GB2576326A

GB2576326A - A Coring Tool

Info

Publication number: GB2576326A
Application number: GB1813234.0A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Grant Iain
Original assignee: Long Clawson Dairy Ltd
Current assignee: Long Clawson Dairy Ltd
Priority date: 2018-08-14
Filing date: 2018-08-14
Publication date: 2020-02-19
Anticipated expiration: 2038-08-14
Also published as: GB201813234D0; GB2576326B

Abstract

A coring tool 2 having a hollow corer having an axis 4, a first end 6, a second end 8, and a coring wall 10 having an outer surface 12 and an inner surface 14. Wherein the inner surface 12 of the coring wall 10 has a first portion 16 which slopes inwardly from the first end 6 of the coring component towards the second end 8 of the coring component 10, and a second portion 18 which extends from the first portion 16 to the second end 8. The coring 2 may also comprise a driver, which may contain a rotator and/or a displacer and/or a tipper. The displacer may comprise a piston. The coring tool may also comprise a connector and/or an ejector, the ejector my comprise compressed air. Methods of coring and portioning cheese are also claimed.

Description

A CORING TOOL

This invention relates to a coring tool, and particularly, but not exclusively, to a coring tool for coring a cheese, such as Stilton.

The invention also relates to an apparatus for cutting a cheese incorporating such a coring tool, to a method of coring a cheese, and to a method of portioning a cheese.

The invention has particular application with respect to the processing of a substantially cylindrical cheese, and to a method of portioning such a cheese.

The manufacture of Stilton cheese begins with the mixing of milk, starter cultures, rene and blue cheese mould in a vat. This produces curd which is then placed in cylindrical moulds (or hoops) and left to stand for a predetermined period of time. Typically, the curd is left to stand for 4 to 5 days.

The cheese curd is then removed from the cylindrical moulds in the form of substantially cylindrical cheeses.

Once removed from the moulds it is necessary to seal the outer surfaces of the cheese in order to prevent unwanted organisms from growing in the cheese.

Once the outer surfaces of the cheese have been sealed, the Stilton cheeses are then left to mature for a predetermined period of time, depending on the level of maturity required of the final cheese product. Typically, the cheeses are left to mature for between 4 and 6 weeks.

During this maturing period, the outer surfaces of the cheese harden into a crust which further protects the inner core of the cheese from the entry of unwanted organisms.

Once the maturing process is complete, the cheeses are divided into small portions which are of a suitable size and weight for sale to consumers. Since the cheese is substantially cylindrical in shape, these smaller portions are generally segment shaped.

In order to cut the cylindrical cheeses into smaller segment shaped portions, the cylindrical cheeses are first divided into cylindrical sections. Typically this process will happen at a ringing station. So for example, a cylindrical shaped cheese may be divided into three or four smaller shallower cylindrical cheeses known as rings.

Many customers, such as supermarkets, require smaller portions of the cheese of substantially the same size.

In order to cut the cheese into appropriately shaped portions, it is known to core the cheese rings by creating a hole running substantially through the centre of the cheese along the axis of the cheese. The provision of such a hole enables the portions of cheese to be cut more accurately. This is because the hole extends substantially coaxially with the axis of the cheese and provides a space into which a cutting tool may be positioned in order to accurately cut portions of the cheese to meet the requirements of a customer.

It is important to ensure that as little if any waste of cheese is created during the coring process. The cheese removed during the coring process may be reused for example in soups, or may be reshaped for example in order to fit into a pot or other container in which the cheese maybe sold.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a coring tool comprising:

a hollow corer having an axis, a first end, a second end, and a coring wall having an outer surface and an inner surface, wherein the inner surface of the coring wall has a first portion which slopes inwardly from the first end of the coring component towards the second end of the coring component, and a second portion which extends from the first portion to the second end.

In use, the coring tool will be placed in contact with a top surface of the cheese ring and will then be caused to move through the entire cheese so that the first end of the corer extends through the bottom surface of the cheese.

