House Food Industrial Company Limited

Kazuya Sekiguchi

Ko Sugisawa

Masao Taguchi

Hitoshi Iwata

Masayuki Nakatani

Akinobu Ono

Masanori Yamamoto

Sakuichi Sakakibara

Takashi Kimura

Tomoyuki Seki

Takaaki Shimizu

Kiyoaki Tsuzi

Mahito Orii

Kiyoaki Tuji

A suction-type metering robot hand comprising (a) a hollow suction pad having a gas-permeable obstacle at an opening of the suction pad; and (b) a main body of the robot hand supporting the suction pad and having a vacuum passage communicating with the suction pad. According to the robot hand of the present invention, the provision of the net on the opening of the suction pad makes it possible to suck fragile articles such as a fried cutlet, roasted bean curd, a piece of bread and the like to a desired place.

Suction type robot hand

A packing device for articles having directionality that includes imaging means for taking an image of the articles, means for recognizing the direction of the articles, first memory means for storing the direction of the articles, second memory means for storing the direction of the articles to be packed into a container, and means for calculating the difference in angle between the directions stored in the first and second memory means. The direction of the robot hand for grasping the articles is controlled by the output of the calculating means.

Packing device for articles that have directionality

Sterilized and packaged mineral water comprises sterilized mineral water having a hardness of not less than 50 mg/l and a content of dissolved carbonic acid gas ranging from 9 to 30 mg/l (as calcium carbonate) and a number of bacteria of not more than 10.sup.-3 /ml which is obtained by sterilizing pumped-up mineral water having a hardness of not less than 50 mg/l and a content of dissolved carbonic acid gas ranging from 10 to 31 mg/l by filtering through a filter having a pore size of not more than 0.22 .mu.m. The packaged and sterilized mineral water can be effectively prepared by a method which comprises packaging pumped-up mineral water in a container without subjecting it to any heat-sterilization treatment wherein the mineral water is sterilized by passing through a filter having a pore size of not more than 0.22 .mu.m, packaged in a sterilized container under an aseptic condition of not more than Class 100 and then the container is airtight-sealed. Thus, packaged and sterilized mineral water having excellent keeping quality can be obtained without subjecting pumped-up mineral water to any sterilization by heating and without using any antibacterial agent and it has a high hardness and a high carbon dioxide content as well as good taste peculiar to the original mineral water.

Method for preparing packaged sterilized mineral water, method for

An apparatus for continuously sterilizes and fills food and medicines containing solids. In this apparatus, a filler nozzle is disposed downstream of a back-pressure tank, and a control valve is interposed between the back-pressure tank and the filler nozzle for controlling the flow rate of the products which are delivered from the sterilizer to the back-pressure tank. The control valve avoids a remarkable pressure loss which might otherwise be invited in the series passages of the apparatus. The outflow of air from the back pressure tank to the filler nozzle is minimized so that the back pressure can be applied to the sterilizer as stably as possible. At the same time, the sterilized products are continuously fed to the filler nozzle so that they can be packed simultaneously with their upstream sterilization.

Continuous sterilizing and packing apparatus

An apparatus for producing sterile air comprises a sterilizing filter for filtering microbes in air and an air heater for heating the filtered air for its sterilization. There is provided means for disposing of the sterile air from the air heater at an initial stage of production of the sterile air.

Apparatus for producing sterile air

A sterilization apparatus suitable for sterilizing food and medicines containing solid particles, which comprises a forcing device, a sterilizer, a backpressure tank and a backpressure device. The sterilization apparatus is sterilized beforehand under application of a backpressure by employing the forcing device and the backpressure device. The products are sterilized in the sterilizer under pressure by the forcing device and the backpressure tank, and then the sterilized products are collected in the backpressure tank.

Sterilization apparatus

Two or more sets of liquid substance feed means are provided each which consists of a supply device, a transport pipe and a delivery pump. These feed means are connected through a valve to a single transport pipe and back pressure devices are provided in all but one of the liquid-substance feed means. While a liquid substance is being fed by one of the feeding means, another liquid substance having different properties is passing in the other feed means and using the back pressure device provided in the latter means, the flow rate and the pressure of the latter liquid substance are controlled as the same as those of the former being fed by the former feed means. Being switched over, in this condition, from the former feed means to the latter to feed the latter liquid substance, two or more kinds of liquid substance having different properties can be fed sequentially at predetermined pressure and flow rate.

System for feeding liquid substances

A filling apparatus for charging a liquid or highly viscous product into containers. The apparatus has a pressurizing tank, buffer tank, filling tank and a filling machine. The tanks have controllable pneumatic internal pressure. The product is fed at a high pressure from the pressurizing tank to the buffer tank and, after decreasing the pressure in the buffer tank, the product is transferred at the normal or low pressure from the buffer tank to the filling tank and filling machine.

Filling apparatus

A system having first, second and third pipes connected respectively to first, second and third ports of a three-way valve. A by-pass pipe is connected at its one end to one of the second and third ports after disconnecting the associated one of the second and third pipes therefrom and at the other end to the other of the second and third pipes prior to the cleaning operation of the system.

System for cleaning a three-way valve

The oxidation of fat or oil in stored food and the resulting rancid taste of the stored food are inhibited by the presence of small amounts of young leaves and shoots of Coriandrum sativum L., or of the juice or extract obtained from such plant parts.

Growing community of inventors

Ikoma, Japan

Kazuya Sekiguchi