WO2020089715A1

WO2020089715A1 - A sausage cutting apparatus and method

Info

Publication number: WO2020089715A1
Application number: PCT/IB2019/058582
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tom Lawrence Thring; Hermann August Schultz; Heindrich Fritz
Original assignee: Freddy Hirsch Group Proprietary Limited; Freddy Hirsch Group Ag
Priority date: 2018-10-29
Filing date: 2019-10-09
Publication date: 2020-05-07
Also published as: GB201817606D0; GB2578463A

Abstract

A sausage cutting apparatus 10 for cutting a sausage rope 11 includes a cutting head 27 including a first cutting assembly 28 having a plurality of cutting devices 30 and a second cutting assembly 32 having a plurality of cutting devices 30; and an outfeed system 60 for conveying cut sausage portions 23 away from the cutting head. The cutting assemblies define a feed path for the sausage rope between them, with cutting blades of opposing pairs of cutting devices cutting the sausage rope. The outfeed system 60 includes an outfeed belt conveyor 62 including a belt 68 driven by a motor 72. The belt conveyor 62 is disposed in line with and below the feed path such that cut sausage portions drop under gravity onto an operative upper support surface 68 defined by the belt 68. The belt 68 is driven at a velocity greater than a velocity of the sausage rope 11 along the feed path thereby accelerating the sausage portions away from the cutting devices.

Description

A SAUSAGE CUTTING APPARATUS AND METHOD

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to a sausage cutting apparatus. The invention relates also to a method of cutting a sausage rope.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a sausage cutting apparatus including: a support structure defining a feed path along which a sausage rope to be cut is displaced; a cutting head having an infeed end and an outfeed end and including first and second cutting assemblies which are mounted to the support structure and which are each located at an opposite side of the feed path for cutting the sausage rope into smaller sausage portions, each cutting assembly including an elongate continuous carrier member and a plurality of longitudinally-spaced cutting devices which are connected to the carrier member, the cutting devices of the cutting assemblies being displaceable along cutting paths wherein the cutting devices of the first and second cutting assemblies are displaced repeatedly inwardly towards one another for cutting the sausage rope and away from one another so as to permit release of cut sausage portions; an infeed guide system for guiding displacement of the sausage rope into the feed path at the infeed end of the cutting head, between the first and second cutting assemblies of the cutting head; an outfeed system for conveying cut sausage portions away from the cutting head after cutting of the sausage rope by the cutting assemblies, the sausage cutting apparatus being characterized in that the outfeed system includes an outfeed conveyor which is located at the outfeed end of the cutting head and which is configured for supporting and conveying cut sausage portions away from the cutting head in a displacement direction in line with the feed path, the outfeed conveyor defining a support surface for supporting cut sausage portions, which is disposed in line with the feed path, the outfeed system including drive means for driving displacement of the support surface of the conveyor at a velocity which is greater than a velocity at which the sausage rope is fed along the feed path between the cutting assemblies of the cutting head.

The support surface of the outfeed conveyor may be disposed at a height relatively below a height at which the sausage rope is cut by the cutting devices of the cutting assemblies in an arrangement wherein leading end regions of sausage portions are frictionally engaged by the outfeed conveyor as trailing ends of the sausage portions are cut.

The outfeed conveyor of the outfeed system may comprise a continuous belt conveyor. More specifically, the drive means may comprise a drive motor for driving displacement of the outfeed conveyor. Yet more specifically, the drive motor of the outfeed system may have a variable speed control permitting adjustment of the speed of the outfeed conveyor.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of cutting a sausage rope into smaller sausage portions, the method including: providing a cutting head including first and second cutting assemblies which define a feed path between them along which the sausage rope is displaced and which each include a carrier member to which a plurality of cutting device are connected, the cutting devices being displaceable repeatedly inwardly towards one another for cutting the sausage rope and away from one another so as to permit release of cut sausage portions; providing an outfeed system including an outfeed conveyor for conveying cut sausage portions away from the cutting head; displacing the sausage rope along the feed path; displacing the cutting devices of the cutting assemblies repeatedly towards and away from one another so as to cut the sausage rope into smaller portions; and driving displacement of the outfeed conveyor at a velocity greater than a velocity at which the sausage rope is fed along the feed path between the cutting assemblies of the cutting head.

The method may be implemented by the sausage cutting apparatus in accordance with the first aspect of the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features of the invention are described hereinafter by way of a non-limiting example of the invention, with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings. In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a three-dimensional view of sausage processing equipment including a sausage cutting apparatus in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 shows a side view of the sausage processing equipment of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 shows a top plan view of the sausage processing equipment of Figure 1 ;

Figure 4 shows a fragmentary, partially sectioned side view of the cutting head and the outfeed system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 5 shows a fragmentary top plan view of the cutting head and the outfeed system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 6 shows a fragmentary three-dimensional view of the cutting head and the outfeed system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 ; and

Figure 7 shows another fragmentary three-dimensional view of the cutting head and the outfeed system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to the drawings, a sausage cutting apparatus in accordance with the invention, is designated generally by the reference numeral 10. The sausage cutting apparatus is adapted for severing a sausage which is provided in the form of an elongate continuous sausage rope 1 1 , into separate sausage portions.