Due to the first sloping portion of an inner surface of the coring wall, the core to be removed from the cheese is cut by the inner surface of the corer, rather than an outer surface as is the case with known corers.

It has been found that by means of the present invention, the coring process is “cleaner” with little or no waste of cheese resulting from the coring process.

In embodiments of the invention the inner surface of the second portion of the coring wall, which extends from the first portion to the second end of the corer, defines a substantially cylindrical hollow portion.

Due to the shape defined by the second portion of the inner surface, the core formed by the corer will be substantially cylindrical in shape. This in turn ensures that a smooth shaped core is removed from the cheese, and that therefore the surfaces of the cored cheese will also be smooth.

The coring tool may have any convenient dimensions, but in some embodiments of the invention the inner diameter of the second portion of the coring portion is approximately 17mm.

In embodiments of the invention, the inner diameter of the sloping portion at the first end of the corer is approximately 19mm.

In embodiments of the invention, the sloping portion extends for an axial distance of approximately 0.75mm from the first end of the corer.

In addition, the first portion extends at an angle of approximately 33° to the axis of the corer.

In embodiments of the invention, the coring tool comprises a driver operatively connectable to the corer.

In embodiments of the invention the driver comprises a rotator for causing the corer to rotate about its axis.

During use of the coring tool, the corer will be caused to rotate before making contact with the cheese. The rotation will continue as the corer moves through the cheese and out the other side the rotation facilitates entry into and through the cheese by the coring tool.

In embodiments of the invention, the driver comprises a displacer for causing the corer to move axially. The axial movement will cause the corer to move into and through the cheese and then to retract back through the cheese once the core has been formed in the corer.

In embodiments of the invention, the displacer comprises a piston. The piston may be any conventional piston and may for example use compressed air in order to push the corer through the cheese and then to retract the corer back out of the cheese once a core has been formed in the corer.

In embodiments of the invention the driver comprises a tipper for causing the corer to pivot about a pivot axis.

In embodiments of the invention, the corer will pivot about a pivot axis that is substantially at right angles to the axis of the corer before the corer has been pivoted. This enables the first end of the corer to be moved away from the cheese once a core has been removed from the cheese.

The tipper causes movement of the corer from a first, deployed position in which the corer and the cheese are substantially coaxial, to a second, ejection position in which the corer is pivoted away from the cheese. Typically, the tipper causes the corer to move through an angle of approximately 45° between the deployed position and the ejection position.

In embodiments of the invention, the coring tool further comprises a connector connectable to the second end of the corer and to the driver.

In embodiments of the invention the coring tool comprises an ejector for ejecting cheese from the corer.

In embodiments of the invention, the cheese is ejected from the corer when the corer is in the tipped position. This ensures that cheese ejected from the corer may be collected at a location away from the cheese. When the coring tool has been pivoted such that the first end of the corer is positioned away from the cheese, and any cheese ejected from the corer will be directed away from the cheese.

In embodiments of the invention the ejector comprises compressed air.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for cutting a cheese comprising:

a. a first section for weighing and scanning a cheese;

b. a second section for ringing the cheese;

c. a third section comprising a coring tool comprising:

a hollow corer having an axis, a first end, a second end, and a coring wall having an outer surface and an inner surface, wherein the inner surface of the coring wall has a first portion which slopes inwardly from the first end of the coring component towards the second end of the coring component, and a second portion which extends from the first portion to the second end;

d. a scanner for scanning the cored and ringed cheese;

e. a portioning section for portioning the scanned cheese.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a method of coring a substantially cylindrical cheese comprising the steps of:

positioning a cheese below a coring tool comprising:

a corer comprising a hollow coring component having an axis and a first end and a second end, the coring component having a coring wall having an outer surface and an inner surface, wherein the inner surface of the coring wall has a first, sloping portion which slopes inwardly from the first end of the coring component towards the second end of the coring component, and a second portion which extends from the sloping portion to the second end;

rotating the coring tool about the axis of the corer;

moving the coring tool axially towards the cheese;

continuing to move the coring tool axially through the cheese;

moving the coring tool axially in the opposite direction to retract the coring tool from the cheese;

pivoting the coring tool;

expecting the core cheese from of the corer.

