Hollymatic Corporation

Other

Richard C Wagner

James D Azzar

Ronald R Davis

James A Holly

Ronald A Banike

Horst M Spaeth

Riccardo Fanconi

Edmund Schneider

An adjustable product guide assembly for a product saw device includes a product guide plate mounted to a first bracket which is slidable on a bar; a handle mounted on top of a second bracket in an ergonomic location, the handle being connected to a shaft and which rotates a first worm gear pinned to the shaft; a second worm gear which is turned by the first worm gear, the second worm gear which is pinned to a pinion gear; a gear rack on the bar, the gear rack having gear rack teeth which are engaged with the pinion gear; a biasing member disposed between the second bracket that houses the first worm gear and the second worm gear and the first bracket; wherein when the handle is pressed down, in a gear releasing mechanism, the second bracket pivots and compresses the biasing member such that the gear rack teeth disengage from the pinion gear via the first worm gear and the second worm gear, and the product guide plate can be moved along the gear rack teeth of the bar. The gears are sized so that one revolution of the handle turns the worm gear by 36 degrees, which causes the pinion gear to displace 0.2 inches of linear motion. This 10:1 ratio of the turning handle and the turning pinion gear provides the ability to make small adjustments to the position of the product guide plate.

Adjustable product guide assembly for product saw device

A casing lock mechanism, for a sausage stuffing machine, which reduces the risk of damage to a sausage casing during a sausage extruding operation. The casing lock mechanism includes a chuck member that holds a pair of jaws having jaw holes that surround a nozzle or stuffing horn. The chuck member is connected to the nozzle so that it rotates at the same time, in the same direction, and at the same speed as, the nozzle. The chuck member holds the jaws so that when rotated it imparts a centrifugal force to the jaws thereby causing them to move radially outward to lock a sausage casing to the outside of the nozzle. Because the nozzle does not rotate during an extruding portion of the sausage stuffing cycle, no centrifugal force is imparted to the jaws which thus assume a free state wherein they do not lock the sausage casing to the nozzle. Therefore, pressure on the sausage casing during the extruding cycle is reduced, thereby reducing the tendency to overstress and tear the sausage casing.

Casing lock mechanism for a sausage stuffing machine

A sheet dispensing mechanism employs an open bottom sheet dispenser positioned beside a molding device, molding articles which are cyclically ejected and driven vertically downwardly along an article ejection path, with the bottom sheet shingling out against an oblique baffle. A pair of rotatable indexing rollers with a high coefficient friction member on the periphery of each roller penetrate the open bottom of the dispenser to press the single sheets against the baffle, thereby allowing the indexing rollers to frictionally drive only the end sheet in the direction of the path. A spring biased articulated nip roller assembly downstream of the dispenser accelerates the indexed sheet to intersect the ejection path of the article simultaneously with ejection of the article. A proximity switch senses the arrival of the food portion at the article ejection station to initiate one cycle rotation of the indexing rollers to index the bottom-most sheet of the stack.

Automatic sheet dispensing mechanism for hand-fed patty machine

A stack of paper is provided for separating portions produced by a portion control machine. The paper is dispensed from a paper feed system that feeds the bottom-most sheet from the stack along support rails that support opposite edges of the sheet. An integral stiffening strip extends between the opposite side edges of each sheet for stiffening the sheet therebetween and to minimize bowing of the sheet when supported at its opposite side edges. The stiffening strip has an arcuate cross-section, and the stiffening strip includes a rigidifying wax coating that is impregnated in the sheet at least to a greater extent in other areas of the sheet than at the strip. The invention also contemplates a method of fabricating the sheets of paper.

Sheet-form paper and method of fabricating same

A pressing apparatus for citrus fruit including upright blades extending radially outwardly from a vertical axis to define V-shaped segments therebetween, the upper edges of the blades being sloped downwardly toward the axis to centrally support a piece of fruit. A press is vertically reciprocated between an upper feed position allowing fruit to be located on the blades and a lower pressing position a selected spacing above the peel ejectors. Peel ejectors within each of the V-shaped segments are pivotally supported for movement between (1) a horizontal ready position when the press is moved to the pressing position and (2) an ejecting position sloped downwardly away from the axis when the press is moved toward the feed position. A feed assembly cyclically feeds fruit to the blades through a chute, and includes a cylindrical enclosure open on one side to the chute and a feed drum supported for rotation about a horizontal axis within the enclosure. The drum includes a side opening, a feed chamber adjacent the side opening and substantially closed on both axial ends, and a staging chamber radially inward from the feed chamber and open thereto through a restricted opening, the staging chamber being substantially closed on one axial end and open on the other end.

Automated citrus fruit juice press

A paper feed system suitable for use with a patty making machine to provide paper for separating patties, including a stack of sheet-form paper having a deformable element on the side edge thereof, a paper hopper, and a guide on the inside surface of a sidewall of the paper hopper for engaging the deformable element. Two guides are provided, each on opposite sidewalls of the hopper, engaging deformable elements on opposite sides of the paper stack. Preferably, the guides are male guides extending from the sidewalls with the end adjacent to where the paper is dispensed thicker than the remainder of the guide to support the paper. The deformable elements cooperate with the guides so that the paper is deformed by an extreme bend, but not torn, when each sheet is dispensed from the hopper. A stack of individual sheets of paper usable with this system includes recesses on opposite sides of each sheet of paper, where the recesses receive the guides when stacked in the hopper. The paper is bent at an extreme angle when pulled free of the guides without tearing when the bottom-most individual sheet is dispensed from the hopper.

