DEVICE FOR MOULDING MEAT IN VACUO

Abstract: A device for moulding meat in vacuo comprising a mandril (8), the external shape of which substantially corresponds with the internal shape of a mould (9) for meat, through which extends a hollow cylinder (11) opening out at the top and at the bottom of the mandril, whereas the upper part of the hollow cylinder is connected with the outlet of a device (1-5) feeding pieces of meat, the improvement comprises cutting means around or in the bottom opening (12) of cylinder (11) to ensure sharp cutting of the meat string and improved air-tight joint means (34) at the upper rim of the mould (9) as well.

Description: Device for moulding meat in vacuo The invention relates to a device for moulding meat in vacuo in particular to such a device of the type described in the French patent application 2.363.286. The said patent describes a device comprising a mandril, the external shape of which substantially corresponds with the internal shape of a mould for meat, through which extends a hollow cilinder opening out at the top and at the bottom of the mandril. The upper part of the hollow cilinder is connected with the outlet of a device feeding pieces of meat. A meat mould to be filled is slipped from below onto the mandril until its bottom comes into contact with the lower surface of the mandril. An airtight joint is provided between the upper rim of the mould and the external surface of the mandril. At the bottom of the mandril channels open out in vacuo to ensure the adherence of the mould to the mandril when filling of the mould starts. During the filling operation the pieces of meat pushed out of the feeding device move downwards into the mould through the hollow cilinder and cause the mould to move downwards with respect to the mandril until it is filled. The meat feeding device is formed by a helix driven by a motor and fed from a funnel. One object of the invention is to improve the above-described device. In the device described above the vacuum channels opening out at the bottom of the mandril tend to absorb meat by suction during the filling operation. In the vacuum circuit is arranged a recipient for the absorbed meat, but this is only a makeshift, since the recipient is filled fairly soon. It is then necessary to stop the device to empty the recipient and restore it in its place. A further object of the invention is to provide means to eliminate this inconvenience. In the above-mentioned prior art device the bottom of the mandril is provided around the lower opening of the cylinder with a double wall in which cutting blades are displaceable so as to leave free the passage during the filling operation and to block the outlet of the cylinder between two filling operations. Since the diameter of the cylinder is large, for example, 5 cms, the simpel cutting blades have difficulty in cutting a length of meat of the same diameter. This results in that at last piece(s) falling into the mould partially stick to the blades. This necessitates a manual operation to loosen the piece(s) of meat. A further object of the invention is to provide means ensuring sharp cutting of the length of meat. In accordance with a feature of the invention in a device of the prior art the vaccum channels opening out below the mandril communicate with a pressurized air source, means being provided for disconnecting the exhaust pump from said channels and for connecting them with the ambient pressure or a pressurized air source at the termination of each mould filling operation. According to a further feature the inlet of said channels are protected by small plates arranged in front of said inlets and supported by small columns integral with the lower surface of the mandril. According to a further feature a sliding plate is provided in the direction of thickness of the lower surface of the mandril'and held in the grooves in the thickness of the lower surface of the mandril, the lower surface of said plate being coplanar with the lower surface, which plate is withdrawn to release the passage during the filling operation and pushed on for partially blocking the outlet of said cylinder at the end of eacfil- ling operation, whilst a cutting rotary blade is arranged below said lower surface, which blade is turned away during the filling operation and turned after each filling-operation to cut the remainder of the piece of meat passing through the opening and having a section reduced by said plate. According to a further feature a dosing cock is mounted in said cylinder, the axis of the cock being at right angles to the axis of the cylinder. The above-mentioned and fnther features oB the invention will become further apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to -the accompanying drawings, in iich Fig. 1 is a schematic, vertical sectional view of a moulding device embodying the invention during filling of a mould, Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the bottom of the mandril of the device, below which the blocking means operating between two filling operations are mounted, Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line III-III of the means shown in fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a vacuum connection provided with a filter, Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the