GB2192829A

GB2192829A - Foodstuff portioning apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2192829A
Application number: GB08715505A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Alistair Millar Craig
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1986-07-01
Filing date: 1987-07-01
Publication date: 1988-01-27
Also published as: GB8715505D0; GB8615983D0

Abstract

Apparatus for portioning foodstuffs has a unit and a power pack umbilically connected wherein the unit is mounted to be located over a conveyor belt of a blast freezer tunnel with an apron tray (31) provided below the unit, and the power pack is located remote from the entry to the tunnel. The unit comprises a hopper (10), suitably having a bifurcated outlet, a compression chamber (12) for each part of the outlet in communication with the hopper (10) to receive foodstuffs therefrom, a pusher (13) in each chamber (12) to close off the communication entry and to compress foodstuffs therein towards an outlet in the bottom thereof closed off by a forming plate (14) which has portioning apertures (16) therein for receiving foodstuffs from the chamber (12), and ejector means (18) to knock-out portions of foodstuffs formed in said apertures (16). The forming plate (14) is slidably movable for the apertures (16) to be in registry with the chamber (12) and thereafter with the ejector means (18). The power pack is for activating means to operate said pusher (13), the forming plate (14) and the ejector means (18). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for portioning foodstuffs This invention relates to an apparatus for portioning foodstuffs, primarily in a fluent state, ready for freezing. The foodstuffs in a fluent state may be, for example, fish off-cuts or scampi-meat in a water mixture.

Apparatus for portioning foodstuffs by creating disc-like products from semi-solid foodstuffs, such as ground meat, have already been proposed and UK Patents GB 725,830; GB 961,532 and GB 2 014 081B relate to such apparatus. In general, such apparatus comprises in upright disposition a hopper, a compression chamber communicating with the hopper, means ie a pusher, to feed material into the compression chamber, and a plate, slidable horizontally, for receiving foodstuffs from the compression chamber and forming the foodstuffs into disc-like products which are subsequenbtly knocked out from the plate.

The products are formed by the foodstuffs entering, under pressure, portioning apertures on the plate. Fluent state foodstuffs do not retain their portion form in the same way as semi-solid foodstuffs do. Accordingly, the portioning of fluent state foodstuffs will be required to be obtained in a colder atmosphere, ideally in close proximity to the entry to a blast freezer tunnel. Conventional apparatus are normally free-standing and have conveyor(s) to feed portioned disc-like products onto a conveyor belt of the tunnel, and have therefore disadvantages for use with fluent state foodstuffs. Also. if such apparatus were able to be located nearer to the entry of the tunnel, there would be problems in the apparatus operating at the low temperatures prevaling at such location.

It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate these disadvantages and problems.

Accordingly, the present invention is apparatus for portioning foodstuffs having a unit and a power pack umbilically connected, the unit comprising a hopper, one or more compression chambers in communication with the hopper to receive foodstuffs therefrom, a pusher in the or each chamber to close off the communication entry and to compress foodstuffs therein towards an outlet in the bottom thereof closed off by a forming plate which has portioning apertures therein for receiving foodstuffs from the chamber, ejector means to knock-out portions of foodstuffs formed in said apertures, the forming plate being slidably movable for the apertures to be in registry with the chamber and thereafter with the ejector means wherein the unit is mounted to be located over a conveyor belt of a blast freezer tunnel with an apron tray provided below the forming plate and the power pack for activating means to operate said pusher, the forming plate and the ejector means is located remote from the entry to the tunnel.

Preferably, means are provided to supply warm air onto the ejector means. The means may preferably also provide for the creation of a warm air zone adjacent to the unit between the unit and the tunnel.

Preferably also, a water supply is provided on the tray to wash discharge deposited thereon to waste through piping.

Preferably further, the unit is suspended from a gantry straddling the belt. - The unit is preferably movably mounted thereon to enable portions of foodstuff to be deposited on different sides of the belt.

Alternatively, the unit is cantilevered on a post at one lateral side of the belt for rotatable movement thereabout.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a unit of an apparatus for portioning foodstuffs according to the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of said unit.

