A METHOD AND AN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING TOP AND ROOT ENDS OF ONIONS

Abstract: In a method of cutting the top and root ends of onions pure rotary motion without translatory motion is imparted to each onion on a movable substrate. The onion is axis-oriented hereby, and then it is retained in this orientation while cutting of the top and root ends takes place. Also an apparatus for use in the performance of the method is provided. This apparatus contains onion rotating means (3), gripper means (10, 11) to grip and retain the onion in the axis-oriented position and cutting means (22, 23, 24) to remove the top and root ends of the onion.

Description: A method and an apparatus for cutting top and root ends of onions The invention concerns a method of cutting top and root ends of onions. The best quality of processed onion products is obtained when the top and root ends are removed from the raw ma¬ terial. For this to be obtained, frequent manual labour is required to orient the onions before cutting can be performed on knife peeling machines having automatically self-adjusting and rotating knives. The USA Patent Specification 4,258,618 discloses an onion trimmer, in which the onions are conveyed by a spoon elevator and a carrying belt conveyor through a channel to an orientation device, which consists of a belt con- veyor running oppositely to the onions and having a pitch in the direction of movement of the onions. The onions are thus conveyed by means of V-shaped flights in which the onions are oriented by rolling, which is caused by the belt conveyor moving in an opposite direction to the onions, as mentioned. After orientation, the onions are gripped one at a time by a transport wheel having a stationary and a movable jaw for each onion, which is retained and conveyed to self-adjusting cylindrical knives where the top and root portions are cut. The object of the invention is to provide a method of the type stated in the opening paragraph, where the top and root ends of the onions are cut in a simpler manner without the onions having to be transported a long dis¬ tance in a relatively complicated apparatus, and without the onions being hampered during the orientation by the friction between carriers, e.g. the above-mentioned V- shaped flights, and the surface of the onions. This object is achieved according to the invention in that the present method is characterized by the features defined in the characterizing portion of claim 1. During this, pure rotary motion, without translatory motion, is imparted to the onion on the movable substrate, so that the onion rotates quite freely and is not to be conveyed on a belt conveyor by means of carriers which interfere with the rotation of the onion. Then, the entire onion processing can take place at the same location, thus simplifying the onion processing. The invention also concerns the apparatus defined in the introductory portion of claim 2 for performing the method, and this apparatus is characterized by the features defined in the characterizing portion of claim 2. The invention will be described more fully below with reference to the drawing, in which fig. 1 is a side view of an apparatus according to the invention, fig. 2 is a top view of the apparatus of fig. 1, fig. 3 is a schematic and enlarged view of the parts of the apparatus which axis-orient an onion and then retain the onion, fig. 4 is a schematic section along the line A-A in fig. 3, fig. 5 is a schematic and partially sectional view of the same parts .as in fig. 3 and also shows knives for cutting the top and root ends of the onion, and fig. 6 is an enlarged view of the rotatable cylindrical rollers and their suspension and drive mechanism. As shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, the apparatus of the inven¬ tion consists of two substantially identical, but oppo¬ sitely directed parts 1 and 2, between which an onion is automatically secured in an axis-oriented position, i.e. a position in which the central axis of the onion extending through the top and root ends preferably coin¬ cides with the horizontal axis 4-4 in fig. 1. An onion whose top and root ends are to be cut is supplied from a supply mechanism (now shown), from which one onion at a time falls down on a pair of rotatable, cylindrical rollers 3, which have parallel horizontal axes and a smaller mutual gap than the diameter of the smallest onion. As shown in fig. 1, the axes 4 of the rollers 3 are disposed between the two parts 1 and 2 of the appa¬ ratus in such a vertical distance below the apparatus that the onion resting on the rollers 3 preferably pro¬ trudes just as much above as below the axis 4-4. When the onion rests on the rollers 3 just above the gap be- tween these the central axis of the onion extending through the top and root ends assumes a quite arbitrary orienta¬ tion with respect to the axis 4-4. However, the rollers 3 are caused to rotate with the same direction of rotation around their horizontal axes by means of a motor 5 with a gear wheel 6 which drives each of the rollers 2 through a gear wheel 7 attached to each roller 2, as shown in fig. 6. The rollers 3 consist of a suitable resilient material so that the onion does not jump during rotation, but is given a pure rotary motion, the surface on the rollers 3 having moreover a suitable frictional coating. During rotation of the rollers 3 the onion 8, which is shown in fig. 3 and fig. 5, is caused to rotate, as men¬ tioned. During this, the central axis of the onion will be oriented owing to the rotation such as to coincide with the axis 4 of the apparatus. When the axis-oriented position