Ashlock Company

Ashlock Company, a Division of Vistan Corp.

Ashlock Company, Division of Vistan Corporation

Frederick J Cimperman

Klaus Silbermann

Thomas W Hirtle

A fruit pitting apparatus including at least one of a box cam assembly for driving pitting knives relative to holders containing fruit, an active separating assembly which improves the efficiency of separation of the pitted fruit flesh from the holders after pitting, and a wiping blade positioned to wipe pits from the holders after pitting. The holders can be driven continuously during the pitting operation, or they can be driven intermittently so as to be stationary during pitting and to translate before and after pitting. The separating assembly preferably includes actively driven cam tracks within the knife driving assembly which vary the force with which the holders grip the fruit during and after pitting, especially when the holders are driven intermittently. The box cam assembly includes a box cam, a drive assembly for rotating the box cam, a pivot unit which undergoes reciprocating pivoting motion in response to the rotating box cam, a set of one or more shafts (to which pitting knives can be mounted) which reciprocate longitudinally in response to the reciprocating pivoting motion of the pivot unit, and preferably also a subassembly for causing the shafts to undergo reciprocating motion in directions perpendicular to their longitudinal axes.

Pitting apparatus with box cam; wiping blade, or separating assembly

An apparatus for pitting articles such as prunes or dates. Each article is loaded between jaws of a chuck assembly which translates between stations along a process path. At a pitting turret, a pitting rubber moves below the chuck assembly, and the chuck assembly and rubber translate together until a pitting knife engages the article and ejects a pit therefrom. The chuck assembly then translates the pitted article to a station where the pitted article is discharged. Preferably, a relatively large number of chuck assemblies are provided, each having a fixed jaw fixedly attached to a chain and a sliding jaw slidably mounted to the fixed portion. A relatively small number of pitting rubbers and one pitting knife for each rubber are mounted to the pitting turret. Preferably, the apparatus includes a cam track (for guiding each sliding jaw) having a portion whose radius varies sinusoidally with position around a feed unit, a portion around the pitting turret for opening and then closing each chuck assembly, and an adjustable portion which can be adjusted to vary the initial maximum spacing between the fixed and sliding jaw of each chuck assembly.

Apparatus for pitting prunes or dates

An apparatus for producing helical slices of an object, such as a potato. The apparatus includes a rotatably mounted knife assembly having one or more sets of knife blades arranged in a spiral pattern. Each set of knife blades produces a set of helically shaped potato slices. The spiral arrangement of each blade set reduces the torque needed to slice an object using the knife assembly. In a preferred embodiment, the inventive apparatus includes two sets of slicing blades, for producing two sets of intertwined helical product slices. A curved separator tube, which extends downward from the slicing blade area, disentangles the pair of intertwined slices having the smallest radius, as the blade assembly and the separator tube rotates as a unit.

Apparatus for producing helical slices

A method and apparatus for producing helical slices of an object, such as a potato. The apparatus includes a rotatably mounted knife assembly having one or more sets of knife blades arranged in a spiral pattern. Each set of knife blades produces a set of helically shaped potato slices. The spiral arrangement of each blade set reduces the torque needed to slice an object using the knife assembly. The knife assembly includes a knife bearing rotatably mounted within a housing. To rotate the knife assembly, a gear rotatably mounted on a mounting member engages and drives an outer annular surface of the knife bearing. A liquid is injected through a channel within the knife bearing housing, and preferably also through a channel within the gear mounting member, to flush fragments of the objects being sliced from the knife assembly and gear. Preferably, the apparatus also includes a vertically oriented feed chain assembly, in which a pair of chain drive sprockets rotate a pair of chains to translate unsliced objects to a set of feed rolls. The feed rolls push the objects into contact with the rotating knife assembly. The chain drive sprockets and feed rolls are mounted on shafts that are spring-biased together, and which have freedom to move away from each other to permit objects within a wide range of sizes to pass between the chain drive sprockets and the feed rolls.

Method and apparatus for producing helical slices

An apparatus for severing fragments (such as fleurettes) from a one-piece core of an article, such as a cauliflower, as the article is translated between stations along a process path. In a preferred embodiment, the article is translated through a sequence of stations, including a coring station, along the process path. At the coring station, the article is held in a fixed position by an impaling knife or pin, while one or more rotating coring knives are lowered into engagement with the article by a pivoting arm mechanism. The pivoting arm mechanism causes each rotating knife to trace out a generally helical path as it cores the article.

Coring apparatus

A method and apparatus for severing fragments (such as fleurettes) from a one-piece core of an article, such as a cauliflower, as the article is translated between stations along a process path. In a preferred embodiment, the article is loaded on a rotary table at a first station, then deleafed (or otherwise trimmed) at a second station, then aligned by a set of alignment rollers while translating through third and fourth alignment stations, then cored at a fifth coring station, and finally unloaded at a sixth station. At the coring station, the article is held in a fixed position by an impaling knife (or pin) while a set of rotating coring knives are lowered into engagement with the articles by a pivoting arm mechanism. The pivoting arm mechanism causes each rotating knife to trace out a generally helical path as it cores the article.

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Dublin, CA, United States of America

Frederick J Cimperman