Abstract:
A casing hopper for sausage encasing machines includes a hopper. The hopper is adjustable for different sized casings by a single control.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/225,389 filed Aug. 21, 2002 now abandoned. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Sausage linking machines form long strands of sausage links. The links are created by stuffing a cylindrical thin wall casing with meat emulsion, and then portioning the filled casing to create the individual links. The casing material comes in the form of cylindrical sticks (called casings) that must be loaded into the sausage machines. When one casing is consumed, another must be loaded in its place. The casings are thirty feet or more in length but are compressed to a shirred telescopic condition so as to form a shirred casing of ten or twelve inches in length. When placed on a meat stuffing tube of the machine, the meat emulsion is extruded through a discharge end of the tube into the casing, which is progressively slidably removed from the outer surface of the tube as it is progressively being filled with meat emulsion. A clamping mechanism is typically used to release the shirred casings from the hopper into a position where they can be filled sequentially with meat emulsion. 
     A previous invention provided an improved method and apparatus for loading casings onto the stuffing tube of a sausage making machine, without the use of clamps or the like. 
     The principal object of this patent is to provide a method and apparatus for easily adjusting a casing hopper to load different diameters of casings onto the stuffing tube of a sausage making machine. 
     A further object is to do this by the action of just one lever. 
     A further object is to calibrate this adjustment so that the hopper can be set up prior to running the machine without testing with a casing 
     These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A casing hopper moves so that the lowest casing in the hopper is aligned with the stuffing tube of a sausage encasing machine. The stuffing tube penetrates the casing and the casing hopper moves back to its first position, leaving the casing on the stuffing tube to be conventionally filled with meat emulsion from the discharge end of the stuffing tube whereupon the casing is sequentially and progressively removed from the stuffing tube. The stuffing tube then is longitudinally withdrawn back to its starting position whereupon the hopper is again realigned with the stuffing tube so as to permit the stuffing tube to penetrate the next casing in the cradle. 
     This casing hopper for sausage encasing machines includes a hopper having a downwardly sloping bottom terminating in a downwardly extending fence wall. A chute wall is substantially vertically disposed in parallel spaced condition to the fence wall to form a substantially vertical casing passageway with respect to the fence wall. The chute wall terminates in an inclined flange that extends upwardly and inwardly below the passageway to form a cradle portion to receive a single hollow casing from the passageway. 
     The passageway is of sufficient width to receive a plurality of vertically stacked elongated hollow shirred casings. 
     When a casing is aligned with the stuffing tube, the stuffing tube is moved longitudinally to penetrate the casing in the cradle so as to mount the casing on the outer surface of the stuffing tube. The cradle is moved out of alignment with the stuffing tube leaving the first casing in the loading position on the stuffing tube, whereupon a second casing drops into the cradle. 
     The flange on the chute wall terminates in an elongated inward edge spaced from a lower end of the fence wall to permit only the lowest casing in the cradle to be moved laterally outwardly relative to the hopper from the flange beneath the fence, when it is on the stuffing tube and the hopper moves away from the stuffing tube position. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic plan view showing a sausage encasing machine with the hopper of this invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a partial perspective view of the lower part of the hopper and a closely positioned stuffing tube; 
         FIG. 3  is a scale cross section of a hopper with a plurality of casings therein; 
         FIG. 4  is a cross sectional view similar to that of  FIG. 3  but shows the hopper moved into a position of alignment with the stuffing tube; 
         FIG. 5  shows the hopper in a withdrawn position from the stuffing tube after an initial casing has been deposited on the outer surface of the stuffing tube; 
         FIG. 6  is a view similar to  FIG. 5  but shows the position of the hopper and the stuffing tube after the casing on the stuffing tube has been filled and after an additional casing has entered the cradle of the hopper; 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic view showing the progressive steps of using the device of the invention; 
         FIG. 8  is an end view of the lower part of the casing hopper showing the hopper set for small casings; 
         FIG. 9  is a view similar to  FIG. 8  to the same scale, with the hopper set for large casings; 
         FIG. 10  is a view where both  FIG. 8  and  FIG. 9  are superimposed over the axis of the stuffing tube, showing how the chute wall and the fence wall must move to run small and large casings; and 
         FIGS. 11–13  show side elevations of the invention with the layout of linkage in various positions to provide the size adjustment for casings of varying diameters. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference to  FIG. 1 , a sausage encasing machine  10  has a frame  10 . A meat emulsion pump  14  is mounted on the frame. A conventional stuffing tube  16  is mounted on the machine  10  in operative connection with the pump to transmit meat emulsion from the pump into the casing as will be described hereafter. The numeral  17  designates the discharge end of the tube. 
     A casing hopper  18  is mounted on the frame in any convenient manner. A controller  19  is mounted on or adjacent to the machine  10  and is operatively connected to various components on the machine including the hopper  18 , the pump  14 , and the longitudinally movable stuffing tube  16 . 
