US748665A - Charles james shirreff - Google Patents

Description

I PATENTED JAN. 5, 1904. 0. J. SHIRREPP.

FOOD CUTTER.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 16, 1901.

UNITED STATES CHARLES JAMES SHIRREFF,

Patented January 5, 1904.

or BROOKVILLE, CANADA.

FOOD-CUTTER.

' SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 748,665, dated January 5, 1904.

Application liled July 16, 1901.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CH RLES JAMEs SHIR- REFF, a subject of theKing of Great Britain, residing at the town of Brockville, in the county of Leeds and. Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented a new and useful Food-Outter, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in food-cutters; and the object of my invention is to design a food-cutter which shall be cheap and simple in construction, may be easily taken apart and cleaned, which shall shear the meat or other material with a minimumamount of crushing of its cells and fibers, and in which either side of the knives may be used and in which the exit for the material being cut is as open as possible toprevent such material being crushed and the" juices separated therefrom; and it consists, essentially, of a cutter having the ordinary; hopper and spiral feed, a crank-handle for turning said spiral feed,and apair of cuttingknives mounted on the end of the shaft of said spiral feed, one knife being stationary and the other being rotatable, the various parts being otherwise constructed and arranged in detail, as hereinafter more particularly described.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my machine with the frame partly broken away to show the interior mechanism. Fig. 2 is a detail view of the cutting-knives. Fig. 3 is a detail of the end of the spiral feedshaft. Fig. 4 is a sectional view of one pair of knives when one is shearing past the other. Fig. 5 is a section through the square portion of the shaft. Fig. 6 is a section through the shaft at the annular groove. Fig. 7 shows an alternative form of the rotary knife.

In the drawings like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

A is the frame of my machine, comprising the hopper a, the legs a, the base a and the ordinary clamp, a and the flaring exit-passage a and hearing a B is a shaft having a cylindrical portion 1),

i a spiral feed I), and a circular shoulder 19 Serial Noes,509. on; model.)

formed on the circumference at the end of said shaft.

G and D are the cutting-knives. These knives are wheel -shaped, having blades or spokes c and (1, respectively, of substantially diamond section, and the rotating blades or spokes sliding past the stationary blades shear the food without crushing or tearing the fibers. The stationary knife D is formed with a circular central hole (1, in which the circular shoulder Won the shaft B turns. The rotary knife 0 has a central hole 0, having inwardlyextending arc-shaped projections c 0 E is a handle of ordinary form. This handle is formed at its upper end with a sleeve e, which slips over the end of the shaft B, projecting out beyond the bearing a b is a square portion formed at the end of the shaft B. Flat portions e e are formed inside the sleeve e, and these flat portions by engaging the sides of the square portion b on the end of theshaft B force said shaft to turn when the handle is turned.

F is a thumb-screw comprising a handle f, flange f, and threaded portion f This thumb-screw is screwed into a hole 11 tapped in the end of the shaft B, and since the flange j bears against the end of the sleeve e the shaft B may be drawn up into the sleeve 6 by turning the screw F.

In assembling the parts of this machine the end of the shaft is first inserted in the bearing at, the spiral feed cominginto position in the exit-passage a. The sleeve 6 of the handle is then slipped over the end of the shaft and loosely held therein by the thumb-screw F. The hole (i in the knife D is then slipped over the shoulder 25 on the shaft. It will be noticed that the projections c 0 formed on the knife 0, correspond to the slots or depressions b b on the end of the shaft B. The knife (3 may therefore he slipped onto the end of the shaft B when the projections, 0 0 s are opposite the depressions 19 b A this has been done,-it will be seen that the\ When projections o c are brought in line with the the shaft. Consequently the knife D is also held in place. By continuing to turn the shaft the ridges b b engage the projections c 0 and the knife 0 is thus caused to rotate. The thumb-screw F may now be screwed up till the knife G is held with any desired pressure against the knife D.

In order to prevent the knife D from turning with the knife 0, stops a a are formed at the mouth of the funnel-shaped exit-passage a, and these stops engage projections d d formed on the circumference of the knife D, thus preventing same from turning.

a represents spiral ribs formed on the inside of the passage at, these ribs being provided to prevent the food which is being fed to the knives from slipping past or under the separate volutes of the spiral.

