Other

Atlas Pacific Engineering Company

Gary L Dare

Konrad E Meissner

Douglas F Paterson

James E Lehner

A lightweight peeling head is provided in which a plastic guard body cooperates with a rotary peeling cutter for determining the depth of cut made by the cutter wherein a ceramic wear resistant tracing shoe insert is formed in the plastic guard body. The ceramic tracing shoe rides against the surface of the fruit, for example apples, as the fruit is being peeled. A chip breaker is provided having a pair of teeth wherein each tooth has a positive rake relative to the direction of travel of the peel string and wherein each tooth has a positive attack angle whereby the peel string is driven towards the base of the teeth as the peel string is being cut by said tooth.

Peeling head

A molding and portioning apparatus is intended primarily for processing formable food products into individual portions of uniform shape, size and weight, while doubling output. The apparatus includes first and second spaced hoppers which receive a supply of a food product under a predetermined pressure, and discharge the product through a plurality of outlet openings formed therein. A plurality of pistons are slideably mounted within a plurality of cylinders which communicate with the hoppers and are aligned with and opposite of the outlet openings. Each piston is independently pneumatically biased in the direction of the hoppers under a certain pressure which is less than the predetermined pressure of the product, for generally equalizing the pressure applied to the product at each of the outlet openings. A slide plate is formed with first and second spaced sets of mold cavities which are alignable with the outlet openings of the first and second hoppers, respectively, as the slide plate reciprocates between first and second positions, for receiving and molding the discharged product into the individual portions. Knockout plungers are mounted intermediate the hoppers and reciprocate between retracted and extended positions, so that upon alignment of the first and second sets of filled mold cavities with the plungers when the slide plate is in the second and first positions, respectively, the portions are ejected from the cavities by the plungers and onto a conveyor at a common drop area, which carries the ejected portions to a subsequent step in the processing operation.

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Colorado Springs, CO, United States of America

Gary L Dare