Patent ID: 6612825
Filing Date: 2003-09-02
Classification: A21C,Y10S

Abstract:
In a food product extrusion line providing a product processing stream for extruding food products, namely, snack foods, pastas, cereal and pet food,an extruder machine at a first station in said line having a supply of gelatinous raw material and having multiple die heads each extruding said raw material in the form of a separate tube resembling a rope-like article exiting from a corresponding one of multiple die openings in said die heads, the improvement of a pillow cutter machine at a second station in said line downstream of and in register with said extruder machine to shape, cut and then discharge an edible finished product into the processing stream towards a subsequent downstream station in said line, a front wall on said pillow cutter machine forming a row of spaced apart multiple inlet guide openings, each said rope-like article being directed into a corresponding one of said inlet guide openings in said front wall, said pillow cutter machine being particularly characterized by the provision of rotatably driven, motorized, two-element roller means, a first element of said two-element roller means consisting of a single pair of base rollers permanently mounted in said pillow cutter machine and rotatably driven by an electric motor mechanically coupled to said base rollers by a power train, a second element of said two-element roller means comprising a plurality of individual, removable, interchangeable, cylindrical sleeves paired in separate sets of two such sleeves so as to be structurally and functionally complemental to one another, each said sleeve having an inside diameter sized for a telescopic slide-on assembly with a corresponding base roller, the longitudinal length of each said sleeve being such that it is proportioned to be in a fractional relationship with the axial length of said bas rollers, whereby a plurality of paired sleeves are assembled on the peripheral surfaces extending from end-to-end of said base rollers to form multiple paired sets of sleeves corresponding in number to the multiple rope-like articles, the outside diameter of each said sleeve having a cutting pattern means and said separate sets of two sleeves having matching patterns for mutually compatible operation, each set of sleeves forming a separate nip pulling a corresponding rope-like article from a corresponding inlet guide opening and shaping, cutting and discharging finished products downstream in the processing stream to the next station in the line, said multiple paired sets of sleeves forming multiple separate nips and being optionally selected from a group of geometrically patterned sleeves consisting of squares, diamonds, triangle pillows, sticks or bars, and said sleeves being mounted on said base rollers with each pair of sleeves simultaneously independently, shaping and cutting food products from said rope-like articles in multiple optionally chosen geometric patterns.