The sausage cutting apparatus forms part of sausage processing equipment 12 which includes a support structure in the form of a stand 14 and a top processing structure 16 mounted on the stand. The processing structure includes an extrusion nozzle 18 for co extruding a sausage filler emulsion which is fed into the extrusion nozzle via an emulsion feed pipe 19 together with a sausage casing gel composition which is supplied to the extrusion head along gel feed pipe 20. The casing gel composition is initially provided in a flowable form but after extrusion, sets around the filler under the action of a suitable chemical agent to form a sausage casing. A gear pump 21 is provided for pumping the gel composition to the extrusion nozzle. After co-extrusion, the extruded sausage rope 1 1 is conveyed along a rectilinear path, where it is guided and supported towards a cutting head for cutting the extruded sausage rope into smaller portions 23. The sausage processing equipment includes a flume 25 for carrying the cut sausage portions 23 to a cooker or other processing equipment.

The sausage cutting apparatus 10 comprises, broadly, a support structure 26, a cutting head 27 including a first cutting assembly 28 including a plurality of cutting devices 30, a second cutting assembly 32 including a plurality of cutting devices 30, an infeed guide system 33 for guiding displacement of the sausage rope between the cutting devices during a sausage cutting operation and an outfeed system 60 for conveying cut sausage portions 23 away from the cutting head after cutting of the sausage rope by the cutting assemblies. The cutting devices of the first and second cutting assemblies have identical configurations. The cutting head 27 has an infeed end 29 and an outfeed end 31 .

The support structure 26 defines a rectilinear feed path 36 between the cutting assemblies along which a sausage rope 1 1 to be cut, is supported and displaced. The first cutting assembly 28 is mounted to the stand 14 and located at one side of the feed path 36 while the second cutting assembly 32 is located at an opposite side of the feed path with the sausage rope 1 1 being displaced along the feed path between the first and second cutting assemblies. The first cutting assembly 28 includes an elongate continuous carrier member in the form of a flexible toothed belt 38 to which the cutting devices 30 are fixedly connected in an arrangement wherein the cutting devices are spaced along the length of the belt. More specifically, the cutting devices 30 are fixedly mounted to an external side of the belt 38.

Each of the cutting assemblies has a top cover plate 41 , an underside of which defines a guide rail along which the cutting devices are displaced. The sausage cutting apparatus further includes a bottom cover plate 43. An upper side of the bottom cover plate defines a pair of guide rails along which the cutting devices of the cutting assemblies 28 and 30, respectively, are displaced.

The second cutting assembly 32 is identical to the first cutting assembly 28. The second cutting assembly 32 is mounted to the stand 14 and includes an elongate continuous carrier member in the form of a flexible toothed belt 38 to which the cutting devices 30 are connected in an arrangement wherein the cutting devices are spaced along the length of the belt. The belt 38 has a plurality of teeth defined on an inner side thereof. More specifically, the cutting devices 30 are fixedly mounted to the belt 38.

The sausage cutting apparatus includes a drive system for synchronously driving the belts 38 of the cutting assemblies 28, 32. The drive system synchronously drives the belts 38 in a controlled manner wherein the cutting devices are sequentially displaced into and out of meshing engagement with one another for severing the sausage rope 11 into sausage portions 23.

Each of the cutting devices 30 has a cutting blade. Each cutting device of the first cutting assembly is associated with a particular one of the cutting devices of the second cutting assembly, with the cutting blades of each of the associated cutting devices sliding past one another in a shearing action for cutting the sausage. The cutting devices are displaced along arcuate cutter paths during meshing engagement of the cutting blades wherein cutting faces of opposing pairs of cutting blades mesh.

The infeed guide system 33 includes a pair of spaced driven elongate infeed belts 45 for supporting and conveying the sausage to the cutting head 7. The infeed belts comprise a continuous upper infeed belt 45.1 and a continuous lower infeed belt 45.2 which frictionally engage upper and lower sides of the sausage rope 1 1 . The upper and lower infeed belts are disposed parallel to a longitudinal axis defined along the length of the sausage rope 1 1 when the sausage rope is supported and conveyed by the infeed belts.

The infeed guide system includes drive pulleys 48 on which the infeed belts 45.1 and 45.2 are mounted. The drive pulleys 48 are synchronously driven at the same velocity by an electric motor 52 via drive belts 50. The infeed guide system further includes follower pulleys 54 on which the infeed belts 45.1 and 45.2 are mounted.

The outfeed system 60 includes an outfeed belt conveyor 62 which is located at the outfeed end 29 of the cutting head 27 for supporting and conveying cut sausage portions away from the cutting head. The outfeed conveyor has a proximal end 64 and a distal end 66 and is disposed in line with the rectilinear feed path 36 along which the sausage rope 1 1 is displaced through the cutting assemblies 28, 32.

