Patent ID: 6109421
Filing Date: 2000-08-29
Classification: A23N,B65G

Abstract:
In an automatic corn processing apparatus wherein ears of corn are oriented, singulated and sawn into cobbettes, each of said ears of corn having a longitudinal axis, a butt end and a tip end, the improvement comprising:conveyor means for conveying ears of corn to a saw, said longitudinal axes of said ears of corn being positioned transversely to the direction of travel of said conveyor means,guide plate means positioned adjacent said conveyor means and extending in the direction of travel of said conveyor means, said guide plate means acting to guide said tip end of each of said ears of corn,feed conveyor means for conveying singulated, oriented ears of corn tip end first along a pathway generally parallel to the longitudinal axes of said ears of corn and perpendicular to the direction of travel of said conveyor means, said feed conveyor means having a discharge end at a point adjacent to and above said conveyor means, said feed conveyor means operating at a sufficiently high rate of speed that said ears of corn would bounce back and become misaligned if said ears abruptly impacted a fixed obstacle with their tip ends,transfer means for receiving said ears of corn discharged from said feed conveyor means, for frictionally contacting said ears of corn to reduce their momentum and to reduce and/or prevent bounce back off said guide plate means and misalignment of said ears of corn and for transferring said ears of corn onto said conveyor means with said tip ends positioned adjacent said guide plate means.