US3651541A - Method of guiding piercing instruments - Google Patents

Abstract

Magnetic bars are used to guide knives or other piercing instruments in machines, such as meat tenderizers, where the piercing instruments are repeatedly thrust deeply into a body and then withdrawn. Thus, the instruments are firmly, but yieldingly, guided to maintain the desired alignment and spacing and minimize bending and breaking thereof.

Description

United States Patent Jaccard [4 1 Mar. 28, 1972 [54] METHOD OF GUIDING PIERCING [56] References Cited INSTRUMENTS UNITED STATES PATENTS [721 Invent Buffah' NY 2 293 094 8/1942 Abbott ..17/25 73 Assignee: Jaccard Corporation i County N.Y 3,283,360 1 l/l966 Tamain 1 7/25 [22] Filed: Aug. 13, 1970 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 2 A N 3 473 1,198,470 6/1959 France ..l7/25 1 pp 0 572,133 1/1958 ltaiy ..17/2s Related US. Application Data Primary Examiner-Lucie H. Laudenslager [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 776,851, Oct. 31, A -A 1 1 F, Ha -l b,

1968, Pat. No. 3,583,025.

' ABSTRACT [52] U.S.Ci. ..17/45, 17/25, 146/150 R, Magnefic bars are used to guide knives or other piercing 146/160 struments in machines, such as meat tenderizers, where the [51] Int. Cl ..A22c 7/00 Piercing instruments are repeated), thrust deep, into a body [58] Field oiSearch ..l7/25,45; 146/150 R, 160 and then withdrawn, Thus, the instruments are firmly but yieidingly, guided to maintain the desired alignment and spacing and minimize bending and breaking thereof.

5 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures METHOD OF GUIDING PIERCIN G INSTRUMENTS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application is in part a continuation of US. Pat. application Ser. No. 776,851, filed Oct. 31, 1968 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,025, issued June 8, 1971.

The present invention relates to a process for guiding piercing instruments.

In piercing machines wherein a plurality of piercing instruments are repeatedly thrust deeply into a body and then withdrawn, it is desirable to maintain the instruments in aligned and properly spaced position during use. An example of such a machine is the meat tenderizer disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,360. In the machine referred to a plurality of long, thin, knife blades are forced repeatedly into a cut of meat, thus making a large number of incisions and severing the tough connective tissue in the meat at many places, thereby making the meat tender. Because of their length and relative thinness, however, bending and sometimes breaking of the knives occurs and some difficulty is encountered in keeping the knives satisfactorily aligned and spaced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method for guiding piercing instruments and preventing bending thereof which comprises employing means on opposite sides of the instruments urged together by magnetic attraction. Thus, the guiding is firm, though yielding, and there is no excess clearance between the instruments and the guide means, thus minimizing bending and breaking. In addition, there is provided a safety factor, in that should one of the instruments break for any reason, the magnetic guide structure will tend to attract and hold the broken piece or pieces of the instrument and thereby prevent its or their remaining in the body which is penetrated.

Although there are a number of processes in which piercing instruments are employed in the manner described above, a good example is the mechanical tenderizing of meat. There have been disclosed a variety of machines intended for this purpose and in many of them long, slender, piercing instruments are used. The present novel process is usable with such machines and also machines using such instruments for other purposes.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front view, partly in section, of a meat tenderizing machine such as is described and shown in the above-mentioned patent;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, enlarged, sectional view on the plane of line 22 of FIG. I showing the knife blades engaged in the guide grill;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view similar to FIG. 1 showing the knives in extended position;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged top plan view of a unit of the novel knife guide structure, the magnetic guide bars being shown spaced as they appear when knives are located therebetween;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view of a guide bar taken on the plane of line 5-5 of FIG. 4; and

FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 are cross-sectional views of piercing tools of modified shape.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As indicated above the present method is particularly suitable for use with meat tenderizing machines such as that disclosed in the above-mentioned U.S. patent. It should'be understood that the meat tenderizing machine shown in part in FIGS. 1 and 3 is for illustrative purposes essentially the same as the machine shown and described in the said patent. Reference to that patent may be made for details of construction not disclosed or shown herein.

