WO1995004465A1

WO1995004465A1 - Improvements in and relating to food portion forming

Info

Publication number: WO1995004465A1
Application number: PCT/GB1994/001765
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Arthur Whitehouse
Original assignee: John Arthur Whitehouse
Priority date: 1993-08-11
Filing date: 1994-08-11
Publication date: 1995-02-16
Also published as: GB2280869B; GB9316721D0; GB2280869A

Abstract

A method and apparatus for forming portions of foodstuffs wherein the individual portions are formed between an upper and lower tooling of a forming press. Advancement of a length of foodstuff is synchronised with the tooling separation. The foodstuff is formed into a desired shape by the internal topography and dimensions of the tooling. An upper tool is adapted to descend and sheer a portion from a length of foodstuff. The severed material falls into a lower die for forming. A plurality of dies around a rotatable support may be provided.

Description

Title: Improvements in and relating 10 food portion forming

Field of invention

This invention concerns apparatus and methods for forming portions of foodstuffs particularly frozen foodstuffs.

3ackσround to the invention

It has been known for some years to reshape presized portions of frozen food products in two or three dimensions so as to form a more attractive looking shape for the final foodstuff presented to the customer. The process has been applied to frozen fish and poultry but can be applied to other foodstuffs as well.

The process was originally developed for the fish industry where raw material is conveniently bulk frozen into large rectangular blocks usually in a plate freezer. Such blocks normally comply to an industry standard specification and are typically 430mm long by 253mm wide by 63mm thick having a weight of approximately 7.5kg. Processing of these blocks typically involves their reduction to a plurality of consumer sized portions normally by- sawing.

Since the reduced size portions should all be approximately the same size and weight, starting with a rectangular block means that the small consumer portion will themselves also be square or rectangular and fish fingers are a good example of such a product .

In an effort to produce a more natural look to the product, high pressure forming is used as an additional processing step in which the rectangular portion s placed in a shaped form die and a corresponding shaped upper tool or punch is closed onto the portion in the die and forced therein under hydraulic pressure. The force exerted by the press causes the frozen portion to flow into the cavity in the upper punch thus taking up the shape of the tooling both in profile and in the form of the topography of the inside of the surface of the punch. In this way a wide variety of attractive and more natural shapes can be obtained in place of what would otherwise be rather geometric and manufactured looking product .

The bulk blocks are usually unpacked and placed in automated sawing systems and in the first step the block is normally reduced to 2, 3 or 4 primal cuts or logs which are then passed through a series of handsaws in line and offset one to the other in such a way as to cut each log along its length so reducing it to an integral number of thinner portions or planks -up to 6 per log) . Finally these planks are fed through a gang of rotating circular saws or knives for reduction to the final consumer portion which will typically lie in the range 20 to 200 grams depending on the cutting pattern and the product concerned.

Production rates in this type of product have to be high. Typically in the order of 1 to 2 metric tons per hour so that in the case of 100 gram portions 20,000 per hour have to be handled. To cope with this a press system will have a plurality of forming heads so as to be able to handle a number of portions per machine cycle, typically 5 portions per cycle. Transferring such a large number of small portions from the final cutting machine to the press requires a lot of labour or very complex mechanical handling especially if the system is to be able to cope with the wide variety of portion sizes which may be produced from the same standard block by altering the cutting pattern.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of forming consumer portions from a large standard block of foodstuff.

It is another object to provide apparatus performing the method. It is another oo^ect to provide method ana apparatus capaoie of outputting a large number of consumer sized portions with high throughput speed.

Summary of the invention

According to the broadest aspect of the present invention in a method as aforesaid an elongate length of foodstuff is advanced until the leading end of the length is just between the upper and lower tooling of a forming press so that when the latter is operated the leading end is severed and formed into a consumer portion which can be ejected for further processing after the tooling separates, and advancement of the length of foodstuff relative to the tooling is synchronised so that as the tooling separates the leading end of the length of foodstuff is advanced ready to be severed and formed into the next portion as the tooling closes thereon.