In the embodiments of the invention, the method comprises a further step of collecting the core of cheese ejected from the corer.

The coring tool forming part of embodiments of both the second and third aspects of the invention may have any or all of the tool features described above with reference to embodiments of the first aspect of the invention.

According to fourth aspect of the invention there is provided a method of portioning a substantially cylindrical cheese comprising the steps of:

i) weighing and scanning the cheese;

ii) cutting the substantially cylindrical cheese into a plurality of cylindrical sections each ring having a predetermined height;

iii) coring the rings of cheese using a method according to an embodiment of the third aspect of the invention;

iv) scanning the cored rings of cheese; and

v) cutting the cored rings of cheese into segments each segment having a predetermined size determined by the results obtained during scanning of the rings of cheeses.

The invention will now be further described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1a is a cross-sectional representation of a corer according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 1b is a more detailed cross-sectional representation of a first end of the corer of Figure 1a;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the corer of Figure 1a;

Figure 3 is a schematic representation of the corer of Figure 1a showing how the corer may be rotated prior to, and during insertion into a cylindrical cheese;

Figure 4 is schematic representation showing a plurality of corers as shown in Figure 1a showing movement of each corer between a first position and a second position;

Figure 5 is schematic representation of a cheese packaging processor incorporating corers as shown in Figure 1a;

Figure 6 is a schematic view from above of the processor of Figure 5; and

Figures 7 and 8 is a schematic representations of the corer showing how the corer may be inserted into a cheese and then pivoted in order for the core to be ejected into a receptacle.

Referring initially to Figures 1a, 1b and 2, a corer forming part of a coring tool 2 according to embodiments of the invention is designated generally by the reference numeral 2.

The corer extends along an axis 4 and has a first end 6, a second end 8 and a coring wall 10. The coring wall comprises an outer surface 12 and an inner surface 14.

The inner surface 14 comprises a first portion 16 which slopes inwardly from the first end 6 towards the second end 8, and a second portion 18 which extends from the first portion 16 to the second end 8.

As can be seen from Figures 1a, 1b and 2 the inner surface of the second portion 18 defines a substantially cylindrical hollow portion.

The dimension of the corer may be any convenient dimensions, however in this embodiment of the invention, the inner diameter of the second portion 18 is approximately 17mm, and the inner diameter of the first portion 16 at the first end 6 is approximately 19mm.

The first portion extends axially for a distance of approximately 0.28mm from the first end 16, and at an angle of approximately 33 degrees to the axis 4.

The coring tool 100, further comprises a connector 20 which is connectable to the second end of the corer, and to a driver 30 which will be described in more detail with reference to Figures 3 to 8.

As can be seen from Figure 3, the corer 2 is attached to driver 30 via the connector 20.

The driver 30 comprises a rotator 32 which is operably connected to the corer 2 so that the corer 2 may be caused to rotate about its axis. In this embodiment of the invention, the corer is adapted to rotate clockwise as shown by the arrow 34. The rotator 32 may cause the corer 2 to rotate at any desired speed, and in this example the rotator causes the corer 2 to rotate at a speed of approximately 300 rpm.

In this embodiment of the invention, the rotator 32 comprises an AC motor 48 which drives the corer 2 through a right angled gearbox 50.

The driver 30 also comprises a displacer 48 which causes axial movement of the corer 2. In this embodiment of the invention, the displacer comprises compressed air held in air cylinders 38 which drive the corer 2 axially down through a cheese (as shown in more detail in Figure 7 and 8). Pneumatic control valves 52 control operation of the compressed air.

