JPH0661233B2 - Tofu cutting and packing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to a tofu, which is intended to be automatically cut and packed in water from a single plate-shaped uncut tofu formed by pressing with a mold box. Cutting and packing device.

(Prior Art) Traditionally, tofu is produced by pressing a plate in the shape of a plate in an arbitrary amount in a mold box, cooling it in water for a predetermined time, and then scooping it up in water or once into individual pieces It is usual to cut and store it again in water and transfer it to a container brought by customers etc. for sale, or to pack it by hand one by one and sell it, etc. However, the tofu produced by this method is not easy to be processed. It is delicious, but the shelf life is short, and there is a desire to automate this with a machine, but the specific gravity is similar to water,
In addition, it is difficult to accurately cut fragile tofu in water, and to store it gently and surely in a pack, and there has not yet been provided a series of products.

On the other hand, recently, in a bag-shaped or square-shaped plastic film, filled tofu made by directly solidifying soy milk has also come into circulation, but this has a bad taste, so only buy a slightly long shelf life. , It is mainly consumed in group lunch centers, etc., and it has not yet penetrated into general households.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) Therefore, the present invention, in the above-mentioned prior art, there is a one-plate uncut tofu can be cut into a desired number of each,
Since there is nothing that can automatically perform each process such as cutting in water, distributing to the pack conveyed by the take-out conveyor unit, surely storing and packing, it is developed. This is the purpose.

(Means for Solving Problems) The present invention was created in order to solve the above problems, and cuts tofu that is cut into a plate-shaped uncut tofu and stored in a tofu pack. And a packing device, which conveys the uncut tofu that is conveyed and is fixedly arranged above the conveying means and conveyer-like conveying means that conveys the above-mentioned one-plate uncut tofu by tact operation. A conveying direction cutting means for cutting in a conveying direction, an extruding means arranged orthogonal to the conveying means for extruding the tofu cut in the conveying direction in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, and fixed above the conveying means. The tofu, which is arranged and is extruded by the extruding means and cut in the conveying direction, is cut at a right angle to the conveying direction and cut into a predetermined number of tofus, and the transverse cutting means conveys the tofu. At right angles to the direction The tofu that has been cut and cut into a predetermined number of tofus is received at the lateral position of the conveying means for each tofu and moved to the tofu pack row in which the tofu packs are arranged. A plurality of receiving means, a distributing means for distributing the plurality of receiving means after receiving one tofu in the carrying direction according to the storage position of each tofu pack, and a receiving means for each one tofu And a separating means for further separating.

(Operation) In the apparatus for cutting and packing tofu according to the present invention, the conveying device conveys one plate-shaped uncut tofu to a predetermined position while holding it. Since the carrying direction cutting means is fixedly arranged above the carrying means, it is cut in the carrying direction along with the carrying.

When the tofu is conveyed to a predetermined position, the extrusion means extrudes the tofu cut in the conveying direction in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction.
Since the transverse cutting means is fixedly arranged, one row of tofu is extruded until it is cut at a right angle to the conveying direction, and when the one row is cut, the extrusion is stopped. In other words, the tofu cut in the conveying direction is cut in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction to obtain a predetermined number of 1 pieces.
Form tofu of tofu.

Further, when the tofu is extruded by the extruding means, a plurality of receiving means receives the tofu formed in the one tofu at a side position of the conveying means for each one tofu, and the tofu pack row is formed. Move to.

After that, the distribution means distributes the plurality of receiving means in the transport direction and aligns them with the storage position of each tofu pack.

Then, the separating means separates each tofu from the receiving means and stores each tofu in the tofu pack.

After packing the tofu in the first row as described above, the extruding means extrudes the tofu in the second row and cuts in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, and the receiving means is placed at the side position of the conveying means. Accept each tofu and pack it by repeating the above process.

Since the present invention is configured as described above, cutting and packing of tofu can be automated.

