Conveyor for supporting sausage strands during coagulation cycle, and method of rinsing and drying the same

A conveyor assembly for moving an extruded strand of sausage from an extruding machine and for coagulating the outer surface of the strand has first and second conveyor elements mounted on a frame. The conveyor asssembly on the frame slopes downwardly from a point of beginning to a first discharge station and thence back to the point of beginning. A brine fluid circuit is disposed on the frame above the conveyor with a plurality of discharge nozzles thereon to spray brine on a strand of sausage moving with the conveyor assembly. The first conveyor element extends from the point of beginning to an intermediate discharge station upstream from the first discharge station. The second conveyor element extends from the immediate discharge station to the first discharge station. The second conveyor element has a plurality of openings therein so that brine fluid can pass therethrough by gravity.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In recent times, it has become known to coextrude a strand of sausage 
material which has an inner core of meat emulsion having an outer surface 
material that can be coagulated to provide an encasement for the strand. 
The coagulation normally includes subjecting the extruded strand to a 
brine solution. The brine is applied immediately after the strand is 
extruded. 
The brine is sometimes sprayed onto the sausage strand as the strand is 
moved along an elongated conveyor which is comprised of a plurality of 
pivotally interconnected links that have a supporting surface that can 
retain some of the sprayed brine for treating the sausage strand. One 
shortcoming of this process is that there is no way to easily remove the 
residual brine on the sausage strand after the brine treatment has 
concluded. 
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a conveyor 
for coagulating the outer surface of a sausage strand discharged from a 
sausage extruding machine wherein the sausage strand will be rinsed with 
fresh water after it leaves the conveyor to a second conveyor which will 
not retain any residual fluid. 
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The sausage strand is extruded onto a belt or conveyor and carried through 
a brine shower system for about 40 seconds. The brine is sprayed through 
nozzles onto the sausage while traveling on the belt. The conveyor is 
comprised of a plurality of links which have a flat supporting surface 
interrupted by a plurality of spaced protrusions which channels 
therebetween to permit brine to fill the channels and to engage the bottom 
surface of the sausage strand supported on the protrusions. 
The belt is a Multi-Flex chain made from Acetal plastic. The links are 
secured with stainless steel pins. Twenty four meters of belt running on 
four tiers provide the brine shower dwell time that is required. The 
improvement of this invention is the provision of a second conveyor to 
receive the brine-treated sausage, wherein the strand is sprayed with 
fresh water as it moves on to the second conveyor, and the second conveyor 
is of an open construction to permit drainage of all fluid on the strand 
to rinse and dry the same.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The term "sausage" as used herein refers to any type of emulsified meat 
product that is formed into sausage or frankfurter links or the like. 
The numeral 10 designates an existing coextruding machine suitable for the 
conveyor of this invention. The numeral 12 is a meat emulsion hopper using 
a meat pump machine 14 for pumping emulsified meat. A collagen gel pump 16 
has a hopper 18 for receiving the collagen gel. It is connected by conduit 
19 to inline mixer 20. A tube 22 connects the inline mixer 20 to the 
coextruder 24 which is capable of extruding a cylindrical strand of meat 
emulsion with a collagen gel material on the outer surface thereof. 
Coextruder 24 is connected by tube 25 to the meat pump 14. The 
conventional coextruded strand of sausage 26 (FIGS. 3, 4) has an 
emulsified meat material core with the collagen gel comprising the outer 
surface 28 thereof. Liquid smoke from liquid smoke dispenser 30 is used as 
a coagulation material to coagulate the outer surface 28 of sausage strand 
26. The liquid smoke dispenser 30 can be connected in any convenient way 
such as by line 32 to the inline mixer 20 (FIG. 1). 
A conveyor system 34 is mounted on frame 36 and has a point of beginning 38 
adjacent the output end of coextruder 24, and a discharge station 40 which 
is located outwardly and downwardly from the point of beginning 38. Three 
sprockets 42 are rotatably mounted on frame 36 and are adapted to rotate 
about a horizontal axis. As best shown in FIG. 2, two of the sprockets 42 
are vertically disposed with respect to each other below point of 
beginning 38, and the third sprocket 42 is located on the outer end of a 
conveyor system 34 adjacent intermediate discharge station 35. 
Two vertical shafts 44 are mounted on opposite ends of frame 36. Each shaft 
44 has five rotatably disposed sprockets 46 thereon which are adapted to 
rotate on shafts 44 about the vertical axis of the shafts. Each set of 
five sprockets 46 are located in the same parallel plane as one each of 
the sprockets on the opposite vertical shaft 44. One of the shafts 44 can 
be driven by motor 44A (FIGS. 1 and 2). An endless conveyor 48 is 
circuitiously mounted on the sprockets 42 and 46. 
A second conveyor 49 (FIGS. 8, 9) is rotatably mounted on sprockets 49A and 
49B (FIG. 2). Sprocket 49A is adjacent to and below sprocket 42 in 
intermediate discharge station 35. Conveyor 49 (FIG. 8) is comprised of a 
plurality of corrugated parallel wires 49C interconnected by pivot rods 
49D. It is seen that conveyor system 34 includes conveyors 48 and 49. 
At the intermediate discharge station 35, a ramp plate 35A (FIG. 9) is 
secured to the machine 10 and extends over the conveyor 48 and sprocket 
42, and thence extends slightly downwardly towards the top of conveyor 49. 