vacuum joint assembly mounted between a mould and the mandril of the kind shown in fig. 1 and Fig. 6 is a perspective view, wherein parts are broken away, of a variant of the blocking means in fig. 2 and 3, Fig. 7 is a schematic, vertical sectional view like fig. 1 of a second embodiment of a moulding device according to the invention before filling of the mould, Fig. 8 is a sectional view according to fig. 7, wherein the hollow cylinder is entered into the mould, Fig. 9 is a sectional side view of the embodiment in fig. 8, Fig. 10 a sectional view according to fig. 7 during the filling operation. The moulding device of fig. 1 comprises a horizontal archimedian screw 1 mounted in a cylindrical housing 2 and driven by an electric motor 3. The housing 2 has an opening 4, above which a funnel 5 is mounted. At the other end of the screw 1 with respect to the motor 3 the shaft of the screw is held in a bearing 6. On the side of the bearing 6 the housing 2 is open on the underside and is connected with a vertical cylinder terminating in a flange 7. The moulding device comprises furthermore a mandril 8, the general external shape of which corresponds with the general internal shape of a meat mould 9. Fig. 1 shows that the mould 9 bears on a supporting platform 10 and is slipped from below onto the mandril 8. In the centre of the mandril 8 is arranged a cylinder 11, which opens out below in an opening 12 in the bottom 13 of the mandril and which is provided on its upper part with a flange 14, which is connected with the flange 7. The upper end of the cylinder 11 is open to communicate with the interior of the housing 2. Fig. 2 shows that in the bottom plate 13 a comparatively thick plate 15 is mounted opposie the oping 12. The plate 15 is integral with a pin 16 of a smal lifting cylinder 17, which is also located in the thickness of the bottom 13. Below the lower surface of the plate 15 is fixed a rigid foil 18 which extends from the front edge of the plate 15 near the opening 12 rather far to the rear to mask the recess of the cylinder 17. The level of the lower surface of the foil 18 is substantially at the level of the lower surface of the bottom 13 around the plate 15. On the other side of the opening 12 with respect to the plate 15 a cutting blade 19 is mounted below the bottom 13. In practice the blade 19 is fastened to a vertical shaft 20 passing through the bottom 13. Above the bottom 13 a pinion 21 is mounted on the shaft 20, which pinion is'in mesh with a toothed rack 22 on the rod of a cylinder 23. Fig. 3 shows the cylinders 17 and 23 in the rest position. The plate 15 and the blade 19 leave the opening 12 then fully free. When the opening 12 has to be blocked, the cylinder is actuated in a first phase so that the plate 15 is advanced until its front edge reaches the centre of the opening 12 or slightly passes beyond the same. The cylinder is actuated in a second phase to rotate the blade 19 in clockwise direction until it blocks the remainder of the opening 12. The edge of the blade 19 directed towards the opening 12 is ground. At least two tubes 24 and 25 are passed through the bottom 13. They communicate on the one hand through a valve 26 with a compressed air reservoir 29. A further tube 30 opening out in the housing 2 of the screw 3 communicates with the exhaust pump 27. The openings of the tubes 24 and 25 in the bottom 13 are protected by a kind of filter formed by small plates 31 mounted in front of the openings of the tubes with the aid of short pins 32. These filters are shown in detail in fig. 4. Around the mandril 8 above the upper rim 33 of a mould 9 is arranged an airtight joint 34, which is shown in detail in fig. 5 and which is of the same type as that used in the device disclosed in the French patent 2.363.286. However in the metal. body 35 forming the base of the joint a plurality of apertures 36 are provided which open out freely at one end between the lateral surface of the mandril 8 and the internal surface of the mould 9. The other ends of the apertures 36 communicate via suitable connections with the exhaust pump 27 through the valve 26. The support 10 of the mould 9 may be mounted on a dashpot as described in French patent 2.363.286. The general operation of the moulding device will now be described with reference to fig. 1. Pieces of meat are poured into the funnel 5 and the motor 3 is actuated to drive the screw 1, which compels the pieces of meat to move towards the cylinder 11. The exhaust pump 27 is actuated immediately after the motor 3 so that the meat passing downwards in the funnel is disaered. Since the pieces of meat are at a distance from the tube 30 as soon as the screw is rotating, the tube 30 can constantly remain in communication with the pump 27, even if the tube 30 absorbs some meat at a standstill of the screw. Then a mould is put on the platform 10, which is lifted to slip the mould onto the mandril 8. The joint 34 is lowered to the rim of the mould. Since the valve 26 is open, the air between the bottom 13 and the bottom of the mould and between their lateral walls is sucked away by 24, 25 and 26. The cylinders 17 and 23 are actuated to release the opening 12 and the screw 1 pushes down pieces of meat through the cylinder 11, the meat reaching the bottom of the mould 9, where