Further, since the receiving means receives at the side position of the conveying means, even if the conveying means is formed in a conveyor shape, it is possible to surely receive the tofu cut into one tofu without breaking the shape of the tofu. It is possible to pack it while maintaining the shape of tofu.

Furthermore, since one tofu of tofu received at the side position of the conveying means is received by the receiving means and a plurality of receiving means are distributed in the conveying direction by the distributing means and packed, the storage intervals of the respective packs are increased. Even if the tofu is packed, the packing means can be reliably packed, and in particular, since the receiving means for receiving the tofu for each one is distributed in the conveying direction, the packing can be carried out while maintaining the shape of the tofu.

(Embodiment) An embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9 in order to further clarify the gist of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, tofu cutting and packing device 1
Is composed of a supply conveyor section 11, an extruding section 12, a distributing section 13 and a take-out conveyor section 15, and is operated in a water tank (not shown).

The supply conveyor unit 11 is suspended in the water tank so as to be fully submerged in the water so as to be operated. A top plate chain with a width that should be loaded with uncut tofu T1.
Conveyor 111 (hereinafter referred to as TP conveyor) and TP conveyor 1
11 To prevent the tofu T1 that is placed and transported in a semi-submerged state from migrating due to the resistance of water, etc., between the front stop plate 112a and the rear stop plate 112b that are installed upright at intervals at which the tofu T1 is just accommodated. At any number of tofu stacking sections R and the width of the TP conveyor 111 divided into five equal parts, the blade tip is directed toward you (lower right of the drawing), and a pendant frame (not shown) is hung so that the tip of the TP conveyor 111 contacts the surface. The four longitudinal cutting blades 113 (hereinafter referred to as vertical cutting blades) are provided, and further, the inertia and water resistance due to the nodal motion of the TP conveyor 111 are provided behind the vertical cutting blades 113 and right above the front stop plate 112a stop position. ,
Trying to disturb the alignment state due to resistance when cutting in the longitudinal direction,
A rear stop auxiliary plate 114b and a front stop auxiliary plate 114a are provided for positioning the vertically long tofu T2 cut in the longitudinal direction.

In the supply conveyor section 11, limit switches (not shown) are arranged in two stages along the TP conveyor 111, and a front stop plate 112 is provided.
By contacting a, it is decelerated in the first stage and stopped in the second stage, and it is programmed to restart in conjunction with the return of the extrusion device 12 described below, and The auxiliary plate 114b is in an open state when the tofu T1 passes, and is closed after passing to correct the alignment of the rear end surface of the tofu T2, and its opening and closing is interlocked with the nodal motion of the TP conveyor 111. Yes, each front stop plate 112a and rear stop plate 11
2b is divided into five equal parts through a gap S so that the vertical cutting edge 113 can pass through.

The push-out section 12 is arranged in a transverse shape across the substantially central portion of the TP conveyor 111, and on one side of the TP conveyor 111, a U-shaped base 121 is arranged as shown in part by a virtual line, Upper arm 122 is TP
The conveyor 111 is extended to the other side, and a push rod actuating mechanism 123 by a sliding rod and a rodless cylinder on the lower side thereof is arranged. Further, the tip of the upper arm portion 122 has a tofu T2 cut in the longitudinal direction. , Five horizontal cutting blades 124 for cutting into one tofu T3, the blades are hung vertically toward the TP conveyor 111 side at equal intervals, and the horizontal cutting blades 124 start the TP conveyor 111. , It is designed to move up and down through a blade up / down mechanism 128 (Fig. 3) in conjunction with the stop, and a side plate is attached to each tip.
125 is fixed, the side plate 125 is integrated with the horizontal cutting blade 124 and moves up and down together, prevents tofu T2 from migrating in the lateral direction when rising, and the upper end is the same as the upper surface of the TP conveyor 111 when descending. The upper and lower strokes are set so that The push-out plate actuating mechanism 123 slides in a transverse direction on the TP conveyor 111 at the lower edge thereof, and a rectangular flat surface formed by the side edges thereof is designed to pass between the horizontal cutting edges 124. The plate 126 and the support 127
The tofu T2 is pushed in the lateral direction by sliding it on the sliding rod for five bars, and it is cut into 6 pieces of tofu T3 by the one-arm side cutting blade 124. It is designed to be sent to the distribution unit 13.