A water nozzle 35B is mounted over ramp plate 35A and is connected to a 
source of fresh water (not shown) by tube 35C to spray fresh water on 
strand 26. 
An infrared heater 50 is mounted on frame 36 adjacent discharge station 40. 
A drive 51 shaft for the conveyor 49 is located adjacent the discharge 
station 40 as best shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. 
Conveyor 48 (FIG. 5) is disposed between a plurality of elongated L-shaped 
guides 54 which are secured to frame 36. Elongated rails 56 mounted on 
bearings 58 extend longitudinally through the guides. With reference to 
FIG. 4, the conveyor 48 is comprised of a plurality of conveyor segments 
or links 60 which each have a circular male member 62 at one end thereof 
with a laterally extending connection slot 64. A semi-circular female slot 
66 appears at the end of segment 60 opposite to circular male member 62. 
Laterally extending apertures 68 extend through the semi-circular female 
slot 66. Laterally extending pins 70 extend through the aperture 68 and 
thence through the slot 64 to interconnect the belt segments 60. The 
apertures 28 permit the segment 60 to pivot about the longitudinal axes of 
aperture 68, and the slot 64 permits the segments 60 to have limited 
pivoted movement about a vertical axis passing through the slot 64 so that 
the conveyor 48 can reverse its direction of travel around sprockets 46. 
The center portion of each segment 60 is comprised of a flat supporting 
surface 72 which is in the same plane as the upper surfaces of the 
circular male member 62 and the body of the segment surrounding the female 
slots 66. The support surface 72 has a plurality of projections 72A which 
are preferably aligned in rows to create channels 72B therebetween. The 
projections 72 are approximately 0.063 in. square, and 0.045 inches high, 
thus making channels 72B 0.063 in. wide and 0.045 inches deep. A strand 26 
one inch in diameter usually will have its lower surface 26A touching 4-6 
members 72A and will span 4-6 channels 72B. When the channels 72B are 
filled with brine, the brine 72C in the channels will engage the bottom 
surface 26A of sausage strand 26. 
With reference to FIG. 2, a brine circuit system 74 includes a brine pump 
76. A plurality of miscellaneous control valves 78 are imposed in the 
brine circuit 74 to selectively control the flow of brine through the 
system. A fluid line 80 extends from pump 76 and includes a plurality of 
spaced nozzles 82 which, as discussed hereafter, are located in a 
plurality of locations on frame 36 directly above the conveyor 48 (see 
FIG. 5) to dispense a spray of fluid brine on the strand of sausage 26. 
Brine circuit 74 includes a brine tank 84 which is connected to a brine 
collection tray 86 located below the various tiers of conveyor 48, and 
below conveyor 45. 
In operation, the meat emulsion hopper 12 is charged with a supply of meat 
emulsion, and the collagen hopper 18 is charged with a quantity of 
collagen gel. Similarly, the liquid smoke dispenser 30 is charged with 
liquid smoke so that the liquid smoke is combined with the collagen gel 
within inline mixer 20. 
The mixture of liquid smoke and collagen gel is transmitted through tube 22 
to coextruder 24 which conventionally discharges the sausage strand 26 
with the center core of meat emulsion and an outer surface 28 comprised of 
the collagen gel and liquid smoke. The liquid smoke is adapted to 
coagulate the collagen gel in the presence of air and a brine solution. 
The strand of sausage 26 is discharged from extruder 24 onto the point of 
beginning of the conveyor 34. The sausage strand progresses along the 
moving conveyor 48 of the conveyor 34 and is moved under a plurality of 
the nozzles 82 which spray a quantity of brine on the moving sausage 
strand. The brine-filled channels 72B help the brine to engage the bottom 
surface 26A of the strand. 
A controller (not shown) coordinates the speed of the rate of discharge of 
the strand of sausage 26 with the longitudinal movement of the conveyors 
48 and 49 as dictated by motor 44A and the conveyor drive 51 so that the 
elongated strand will not be stretched during its movement. 
The infrared heater 50 emits heat to stimulate the coagulation of the outer 
surface 28 as the sausage strand moves therethrough on the conveyor 48. 
The excess brine from nozzles 82 flows downwardly into the brine collection 
tray 86, and thence into brine tank 84 wherein the excess brine is 
recirculated through the system. 
The controller (not shown) is also adapted to cause the strand of sausage 
26 to move from the point of beginning 38 to the intermediate discharge 
station 35 in approximately 40 seconds to permit the brine sufficient time 
to coagulate the outer surface 28 of the sausage strand 26. 
When the sausage strand reaches the discharge station 40, the outer surface 
28 is sufficiently coagulated to provide strength to the sausage strand 
where it is discharged into any suitable collection receptacle. The 
sausage strand can also be formed into a plurality of lengths at that 
location by conventional structure. 
When the strand 26 reaches intermediate discharge station 35, it is very 
moist from the brine solution. It moves over ramp plate 35A (FIG. 9) and 
underneath fresh water nozzle 35B, and thence onto open wire conveyor 49. 
The residual brine on the strand is washed away by the fresh water, and 
all the water thereon flows by gravity from the strand downwardly through 
the openings between the corrugations in corrugated wire 49C in conveyor 
49 for deposit in tray 86. 
It is therefore seen that the conveyor system of this invention will 
achieve at least its principal objectives.