GRAPE CRUSHER AND DE-STEMMER

Abstract: A grape crusher and de-stemmer comprising a drum (5) having a spiral rotor blade (8) eccentrically mounted in the drum to have a greater clearance at the top and at the bottom. The drum is perforated with perforations (18, 19) and means are provided for rotating the rotor so that the rotor rotates at high speed to remove the berries from the stalks and to split the berries so that the juice may be extracted.

Description: GRAPE CRUSHER AND DE--.TEMMER This invention relates to the crushing of grapes, and more particularly to a crusher adapted to rupture the skins of the grapes in a simple manner. 5. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally grape crushers include the step of passing the bunches of grapes through at least a pair of grooved spaced rollers so that the grape berries are crushed to allow the juices to be extracted - | _ therefrom by a pressing operation. These rollers through which the grapes pass must crush the grapes and also tend to damage the stems and stalks, and often tend to break these into smaller pieces. 15_ U.S. Patent Number 3034423 by Albert Demoisy discloses a continuous rotary press for extracting liquid from fragile products (for example fruirs ) where a rotor operates within a perforated housing, the rotor being divided into a plurality of cor.partments 20. and carrying rollers and endless track members to press the material retained by the perforated housing. R.G. Lohre et al in U.S. Patent No. 2682822 discloses an apparatus for removal of juice frc citrus fruit, with the rotor being mounted eccentrically within 25_ the rotatable outer casing so that the fruit is compressed to squeeze the juice therefrom. U.S. Patent No. 3011430 discloses an orange juice extractor wherein the fruit is subjected to a gradually increasing pressure, to squeeze the juice from the orange, the extractor including a rotor 5. acting in conjunction with a surrounding drum. U.S. Patent No. 292524 by Wilson and U.S. Patent No. 2119972 by Steinbiss each disclose apparatus having a spiral or similarly shaped rotor to move the material, the spiral body increasing in diameter 10. to produce an increasing pressure. It is an object of this invention to provide a grape crusher in which the grape berries are crushed, split or opened in a simple manner to allow the juice to be extracted therefrom. •*---'• It is a further object to provide a grape crusher in which there is a ready separation of the stalks and stems from the crushed berries and pips with there being a minimum of damage to the skins themselves and also to the stems and stalks. 20. BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION Thus there is provided according to this invention a grape crusher comprising spiral means to transport the grapes through a treating zone, means for rotating the spiral at a speed such that the grapes are forced 25. by centrifugal force to the wall of the crusher so that the action of the spiral on the grapes adjacent the wall causes the berries to be split and opened. Throughout the specification while reference is made to the invention as a grape crusher, it is to be realised that the term crusher is not used in the usual sense of pressure being applied between 5 # rollers or the like, that is merely used to refer to the action of breaking the skins of the grapes to open up the grapes so that the juice can be extracted, In a preferred form the crusher is a cylindrical drum, a spiral being mounted within the drum. H Q The spiral in its preferred form can comprise a two bladed spiral having a large pitch, the spiral blades being mounted on radial arms. The cylindrical drum is preferably formed of metal and is provided with a plurality of apertures. j_5_ Adjacent the inlet end these apertures are of relatively small size, and then increase in diameter toward the outlet end. It is to be noted that in the preferred form the spiral is not mounted centrally within the 20. cylindrical drum, but is so positioned that it has a small clearance at the bottom while at the top there is a larger clearance. The drum is provided with an inlet chamber or hopper, this being offset from the central axis of 25. the drum and is thus positioned to one side of the vertical diameter of the drum and on that side where the spiral blades pass downwardly so that there is little or no tendency for any of the grapes being fed in to fly up out of the drum. .i*- vsv.:-.?rou Means are provided to drive the spiral at a relatively high speed, this being preferably by an electric motor or the like, either mounted on or adjacent to the cylindrical drum. It has been found that with the above clearances given and the pitch as above stated that by rotating the spirals at a speed of 700 revolutions per minute or in other words approximately 11 metres per second circumferential speed, this speed is sufficient to lift and throw 10, the grapes against the wall of the drum and due to increasing and decreasing clearance as the spiral blades move around the wall of the drum the grape berries are split and opened and removed from the stalks. -. ς The stalks in this way are not crushed or bruised to any appreciable extent and the blades of the spiral as ' they pass over the openings in the drum pass the split berries, skins and pips through these openings to be collected for later pressing. 20, A large quantity of juice is extracted from the grapes in the initial opening and crushing of the grapes, and this juice is collected in the initial or earlier part of the crushing action, this juice collected being exceptionally free from any skins, 25, pips, stems or twigs or the like, and as the skins themselves are not crushed the juice extracted is the free juice within the grape itself and is thus a highly desirable juice which is obtained in this manner. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the crusher according to the invention FIG. 2 is an end elevation thereof and 5. FIG. 3 is a view of the spiral blades and the drum portion being broken away for clarity DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The crusher and the stemmer 1 comprises a drum assembly 2 mounted on a frame base 3 having a plurality 10. of legs 4. The drum assembly 2 includes a drum 5 having an inlet 6 and outlet 7. A spiral rotor 8 is fixed to a **haft 9 mounted in bearings 10 affixed to end plates 11 on the ends of the drum 5. The spiral rotor 8 is driven by 15. a feed belt drive from a variable speed geared motor 13 having a variable speed adjusting hand wheel 14. Beneath the drum 5 there is supported on the frame 3 a drain tank to collect the juice extracted 20. or removed from the grapes passing through the drum. The rotor blade 8 comprises a pair of spiral blades 15 mounted on blade arms 16 attached to the shaft 9, each blade having a limited depth 17. The blade arms 16 are plates supporting the blades at a distance from the shaft 9. The drum 5 is provided with a plurality of openings, these varying as desired. However in 5. a preferred form more holes 18 are provided adjacent the inlet opening 6, and also small holes 19. Spaced further along the drum the holes 20 are large in diameter. As shown and in accordance with the invention, 10. the shaft 9 is not situated centrally of the drum, but is displaced slightly downwardly so that the clearance 21 at the top is greater than the clearance 22 at the bottom. In this way as the grapes move from the area of greater clearance to the lesser 15. clearance they are split and opened by the action of the blade on the drum thus opening the berry and allowing the juice to escape. In a typical example of a grape crusher and de-stemmer capable of handling ten tonnes of grapes 20. per hour, the rotor blade could be 1,632 millimetres in length and in this length each blade turns through 460 degrees, that is one and one quarter turns so that the angle of the blade to the axis of the blade is at a relatively shallow angle with the diameter of the 25. blade being 240 millimetres. The diameter of the drum could be about 286 millimetres so that the rotor by being offset then gives a clearance at the bottom of 6 to 10 millimetres with corresponding larger clearance at the top. The rotor is adapted to run at a speed of approximately 11 metres per second circumf rential speed and this speed lifts and maintains the grapes against the internal surface of the drum by a centri- 5. fugal force and due to the variation in clearance, as the grapes move toward the lower area they are effectively split and opened by the action of the rotor blades on the interior of the drum. This splitting allows the juice to come free 10. of the berries. The smaller holes at the inlet end of the drum can be in the vicinity of 20 millimetres in diameter while the holes in the remainder of the drum can be in the order of 28 millimetres. In a preferred form adjacent the 20 millimetre 15. holes there are provided a plurality of slots around the portion of the drum adjacent the inlet opening, these slots being 20 millimetres long and 8 millimetres wide. It has been found that with the arrangement 20. of the slots and holes that the juices and berries can pass through these holes, but that the stalks and stems are retained for discharge out through the outlet end of the drum so that the berries can then be further processed by pressing to extract 25. the juice therefrom. As the berries have been removed from these stalks and split and opened without any undue damage to the skins themselves then a pure -juice is extracted without any contaminants from the skin and or stalks. Although in the preferred form dimensions are given as an example only of the invention, it is to be realised that the production ui-.it will be much larger in diameter and of greater length, thus being 5. able to handle greater quantities of grapes. It will be realised that in this instance where the crusher is made of differing sizes, that the speed with which the spiral must be rotated could well be varied and as the diameter is increased 10. the number of revolutions per minute would be decreased to give a peripheral speed similar to the above. Also it is to be realised that with the larger units the speed may have to be varied or increased to cause the bunches of grapes to be held by centrifuga 20. force against the walls, or can be varied so that the grapes may tend to tumble or fall during the operation. The large pitch of the spiral will gradually move 4 the grapes through the crusher, these spirals 25. thus acting as beaters having a slight inclination to move the grapes and must through the crusher. The pitch of the spirals could vary between one turn for 0.5 metres to one in 2 metres. It will realised that while there is disclosed 30. the continuous spiral, that the spiral could be comprised of a number of individual paddles or beaters each inclined at an angle, these beating and pressing the grapes against the outer wall in order to remove the berries from the stems and to split the skins to allow the subsequent extraction of the juice. Thus it will realised that various modifications 5. can be made to the above invention relating to the various sizes and dimensions, as long as the basic concept of a relatively high velocity is achieved in order to produce the desired effect with the paddles, beaters or other blades or the spiral 10. progressively moving the grapes through the unit.

