Method for pitting and stuffing olives

A method for depitting an olive wherein at least one elongated member moves horizontally through an olive having a horizontal longitudinal axis and supported at one end in a recess of a cup to force the pit through a central opening in the recess.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION 
This invention refers to a new method for pitting olives different to known 
methods, either for direct consumption as pitted olives, or for 
subsequently stuffing with any product, or slicing them, the invention 
also being centered on a device for working this method, intended to form 
part of a pitting machine, and the invention likewise affecting the 
product obtained, specifically a pitted olive with completely different 
characteristics to those of olives pitted with conventional methods. 
ANTECEDENTS OF THE INVENTION 
As is known in the olive industry, and more specifically within the scope 
of the so-called table olive, there is great demand for this pitted fruit, 
both for consumption as such, without the stone, and stuffed with 
different products, such as anchovies, sweet pepper, etc., there also 
being a growing demand, although to a less extent for the moment, of 
olives which are sliced after having the stone removed. 
Merely as an example, it can be said that in an annual campaign in Spain 
approximately 50 million kilos of olives are pitted, a figure which is 
doubled, i.e., which reaches 100 million kilos in the United States. 
There are also other countries with high olive productions, such as Greece, 
Morocco, Turkey, Israel, Portugal, Algeria, Mexico, Argentina, etc., 
countries regarding which statistics are not available on the subject, but 
in which undoubtedly considerable quantities of pitted olives are produced 
for stuffing or otherwise, to be added to the above figures. 
There is therefore an extremely important production of pitted olives, on 
an international level, either for marketing them direct as the said 
pitted fruit, or after stuffing them with any suitable product, or cut 
into slices. 
For this purpose, pitting machines are used which generally work 
continously and with very high production rates, exceeding 2,000 units per 
minute, being provided with means for retaining the olives individually 
and, after duly securing them, remove the stone. 
Specifically, the pitting method known, after duly securing the fruit, 
consists of producing a cut in one of its polar areas, said cut having a 
diameter according to the size of the stone, and then attacks the olive by 
its opposite end with a pushing element which pulls the stone and the 
"little lid" formed in the aforementioned cut, out of the olive, in 
certain cases the little lid coming away from the stone and the said lid 
being used specifically in certain types of stuffed olives, to close the 
hole previously made, whereas in the vast majority of cases, this little 
lid constitutes waste which is reclaimed for obtaining oil, with very high 
depreciation of this part of the fruit, which as a result of the methods 
used, and as we have already said, becomes a by-product. 
To work this method, known pitting machines generally on a rotary drum, 
include a plurality of operative units or pitting devices, in each of 
which there is a little cap, like a dolly, on which the olive rests, which 
is attacked at one of its ends by a pitting punch, designed to pull out 
the stone and by the other end through an annular nozzle which crosses the 
cap by a drill with a bigger diameter than that of the nozzle, makes the 
cut forming the so-called "little lid", before the pitting punch which 
holds the olive during the said cutting operation makes its final forward 
movement, at the same time as the nozzle recedes to remove the stone. 
Thus, according to the foregoing description, each olive which reaches the 
machine is held against the respective cap by the corresponding pitting 
punch; in this retained position, the nozzle attacks to cut the little 
cover and the said nozzle is again withdrawn, at the same time as the 
pitting punch advances, so that the stone can be ejected through the hole 
made in the olive by the oft-quoted cutting nozzle. 
Once the nozzle-little cover-stone-end assembly of the pitting punch has 
passed the cap or dolly, two situations are produced, depending on the 
final product it is wished to obtain: 
1. If it is only wished to obtain a pitted olive for marketing it direct in 
this way, cutting it subsequently into slices or stuffing it with some 
product without utilizing the "little lid", an element such as for example 
a sheet or rod is placed on the machine in the suitable place which, on 
knocking the stones, separates them with the "little lid" adherred 
thereto, falling into a separate collector to that designed to hold the 
pitted olives. 