The distributor 13 has six L-shaped distributors 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d, each of which has a vertical part facing the TP conveyor 111 side.
13e and 13f, each of which is provided with a push plate up-and-down mechanism 131 for moving the piston rod up and down from the downward cylinder on the front upper part of the vertical portion to move the push plate up and down, and a push plate guide arm 132 having a longitudinal slit in the center. Along the vertical portion, the horizontal position is maintained to move up and down, and the lower portion of each horizontal portion is bent downward at its front portion to guide a push plate 137 described later. A plate front / rear arm 133 is suspended via a push plate front / rear mechanism 134 including a sliding rod and a rodless cylinder. Further, a convex metal plate is bent into a crank shape on the push plate front / rear plate 133, and both wings are inwardly bent. A receiving plate 135, which is bent at a right angle and has a basket shape, is suspended by a receiving plate front-rear mechanism 136. In addition, in the slit of the push plate guide arm 132, a push plate 137 formed by integrally forming a shaft at the center of one side of a square plate of tofu T3 size.
The vertically installed shaft is inserted from below through the holding holes 133h of the push plate front and rear plates 133, the heavy head 137g is fitted to the shaft head, and the shaft is suspended so as to be movable back and forth.

On the other hand, the lower rear portion of the horizontal portion of each of the distributors 13a ... 13f is movably mounted laterally on the two transverse rails 139 provided on the base plate 138 at right angles through the occlusal groove portion 140, Further, the lateral movement mechanism 141a, 141b, 141c, 141d, 141e, 141 by combining cylinders with different lengths and piston rods
It is designed to be developed or gathered laterally at the same time by f.

The take-out conveyor unit 15 distributes a chain conveyor 151 (hereinafter referred to as a CH conveyor) having an attachment for holding a pack P, which is made to store one tofu T3, to the supply conveyor unit 11 described above. In the middle of the part 13 and only in the substantially central part, it is submerged slightly deeper than the TP conveyor 111, and both ends are positioned on the water tank for supplying and taking out the pack P, and circulates in a concave shape in the vertical plane. Distributing unit 13 is provided for each of the six packs P that are arranged in a proper manner.
It is designed to work in conjunction with the operation of.

The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 2 and subsequent figures.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the tofu T1 is being cut into T2 in a cross section taken along the line AA in FIG. 1. The TP conveyor 111 of the supply conveyor section 11 is in the water W stretched in the water tank 16. The tofu T1 in the semi-submerged state is placed and transported while being cut into five equal parts in the longitudinal direction. When in this state, the extrusion unit 12
In the push plate actuating mechanism 123 in the rearmost of the sliding rod, the push plate 126 is located at the leftmost end of the TP conveyor 111, and the horizontal cutting edge 124 is pulled up by the blade lifting mechanism 128 together with the side plate 125. The tofu T2 cut in the longitudinal direction is conveyed without lateral migration. At this time, the back stop auxiliary plate 114b is still
Is open upwards, and the distributors 13a ... 13f of the distributor 13 are
The push plate raising / lowering mechanism 131 holds the push plate guide arm 132 at the uppermost position, and the push plate 137 is pulled up above the upper surface of the tofu T1 being cut on the TP conveyor 111.

Further, the push plate front / rear plate 133 and the receiving plate 135 are also advanced to the frontmost portion by the respective push plate front / rear mechanism 134 and the receiving plate front / rear mechanism 136, so that the push plate 137 is also at the uppermost push plate as described above. The foremost part of the guide arm 132 slit is suspended. Further, in this state, the CH conveyor 151 winds up six packs P, and only the empty packs P are provided in front of the extrusion unit 12.