Claims: THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1. A grape crusher and de-stemmer comprising a perforated generally horizontal drum, an inlet at one end of the drum, an outlet at the opposite end, a spiral rotor eccentrically mounted within said # drum to progressively move grapes from said inlet to said outlet, the clearance between said rotor and said drum being greater at the top than at the bottom, and means to rotate said rotor at a speed to move the grapes over the internal surface of Q the drum while removing the berries from the stalks and opening the berries for the juict to be extracted. 2. A grape crusher and de-stemmer as defined in claim 1 characterised in that said spiral rotor comprises a pair of blades supported on arms mounted on a rotor shaft, said blades having a flat spiral _ in the range of one turn per 0.5 metre to one turn in 2 metres. 3. A grape crusher and de-stemmer as defined in claim 1 characterised in that said rotor is driven at a speed in the range of about 5 metres per second to 20 metres per second circumferential speed depended _ on the diameter of the drum so that the grapes are maintained by centrifugal force on the wall of the drum at least up to near the top of the drum. 4. A grape crusher and de-stemmer as defined in claim 1 characterised in that the spiral is a continuous spiral. 5. A grape crusher and de-stemmer as defined in claim 1 characterised in that the spiral is formed of a number of sections spaced circumferentially and longitudinally of each other. 6. A grape crusher and de-stemmer as defined in claim 1 characterised in that the inlet is tangential to the drum in the direction of rotation of the spiral rotor. 7. A grape crusher and de-stemmer as defined in claim 1 characterised in that the drive means is a variable speed drive means. 8. A grape crusher and de-stemmer substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in he accompanying drawings.

Inventors: SPINATO C
Applicants: SPINATO C
Application year: 1981
Main classification: A23N1
IPC codes: A23N15