it spreads below the bottom 13. When passing along the tubes 24 and 25 the air bubbles, which may remain occluded in the mass of the meat in the housing 2 are sucked off. The filters 31, 32 prevent the tubes 24 and 25 from absorbing too large bits of meat. The pressure of the meat entering 9 and its weight cause the platform 10 to move downwards, When the mould 9 is filled, a microcontact detecting this position stops the motor 3, the plate 15 being displaced to about midway 12, after which the blade 19 is displaced. The effect of the plate 15 is simply the reduction of the section of the piece of meat to be cut by the blade 19 until the latter has performed its full turn. It is known that it is easier to cut a small-section string, even if its is hard, than to cut a broad, weak piece. The thickness of the plate 15 has to be sufficient to displace the meat without adversely affecting it. The valve 26 is then closed and the valve 28 is opened for a short time to admit to 24 and 25 jets of pressurized air which blow them free from any absorbed fragments of meat despite the filters. When arranging a further mould to be filled the initial conditions are restored. Between the airtight joint 34 and the upper rim of the mould there may be arranged an intermediate, torus-shaped piece which allows the device to handle moulds of various shapes. The figures 6 to 10 are related to a second embodiment of a moulding device of the invention. Said device is pÅarticularly adapted for ordinary pans for moulded meat, which pans are relatively thin walled. Such thin walled pans are not suitable to withstand the ambient atmospheric pressure when the pan is filled with meat under vacuum. To meet this problem an annular means 100 is slidably arranged around the hollow cylinder 101. The distance between said annular means and said hollow cylinder 101 is such that the ordinary pan 102 used as mould is able to be inserted in said space. The airtight means 103 are here formed like a sleeve which is clamped on the upper surface of a plate-like member 104, underneath said annular means 100 is connected. Near the upper rim of said annular means a airtight ring of flexible material 105 is mounted to the lower surface of said plate-like member 104, against which the upper rim of the pan mould 102 is pressed during filling operation. The plate-like member 104 is supported by stems, which are upwards and downwards movable by pneumatic means like cylinders (not shown). The pan mould 102 is supported upon a table 107, which is also upwards and downwards movable by pneumatic means like cylinders (not shown). The table is provided with an upstanding rim 108, whereupon a sleeve 109 of flexible material is arranged which cooperates with the bottom rim 110 of the annular means 100. The described device is also provided with an alternative cutting means underneath the hollow cylinder for feeding the meat from the helics. Said cutting means are here in the form of a dosing cock, which is detailed in fig. 6. The dosing cock is formed like a cilindrical body 111 which is rotatably supported in ball-bearings 112, which are taken up in a housing 113. The housing is provided with a through-channel 114, communicating with a tube 115 leading from the transport screw or hels 116., see fig. 9. The housing 113 fits airtight within the circumferential wall of cylinder 101. The cilindrical body 111 is near one extreme end provided with a spacing 117, whereas in said spacing a pair of pushing rods 118 are inserted, the bulb-like extreme ends of which are supported in correspondingly shaped surfaces of the spacing 117. The pair of rods 118 are preciprocatably up and down movable by pneumatic means like as cylinder (not shown). It will be clear from the drawings that when pushing the upper rods, the right one in fig. 9, downwards, the cilindrical body 111 will rotate clockwise whilst the left rod will counter rotate said body 111. The body 111 is provided with a through-hole 119 which can communicate in one position of the body with the through-hole 114 in the housing 113. The through-hole 119 is formed such that the circular through-hole 114 will transform in an oblong orifice 120 in the outer cilindrical wall of said body 111. The orifice 120 has two parallel side edges 121, parallel to the rotational axis of the body 111. One of the edges 122 is provided with indentations 123 in order to form dents, which are able to cooperate with a cutting rim 124 of the housing 113. The cutting rim 124 will narrowly fit against the cilindrical outer wall of the body 111, which is located such that said outer wall protudes underneath the lower surface of the housing 113, see fig. 9. Owing to these measures it is now possible to block the through-way from tube 115 into the pan mould 102 by turning over certain angle the dosing cock body 111 and to cut off the meat as well. So ameliorating the filling operation of the present embodiment. The working of the above mentioned embodiment is as follows: starting from the position of the device as shown in fig. 7 the pan mould 102 can be placed manually upon the support 107, whereupon the support 107 can be raised, whereas simultaneously the annular means 100 will be lowered uch that the bottom rim 110 will fit around the sleeve 109 on support 107. So an