FIG. 3 shows a state where the front stop plate 112a of the tofu T1 being cut in the longitudinal direction is stopped by the second limit switch when the front stop plate 112a reaches below the front stop auxiliary plate 114a. After cutting the direction, the five tofu T2 are front stop plate 112a and rear stop plate.
112b, TP conveyor 11 surrounded by side plate 125 and extruded plate 126
Standing in alignment above 1

4 and 5 show the next step of FIG. 3, in which the blade up-and-down mechanism 128 of the extruding section 12 pushes the side plate 125 down to the TP conveyor 111 surface, and the horizontal cutting blade The extrusion plate operating mechanism 123 advances to the width of one side of the tofu T2 plus the thickness of the side plate 125 toward 126, cutting the rightmost tofu T2 and the next row of tofu T2 to the middle, while the tofu is completely cut. The six rightmost columns that became T3 are pushed up onto the receiving plates 135 of the distributors 13a ... Extends and push plate guide arm 132
As a result, the pressing plate 137 presses the tofu T3 by its own weight. Since the heavy soybean 137 g is adjusted in advance so that the tofu T3 is not floated in water and is not deformed, the tofu T3 can be held on the receiving plate 135 to such an extent that it does not float. That is, tofu, which has a specific gravity similar to that of water, does not migrate or float in water and can be packed accurately. At this time, the distributors 13a ... 13f are cut and receive the tofu T3 which is in contact with each other in a vertical line. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
Pack P that should be stored when 1f is extended and in a gathered state
Since the brim portions are respectively overhanging, the length of six pieces of tofu T3 to be stored from this point is in a state of protruding from below the distributing portion 13.

In FIGS. 6 and 7, each distributor 13a ... 13f has a receiving plate 13
While the 5 is retracted on the take-out conveyor unit 15 and the lateral movement mechanisms 141a ... 141f are contracted, the tofu T3 is spread on the pack P to be stored. Each of the distributors 13a ... 13f has a different lateral movement length due to the expansion as described above, and thus the strokes of the lateral movement mechanisms 141a, 141f for laterally moving the distributors 13a, 13f on both sides are the longest, Lateral movement mechanism 141c, 14 for laterally moving the distributors 13c, 13d near the center
The stroke of 1d is the shortest.

In FIG. 8, after the state shown in FIG. 6 and FIG.
By retracting the back plate front-back mechanism 136 and removing the back plate 135,
The tofu T3 is obstructed by the lower part of the front and rear plates 133 of the push plate and cannot go to the receiving plate 135, and is pushed and inserted by the push plate 137 into the pack P which stands by below.

FIG. 9 shows that the push plate 137 is raised again to receive the tofu T3 in the second row, and it is moved forward together with the receiving plate 135 to return to the state of FIG. The six packs P containing the tofu T3 are sent by the length of six when the CH conveyor 151 is activated, and new empty packs P are distributed to the distribution device 13.
Wait down. When the preparation is completed, the extrusion plate operating mechanism 123 of the extrusion unit 12 advances by one tofu T2 and advances the extrusion plate 126, so that the tofu T3 in the second row waiting in the middle after being cut is completely cut. , Tofu T2 on each of the receiving plates 135, the third row of tofu T2 is cut in half and put in a standby state,
13 repeats the operation up to FIG. 9, and repeats the same operation from the state of FIG. 4 again, and if the tofu T2 is no longer on the TP conveyor 111 after repeating 5 times in total, the pushing plate operating mechanism 123 moves backward. Then, the push-out plate 126 is retracted to the left end of the TP conveyor 111, and at the same time, the blade up-and-down mechanism 128 contracts to finish raising the horizontal cutting blade 124 and the side plate 125, and the TP conveyor 111 is activated, and the stop assist is interlocked with the activation. Since the plate 114b also opens upward, the following front stop plate 11 during the above operation.
The next tofu T1 placed between 2a and the back stop plate 112b is immediately cut in the longitudinal direction. As described above, the tofu T1 can be automatically cut and packed into thirty tofu T3 thirty pieces without manual labor.

