Patent ID: 11910946
Assignee: TAYLOR COMMERCIAL FOODSERVICE, LLC
Field: Machine tools (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC A  B | IPC A  B

Claim 0:
1. An apparatus for preparing a unit of fruit, comprising:
a housing configured to receive a unit of fruit to be cut into a plurality of pieces, the housing configured to orient the unit of fruit along a first axis through the housing, the housing configured to removably engage opposite sides of the unit of fruit within the housing;
a drive assembly including a lance located within the housing and aligned with the first axis, the lance being rotatable about the first axis and reciprocally movable along the first axis such that the lance is operable to impale the unit of fruit and retain the unit of fruit while in the housing, wherein after impaling food article, the drive assembly causes the lance to rotate along the first axis to move the unit of fruit within the housing to a position to be engaged by a cutting assembly;
a first sensor located in the housing and adapted to sense a dimension of the unit of fruit as the lance moves the unit of fruit along the first axis;
a controller operatively connected to the first sensor and adapted to determine a cutting operation for the unit of fruit, based on the sensed dimension;
the cutting assembly located in the housing and operatively connected to the controller, the cutting assembly adapted to perform the determined cutting operation on the unit of fruit while the lance retains the unit of fruit, thereby to create consumable cut pieces of fruit,
the cutting assembly comprises a coring blade, a vertical sectioning blade, a horizontal sectioning blade, and a de-coring member that each are independently operable upon the unit of fruit by the controller; and
an opening formed in the housing where the consumable cut pieces of the unit of fruit are retrievable by a user,
wherein the de-coring member is rotatably mounted within the housing, wherein the controller moves the de-coring member between a home position and an engaged position, wherein when the de-coring member is in the engaged position an end portion of the de-coring member is directly adjacent to the lance and below the unit of fruit disposed upon the lance, wherein downward movement of the lance along the first axis causes the unit of fruit to engage the end portion of the de-coring member, causing the lance to move with respect to the unit of fruit.