GB600131A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for cutting or slicing vegetables - Google Patents

Abstract

600,131. Vegetable cutters. PEMBERTON, J. T. Sept. 28, 1945, No. 25165. [Class 5(i)] The invention relates to cutting and delivery elements for hand-operated vegetable cutting and slicing machines of the type in which a reciprocating motion given to one member by operation of a lever forces the vegetables to be cut against the cutter blades, the portions falling into a delivery shoot. The present invention provides means for cutting thin slices and blocks of square section simultanously, the slices and blocks falling into separate shoots. The rectangular cutter frame 5 has narrowlyspaced strands 20 of piano wire stretched across its central portion from front to back passing through grooves in the rear wall of the frame round equally-spaced anchor pins 19 on an anchor block 18 at the back of the frame and carried round similar anchor pins 21 mounted on a tension adjuster plate 22, which is adjustably mounted in projecting lugs 17 at the front of the frame. On each side of the wires 20 transverse cutter blades 29 are set vertically in equally-spaced slots in the side walls of the cutter frame, the spacing between the slots being substantially greater than between the wires. Each set of transverse blades 29 terminates at a longitudinal blade 30 parallel to and closely adjacent the outermost cutter wire 20. By passing bolts through lugs 31 at each side of the frame it can be fixed in the platform 3 of the cutting-apparatus above the delivery shoot assembly 4, which consists of an outer shoot 42 registering with and having the same cross-sectional area as the aperture through the cutter frame and an inner shoot 43 the top of which coincides with the spacing between the longitudinal cutters 30. The outer shoot 42 extends vertically downwards to a receptacle 16 and the lower part of the shoot 43 is cranked to lead to a receptacle 15. A pusher block 8 is mounted vertically above the platform 3 on a platen 7 which is given a reciprocating motion by operating a lever 9. The block 8 has projections 37, 38, 39 on its under surface so constructed that they pass right through the cutter frame 5 when the block is pressed down until the underface of its end flanges rest on the top surface of the cutter frame. The outer projections 37, 39 have slots 40 to register with the transverse blades 29, clearance between the several projections 37, 38, 39 is sufficient to allow the longitudinal cutter blades 30 to pass between them and the central projection 38 is grooved to accommodate the cutter wires 20. A cover plate 34 may be provided to prevent accidental contact with the tension adjuster plate 22. In a modification, the cutter frame is recessed to take the cutter wires and the tension adjuster plate 22 is hinged to downturned lugs instead of slidably mounted in slots. In a further modification, the transverse blades are mounted in a separate frame from the cutter wires 20 provision being made for assembling the two parts.