Patent ID: 7862330
Filing Date: 2011-01-04
Classification: A22C

Abstract:
1. A food patty molding machine, comprising: a mold plate having at least one mold cavity therein; mold plate drive for driving the mold plate along a given path, in a repetitive cycle, between a fill position and a discharge position; food pump for pumping a moldable food product; a fill passage connecting the food pump to the mold cavity when the mold plate is in its fill position; a fill plate, interposed in the fill passage immediately adjacent the mold plate, having a multiplicity of fill orifices distributed in a predetermined pattern throughout an area aligned with the mold cavity when the mold plate is in its fill position, said fill orifices defining paths through said fill plate, wherein a plurality of said paths each have an outlet path portion that is obliquely angled to a face of said mold plate and an inlet path portion that is perpendicular to a face of said mold plate; a stripper plate interposed in the fill passage immediately adjacent the side of the fill plate opposite the mold plate, and movable along a path transverse to the mold plate path between a fill location and a discharge location, the stripper plate having a multiplicity of fill openings aligned one-for-one with the fill orifices as extensions thereof when the stripper plate is in its fill location; and stripper plate drive, synchronized with the mold plate drive, for moving the stripper plate between its fill location and its discharge location; and wherein the spacings between fill openings in the stripper plate, in the direction of the stripper plate path, are such that movement of the stripper plate to its discharge location seals off the fill openings.