The outfeed belt conveyor 62 comprises a continuous outfeed belt 68 and a pair of pulleys 70.1 and 70.2 wherein the pulley 70.1 is driven and the pulley 70.2 is a follower pulley. The outfeed system 60 includes an electrical drive motor 72 for driving the pulley 70.1 and thereby displacement of the outfeed belt 68. The drive motor 72 has a variable speed control system permitting adjustment of the speed of the outfeed belt conveyor 62. The outfeed belt 68 defines a support surface 74 at an operative upper side thereof, on which cut sausage portions discharged from cutting head are supported and conveyed. The outfeed belt conveyor is disposed relative to the cutting assemblies at a location wherein part of the support surface 74 thereof is disposed at a position slightly below a height at which the sausage rope 1 1 is cut by the cutting devices 30 of the cutting assemblies 28, 32, such that cut sausage portions 23 drop, under the influence of gravity, onto the support surface 74 of the outfeed belt conveyor. A leading end region of each sausage portion 23 is frictionally engaged by the support surface 74 of the outfeed belt conveyor as the trailing end thereof is cut by the cutting devices of the cutting assemblies.

Cut sausage portions are thus gravitationally released from the cutting devices 30 of the cutting assemblies, onto the outfeed belt conveyor 62. The outfeed belt 68 is driven at a greater velocity than a velocity at which the sausage rope 1 1 travels along the feed path 36 through the cutting assemblies 28, 32 thereby accelerating the cut sausage portions away from the cutting head and thereby pulling the cut sausage portions out of engagement with the cutting blades of the cutting devices 30. The pulling action of the faster travelling outfeed belt on the cut sausage portions ensures a clear release of each of the severed sausage portions from the cutting devices. The faster speed of the outfeed belt 68 also creates a spacing between the cut sausage portions. This is beneficial when entering the flume 25 as providing for sufficient space between the cut sausage portions prevents the sausage portions from contacting one another which may damage the sausage portions.

The relatively higher speed of the outfeed belt 68 also enables the release of the cut sausage portions 23 without“cut” marks as the pulling action of the outfeed belt 68 on the sausage portions ensures a clean cut. More specifically, if the cut sausage portions are not pulled from the pairs of meshing cutting blades of the cutting devices, the cutting blades remain in contact with the sausage portions for a longer period of time exerting a force on trailing ends of the sausage portions resulting in marks on the sausage portion due to contact with the cutting blades. In some instances wherein sausage portions are not released timeously, the sausage portions cause an obstruction in the cutting production line.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1 . A sausage cutting apparatus including: a support structure defining a feed path along which a sausage rope to be cut is displaced; a cutting head having an infeed end and an outfeed end and including first and second cutting assemblies which are mounted to the support structure and which are each located at an opposite side of the feed path for cutting the sausage rope into smaller sausage portions, each cutting assembly including an elongate continuous carrier member and a plurality of longitudinally-spaced cutting devices which are connected to the carrier member, the cutting devices of the cutting assemblies being displaceable along cutting paths wherein the cutting devices of the first and second cutting assemblies are displaced repeatedly inwardly towards one another for cutting the sausage rope and away from one another so as to permit release of cut sausage portions; an infeed guide system for guiding displacement of the sausage rope into the feed path at the infeed end of the cutting head, between the first and second cutting assemblies of the cutting head; an outfeed system for conveying of cut sausage portions away from the cutting head after cutting of the sausage rope by the cutting assemblies, the sausage cutting apparatus being characterized in that the outfeed system includes an outfeed conveyor which is located at the outfeed end of the cutting head and which is configured for supporting and conveying cut sausage portions away from the cutting head in a displacement direction in line with the feed path, the outfeed conveyor defining a support surface for supporting cut sausage portions, which is disposed in line with the feed path, the outfeed system including drive means for driving displacement of the support surface of the conveyor at a velocity which is greater than a velocity at which the sausage rope is fed along the feed path between the cutting assemblies of the cutting head.

2. A sausage cutting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the support surface of the outfeed conveyor is disposed at a height relatively below a height at which the sausage rope is cut by the cutting devices of the cutting assemblies in an arrangement wherein leading end regions of sausage portions are frictionally engaged by the outfeed conveyor as trailing ends of the sausage portions are cut.

3. A sausage cutting apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the outfeed conveyor of the outfeed system comprises a continuous belt conveyor.

4. A sausage cutting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the drive means comprises a drive motor for driving displacement of the outfeed conveyor.

5. A sausage cutting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the drive motor of the outfeed system has a variable speed control permitting adjustment of the speed of the outfeed conveyor.

6. A method of cutting a sausage rope into smaller sausage portions, the method including: providing a cutting head including first and second cutting assemblies which define a feed path between them along which the sausage rope is displaced and which each include a carrier member to which a plurality of cutting device are connected, the cutting devices being displaceable repeatedly inwardly towards one another for cutting the sausage rope and away from one another so as to permit release of cut sausage portions; providing an outfeed system including an outfeed conveyor for conveying cut sausage portions away from the cutting head; displacing the sausage rope along the feed path; displacing the cutting devices of the cutting assemblies repeatedly towards and away from one another so as to cut the sausage rope into smaller portions; and driving displacement of the outfeed conveyor at a velocity greater than a velocity at which the sausage rope is fed along the feed path between the cutting assemblies of the cutting head.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the method is implemented by the sausage cutting apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5.