2. When it is wished to obtain certain types of stuffing, using the little 
lid, among other ways of utilizing it, we can quote one in which a fixed 
knife is provided on the machine in a suitable place, so that, taking 
advantage of one of te stages of the pitting process when the stone is 
gripped by the nozzle with the little lid inserted inside the latter, on 
passing through the point where the former is located, the little lid is 
separated from the stone, and it is then that a shank running inside the 
nozzle, after inserting the stuffing in the pitted olive, takes the little 
lid inside the olive, closing the outlet, in a combined movement of the 
shank and nozzle, while the stone, now without the little lid, falls into 
its respective collector. 
According to the aforementioned method and device, in any case and as the 
final result, a pitted olive is obtained which always has a hole at one of 
its ends, whose diameter coincides basically with that of the stone which 
has been removed from it. 
Well now, the aforementioned pitting method entails a serious problem. 
Specifically, the little lid accounts for up to 7% in weight of the olive 
pulp, although this varies according to the type of olive concerned. 
Although this pulp from the lid can be recovered, while the pitted olive, 
in keeping with current market prices, can be worth about 150 Pts/kg., the 
little lid, as a waste product, reaches a price of around 7 Pts/kg., i.e., 
a price which is practically twenty times less. 
To conclude commenting on this method, due to the reduction in effective 
weight of the pitted olives, and to the low price of the little lids as 
waste material, which specifically in the case of annual production in the 
United States, involves 100 million kgs., losses of 750 million pesetas 
per campaign, data which, extrapolated to other olive producing countries, 
give a perfectly clear idea of the importance of this problem, derived 
from eliminating the little lid and recovering it as a low-priced 
byproduct. 
On the other hand, when it concerns olives which have to be stuffed, after 
pitting a special consistency is required in the stuffing so that the 
"little lid" really serves as a cover and that the stuffing does not come 
out. If the stuffing material is not consistent enough, although the olive 
has its lid on, the stuffing can dissolve in the liquid used to conserve 
the fruit. 
Logically, none of the machines existing in the market succeeds in placing 
the lid on a hundred percent of the olives they process and, on the other 
hand, since the subsequent processes which the olives have to undergo 
after leaving the pitting machine until they reach the container involve a 
considerable amount of them coming away, with the corresponding effect of 
the stuffing coming out of the olives, said stuffing material and lids 
which can, in fact, be observed in any container of fruit stuffed by this 
method found on the market. 
All the foregoing involves, on the one hand, a loss in weight of the final 
product with its respective economic repercussion, apart from the poor 
quality which the finished product offers. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The method for pitting olives which the invention proposes has been 
designed to overcome all the problems described until here in their 
different aspects, allowing the integral utilization of the olive pulp, 
preventing a lower-priced by-product being originated on account of 
pitting, as occurs with the conventional method, and also without the 
existence of holes which enable the stuffing to come out, in the case of 
the olives being stuffed, as well as pitted. 
Furthermore, this is achieved with a device which can be adapted to pitting 
or pitting-and-stuffing machines already known, obtaining a pitted or 
stuffed olive as the final result, which offers a completely different 
appearance to classic olives of this type, to be precise, which look the 
same as an olive with its stone, 
To do so, to be more precise, the method for pitting olives which the 
invention proposes, consists of performing this operation by attacking the 
olive with two punches, at both its end areas, producing cuts in it which 
do not cause eliminating material, specifically cuts which, for example, 
emerge radially from two imaginary points coinciding with the ends of 
their likewise imaginary longer axis, later proceeding, after making these 
cuts, to pushing the stone axially, so that it is "torn away" from the 
pulp and ejected through "elastic deformation" of the said pulp, 
corresponding to the cuts of one of the ends of the olive, deformation 
which furthermore is only temporary, as once the stone has been removed, 
and alonside the retraction of the pusher, the deformed end of the olive 
is "closed" again, adopting its original configuration, i.e., that which 
it had when the stone was still inside it, and the cuts in one of its ends 
to push the stone, and the cuts made the other end to enable it to come 
out being both practically imperceptible at a glance. 
In order to work this method, there has been provided a device intended to 
form part of known pitting or pitting-and-stuffing machines, in which the 
classic caps from a part, as a seat for the olives, although modified, and 
the likewise classic pitting punches, whereas the classic annular cutting 
nozzles to define the classic little lids are replaced by punches similar 
to the pitting punches, place opposite the latter, and with the obvious 
purpose of making the necessary cuts in the olive to determine the 
temporary opening in it through which the stone is to be ejected by the 
pitting punches. 
