Abstract:
A method and apparatus are provided for positioning a flat circular disc in a large sausage casing so that after the food casing has been stuffed with a food emulsion and the thusly stuffed food emulsion has been cooked and cured, there is obtained a large sausage product having a pre-flattened end.
Abstract:
1,218,942. Packaging-apparatus. UNION CARBIDE CORP. 26 April, 1968 [28 April, 1967], No. 20006/68. Heading B8C. Apparatus for packaging food items into elastic bags comprises a first cylinder and piston-rod, a receptacle for a food item, one end of which is secured to the cylinder and the other to a ring, three or more fingers pivotably secured at their ends adjacent to and in alignment with the receptacle and arranged to support the bag and a second cylinder and piston for advancing the receptacle and ring into the bag. During the movement into the bag the ring contacts the fingers to expand the bag in advance of the item. The first piston then pushes the food item into the bottom of the bag and the so formed package off the apparatus. Supply of items to the apparatus is controlled by a pneumatic cylinder 44 retracting a gate 42, Fig. 5, to allow a single food item 52 to fall into the receptacle 28. In one embodiment the second pneumatic cylinder 18 pulls the first pneumatic cylinder 22 to the right, Fig. 1, by means of a carriage 14 thereby bringing the receptacle in between two pairs of fingers 34, 35 supporting the bag. The ring 30 spreads the fingers and stretches the bag. The piston 26 of the first cylinder 22 then pushes the item off the receptacle and into the bag and then the packaged item off the apparatus. The lower fingers 35 are held in the rest position by springs. In an alternative embodiment, Fig. 8, the first 64 and second 60 cylinders are fitted inside one another. The second cylinder 60 advances the first by compressed air entering via inlet 68 and when the pressure inside has built up sufficiently, compressed air enters behind the first piston-rod 59 via valve 70 to advance the rod and piston plate 26. The cylinders can be moved relative to the base 12 in order to alter the extent to which the fingers are opened so as to package items of various sizes.
Abstract:
1,183,629. Filling food casings. UNION CARBIDE CORP. 5 Dec., 1967 [5 Dec., 1966], No. 55325/67. Heading A2B. A method for automatically stuffing a food casing with a food emulsion, comprises positioning a length of food casing about a stuffing member, peripherally exerting a pressure against the inside wall of a closed leading end portion of the casing in a plane transverse to the longitudinal axis of said casing and expanding the cross-section of said portion to a predetermined dimension prior to shipping, admitting a food emulsion under pressure inside the expanded end portion and stuffing said end portion, allowing the stuffed end portion to advance under the emulsion pressure, continuously exerting the peripheral expanding pressure against the inside wall of succeeding portions of casing whereby advance of the casing is retarded while continuously stuffing food emulsion into said succeeding expanded portions, and closing the last stuffed portion of the food casing. A suitable apparatus comprises a stuffing tube having a presizing device including an outwardly expandable structure about the tube supported by a guide collar fixed to the outlet of the tube and a movable assembly mounted about the tube, movement of the assembly resulting in expansion and contraction of the expandable structure. In one form the expandable structure comprises a plurality of cammed arms which rotate outwards. In another form an endless flexible tubular sleeve filled with a fluid medium is fastened between the guide collar and movable assembly. There may be provided an emulsion stoppering ring through which the expanded casing passes, the inner diameter of the ring being less than the outside diameter of the expanded casing, and may be positioned adjacent to a tubular collar over which the expanded casing passes, mounted on the extremity of the outlet end of the stuffing links, the diameter of the collar being no greater than the inside diameter of the expanded casing, and pressure from the issuing food emulsion urging the stoppering ring away from the collar.