Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft

Richard Regner

Reinhold Becker

Heinz Kalberer

Gerd Schug

Alois Weinheimer

Arno Romeike

Disclosed is a process for shirring tubular casings, in particular sausage casings, in which the casing is conveyed in the direction of its longitudinal axis and shirred against a counterforce by means of a shirring tool. The shirred tubing portion is divided into individual shirred sticks of a predetermined length and, if appropriate, the cut-off shirred sticks are further compressed. While being shirred and in the shirred state the casing is internally supported. For cutting-off a shirred tubing portion, the transport of the casing in the direction of its longitudinal axis is momentarily interrupted, the internal support is withdrawn from the severing region, and the unshirred or deshirred tubing section is severed at the rear aperture of the shirring tool. During severing, the not-yet-shirred casing surrounded by the shirring tool is permanently internally supported. The apparatus for performing the process comprises a shirring mandrel composed of two mandrel members disposed within the tubular casing which, during the transport of the casing, are brought into flush contact. The second mandrel member, seen in the direction of shirring, may be exchanged for at least one further mandrel member.

Process and apparatus for shirring tubular casings

Disclosed is a process for coating the inside of a length of tubing comprising the steps of forming at least one loop of tubing with a downwardly inclined portion and an upwardly inclined portion; filling the cavity of the tubing forming the loop with a coating liquid; transporting the tubing along its longitudinal axis in a substantially vertically upward direction to coat the inside surface of the tubing above the level of the coating liquid with an initial layer of coating liquid; constricting the tubing adjacent to and above the level of the coating liquid with a metering device having a constriction zone which flattens a portion of the tubing passing therethrough to substantially eliminate all of the initial layer thereon and partially flattens the remaining portion of the tubing to allow a desired quantity of coating liquid to remain on the tubing issuing from the constriction zone; filling the cavity of the tubing issuing from the constriction zone with support gas; and, exposing the tubing to the action of heat at a sufficiently high temperature to fuse the coating layer to the inside thereof and form an uninterrupted film. Also disclosed is an apparatus for carrying out the process.

Process for the manufacture of tubing based on cellulose hydrate having

A process is disclosed for coating the inside surface of a length of tubing comprising the steps of forming at least one loop of tubing with a downwardly inclined portion and an upwardly inclined portion; filling the cavity of the tubing forming the loop with a coating liquid; transporting the tubing along its longitudinal axis in a substantially vertically upward direction to coat the inside of the tubing above the level of the coating liquid with an initial layer of coating liquid; constricting the tubing adjacent to and above the level of the coating liquid along a constriction zone transverse to the longitudinal axis of the tubing, the constriction zone progressively diminishing in width in the direction of travel of the tubing to reduce the thickness of the initial layer and form a thin layer of desired thickness on the inside of the tubing issuing from the constriction zone; filling the cavity of the tubing issuing from the metering device with support gas; and exposing the tubing to heat at a sufficient temperature to fuse the coating layer to the inside of the tubing and form an uninterrupted film of uniform thickness thereon. The coating liquid can comprise an aqueous polymeric dispersion containing at least about 15% by weight of dispersed polymer based on the total weight of the dispersion and preferrably in the range of about 15 to 60% by weight. Also disclosed is an apparatus for carrying out the process of the present invention.

Process for the manufacture of tubing having a coating on its inside and

A method and apparatus for shirring sausage casings in which in the method the casing is moved in a direction of its longitudinal axis and while so moving has a force applied to shirr the casing which moves about the longitudinal axis of the casing. At the same time that the force is applied to shirr a force also is applied to oppose the movement of the casing. Also, the casing may be restrained against twisting about its axis upstream of the application of the shirring force. The apparatus includes rollers for forwarding a collapsed casing, an annular element adapted to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the casing to shirr the casing and a backing element adapted to hold the forward end of the casing in a fluid, tight manner and having a passage through which an inflating gas may pass to inflate the casing. The apparatus also may include grooved rollers adapted to hold the inflated casing against rotation prior to shirring and a lubrication device to apply a lubricant or a moistening agent to the casing prior to shirring. The annular element may be a sleeve having a helical projection on the cylindrical inner wall of the sleeve or a unit consisting of a plurality of holders for rotatably mounted wheels which are successively offset from one another so that in the rotation of the annular element they describe the same helical path.

Growing community of inventors

Mainz-Bretzenheim, Germany

Richard Regner