airtight closing between the annular means 100 and the support 107 is effected, whilst the airtight means 103 forms the closing between the annular means 100 and the cylinder 101. This position is shown in fig. 8. It is noticed that there is still left an opening between the flexible ring 105 and the upper rim of the pan mould 102. Since the annular means 100 are connected via a tube 125 to a vacuum sorce, the space between the hollow cylinder 101 and the annular means 100 can be sucked vacuum, including the contents of the pan mould 102. When the desired vacuum is achieved, the plate-like member 104 is lowered further, so that the upper rim of the pan mould 102 will closely touch the annular member 105. The filling operation starts after the cilindrical body 101 is placed in such a position that the through-hole 119 is in line with the through-hole 114 in the housing 113. During the filling operation the support table 107 will be lowered, whereas the plate-like member 104 will also be lowered in order to keep the airtight closing between the different parts. After the filling operation the cilindrical body 111 will be turned clockwise into the position as shown in fig. 6, so closing off the channel 114 whereas the meat is cutted by the dents 123 and cutting edge 124. Atmospheric pressure can be brought again within the annular means 100 in the way as described hereabove, whereupon the supporting table can be lowered and the annular means 100 can be raised to the position as shown in fig. 7.

Claims: WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. A device for moulding meat in vacuo comprising a mandril, the external shape of which substantially corresponds with the internal shape of a mould for meat and which is traversed by a hollow cylinder, the upper part of which communicates with the outlet of a meat feeding device, the mould to be filled being slipped from below onto the mandril until its bottom comes into contact with the lower surface of the mandril, an airtight joint being provided between the upper rim of the mould, and the external surface of the mandril, whilst the vacuum channels open out at the bottom of the mandril, characterized in that said channels opening ot below the mandril can be connected with a source of pressurized air, whilst means are provided to disconnect the exhaust pump from said channels and for connecting from with the ambient asmospheric pressure for a source of pressurized air at the termination of each mould filling operation. 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the inlets of said channels are protected by filters. 3. A device as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the filters are formed by small plates arranged in front of the inlets of the channels and supported by small columns integral with the lower surface of the mandril. 4. A device as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 3. characterized in that in the thickness of the lower surface of the mandril there is arranged a slidable plate held in the grooves provided in the thickness of the lower surface of the mandril, whilst the lower surface of the plate is coplanar with said lower surface of the mandril, the plate being withdrawn to release the passage during the filling operation and being pushed on to partially block the outlet of said cylinder at the termination of each filling operation, whilst a rotary cutting blade is provided below said lower surface, which blade is turned away during the filling operation and turned after each filling operation to cut the remainder of the piece of meat passing through the opening and being reduced in section by said plate. 5. A device as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 3 characterized in that in that a dosing cock is mounted in said cylinder, the axis of said measuring space being at right angles to the axis of the cylinder. 6. A device as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that said dosing cock is formed like a cylinder, the cilindrical outer wall of which protudes from the bottom face of said hollow cylinder. 7. A device as claimed in claim 5 and 6, characterized in that said dosing cock is provided with a through-hole, opening in said cilindrical wall as an oblong orifice having parallel edges. 8. A device as claimed in claim 5 to7,cha- racterized in that at least one of said edges is provided with indentations in order to form cutting dents. 9. A device as claimed in anyone of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the airtight joint has holes subjected to vacuum and opening out between the external lateral wall of the mandril and the lateral internal surface of the mould. 10. A device as claimed in anyone of the previous claims, characterized in that an annular means enveloping said mould is provided with an upper rim cooperating with said airtight joint. 11. A device as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that said annular means are reciprocatably inovable with respect to said hollow cylinder and mould as well, whereas said annular means is provided with a bottom rim cooperating with an airtight joint of the mould support.

Inventors: LANGEN, CHRISTIANUS PETRUS, MENEZ, JEAN
Applicants: LANGEN RESEARCH B.V.
Application year: 1983
Main classification: A22C7
IPC codes: A22C7