     A conventional twister  20  is located downstream from the stuffing tube as is a conventional sausage strand linker  22 . A conventional discharge horn  24  is located downstream of the linker to deposit linked sausage in a conventional manner to conveyor  26 . 
     With reference to  FIG. 3 , the hopper  18  has an inclined floor  30 , which terminates in a downwardly extending fence wall  32 . The hopper also includes a chute wall  34 , which is parallel to but in spaced relation to fence wall  32 . The fence wall  32  and chute wall  34  form a substantially vertical casing passageway  36  there between. 
     The chute wall  34  terminates in an inclined flange  38  which, extends upwardly and inwardly from the lower end of the chute wall. The flange  38  forms a cradle portion  40 , which is adapted to releasably hold the lowermost casing  44 A. The flange  38  has an inner elongated edge  42 . 
     A plurality of elongated shirred casings  44  including the previously mentioned bottom casing  44 A and the next succeeding casing  44 B are placed longitudinally within the hopper as shown in  FIG. 4 . The numeral  46  designates the space between the flange  38  (and cradle portion  40 ) and the lower end of the passageway  36  (and the lower end of fence wall  32 ). 
     The hopper  18  has at least two functions. The first is to position a casing for loading onto the stuffing tube  16 . The second function is to retain the remaining casings in the hopper so that they can be loaded in subsequent machine cycles. These functions are accomplished primarily through the cradle to accurately position the casing for loading, the fence walls  32  and  34 , and a linear motion linkage to shuttle the hopper between the loading position and the retracted position.  FIG. 7  shows schematically a side elevation of the hopper and the stuffing tube, and their relative positions, as the casings are sequentially removed from the hopper for stuffing purposes.  FIGS. 4 through 6  show cross sections through the hopper and the stuffing tube as the steps outlined in  FIG. 7  are accomplished. 
     More specifically, a plurality of casings  44  are placed in the hopper so that a vertical stack of casings is deposited within the passageway  36  to locate a bottom casing  44 A in the cradle with the next adjacent casing  44 B remaining in the passageway directly above casing  44 A. The space  46  is insufficient to allow more than one casing to be removed from the cradle portion  40  at a time. 
     With the cradle and the stuffing tube being normally positioned as shown in  FIG. 3 , the hopper is then moved laterally towards the axis of the retracted stuffing tube so that the discharge end  17  of the stuffing tube is in direct axial alignment with the casing  44 A in the cradle  40 . This is best shown in  FIG. 4 , and in step B of  FIG. 7 . 
     The stuffing tube  16  is then conventionally longitudinally moved forwardly to penetrate the casing  44 A. The hopper is then moved, by any conventional means, back away from the stuffing tube  16  as best shown in  FIG. 5  and step D of  FIG. 7 , leaving casing  44 A on stuffing tube  16 . 
     The controller then causes pump  14  to move meat emulsion through the stuffing tube  16  to conventionally and sequentially fill the casing  44 A with meat emulsion. This process progressively and sequentially removes the casing  44 A from the end of stuffing tube  16 . The completion of this phase of the process is best shown in  FIG. 6  and in step E of  FIG. 7 . 
     The stuffing tube  16  is then longitudinally withdrawn to its initial position as shown in step A of  FIG. 7  so that the cycle can be repeated. 
     Whatever sized casing is to be used in the stuffing machine, the lowest casing in the hopper must be aligned with the stuffing tube, as shown in  FIG. 10 . 
     To maintain this alignment, the chute wall  34  must move down and away from the axis of the stuffing tube  16  and the fence wall  32  must move up and away from the axis of the stuffing tube  16  as larger casings are used (this applies when the hopper is in the loading position illustrated in  FIG. 10). 32A  and  34 A represent the positions of components set for a small casing and  32 B and  34 B for when they are set for a larger casing.  16  represents the axis of the stuffing tube in  FIGS. 8 ,  9  &amp;  10 . The dimension lines A in  FIG. 10  show how the fence wall and the chute wall must move to run small and large casings. 
     The linkage shown in  FIG. 11  is designed so that the positions of the chute wall  34  and fence wall  32  are controlled by a single control lever  47 , in a manner to ensure that these positions are correct for all casing sizes within the range of the hopper. This is achieved as follows: 
     The chute wall  34  is part of the hopper assembly  53 , which is constrained in its movement by the link  54  and the spindle  55  moving in slot  56 . 
     The fence wall  32  is attached to the hopper floor  30 , which is constrained to move by the link  57  and the spindle  58  sliding in slot  59 . 
     The lower ends of links  54  and  57  are pivotally attached to the sub frame  46 . 
     The control lever  47  is pivotally attached to sub frame  46  on pivot  48  and attached to crank arm  71 . The lower ends of links  60  and  70  are attached to the outer ends of crank arm  71  at pivots  72  and  73  respectively. 
     The positions of all these links and pivots are such that, as the control lever  47  is moved, the chute wall  34  and the fence wall  32  are controlled to be in the correct position for all size casings. 
     The control lever  47  has a lock  51  to hold it in any desired position. It moves within a guide  50 , which has calibration marks  52  which can be related to specific casing sizes.