The aforementioned modifications regarding the cap do not affect it 
regarding the configuration within it of a bed or seat for the olive, only 
affecting the configuration of its hole for the nozzle and stone to pass; 
said hole, instead of being circular, according to classic nozzles, will 
now adopt the configuration of radial grooves which coincide dimensionally 
and position-wise with the fins with cutting edges with which the pitting 
and complementary punches are provided. 
From this basic construction, it is even possible to dispense with the 
complementary punches, so that the "hole" in the olive for the stone to 
emerge is produced by the mere pressure of the pitting punch against the 
stone, and of this against the cap with the pulp placed between, a 
solution which is obviously more imperfect since the cutting lines of the 
olive are not foreseen. 
Finally, in those cases in which the olive, apart from being pitted, has to 
be stuffed with a product, such as for example anchovy paste, sweet pepper 
or the like, it has been provided that the pitting punch or the punch 
which produces cuts in the outlet area of the stone, be hollow so that 
through it the desired stuffing operation can take place, immediately 
after the pitting stage, and in the same machine, which in this case, 
obviously, will be a pitting-and-stuffing machine. 
As another feature of the invention, an olive is obtained which is well 
pitted, well pitted and stuffed, which offers an entirely novel 
appearance, specifically an outer surface, virtually continuous and 
closed, very similar to what it looked like before having the stone 
removed.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
We shall not endeavour to describe in full detail what has been outlined 
briefly in sections (c), (d), (e) and (f). 
Regarding the pitting method, which we have referred to in section (c), the 
following is specified: 
In FIG. 16, the olive 1, chain 2, cap or dolly 3, pitting punch 4, 
complementary punch 5, and the seed or stone of the olive 6, are 
represented. This situation of the elements materializes the moment in 
which each and all of them are at the start of the pitting process. 
In a second operative stage, shown in FIG. 17, both the pitting punch 4 and 
the complementary punch 5, attack the olive simultaneously, the 
complementary punch 5 crossing the cap 3 and piercing the pulp 1 to one of 
the ends of the stone 6 of the olive, at the same time as the pitting 
punch 4 has also done so until it contacts the opposite end of the said 
stone. 
From this moment, and according to the illustration in FIG. 18, the 
complementary punch 5 inverts its movement, retracting axially with the 
same linear speed as the punch 4 advances. 
At the same time as the pitting punch 4 continues in its path making the 
stone come away from the pulp and ejecting it through the grooves 10 
placed in the cap 3 but, and this is very important, without any material 
coming away from the olive other than that which constitutes its stone 6, 
until a limit situation in which the complementary punch is kept 
stationary and the pitting punch starts its retracting movement. 
After the pitting punch 4 has started its retracting movement in the 
direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 19, the stone 6 is released to 
fall by gravity into its respective collector. 
Due to the friction effect of the punch 4 against the walls, produced in 
piercing the olive, the former usually drags it in its movement, so that 
it can be released and also fall by gravity into its collector, there 
being provided a perforated plate 7 with a groove wider than the diameter 
of the punch 4 and smaller than that of the olive 1, and of suitable 
length, according to the machine to which the elements resulting from the 
patent of invention are applied. 
In this way, the said plate 7 will act to detach the fruit, releasing it 
and separating it from the punch 4, so that it can fall without difficulty 
into its respective collector. 
According to this method, and in order to work it, the pitting device, 
adaptable to suitable pitting machines, maintains the classic pitting 
punch 4 and the modified cap 3, but replaces the classic annular nozzle by 
the complementary punch 5 which, like the nozzle quoted, is arranged in 
axial alignment and placed against the pitting punch 4. 
As shown in turn in FIG. 30, these punches 4 and 5 can adopt numerous 
configurations, preferably maintaining the constant that in their 
operative ends and from a middle point coinciding with the imaginary axis 
of the punch, cutting fins 8 emerge radially which are to produce the 
necessary cuts in the olive 1 to allow the pitting punch 4 to reach inside 
it, and that from within it, the stone 6 is ejected, without 
fragmentations being produced, leading to waste pulp. 