According to another aspect of the invention apparatus for performing the above method comprises foodstuff forming apparatus comprising upper and lower tooling which when presented with foodstuff product therebetween severes a portion of foodstuff from the remainder and compresses the severed piece into a desired shape determined by the internal topography and dimensions of the tooling, which formed product can be expelled after the tooling separates, and means for feeding in a synchronous manner between the tooling an elongate length of foodstuff which is to be formed into the desired shape for supply to a consumer, so as to present between the tooling just the correct amount of product at the beginning of each cycle so that as the tooling closes thereon and severs product from the remainder just sufficient product remains between the jaws to enable a consumer portion to be formed as the jaws are forced together.

Preferably the tooling s forced together by means of a hydraulic press . In the method of the invention an elongate length of food product is intermittently fed towards the forming press in preset but adjustable increments. In this way the method can be adjusted to permit different increments of length to overhang the tooling.

Where frozen foodstuff is employed, the upper tool or punch is typically arranged to descend and perform a first simple shearing operation to remove the desired amount of material from the end of the length and cause it to fall into a die in the lower part of the tooling. The punch continues its normal operating cycle closing onto the die containing the sheared portion and completing the forming process.

Ejection of the formed portion after the tooling has separated is carried out in any convenient known manner. Feedback can be used to cause the incremental feeding to continue so as to meter into the tooling another preset length of product for shearing and forming.

Apparatus for performing this aspect of the invention thus comprises an upper tool or punch adapted to descend and shear product from a bulk length thereof so as to remove a predetermined amount of material therefrom and a lower die into which the severed material will fall after it has been sheared from the remainder by the upper tool or punch. The apparatus is designed to complete the cycle by continuing to lower the upper tool onto the die so as to compress the sheared portion of product and shape the latter between the internal topography of the upper and lower tooling.

Means for ejecting formed product from the die may take any convenient form as for example a hydraulically or pneumatically driven piston operating through the die wall so as to push the formed product out of the die.

Alternatively a plurality of 'dies may be located around a rotatabie support which is indexed so as to present the next empty die for the next piece of product to fall into and the formed product is removed from the die that has beer- indexed out of the forming station. Thus in a simple arrangement two dies may be used cr-e serving to retain product which is being formed while the other is ejecting product so as to be ready to be filled at the next operation. Alternatively three or more such dies may be arranged around a drum so that the indexing speed of the latter does not have to be so high in order to present a fresh die to the tool after each operation.

Where the product is extruded in a continuous manner and suitable buffering can be employed, the output from a continuous extruder may be supplied to the product forming station operating as aforesaid.

Where the material is frozen, continuous presentation of product to the forming station is not normally possible unless the lengths can be joined end to end.

According to a further preferred feature of the invention this is achieved by welding the trailing end of one length to the leading end of the next length. Where the lengths of frozen product have a temperature typically in the range -12 to -25°C welding can be achieved by simply wetting the end of one or both of the two lengths with water and forcing the two ends together before che water has frozen. The ice bond or weld between the two ends is sufficient to carry the second lengths with the first into the forming station.

In the event that the welded join between the two planks happens to align with the tooling, the high pressure forming process will merge the two welded pieces of product into a single homogenous portion in the forming process. There is thus no waste and essentially a continuous line of product is presented to the forming station.

The tooling may relate to a single shape and the width of the material length is selected so as to just extend transversely across the tooling with little or no lateral overhang.

Alternatively the width of the lengths may be such that two or mere consumer portions can be removed therefrom across the width thereof, in which event composite tooling may be employed, adapted to separate and form two or more consumer product portions from the width with minimal waste.

It will be appreciated that if "waste" does occur the waste material is foodstuff and in the case of frozen lengths of fish or meat for example, if the latter is collected and kept chilled, it can be recirculated in an appropriate manner into similar product forming tooling and compressed into consumer product portions .

In the alternative, where a press has the capacity to sever and form a plurality of consumer product portions simultaneously, a corresponding plurality of feeding lines are provided each supplying similar lengths of material between appropriate upper and lower tooling members which are operated by the press to shear and form each of the overhanging ends of material simultaneously, so as to form a corresponding plurality of consumer product portions during each operation.

The invention also lies in apparatus for perfcrming the above methods including apparatus for handling simultaneously two or more incrementally fed lengths of foodstuff typically frozen foodstuff so as to remove therefrom two or more consumer product portions during each forming operation.

