General Mills, Inc.

Thomas L Smith

James N Weinstein

Thomas G Cremers

Ralph A Stenvik

Steven C Robie

Emil Bogdanov

A packaging system includes a first sealer and a gas flusher. The first sealer creates a first seal in packaging material along a direction of travel of the packaging material, thereby forming a packaging loop. The gas flusher flushes ambient air from the packaging loop and includes a mechanically retractable lance that can be selectively repositioned relative to the first sealer. When the mechanically retractable lance is in an operative position, the mechanically retractable lance projects into the packaging loop, with a gas flowing through the mechanically retractable lance into the packaging loop.

Packaging system and method of packaging products

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 (,).

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Greenfield, MN, United States of America

Thomas L Smith