon their relative rotation.

Although a number of cutter blades are disposed on the cutter means 2 in the embodiment, smaller number of blades or even a single one will perform the same function, if a suitable speed of rotation is selected depending upon the number of cutter blades.

At the outlet or discharge end of the cutter means 2, a chute guide 13 is provided, at the lower end thereof a container3 is located, while being a merely laid on or fixed to a conveyor type transfer means 7.

The conveyor 3 may be one either a packing container, in itself, or an intermittent one which merely transfers the cut strips into another packing container including a packing bag.

A shutter 14 provided with an actuator means 15 is disposed at the chute guide 13 and is electrically connected to a reference signal circuit 16, attached with actuator means 15 such as a solenoid, which is further connected to a counter 8 set to the cutter means 2 and to an actuator means 17 of the transfer means 7.

Thus, a predetermined number of counting by the counter 8 will send reference signals to said transfer means 7 and to the shutter 14.

Any type of counter may be used as said counter 8 which is able to count the number of cutting repetitions applied to the food stuff strips.

According to this embodiment, a limit switch is used to count the number of passes of the cutter blade, however, alternatively, it is also possible to perform counting by detecting the necessary angle of rotation of the roll body 5 or by any other means.

When the cutter 6 has finished a predetermined number of cutting actions, said transfer means 7 will move forward by one pitch as instructed by a reference signal sent by said reference signal circuit.

When the shutter 14 is provided as shown in the embodiment, it will open by a required count number of the counter 8 to supply the cut strips stored on the shutter into the container 3 and thereafter the transfer means 7 may be moved.

When the continuous strips are fed into the cutter means by an intermittent movement, the cutter means 2 also is preferred to be intermittently rotated in synchronism with the movement of the fed food stuff strips, alternatively, the cutter may be rotated either continuously or intermittently when the strips are fed continuously.

The same number of guides 13 and cutter means 2 as the number of groups of food stuff strips are arrayed in parallel, this means that a plurality of the guides 13 and the containers 3 are arranged in a direction normal to the plane of the paper of the drawing, namely, transverse to the direction of the travel of the strips.

According to this embodiment, food stuff strips are divided into a plurality of groups, but a single group of strips alone can also be effectively handled without necessitating any such parallel arraying of the guide means 13 and the container 3.

According to the manner as explained above, a substantially uniform length of cut food stuff strips of a number determined by the number of strips in one group multiplied by the number of cutting actions is supplied into each container for receiving the same.

It is preferred that the container 3 is constructed to move with a time interval between the whole counting time of the counter means 8 and the time when the last piece of strip has been received by the container in order that the container 3 may not start moving during the period between the cutting by the cutter 2 and the time when the cut strips have been supplied into the container, namely at an intermediate period when the cut strips are only halfway to the container.

However, it will not bring about any appreciable inconvenience even if the reference signal circuit is set that the container 3 may start moving immediately before all of the food stuff strips cut away by the final cutting applied to the group of strips have been received in the container, thus a part of the strips in the group may be supplied into the subsequent container 3.

This is because, such manner of supplying will also result in that a certain number of cut strips in one group can be repeatedly supplied to a next coming container, thus giving a uniform supply of cut strips into each container.

Figure 2 shows another embodiment, wherein a reference signal circuit is connected only to an actuator 17 of the transfer means 7, wherein the actuator 17 is driven by a power source such as a pulse motor which intermittently moves by a specific signal, and therefore, the container3 is intermittently moved under and removed from the cutter 2.

In this case, the number and quantity of the food stuff strips supplied to each container is determined by a correlation between the number of actions of the cutter 2 on the food stuff strips and the length of time of holding the container 3 under the cutter means 2.

Figure 3 is a further embodiment, wherein a reference signal circuit 16 is connected only to an actuator 15 of a shutter 14, wherein the actuator 15 is moved by a solenoid means by a signal from the reference signal circuit 16 to open or shut the shutter 14.

In this instance, the shutter 14 is designed to shut at a specified time interval, namely, until the time when the cutter 2 has acted a predetermined number of times upon the food stuff strips to be cut such that a required number of strips may be stored thereon.

During this time period, an actuating means 17 is controlled to move at a specified rate of travel continuously or intermittently, therefore a suitable timing can be set such that one of the containers 3 is positioned under the cutter 2 and is moved further after the shutter 14 opens and the cut food stuff strips stored thereon have been introduced into the container, then the next container is moved to the position under the cutter2 after the shutter 14 has completely shut.

In this manner, the number and quantity of food stuff strips to be received in each container3 are determined by a correlation between the number of cutter actions on the food stuff to be cut, the time interval specified for opening the shutter 14 and the time interval set for the container 3 to be positioned under the cutter 2.

Claims

1. A method of producing a desired number of individual thin food stuff strips comprising feeding a predetermined number of continuous lengths of food stuff strips to a cutting means at a predetermined speed or at predetermined intervals; repeatedly cutting the continuous food stuff strips to produce individual food stuff strips, concurrently counting the number of cutting operations and replacing a container positioned under said cutting means with the next one when the cutter means has finished a predetermined number of cutting operations thereby supplying a desired number of cut food stuff strips having substantially the same length into each container.

2. A method according to Claim 1 wherein the food stuff strips have been dried and imparted with waving.

3. A method of producing a desired number of individual thin food stuff strips substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

4. Apparatus for producing a desired number of individual thin food stuff strips comprising feed means for feeding to a cutting means a predetermined number of continuous lengths of noodle like food stuff strips at a constant predetermined speed or at predetermined intervals, the cutter means having a roller body having a plurality of cutter blades projecting radially and outwardly from the circumference of the roller at equal spacings, a counter means correlated to said cutting means, transfer means for transferring a train of containers so as to be successively positioned under the discharge side of said cutter means to receive the desired number of cut food stuff strips, the counter means and an actuating means of said transfer means being connected through a reference signal circuit which sends a signal to supply the desired number of food stuff strips into each container in accordance with a predetermined number of counting operations counted by said counter means.

5. Apparatus according to Claim 4, wherein the reference signal circuit is correlated to said actuating means of said transfer means.

6. Apparatus according to Claim 4, wherein said reference signal circuit is arranged between the cutter means and said container so as to send a signal to supply the predetermined number of cut food stuff strips into each container.

7. Apparatus according to Claim 4, wherein said reference signal circuit is correlated to both said actuating means and a means for actuating a shutter means arranged between said cutting means and said container.

8. Apparatus for producing a desired number of individual thin food stuff strips substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated in any of the accompanying drawings.