General Mills, Inc.

General Mills Cereals, LLC

Thomas G Cremers

James N Weinstein

Ralph A Stenvik

Craig E Gustafson

Thomas L Smith

Steven C Robie

Philip K Zietlow

Michael P Waldherr

James L Stinson

Michael L Johnston

John C Christensen

The present invention is, in one embodiment, an apparatus for placing an insert within a nested group of taco shells. The insert placement apparatus comprises a vertical shaft, a horizontal shaft, a first pillow block, a second pillow block, a vacuum cup, a horizontal timing belt, an air cylinder, and a servomotor. The vacuum cup is adapted to transport the insert. The first pillow block has a bore therethrough for receiving the horizontal shaft. The second pillow block is supported off of the first pillow block and has a bore therethrough for receiving the vertical shaft. The vacuum cup is suspended off of the vertical shaft. The horizontal belt is routed around a drive pulley and a second pulley and is interconnected to the first pillow block. The servomotor is interconnected to the drive pulley. The servomotor causes the timing belt to displace the first pillow block along the horizontal shaft, thereby causing the vacuum cup to displace horizontally. The air cylinder is adapted to vertically displace the vertical shaft through the second pillow block. This causes the vacuum cup to displace vertically.

Taco shell nesting apparatus and method

A rotary cutter assembly () includes a rotary cutter () rotated by a motor () through a drive including pulleys () and a belt () inside of a combination guard and belt tensioner assembly (). The rotary cutter () includes a cutter head () having integral blade holders () which slideably receive knives () in a channel () each having a detent () which is received in an aperture () in the knife () so that no fasteners or moveable parts are provided for holding the knives () and adjustment of the knives () is not needed or allowed. Guard quarters () and a guard half () are moveable between closed and open positions and are held in the closed position by a single latch (). The guard half () includes an idler () which tensions the belt () in the closed position. The second guard quarter () is mounted upon a pivotable cover () which together with the mount () for the motor () defines an enclosure for the rotary cutter () and the food products cut thereby and abuts with the guard half () in their closed positions.

Rotary cutter assembly

A rotary cutter ( ) is rotated by a motor ( ) through a drive and a belt ( ) inside of a combination guard and belt tensioner assembly ( ). The rotary cutter ( ) includes a cutter head ( ) having integral blade holders ( ) which slideably receive knives ( ) in a channel ( ) each having a detent ( ) which is received in an aperture ( ) in the knife ( ) so that no fasteners or moveable parts are provided for holding the knives ( ) and adjustment of the knives ( ) is not needed or allowed. Guard quarters ( ) and a guard half ( ) are held in a closed position by a single latch ( ). The guard half ( ) includes an idler ( ) which tensions the belt ( ) in the closed position. The second guard quarter ( ) mounted upon a pivotable cover ( ) together with the mount ( ) for the motor ( ) defines an enclosure for the rotary cutter ( ) and abuts with the guard half ( ) in their closed positions.

A mechanism (,) includes a slide plate (,) having die openings (,) adapted to hold dies (,) and slideable relative to a cooker/extruder (,). Rotary cutters (,) are rotatably mounted relative to and moveable with the dies (,). In one preferred form, a motor (,) can be connected and disconnected to the rotary cutter (,) aligned with the cooker/extruder (,) by a male coupling (,) including an elastomeric band (,) tensioned in a groove (,) formed in an outer peripheral surface (,) and received within the inside surface (,) of a cylindrical body (,) of a female coupling (,). Thus, it is not necessary to shut down the cooker/extruder (,) to service or change the dies (,) and/or the rotary cutters (,). An annular wear plate (,) is sandwiched between the slide plate (,) and a frame element (,) having a central aperture (,) into which the barrel (,) of the cooker/extruder (,) is slideably received. A center plate (,) extends through the wear plate (,) and is received within the central aperture (,) and is fastened to the barrel (,). Mixer elements (,) are retained in the subpassageways (,) of the barrel (,) by the center plate (,) and can be removed through one of the die openings (,) when the die (,) is removed therefrom and without removal of the barrel (,) from the frame element (,).