Referring to the drawings, the apparatus has a unit and a power pack (not shown) umbilically connected. The unit comprises, in vertical disposition, a hopper 10 having a bifurcated outlet, each outlet communicating with a respective compression chamber 12 with a forming plate 14 having portioning apertures 16 located therebelow. Ejecting means 18 for knocking-out portions of foodstuffs formed in said apertures 16 is provided forwardly, ie to the right in Fig. 1 of the forming plate 14.

The unit has a support framework 20 suspended on hangers 22 from a gantry 24 straddling transversley an endless conveyor belt 26 of a blast freezer tunnel (not shown).

The hangers 22 carry wheels 28 which track rails 30 of the gantry 24 to enable the unit to be moved longitudinally thereof and transverse of the belt 26.

The hopper 10 of rectangular horizontal cross-section has opposed vertical lateral side walls 11A, a vertical rear wall 11B and a downwardly-sloped front wall 11C converging towards the rear wall 11 B. The lower sides of the opposed vertical rear wall and converging front wall are spaced apart and an island 32 formed mid-way longitudinally therebetween to form the bifurcated outlet and create two rectangular inlets 1 2A each in a side wall of a respective compression chamber 12. Each chamber 12 of rectangular transverse crosssection has a pusher 13 at its upper end and its inner face is angled and parallel to the horizontally oriented forming plate 14 constituting a lower end wall of the chamber 12.

The pusher 13 is carried by a rod 15 whose upper end (outside of the chamber 12) is coupled by a block 1 7 to the outer end of a piston of a piston and a cylinder arrangement 19 as shown.

The forming plate 14 slides horizontally between upper and lower support plates 21A, 21B and is reciprocated by the extension and retraction of a piston and cylinder arrangement 23. The forming plate 14 moves between three stations, namely a non-registering station at the fully retracted position, a chamber registering station (as shown in Fig. 1) at an intermediate extended position, and an ejecting means registering station at a fully extended position. The forming plate 14 has two sets of portioning apertures 16. Each set is positioned on the forming plate for registry with its respective chamber and comprises three rows of similar apertures 16 as shown in Fig 1. The lower support plate 21B has a series of small bores 25 opposite to the chamber 12 to allow air to escape from the apertures as they are being filled.Also due to the fluent state of the foodstuffs, water and some foodstuffs will pass through the bores 25. A collection tank 27 is located under each set of bores 25 to collect such discharge. A pipe 29 leads from each tank 27 and is for use in recirculation of the discharge into the hopper 10.

An apron tray 31 is mounted under the lower support plate 21B and tanks 27 and is to protect the conveyor belt from any waste discharge from the unit. The tray 31 is lipped and slopes from front to back (Fig.1) and from one side to the other (Fig. 2) A pipe outlet 33 to waste is provided at the lowermost corner of the tray 31. Also, at the top of the lip at the front of the tray 31, a water pipe 34 (Fig.1) having jet apertures directed onto the bottom of the tray 31 is provided for use in washing any waste on the tray 31 to the pipe outlet 33.

The ejector means 18 (Fig.1) comprises a plate 35 having two sets of teeth 41 projecting downwardly therefrom and complementarily spaced to register with the portioning apertures on the forming plate 14. The cross-sectional area of each tooth is complementary to that of the aperture into which it is to extend on a knocking-out movement. The plate 35 is carried by arms 36 connected to the outer end of lateral bars 37 acting as simple levers and being fulcrummed at 38 with effort being applied by a piston 39 of a piston and cylinder arrangement at the other ends of the bars 37 from the plate 35.

Two pipes 40A, 40B to conduct warm air are provided, pipe 40A is located just in front of upper plate 21A and pipe 40B is spaced forwardly therefrom a distance just greater that the breadth of the plate 35. Jet apertures on the pipe 40A play on the teeth 41, and jet apertures in pipe 40B are directed forwardly of the apparatus to create a warm air zone designated Z immediately in front of the apparatus and above the belt 26 to counteract the cold air eminating from the tunnel.