The displacer 48 is also adapted to retract the corer 2 after it has extended through a cheese to remove the corer 2 from the cheese.

The driver 30 also comprises a tipper 40 shown in Figure 4 which is adapted to cause the corer 2 to pivot about a pivot axis 42.

The tipper 40 is adapted to move the corer 2 from a first, deployed position 44 in which the corer 2 may be inserted into a cheese and then retracted therefrom, and a second, ejection position 46 in which a core of cheese removed from a ring of cheese may be extracted from the corer 2. In this embodiment of the invention, the corer 2 pivots at an angle of approximately 45° of the axis of the corer when in the deployed position.

Once the corer is in the ejection 46 position, compressed air may be introduced into corer via the second end of the corer at a pressure of 10 bars at a volume of 15 litres per second. In this embodiment of the invention the compressed air is applied for 3 seconds thus causing a core of cheese removed from a ring of cheese to be ejected from the corer 2. The ejected cheese may be collected in a bin 54 as shown in Figures 7 and 8 securely positioned.

The coring tool 100 forms part of a cheese processor designated generally by the reference numeral 500 and shown in more detail particularly in Figures 5, 6 7, and 8.

Initially, a cheese 502 will enter the cheese processor 500 as a whole stilton having an approximate size of 250 x 220 mm in a cylindrical format.

The cheese 502 is then weighed by scales and scanned using lasers at scanning station 504. At this station, the size and shape of the cheese will be mapped.

The cylindrical cheeses then move to a ringing section 506 where they are cut into rings of optimized height depending on the recipe used to make the cheese based on the calculations made at scanning stations 504. The rings of cheese can vary in height depending on the cut of the cheese and may have a height of anything between about 30mm to about 130mm.

The rings of cheeses 508 then moved to a coring station 510. Once in the coring section 510, a ring of cheese will be positioned under a coring tool 100 and will be clamped in order to centralise the cheese. Once the cheese is clamped, the axis of the cheese will be substantially coaxial with the axis of the corer 2 when in the deployed position.

The driver 30 then causes the rotator 32 to rotate the corer at a speed of approximately 300 rpm and the displacer 48 causes the corer 2 to move axially towards the ring of cheese and thus into the cheese and out the other side. This axial movement continues downwardly until the first end of the corer extends through the ring of cheese by about 1mm.

The displacer 48 then causes the corer 2 to retract along the same axis back to its starting position.

The tipper then causes the corer to pivot from its deployed position to its ejection position at which point compressed air is introduced into the corer 2 via the second end of the corer. The compressed air is at a pressure of about 10 bar and is applied at a rate of about 15 litres per second for 3 seconds. This causes the core of cheese removed from the ring of cheese to be ejected from the coring tool and to project into an appropriately positioned bin 54.

The cored cheese then moves on to a scanning station 512 in order to rescanned before moving to the portion section 514 where it is cut into appropriately sized segments determined by the requirements of a customer.

The cheese may then be packaged ready to be sent to the customer.

Claims

1. A coring tool comprising:

2. A coring tool as claimed in claim 1 wherein the inner surface of the second portion defines a substantially cylindrical hollow portion.

3. A coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the inner diameter of the second portion of the coring portion is approximately 17mm.

4. A coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the inner diameter of the first portion at the first end is approximately 19mm.

5. A coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the first portion extends for an axial distance of approximately 0.75 mm from the first end of the coring component.

6. A coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the sloping portion slopes at an angle of approximately 33 degrees.

7. A coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further comprising a driver operatively connectable to the coring component.

8. A coring tool as claimed in claim 7 wherein the driver comprises a rotator for causing the coring component to rotate about its axis.

9. A coring tool as claimed in any one of claim 7 or claim 8 wherein the driver comprises a displacer for causing the coring component to move axially.

10. A coring tool as claimed in claim 9 wherein the displacer comprises a piston.

11. A coring tool as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 10 wherein the driver comprises a tipper for causing the coring component to pivot about a pivot axis.