of the onion has been obtained, the rollers 3 are lowered, with the overall roller assembly 3, 5, 6, 7 rotating through an angle α° about a horizontal shaft 8 which is perpendicular to the axis 4-4. Simultaneously with this or immediately prior to this, the parts 1 and 2 of the apparatus are moved towards each other by means of pneumatic cylinders 9 , whereby the onion 8 is gripped between two catch cones 10 and 11 which are co-axial with the axis 4-4. The cylinders 9 are pneumatic and not hydraulic because the onion should not be subjected to a possibly crushing pressure between the catch cones 10 and 11. As shown in figs. 4 and 5, the catch cones 10 and 11 have down¬ wardly cylindrical cuts 12 so that they can be moved horizontally past the rollers 3, which are generally lowered only after the onion 8 has been gripped by the catch cones 10 and 11. The region between the cylindrical cuts 12 of the catch cones 10, 11 serves as a kind of bucket which, in parti¬ cular in case of relatively small onions, lifts the onion 8 upwardly so that its axis extending through the top and root ends coincides with the axis 4-4 of the apparatus. Of course, this lifting movement is superfluous with larger onions. If, in spite of the rotation of the onion 8, the orienta- tion of the central axis of the onion is not within the intended tolerance threshold required for further pro¬ cessing, which may take place because of an unfortunate shape of some onions, the catch cones 10 and 11 will greatly remedy this because, as shown in fig. 5, they additionally align the onion 8 when it is gripped. The situation of the onion 8 is now that, as shown in fig. 5, it is gripped and retained in an axis-oriented position between the catch cones 10 and 11. The pressure from the pneumatic cylinders 9 causes the two parts 1 and 2 of the apparatus to be pressed additio¬ nally slightly together, the catch cones 10, 11 being moved slightly apart by the onion 8 against the force of a compression spring 13 until the end 14 of a holding pipe 15, which faces the onion, engages the onion, said holding pipe 15 being secured to the part in question and slidable inside the catch cone. It should be noted already here that this movement of one or both catch cones with respect to the holding pipe 15, which is secured in the respective one of the two parts 1 or 2 of the apparatus, does not necessarily take place with all onions. Particularly in case of relatively small onions, the onion will be gripped so deeply inside the bottom of the catch cones 10, 11 that it is actually the end 14 of the holding pipe 15 which first touches the onion 8, which cannot therefore move the actual catch cone 10 or 11. The catch cones 10 and 11 are secured to control rods 16 which are slidable axially in bearings 17 on the appa¬ ratus part 1 or 2 in question. As shown in fig. 2, the compression spring 13 is so mounted on the part of the apparatus as to exert pressure against the end of a control rod 16. When a catch cone, e.g. the catch cone 11, is moved against the compression force from the spring 13 with respect to the holding pipe 15 because of the size and/or shape of the onion and is thus moved to the same extent with respect to the part 2 of the apparatus, a bracket 18 on the outer end of a control rod 16 moves one end 19 of a two-armed lever 20, which is rotatably journalled on the part 2 approximately at the centre. The other end of the lever 20 with a stop means 21 attached to it will thus be displaced with respect to the part 2 in a direction opposite to the movement of the catch cone 11 with respect to the part 2. The proportion between the size of the movement of the catch cone 11 and the stop means 21, respectively, in their respective direc- tions in relation to the part 2 is determined by the lever ratio. The importance of the stop means 21 appears from the following description of the cutting means. Each part 1 and 2 mounts a cutting assembly which consists of a knife 22 secured to a rotatable rod 23, which can be driven by a drive motor 24. The entire cutting assembly 22, 23, 24 is secured to a carriage 25 which is movable on the rods 16 of the part between the bearings 17. The movement of the carriage 25 on the rods 16 is obtained by means of one end 26 of a cylinder 27, which is prefe- rably a hydraulic cylinder. The other end 28 of the cylin¬ der is secured to the respective part 1 or 2. A stop means 29 for co-action with the mentioned stop means 21 is moreover secured to the cutting assembly 22, 23, 24 in a manner not shown. When the cutting assembly is moved by the hydraulic cy¬ linder 27 in a direction toward the onion 8, the knife 22 driven by the motor 24 is moved into the onion through the holding pipe 15, the knife 22 having just a slightly smaller diameter than the holding pipe 15. The cutting depth is determined by the engagement of the stop means 29 with the stop means 21, as this engagement signals the hydraulic cylinder to stop the movement of the cutting assembly toward the onion 8. As mentioned before, the position of the stop means 21 in relation to the respective part of the apparatus was determined by the amount of the displacement of the catch cone 11 with respect to a holding pipe secured in the part. If for example the root end of the onion is very flat, or the root is downright recessed into the onion, the cone 11 will be displaced relatively much (toward the right in fig. 2) with respect to the part 2, and the stop means 21 will therefore be displaced relatively much (toward the left in fig. 2) with respect to the same part 2. Therefore, the cutting assembly 22, 23, 24 associated with the part 2 will be