In FIG. 1 there is shown a portion of a meat tenderizing machine with which the invention of the present application is adapted for use. The machine has a chassis or frame 10 including legs 12 whereby it may be mounted on a table, bench, counter, or other suitable support. On the upper portion of the frame 10 there is provided a platform 14 having depending guide portions 16 which slidably receive the sleeves 18 that surrounded the spaced rods 20. The rods 20 are secured at their lower ends, by nuts 22, to a cross bar 24 and are attached at their upper ends to a cross frame member (not shown). The latter is movable upwardly and downwardly along with the rods 20 and the cross bar 24 by means, partially shown and designated 26, actuated by the lever 28. The means 26 includes a rotatable shaft 30 mounted in bearings 32 provided in the frame -10 and additionally supported by a bearing 34 suspended by a hanger 36 from the platform 14.

Above the platform 14 the rods 20 are encircled by compression springs (not shown) which are enclosed by telescoping tubes 38. The springs bear at their lower ends on the platform 14 and support on their upper ends a floating cross member 40 that removably carries a bank 42 of multiblade knives 44. The blades of the knives 44 are held in proper position and guided by means hereinafter described carried by the stripper plate 46. The plate 46 is attached to vertically movable rods 48 which extend through the floating cross member 40 and are suitably connected to a support (not shown) which permits the plate 46 to hang from the cross member 40. The plate and cross member are, however, adapted and arranged for vertical movement independently of one another.

A cutting board or table 50 is removably carried by the platform 14, as by the cooperating tongues 52 and grooves 54.

The board 50 supports the meat during its subjection to the tenderizing operation. Accordingly, it is preferably soft enough not to shatter a knife blade which may accidently en gage it and it should be easily replaceable when it becomes worn or otherwise unsanitary.

Referring to FIG. 2, the bank 42 of knives 44 is removably secured to the floating cross member 40 by a clamp 56 which may be tightened by thumbscrews 58. As shown, the base or top portion 64 of each knife 44 is formed with a dovetail, indicated at 60, at each corner. These dovetails engage, respectively, in complementary notches in the cross member 40 and the clamp 56. The knives are aligned and held together in spaced relation in the knife bank 42 by a removable pin or rod 62 which passes through the base 64 of each of the knives and through spacer blocks 66 (see FIG. I) inserted between the bases. Depending from the base 64 of each knife 44 are a plurality of regularly spaced blades 68, preferably sharpened on both their edges and points. The lower ends of the blades 68 are guided and maintained in spaced position by a grill comprehensively designated 70.

The grill 70 is removably carried by the stripper plate 46 which-when the machine is in use rests on the meat cut to be tenderized. It comprises a plurality of parallel guide bars 72 arranged (see FIG. 4) in side by side relation and held at one end by rounded projections 74 on the bars in a carrier 76 having a laterally and upwardly projecting handle 78. The plate 46 is provided with a longitudinally extending hole 80 for passage of the knife blades 68, and the hole is provided with longitudinally extending, inwardly directed shoulders 82 and 84 on which the carrier 76 and the free ends of the guide bars 72 carried thereby, respectively, rest. A thumbscrew 86 holds the carrier 76 against displacement from the plate 46, a notch 88 (see FIG. 4) being provided in the edge of the carrier for convenient disengagement of the carrier from the thumbscrew. A retainer plate 90 secured to the stripper plate 46 adjacent the free ends of the bars 72 by a thumbscrew 92 is protrated in FIG. 5 with the plane of polarization running longitudinally of the bars 72 so that the top of each bar constitutes the other pole is usually preferred. As shown in FIG. 5, the poles as indicated by the letters N and S are reversed in alternate bars, thereby causing the bars to be held together by magnetic force. This results in maintaining the blades 68 of each knife 44 straight and aligned, since the bars on either side thereof are pulled together, and maintaining the proper spacing between the blades of adjacent knives. Further, in the event that one of the blades 68 is accidently broken, for example, by striking a bone in the meat, the magnetic attraction of the bars 72 and the knives will tend to pull the broken piece from the meat and hold it, thus preventing danger to the consumer. Although the guide bars 72 may be made of various hard, wear-resistant magnetic materials such as iron-nickelaluminum-cobalt alloys, steel is satisfactory. Lubrication at the areas of contact between the blades 68 and the bars 72 is provided by the meat juices and fat. It is to be noted that in FIG. 4 the bars 72 are shown in the spaced position they assume when blades 68 are inserted between them. While in general the magnetic poles will be reversed in alternate bars, for convenience in installing or removing groups of bars the adjacent end bars of each group may be so magnetized that there is no mutual attraction.