The operation of my machine is as follows: The food is first cut into pieces small enough to be inserted in the hopper of the machine. The pieces are then placed in the hopper and the handle E turned in the direction indicated by the arrow. The spiral feed then forces the food through the exit-passage and between the blades of the knife D. The knife 0 being rotated in contact with D shears off the food as it comes through, and the food when out drops into any suitable vessel placed in position to receive same.

In order to take the machine apart to clean it, all that is necessary is to give the handle E a quarterturn backward, holding the knife 0 stationary, and the knives O and D may then he slipped off the end of the shaft and cleaned. To remove the spiral, the thumb-screw F is unscrewed and the spiral and shaft may then be drawn out.

Among the many advantages of my machine the following may be particularly noted: First, the ease with which it may be cleaned out. Both the knives in the machine being removable, the inside of the machine may be cleaned out in a few moments. Second, the rotary and the stationary knives are both symmetrical, and therefore reversible, so that either edge of the knives may be used, and therefore they last just twice as long as ordinary knives at present in use, and another advantage in their being symmetrical is that a person need not bother about finding the right side. of the knife to face in or out. Third, it will be noticed that with my construction the exit for the food between the blades of the knives is left very free and open, whereas in former machines the exit was greatly blocked by thumb-screws and other attachments.

A distinct and important feature of my invention is the shape of the knives. It will be noticed that the cutting edges of the blade are not radial, and by means of this construction the blades gradually shear over each other'and come together in a similar manner to the blades of a pair of scissors, whereas when the knives are radial the entire length of the two blades comes in contact at once,

and hence they are more inclined to tear or crush the meat than to shear it clean; but it will be understood that I do not wish to confinemyself to this form of blade, as it might in some cases be found preferable to make them radial or of other suitable form. The cross-section of the blades of both knives being an acute-angled parallelogram is another important improvement, as the two acute edges coming together, as shown in Fig. 4:, make an exceedingly clean out.

An alternative form of knife for my machine is shown in Fig. 7. In this form'there is no rim to the knives and the blades are simply outwardly-extending spokes formed on a central hub. This constructlon is useful Where great strength is not required "in the blades, as it leaves a very free exit for the meat or other food; but where strength is required the knives-having the blades connected with an outer rim are preferable.

Although I have shown my device with four blades to each of the knives, it will be understood thatI may use more or less, if necessary. It will also be understood that I may use other means than the one shown for securing the knives to the shaft, although the one shown is the preferable means which I employ.

I do not claim as my invention the hopper and exit-passage and spiral feed nor the ribs in said exit-passage or the clamping device, as these have all been previously in public use.

What I claim as my invention is-- 1. The combination with the hopper, having an exit-passage and the shaft having a spiral portion intermediate of its ends, of detachable stationary and rotary knives, mounted'on said shaft, means for turning said rotary knife, means for preventing said stationary knife from turning, and means for securing said knives on said shaft when the shaft is rotating in one direction and releasing them therefrom when the direction of rotation of the shaft is reversed as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a food-cutter of the class described, the combination with the hopper having an exit-passage,and the shaft having a spiral portion intermediate its ends, a shoulder adjacent to said spiral portion, an annular groove formed aroundsaid shaft,longitudinal ridges crossing said groove, and longitudinal slots extending from said groove to the end of said shaft, of detachable stationary, and rotary knives, said stationary knife having a central annular hole, and said rotary knife having a central hole with inwardly-extending projections, means for rotating said shaft and rotary knife and'means for preventing said stationary knife from rotating with said shaft, as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination with the hopper the bearing and the stops, the exit-passage, and the shaft having aspiral portion intermediate its ends, a cylindrical portion adjacent to said spiral portion and a square portion adjacent to said cylindrical portion, and a threaded hole formed in the end thereof, a shoulder adjacent to the opposite end of said spiral portion, an annular groove formed in said shaft,

and adjacent to said shoulder, longitudinal.

ridges crossing said annular groove, and iongitudinal slots extending from said annular groove to the end of said shaft, of a stationary knife, held on said shoulder said stationary knife having projections on its outer circumference to be engaged by said stops, a re-

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