displaced relatively far to the left with respect to the part 2, before its stop means 21 hits the stop means 21 and stops the hydrau- lie cylinder 27, which in turn stops the displacement of the cutting assembly 22, 23, 24. An intended great cutting depth is hereby obtained with the mentioned onion type. Conversely, if the root end of the onion is relatively round, the automatic adjustment of the cutting depth means that the cutting assembly is not displaced very far to the left with respect to the part 2 before its stop means 29 hits the stop means 21, and an intended small cutting depth is obtained for this onion type. It has been found that the ratio of the two arms of the lever 20 should be approximately 1:1.3 so that the cutting assembly is displaced approximately 1.3 times more than the catch cone (and in an opposite direction) in rela¬ tion to the respective part of the apparatus. The movement of the two parts 1 and 2 of the apparatus towards and away from the onion 8 is controlled in that these two parts have bearings 30 which slide on rods 31 secured in the frame 32 of the apparatus. It should be noted that the automatic adjustment of the cutting depth is obtained individually at the root end and top end of the onion, and that it is quite arbitrary which part 1 or 2 of the apparatus treats one or the other end of the onion 8. It should moreover be noted that it will be possible to arrange the apparatus such that its one part 1 or 2 is stationary so that only the other, slidable part can move toward said stationary part when an onion is gripped and away from this stationary part when the onion is to be released after cutting of its top and root ends.

Claims: P a t e n t C l a i m s 1. A method of cutting the top and root ends of onions, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that pure rotary motion without translatory motion is imparted to each onion on a movable substrate so that the onion rotates freely until the central axis of the onion extending through the top and root ends assumes a determined orientation because of the rotation, following which the onion is retained in said orientation while cutting of the top and root ends takes place. 2. An apparatus for cutting the top and root ends of onions in the performance of the method of claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by comprising in combination onion rotating means adapted to impart pure rotary motion without translatory motion to each onion, gripper means adapted to grip and retain the onion when it has obtained the determined axis-oriented position during the rotation, and cutting means adapted to remove the top and root ends of the onions in the retained position. 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the onion rotating means consist of a pair of cylindrical rollers, which are journalled in a frame and rotate with the same direction of rotation, and which have parallel, horizontal shafts and a mutual gap which is smaller than the diameter of the smallest onions. 4. An apparatus according to claim 3, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the cylindrical surfaces of the rollers consist of a material having a relatively high coefficient of friction in relation to onions and impact absorbing properties. 5. An apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, c h a ¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that the shafts of the rollers are one-sidedly journalled in a common bearing means which is tiltable so that the shafts may be tilted by tilting means from their horizontal position to an inclined position in which their free ends are lowered with respect to the bearing means. 6. An apparatus according to any of claims 2-5, c h a ¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that the gripper means consist of a pair of co-axial catch cones which are directed oppositely to each other and are axially movable from their respective sides of the rotating onion to engage the onion and retain it. 7. An apparatus according to claim 6, c h a r a c - t e r i z e d in that a holding pipe co-axial with the cone is provided in the bottom of each catch cone, said catch cone being slidable in an axial direction on the holding pipe, said holding pipes having a diameter which is approximately one third to two thirds of the onion diameter. 8. An apparatus according to claims 2, 6 and 7, c h a ¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that the cutting means consist of a pair of knife bodies which are secured in the end of a pair of rotatable rods which faces the onion, said rods extending co-axially inside their respective holding pipes and being axially movable toward the onion from their respective sides until a cutting depth in the onion, which is determined by the engagement between an end stop in the apparatus and an end stop on the rotatable rod in question. 9. An apparatus according to claim 8, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that said cutting depth is automatically adjustable as a function of the shape and/or size of the onion. 10. An apparatus according to claims 8 and 9, c h a ¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that the end stop in the appa- ratus is secured to one end of a two-armed lever which is journalled on the holding pipe or a part connected with it, the other end of said lever being articulated to the catch cone axially slidable with respect to the holding pipe.

Inventors: GROENBECH HANS CHRISTIAN, GROENBECH, HANS, CHRISTIAN
Applicants: BAEHNCKES DELIKATESSEFABRIKKER, BAEHNCKES DELIKATESSEFABRIKKER A/S
Application year: 1989
Main classification: A23N15
IPC codes: A23N15, B26D3