As described above, according to the tofu cutting and packing apparatus according to the present embodiment, the cutting and packing of the tofu can be fully automated, and it is hygienic since no human intervention is required.
In particular, the water can be sterilized by raising the temperature of the water supplied to the aquarium to such a level that bacteria do not propagate.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, what operates by hydraulic pressure other than the power of the conveyor has been described, and cutting of 30 tofus, and description of packing only have been described.
The specific structure of the device according to the present invention, the shape, the cutting method of the tofu, the number and the like are not limited to these, and within the scope of the above-mentioned objects of the present invention, the action and the effect described later, respectively. Needless to say, they may be arbitrarily set, and none of these modifications change the gist of the present invention.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the tofu cutting and packing apparatus of the present invention, all the cutting and packing of tofu can be automated. Therefore, it is possible to accurately and promptly store in the pack, and it takes a lot of manpower to supply the uncut tofu to the conveying means, which is highly effective in hygiene, and the delicious state at the time of production is improved. It can be maintained for a long time.

In addition, since the receiving means receives the tofu at the side position of the conveying means, the tofu cut into one tofu can be surely received without breaking the shape of the tofu, and the tofu shape can be maintained while the pack is packed. It can be packed.

Furthermore, since one tofu of tofu received at the side position of the conveying means is received by the receiving means and a plurality of receiving means are distributed in the conveying direction by the distributing means and packed, the storage intervals of the respective packs are increased. Even if the tofu is packed, it can be packed reliably, and in particular, since the receiving means for receiving one tofu of each is distributed in the conveying direction, the tofu can be packed while maintaining its shape. .

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of the main parts, and FIG. 2 is a view taken along the line AA in FIG. Sectional view, Figure 3 shows TP
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the main parts of the supply conveyor section and the extrusion device when the conveyor is stopped, FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional front view at the start of extrusion, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the main part of FIG. FIG. 6 is a front view of the main part of the distribution device when transferring the tofu onto the pack, FIG. 7 is a plan view of arrow C in FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is a main part of the distribution device when pushing the tofu into the pack. FIG. 9 is a front view of the main portion of the distribution device in the next-row tofu receiving state. 1 …… Tofu cutting and packing device 11 …… Supply conveyor 12 …… Extrusion section 13 …… Distribution section 15 …… Extraction conveyor section 135 …… Receiving plate 137 …… Pressing plate T1 …… Uncut tofu P …… pack.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tofu cutting and packing apparatus for cutting uncut tofu in the form of a plate and storing it in a tofu pack, wherein the uncut tofu in the form of a plate is held and conveyed by tact operation. A conveyor-like transporting means, a transporting direction cutting means fixedly arranged above the transporting means, for cutting the uncut tofu to be transported in the transporting direction, and a transporting direction arranged orthogonal to the transporting means. Extruding means for extruding the tofu cut in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, and the tofu cut in the conveying direction which is fixedly arranged above the conveying means and extruded by the extruding means is perpendicular to the conveying direction. A transverse cutting means for cutting in a predetermined direction into a predetermined number of tofu, and a transverse cutting means for cutting the tofu cut in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction into a predetermined number of tofu At the lateral position of the transport means A plurality of receiving means for receiving each tofu and moving to the tofu pack row in which the tofu packs are arranged, and a plurality of receiving means after receiving one tofu for each tofu pack storage position A tofu cutting and packing apparatus, characterized by comprising: a distribution means for distributing the tofu according to the above, and a separation means for separating each tofu from the receiving means.