The invention thus enables one step of the known process namely the portion cutting from the planks, to be eliminated. Since the historical process normally incorporated a circular saw to achieve the portion cutting from the planks, there will be a considerable improvement in the overall process yield because the sawdust waste associated with portion cutting using circular saws will have been eliminated.

The invention leads to simpler, more flexible lower cost for the entire process since the transfer of the larger planks from the sawing line to the forming system is considerably simpler than having to transfer a large number of individual portions separately to the forming press as required by the known process.

List of drawings

The invention will new be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic process flow diagram of the existing method;

Figure 2 is a similar process flow diagram of method and apparatus embodying the invention;

Figure 3 shows the product shearing and forming method of the invention in which the plank is just about to be incremented over the die for the next portion to be formed, the previously formed portion having been ejected from the die onto a conveyor;

Figure 4 illustrates typical form punches from an existing machine with blank charge portion before and final formed portion after forming; and

Figure 5 illustrates multiple portion tooling to enable a plurality of consumer product portions to be formed by a single forming operation from a single plank.

Detailed description of the drawings

In Figure 1 a block of frozen product 1. is sawn into a plurality of logs shown at 12 which is then sawn into a series of planks as shown at 14 which are then sawn into blank portions such as 16 for transfer to a die at 18. The known forming machine lowers a press tool onto the die 18 and after raising the press tool, the formed foodstuff as at 20 is ejected from the die leaving the latter free to receive the next blank portion 15.

Figure 2 shows the improved method and apparatus of the invention. Here a block generally designated 22 is sawn into logs one of which is shown at 24 moving into a further sawing station in which it is formed into planks at 26. The planks are removed one by one from the planking station 26 and advance until the end region 28 of the plank extends over the die 30. The upper tool 32 is lowered so as to shear the overhanging section of plank into the die 30 and continued downward pressure forms the severed material in the die into the three dimensional shape defined by the internal topography of the die and tool 30, 32.

Removal of the tool 32 in an unward direction releases the formed material which can then be ejected onto a conveyor 34.

Completion of the operation is shown in Figure 3 where the formed product 36 is shown on the conveyor 34 and the plank 27 is ready to move over the die 30 so that the process can be repeate-d.

Where the blocks are frozen and the frozen condition remains throughout, the process can be speeded up by welding the leading end 38 to the trailing end 40 of successive blocks rather than as is shown in Figure 3 where they are indicated as being separated so that at the planking stage the log is cut into a sequence of planks which are joined end to end. In the case of frozen foodstuffs this may be effected most simply by wetting either or both of the leading and trailing edges to be joined and forcing them into contact before the water film has frozen. The ice film between the leading and trailing edges serves to join the two planks and the forming station at 42 can thus be presented effectively with a continuous flow of material albeit advancing intermittently over the die so that the leading edge of the continuously presented material can be severed and formed. Al hough not shown, the die 30 may be one of a number of dies arranged around a drum adapted to rotate about an axis transverse or parallel to the direction of movement of the planks so that a formed piece of foodstuff can be removed very rapidly from below the upper tccl 32 and the plank can be advanced very rapidly over the next empty die thereby enabling a further speeding up of the process to be obtained. Formed product can then be removed from the die which has been rotated out of the forming station and located on a conveyor such as 34 which may now be located at a different position relative to that shown in Figures 2 and 3.

Figure 4 shows how rectangular pieces of frozen fish such as 44 and 45 can be formed into fillet like shapes such as 48 and 50 using punches such as shown at 52 and 54.

Multiple product pieces may be formed using multiple compartment forming tools such as shown in Figure 5 at 56 and 58. Rectangular product such as shewn at 60 is converted into filleted shapes such as 62 whilst a relatively large rectangular plank 64 is converted by the composite tool 58 into a large number of relatively randomly shaped pieces two of which are marked with reference numeral 66.

The drawings illustrate not only the steps of the method but also in diagrammatic form apparatus which may be used to perform the claimed method.

Claims

1. A method of forming consumer portions from a block of foodstuff wherein an elongate length of foodstuff is advanced until the leading end of the length is just between an upper and lower tooling of a forming press so that when the latter is operated the leading end is severed and formed into a consumer portion which can be ejected for further processing after the tooling separates, and advancement of the length of foodstuff relative to the tooling is synchronised so that as the tooling separates the leading end of the length of foodstuff is advanced ready to be severed and formed into the next portion as the tooling closes thereon.

