Patent ID: 7666071

Claim:
An apparatus for manufacturing chains of linked food products such as sausages with twisted portions and having a plurality of stuffing tubes, comprising: a hollow member on a longitudinal axis for receiving the supply of a material of a food product from material supplying means; a stuffing tube moving body provided rotatably about a rotational axis located at a predetermined distance from the longitudinal axis; a plurality of hollow spindle members provided through said stuffing tube moving body in such a manner as to be disposed at equal intervals about the rotational axis; a plurality of stuffing tubes fixed to said plurality of hollow spindle members, respectively; a braking member which comes into contact with a casing loaded on said stuffing tube in a state in which said braking member is fitted on said stuffing tube; material-supply-stop commanding means for transmitting a material supply stop signal for stopping the supplying of the food product material to said hollow member; braking-member disengaging driving means for disengaging said braking member from said stuffing tube; stuffing-tube-moving-body driving means for moving said plurality of hollow spindle members to a position of communication with said hollow member by rotating said stuffing tube moving body through a predetermined angle about the rotational axis; suspending members which are disposed downstream of said stuffing tube fixed to said hollow spindle member communicating with said hollow member, and move in a state in which the stuffed casing filled with the food product material is suspended therefrom; and controlling means for controlling the operation of said braking-member disengaging driving means and said stuffing-tube-moving-body driving means after the signal transmission by said material-supply-stop commanding means.