Cooker die and rotary cutter removably securing mechanism

A mechanism (10) includes a slide plate (32) having die openings (38) adapted to hold dies (42a, 42b) and slideable relative to a cooker/extruder (12). Rotary cutters (74) are rotatably mounted relative to and moveable with the dies (42a, 42b). A motor (76) can be connected and disconnected to the rotary cutter (74) aligned with the cooker/extruder (12) by a male coupling (96) including an elastomeric band (106) tensioned in a groove (102) formed in an outer peripheral surface (100) and received within the inside surface (116) of a cylindrical body (114) of a female coupling (108). The rotary cutters (74) include a plurality of knives (90) mounted to an annular cutter head (82) rotatably mounted upon a center shaft (80) axially extending from each of the dies (42a, 42b). Thus, it is not necessary to shut down the cooker/extruder (12) to service or change the dies (42a, 42b) and/or the rotary cutters (74).

An apparatus (10) for forming a single extrudable food stream such as a cooked cereal dough into a plurality of differently colored and/or flavored dough streams is disclosed including an extruder (12) having screw augers (15) in a main passageway (14) for advancing a plastic food mass, a head or manifold (18) for dividing the plastic food mass into a plurality of substreams such as a branching passageway section in fluid communication with a plurality of sub-divided dough passageways, and a die head (30) having a plurality of die ports (40) for each subpassageway. Each subpassage is separately supplied an additive and has disposed therein a multiplicity of in-line static mixer elements (59) to admix the additive into the substreams of the plastic food mass before passage through the die ports (40). In a preferred form, a portion of the food mass is bled from a first substream and fed to the exit ports (40) of a second substeam to create an extrudate including zones of distinct food mass. The extrudates are severed into individual pieces (41, 158) by a rotary cutter (36).

Method and apparatus for producing multiple food extrudates

An apparatus (10) for forming a single extrudable food stream such as a cooked cereal dough into a plurality of differently colored and/or flavored dough streams is disclosed including an extruder having screw augers in a main passageway for advancing a plastic food mass, a device for dividing the plastic food mass into a plurality of substreams such as a branching passageway section in fluid communication with a plurality of sub-divided dough passageways, and a die head having a plurality of die ports for each subpassageway. Each subpassageway has a separate conduit for supplying an additive and has disposed therein a multiplicity of in-line static mixer elements to admix the additive into the substreams of the plastic food mass before passage through the die ports.

Food apparatus for forming multiple colored extrudates and method of

An apparatus (79) for setting the nip gap between first and second rollers (30, 32) includes nip control blocks (83) movably mounted adjacent the front edges (150) of the end plates (151a, 151b) between which one of the rollers (32) is journaled. In the preferred form, each of the control blocks (83) are threadably received on a shaft (138) and include a slide surface (142) which slides on a shoe (134) mounted on the end plates (151a, 151b) and include an opposite, abutment surface (144) at a minor acute angle to the slide surface (142) and the movement direction of the control blocks (83). Contact surfaces (164) are articulately mounted to the end plates (51a, 51b) between which the other of the rollers (30) is journaled. In the preferred form, the contact surfaces (164) are formed on a thrust knuckle (160) having a semi-spherical surface (162) slideably received in a semi-spherical depression (156) of a thrust socket (154) secured in a recess (146) in the front edges (150) of the end plates (51a, 51b). The rollers (30, 32) are pivotally mounted relative to each other by pivotally mounting the end plates (51a, 51b) of the first roller (30) relative to the end plates (151a, 151b) of the other roller (32). The thrust knuckles (160) and sockets (154) allow rotary motion of the contact surfaces (164) relative to the end plates (51a, 51b) to flushly abut with the abutment surfaces (144) of the nip control blocks (83) independent of the movement position of the nip control blocks (83) and of the pivot position of the rollers (30, 32) relative to each other.

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Paynesville, MN, United States of America

Thomas G Cremers