2. Apparatus for performing a method in accordance with claim 1 comprising upper and lower tooling which when presented with foodstuff product therebetween severs a portion of foodstuff from the remainder and compresses the severed piece into a desired shape determined by the internal topography and dimensions of the tooling, which formed product can be expelled after the tooling separates, and means for feeding in a synchronous manner between the tooling an elongate length of foodstuff which is to be formed into the desired shape for supply to a consumer, so as to present between the tooling just the correct amount of product at the beginning of each cycle so that as the tooling closes thereon and severs product from the remainder just sufficient product remains between the jaws to enable a consumer portion to be formed as the jaws are forced together.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the tooling is forced together by means of a hydraulic press.

4. A method according to claim 1 wherein an elongate length of food product is intermittently fed towards the forming press in preset but adjustable increments. b. Apparatus tor performing a method in accordance with claim 4 so as to permit different increments of length to overhang the tooling.

6. Apparatus according to claim 2 or claim 3 or claim 5 wherein frozen foodstuff is employed, the upper tool is arranged to descend and perform a first simple shearing operation to remove the desired amount of material from the end of the length and cause it to fall into a die in the lower part of the tooling.

7. Apparatus according to claims 5 or 6 wherein feedback is used to cause the incremental feeding to continue after ejection of the formed portion so as to meter into the tooling another preset length of product for shearing and forming.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 comprising an upper tool or punch adapted to descend and shear product from a bulk length thereof so as to remove a predetermined amount of material therefrom and a lower die into which the severed material will fall after it has been sheared from the remainder by the upper tool or punch, completing the cycle by continuing to lower the upper tool onto the die so as to compress the sheared portion of product and shape the latter between the internal topography of the upper and lower tooling.

9. Apparatus according to any of claims 2 to 3 or 5 to 8 wherein a plurality of dies is located around a rotatable support which is indexed so as to present the next empty die for the next piece of product to fall into and the formed product is removed from the die that has been indexed out of the forming station.

10. Apparatus according to any of claims 2 to 3 or 5 to 9 wherein at least three dies may be arranged arorrd a drum so that the indexing speed of the latter does not have ιo be so high in order to present a fresh die to the tool after each operation. 11. Apparatus according to any of claims 2 to 3 or 5 to 10 wherein the product is extruded in a continuous manner and suitable buffering is employed so that the output from a continuous extruder is supplied to the product forming station operating as aforesaid.

12. Apparatus according to any of claims 2 to 3, or 5 to 11 wherein continous presentation of a frozen foodstuff to the forming station is achieved by welding the trailing end of one length to the leading end of the next length.

13. Apparatus according to claim 12 wherein the welded join between the two lengths aligns with the tooling such that the high pressure forming process merges the two welded pieces of product into a single homogenous portion in the forming process.

14. Apparatus according to any of claims 2 to 3 or 5 to 13 wherein the tooling relates to a single shape and the width of the material length is selected so as to just extend transversely across the tooling with little or no lateral overhang.

15. Apparatus acording to any of claims 2 to 3 or 5 to 13 wherein the width of the lengths is such that at least two consumer portions can be removed therefrom across the width thereof wherein composite tooling is employed, adapted to separate and form a least two consumer product portions from the width with minimal waste.

16. Apparatus according to any of claims 2 to 3 or 5 to 15 wherein a press has the capacity to sever and form a plurality of consumer product portions simultaneously with a corresponding plurality of feeding lines being provided, each line supplying similar lengths of material between appropriate upper and lower tooling members which are operated by the press to shear and form each of the overhanging ends of material simultaneously, so as to form a corresponding plurality of consumer product portions during each operation. 17. Apparatus for performing the methods of claims 1 or 4 wherein at least two incrementally fed lengths of foodstuff are handled simultaneously so as to remove therefrom two or more consumer product portions during each forming operation.

18. A method for forming consumer portions of foodstuff substantially as herein described and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

19. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 2 to 3 or 5 to 17 substantially as herein described and with reference to the accompanying drawings.