12. A coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further comprising a connector connectable to the second end of the corer.

13. A coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further comprising an ejector for ejecting cheese from the corer.

14. A coring tool as claimed in claim 13 wherein the ejector comprises compressed air.

15. An apparatus for cutting a cheese comprising:

a. a first section for weighing and scanning a cheese;

b. a second section for ringing the cheese;

c. a third section comprising a coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims;

d. a scanner for scanning the cored and ringed cheese;

e. a portioning section for portioning the scanned cheese.

16. A method of portioning a substantially cylindrical cheese comprising the steps of:

i) weighing and scanning the cheese;

ii) cutting the substantially cylindrical cheese into a plurality of cylindrical sections (rings) each ring having a predetermined height;

iii) coring the rings of cheese using a method according to Claim 14 or Claim 15;

iv) scanning the cored rings of cheese; and

5 v) cutting the cored rings of cheese into segments each segment having a predetermined size determined by the results obtained during scanning of the rings of cheeses.

09 10 19

16. A method of coring a cheese comprising the steps of:

positioning a cheese below a coring tool comprising:

rotating the coring tool about the axis of the corer;

moving the coring tool axially towards the cheese;

continuing to move the coring tool axially through the cheese;

pivoting the coring tool;

ejecting the core cheese from the corer.

17. A method according to Claim 16 comprising the further step of collecting the core of cheese ejected from the corer.

18. A method of portioning a substantially cylindrical cheese comprising the steps of:

i) weighing and scanning the cheese;

ii) cutting the substantially cylindrical cheese into a plurality of cylindrical sections

5 each ring having a predetermined height;

iii) coring the rings of cheese using a method according to Claim 16 or Claim 17;

iv) scanning the cored rings of cheese; and

v) cutting the cored rings of cheese into segments each segment having a predetermined size determined by the results obtained during scanning of the rings of

10 cheeses.

Amendments to the claims have been made as follows:

1. A cheese coring tool comprising:

a corer comprising a hollow coring component having an axis, a first end, a second end, and a coring wall having an outer surface and an inner surface, wherein the inner surface of the coring wall has a first portion which slopes inwardly from the first end of the coring component towards the second end of the coring component, and a second portion which extends from the first portion to the second end; and a driver operatively connectable to the coring component, wherein the driver comprises a rotator for causing the coring component to rotate about its axis.

7. A coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the driver comprises a displacer for causing the coring component to move axially.

8. A coring tool as claimed in claim 7 wherein the displacer comprises a piston.

9. A coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the driver comprises a tipper for causing the coring component to pivot about a pivot axis.

10. A coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further comprising a connector connectable to the second end of the corer.

11. A coring tool as claimed in any one of the preceding claims further comprising an ejector for ejecting cheese from the corer.

12. A coring tool as claimed in claim 11 wherein the ejector comprises compressed air.

13. An apparatus for cutting a cheese comprising:

a. a first section for weighing and scanning a cheese;

b. a second section for ringing the cheese;

d. a scanner for scanning the cored and ringed cheese;

e. a portioning section for portioning the scanned cheese.

14. A method of coring a cheese comprising the steps of:

positioning a cheese below a cheese coring tool comprising:

a corer comprising a hollow coring component having an axis and a first end and a second end, the coring component having a coring wall having an outer surface and an inner surface, wherein the inner surface of the coring wall has a first, sloping portion which slopes inwardly from the first end of the coring component towards the second end of the coring component, and a second portion which extends from the sloping portion to the second end; and a driver operatively connectable to the coring component, wherein the driver comprises a rotator for causing the coring component to rotate about its axis;

rotating the coring tool about the axis of the coring component;

moving the coring tool axially towards the cheese;

continuing to move the coring tool axially through the cheese;

pivoting the coring tool;

ejecting the core cheese from the corer.

15. A method according to Claim 14 comprising the further step of collecting the core of cheese ejected from the corer.