Although the operation of the meat tenderizing apparatus illustrated herein is fully disclosed in the above-mentioned patent, it may be pointed out that a cut of meat 96 placed on the cutting table 50 is repeatedly pierced by the blades 68 of knives 44 which are moved downwardly through the grill 70 by means (not shown) acting on the cross member 40 from which the knives depend. The platform 14 carrying the table 50 is moved upwardly by means 26 actuated by lever 28 to bring the cut of meat into contact with the stripper plate 46. Thus the meat is held firmly while the blades 68 are withdrawn. As explained above, the guide bars '72 of the grill maintain the blades aligned and in properly spaced position for entry into the meat, the latter being shifted from time to time as operation proceeds whereby to make a plurality of incisions with the blades in different portions of the meat. The magnetic attraction between the bars of the grill hold the blades in position with a firm but yielding force thus preventing the breakage of bent blades which might occur if the guide bars were fixed or rigidly held.

it will be understood that the usefulness of the present invention is not limited to meat tenderizing apparatus constructed and operated as above described. In fact, the novel magnetic guide bars of the present invention can be used not only with long, thin, flat blades of the type illustrated in the above-mentioned patent, but also with piercing instruments or blades which are relatively long with respect to their thickness or diameter and which have cross sections off various shapes. For example, as shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8, the instruments may be oval or round, i.e., curved, in cross section or may be round and/or oval in part and flattened in part. Further, magnetized guide bars forming -a grill may be used as guides and separators for piercing instruments used in any type of mechanical meat tenderizer or for other purposes. Also, of course, difl'erent, suitable mounting arrangements may be provided for the bars if desired or necessary. Thus, although the carrier 76, shown and described above, is relatively short so that a plurality of them are used in providing a grill for a long bank of knives, a single, longer carrier could be employed. On the other hand, shorter carriers may be used when only a few piercing instruments or a single one is employed.

It will be further understood that the effectiveness of the method of the present invention does not depend on the magnetic character of the penetrating instruments since the magnetic guide bars will be mutually attracted to provide guidance regardless of the material of which the instruments are formed.

1 claim:

1. A method for preventing the bending of a piercing instrument that is relatively long with respect to its thickness or diameter which comprises guiding said instrument firmly but yieldingly by means urged together by magnetic attraction.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 inwhich a plurality of piercing instruments are guided.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 in which a plurality of magnetized guide bars are employed, one on each-side of said instrument, said bars being oppositely magnetized, whereby said bars are mutually attracted and press against said instru ment.

4. A method as set forth in claim 2 in which a plurality of magnetized guide bars are employed, said instruments and said bars being alternated, and alternate ones of said bars are oppositely magnetized.

5. A method as set forth in claim 3 in which said instruments and said bars are alternated and alternate ones of said bars are oppositely magnetized.

Claims (5)

1. A method for preventing the bending of a piercing instrument that is relatively long with respect to its thickness or diameter which comprises guiding said instrument firmly but yieldingly by means urged together by magnetic attraction.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 in which a plurality of piercing instruments are guided.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1 in which a plurality of magnetized guide bars are employed, one on each side of said instrument, said bars being oppositely magnetized, whereby said bars are mutually attracted and press against said instrument.

4. A method as set forth in claim 2 in which a plurality of magnetized guide bars are employed, said instruments and said bars being alternated, and alternate ones of said bars are oppositely magnetized.

5. A method as set forth in claim 3 in which said instruments and said bars are alternated and alternate ones of said bars are oppositely magnetized.

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