Patent ID: 7163391

Claim:
A food patty-forming apparatus for forming food patties from pressurized food product, comprising: a frame; a first plate carried by said frame; a second plate carried by said frame, said second plate spaced from and facing said first plate; a mold plate guided to reciprocate longitudinally between said first and second plates between a fill position and a discharge position, said mold plate having a laterally contoured region extending longitudinally, said contoured region having a raised first surface and an oppositely facing raised second surface, directly aligned with said first raised surface through a thickness of said mold plate, said mold plate having a cavity through said contoured region, said first plate having a recessed first surface extending longitudinally and corresponding in shape to the raised second surface of said mold plate and a fill opening in communication with said cavity when said mold plate is in said fill position during reciprocation of said mold plate, and when said mold plate is in said discharge position, said cavity being exposed outside said first plate, said second plate having a recessed second surface extending longitudinally and corresponding in shape to the raised first surface of said mold plate, said first and second recessed surfaces of said first and second plates respectively each forming a channel that closely conforms around said first and second raised surfaces respectively of said contoured region of said mold plate; wherein said cavity has a horizontal perimeter that includes curved lines; wherein said cavity comprises a vertical profile having curved top and bottom sides; a mechanism operatively connected to said mold plate to reciprocate said mold plate between said fill position and said discharge position; and a food product delivery configured to deliver pressurized food product into said fill opening.