On the other hand, the cap 3 has a resilient structure and has a central 
concavity 9 which acts as a bed for one of the poles of the olive 1 to 
fit, there being foreseen within the bed some radial grooves 10 to allow 
the fins of the punches 4 and 5 to pass and also to allow the stone 6 of 
the olive to be pitted to pass. 
The radial grooves 10 will be arranged in varying number, but coinciding 
with the fins of the punches 4 and 5, so that by its own elastic recovery, 
the cap forces the pulp of the olive to regain its original shape after 
the stone has left. 
As explained above, it is feasible when working the method, for the device 
not to have the complementary punch 5, so that it is the actual pressure 
of the pitting punch 4 against the stone 6 which separates the stone from 
the olive, on pressing the said stone against the pulp and on the seat 9 
of the cap 3. 
In any event, according to the fundamental aim of the invention, a pitted 
olive is obtained which at the end of the process has all of its pulp, 
i.e., exclusively the stone has been removed, the said pulp being in one 
piece, although it has cuts which are hardly perceivable, for the stone to 
be pushed and ejected, hence the olive, as the final product, has an 
appearance which practically coincides with that of an olive with the 
stone, although it has been deprived of same, as can be seen in FIG. 32. 
After disclosing sufficiently the pitting procedure by the method proposed 
in section (c), we now go on to describe the pitting and stuffing process, 
following the method invoked in section (d). 
FIG. 21 represents the situation in which both the fruit and the operating 
elements are to be found before the process commences. 
On this figure the following can be observed: the olive 1, the placing 
chain 2, the cap or dolly 3, the pitting punch 4, the complementary punch 
5, the stone of the olive 6, and the gripping device 11 of the fruit 1. 
FIG. 22 represents the immobilized olive and the punches inserted in the 
pulp, their attack ends contacting the opposite poles of the stone 6. The 
gripping device 11 is also in contact with the corresponding pole of the 
olive 1. 
FIG. 23 represents the moment when the stone has been removed from the 
olive and consequently the latter is now hollow. The gripping device 11 
continues to keep the olive 1 immobilized. 
FIG. 23' represents the moment when the stone has been released so that it 
can fall by gravity into the respective collector. 
Until here it has been described how pitting is performed, after which 
there are two options for executing the stuffing, which are both 
schematized in FIGS. 24 and 25. 
The difference between both alternatives lies in that in the option in FIG. 
24 it is the complementary punch 5 which is used to insert the stuffing 
material, until it reaches the hollow left by the stone in the olive, and 
in the option in FIG. 25, the situation is shown in the case in which the 
stuffing paste is inserted through the inside of the pitting punch 4. 
Naturally, in both cases, the punches 4 and 5 have holes 12 through which 
the stuffing mass is injected into the hollow left by the stone of the 
olive. 
It can be seen in FIG. 33 what the final product looks like, i.e., the 
stuffed olive, both in the case that it has been stuffed by punch 5 or 
punch 4. 
Finally, FIG. 28 represents the moment when the gripping device 11 is 
separated from the fruit 1, releasing it so that it falls by gravity into 
the collector. 
As can be seen in FIGS. 32 and 33, both the simply pitted olive 1 and the 
olive provided with an inner stuffing 13 maintains the whole of its 
original pulp and the observer can only see respective cuts 14 in its 
polar areas with a morphology similar to that of the pitting and 
complementary punches used, i.e., with an external surface whose grooves 
14 are practically closed. 
Finally, it should be stressed that as the pitted olive is perfectly closed 
throughout its contour, it is its actual pulp which acts as a container 
and integral fastening of its inner hollow, hence in the event that the 
said olive is stuffed, the classic risks of the said stuffing coming out 
are also eliminated. 
It is not considered necessary to make this description any more extensive 
for an expert on the subject to understand the scope of the invention and 
the advantages derived therefrom. 
The materials, shape, size and layout of the elements will be liable to 
variation, provided this does not involve altering the essense of the 
invention. 
The terms in which this Specification has been described must always be 
taken in their fullest and not restrictive sense.