Paper feed system

A meat patty molding machine having a base plate with an opening therethrough and a fill plate rotatably mounted in the base plate opening. A meat feeder forces meat up through openings in the fill plate. A mold plate defines a disk-shaped mold cavity and is mounted to move laterally between a fill position with its disk-shaped mold cavity in communication with the fill plate and a patty discharge position with the disk-shaped mold cavity away from the fill plate. A drive means rotates the fill plate relative to the mold plate, and the fill plate is rotated relative to a stationary cutting blade which is biased against the fill plate by substantial pressure to cut meat fibers at the upstream surface of the fill plate during filling.

Method and machine for making food patties

A meat patty molding machine having a base plate with an opening therethrough and a fill plate rotatably mounted in the base plate opening. A meat feeder forces meat up through openings in the fill plate. A mold plate defines a disk-shaped mold cavity and is mounted to move laterally between a fill position with its disk-shaped mold cavity in communication with the fill plate and a patty discharge position with the disk-shaped mold cavity away from the fill plate. A drive means rotates the fill plate relative to the mold plate, and the fill plate rotated relative to a stationary cutting blade positioned to cut meat fibers at the upstream surface of the fill plate during filling. By forming the patty while rotating the fill plate relative to the remainder of the mold, a meat patty is formed having longitudinal strands of meat disposed in a substantially circular pattern around the patty axis.

A mold plate is reciprocable between a fill position and a knock-out position and in the fill position has a mold cavity with its center line aligned with an elongate fill slot in a fill plate. A reciprocable ram in its advancing stroke forces ground meat through the elongate fill slot into the mold cavity at the center thereof for flow in opposite directions from the center line of the mold cavity for filling thereof. A pair of plates are interposed between the elongate fill slot and the mold cavity and have a closed position to prevent flow therebetween and an open position providing two rows of holes through which meat is forced into the mold cavity. One of the plates is movable in response to the advancing and retracting movement of the ram to automatically close the flow path to the mold cavity on the retracting stroke of the ram to prevent back-flow of ground meat from the mold cavity.

Food patty and machine and method for making thereof

An automatic-feed grinder for meat having a grinding head mounted on a frame and held in position thereon by clamping bars and a hopper superimposed thereon. The hopper and grinding head have generally similar front-to-rear dimensions providing a compact construction resulting from reverse flow of meat including rearward flow in the hopper provided by self-feeding counter-rotating augers which feed the meat through a bottom discharge opening adjacent the rear wall thereof into a top opening of a grinding head. The grinding head has a feed screw which advances the meat in the grinding head forwardly through grinding elements. The compact construction provided by the superimposed relation of the grinding head and hopper permits the simple drive of the counter-rotating augers and the feed screw by drive connections at the rear of the hopper and grinding head to drive means mounted on the frame. The hopper is mounted on the frame for compound movement including front-to-rear movement for either connecting or disconnecting the drive connections between the drive means and the counter-rotating augers as well as pivotal movement about an axis externally of the hopper to move the hopper to a distance away from the grinding head to permit removal of the latter from the frame. The hopper and the grinding head are held in position on the frame by clamping structure which can be operated without the use of special tools to facilitate assembly and disassembly of the grinder.

Automatic-feed grinder and meat grinding method

A patty making machine is provided having a feed mechanism using an auger which is reciprocally driven to push the product into the molding chamber, and is rotated during the retraction stroke to unscrew the auger back through the product. The auger is disposed along one side of a conical hopper and the hopper is rotated about its axis.

Feed mechanism for a patty making machine

A meat loaf forming apparatus and method in which ground meat is extruded through a shaping die of a desired cross-sectional shape onto a sheet of paper in contact with a rotating conveyor. A feeler operates a cut-off knife to sever the advancing meat and paper into preselected lengths, thereby forming successive loaves of meat.

Meat loaf forming apparatus

A molding apparatus and method for molding patties of ground raw meat and the like that has a hopper for holding a supply of the meat, a mold having a patty shaped mold cavity, a ram equipped pressure chamber into which the meat is moved from the hopper and from which it is forced into a patty shaped mold cavity in the mold, means for moving the mold between a filling position for the cavity and an ejecting position for removal of the patty from the cavity and a lever system for moving the mold, meat transfer means in the hopper and the pressure ram all without substantial lost motion in order to avoid noise pollution that is an unwelcome side effect of machines such as patty molding machines that use such lost motion connections to provide pauses between relatively operating parts. The disclosure also includes an apparatus for applying a separator sheet to each of a series of molded articles such as meat patties ejected in a path in which a movable carrier having sheet engaging means is movable through a path to withdraw a sheet from a supply and move the sheet into a supporting frame in which the carrier is directly connected to and operated by the movable mold having a mold cavity therein for shaping the article.

Molding apparatus with sheet applicator

A molding apparatus and method for molding patties of ground raw meat and the like that has a hopper for holding a supply of the meat, a mold having a patty shaped mold cavity, a ram equipped pressure chamber into which the meat is moved from the hopper and from which it is forced into a patty shaped mold cavity in the mold, means for moving the mold between a filling position for the cavity and an ejecting position for removal of the patty from the cavity, and the ram being reciprocable in the pressure chamber toward and away from the fill and exit openings thereby tending to create a vacuum in the pressure chamber on the movement away from the opening and venting the chamber to relieve this vacuum.

Growing community of inventors

Frankfort, IL, United States of America

Richard C Wagner