An apparatus above-described is installed with the unit on the gantry 24 straddling the feeding end of the conveyor belt 26 and the power pack to one side of the belt 26 and tunnel. As can be seen from Fig. 1 all piston and cylinder arrangements are mounted at the rear of the unit remote from the tunnel, and pipes connect the arrangements umbilically to the power pack. A water supply is fed to water pipe 34, and warm air supply is fed to pipes 40A and 40B. Foodstuffs ie a mixture of scampi-meat and water is emptied into the hopper. The foodstuff flows under gravity into the two compression chambers 12 and is compressed by extension of the pushers 13 to close off the chamber inlets 12A. The forming plate 14 is moved forward and when the apertures register with the chamber, the foodstuff fills the apertures.After the plate 14 moves to its third station, the pusher 13 is retracted and further foodstuff flows into the chambers 12. At the third station, the pistons 39 extend to cause the arms 36 to pivot and plate 35 with teeth 41 to knock-out the portions in the apertures 16 and retract allowing the plate 14 to return to its chamber registering station. The postions deposited on belt 26 start to freeze due to the cold termpertature of the belt 26 and therefore retain their portion shape. The portion shape is determined by the shape of the apertures 16.

The unit is preferably mounted on the gantry to allow it to be used on one side of the belt ie the RHS, or it can be moved to the LHS of the belt, or it can be alternated between both the RHS and LHS of the belt between cycles of movement of the forming plate 14.

The unit may alternatively in a modification be cantilevered on a post for movement thereabout to allow it to be swung out away from the belt 26 for cleaning or other non-use purposes.

In a further modification, the hopper may be internally partitioned from the island 32 upwardly into two separate sub-hoppers to enable different mixtures to be portioned at the same time through each respective chamber, the mixtures being such as a fish mixture and a scampi-meat mixture.

Alternatively, the hopper outlet may not be bifurcated and in which case only one chamber and associated pusher would be provided.

The gantry may be in the form of an elevated track straddling the belt 26 with the unit running on its tracks rather than being suspended as described above.

Variations and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. Apparatus for portioning foodstuffs having a unit and a power pack umbilically connected, the unit comprising a hopper, one or more compression chambers in communication with the hopper to receive foodstuffs therefrom .a pusher in the or each chamber to close off the communication entry and to compress foodstuffs therein towards an outlet in the bottom thereof closed off by a forming plate which has portioning apertures therein for receiving foodstuffs from the chamber, ejector means to knock-out portions of foodstuffs formed in said apertures, the forming plate being slidably movable for the apertures to be in registry with the chamber and thereafter with the ejector means wherein the unit is mounted to be located over a conveyor belt of a blast freezer tunnel with an apron tray provided below the forming plate and the power pack for activating means to operate said pusher, the forming plate and the ejector means is located remote from the entry to the tunnel.

2. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the hopper outlet is bifurcated and each part of the outlet has a respective compression chamber, pusher, forming plate and ejector means.

3. Apparatus as claimed in Claims 1 or 2, wherein means are provided to supply warm air onto the or each ejector means.

4. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the means provides for the creation of a warm air zone adjacent to the unit between the unit and the tunnel.

5. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein a water supply is provided on the tray to wash discharge de posited thereon to waste through piping.

6. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the unit tracks rails on a gantry straddling the belt.

7. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 6. wherein the unit is suspended below the gantry.

8. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 or 7, wherein the unit is movably mounted thereon to enable portions of foodstuff to be deposited on different sides of the belt.

9. Apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the unit is cantilevered on a post at one lateral side of the belt for rotatable movement thereabout.

10. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the means to operate the pusher, the forming plate and the ejector means are each a piston and cylinder ar rangement.

11. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the forming plate slides horizontally between upper and lower support plates.

12. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 11, wherein the lower support plate has a series of small bores opposite to the or each cham ber outlet to allow air to escape from the apertures as they are being filled.

13. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 12, wherein a collection tank is located under the small bores to collect any discharge passing through the bores.

14. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the ejector means comprises a plate having teeth projecting downwardly therefrom and complementarily spaced to register with the portioning apertures in the forming plate.

15. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 14, wherein the cross-sectional area of each tooth is complementary to that of a respective aperture.

16. Apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.