Townsend Engineering Company

William E Ryan, Iv

William H Vermeer

Robert W Damstetter

A conveyor station for a pair of sausage producing machines, has a pair of sausage producing machines capable of discharging a rope of sausages through a discharge end thereof. A pair of spaced elongated substantially parallel horizontal conveyors having one end of each adjacent the discharge ends of the machines, with the conveyors having adjacent sides. The conveyors have a continuous conveyor assembly adapted to rotate in a substantially horizontal plane to pick up and carry away the rope of sausage discharged from each machine. A power drive for rotating the conveyor assemblies in either a first or second rotational direction is operatively connected to the conveyor assemblies. A control element is on the power drive for rotating the conveyor assembly on one conveyor in a direction opposite to that of the conveyor assembly on the other conveyor so that the sausage ropes from both machines can be conveyed to adjacent sides of the conveyors, whereby an operator located between the conveyors can attend to the ropes being conveyed by the conveyors. An anti-swinging bumper is mounted on the machine along one side portion of the conveyor assembly to dampen the swinging movement of a sausage rope on the conveyor assembly, and support brackets for selectively mounting the anti-swinging bumper is secured along either of the side portions of the conveyor assemblies.

Conveyor station and conveyor for sausage machines and method of using the same

A machine for linking sausage has a pump, a stuffing tube, a casing on the stuffing tube, and a pair of linking chains downstream from the outlet end of the stuffing tube. A scale is located downstream of the discharge end of the stuffing tube and is operatively connected to the pump to increase or decrease the output speed of the pump as the weight of the encasing product decreases or increases, respectively from a predetermined target weight. A proximity sensor monitors the linking chains as they are rotating and senses variations in the distance between the linking elements as compared to a predetermined distance to determine stretching of the chains. A mass flow sensor on the machine adjacent the outlet of the pump measures the mass of meat emulsion exiting the pump, and increases or decreases the output of the pump as the mass thereof decreases or increases, respectively from a predetermined target mass. The method of linking sausage comprises sensing mass flow of the output of the pump and regulating the pump speed thereby, using a proximity sensor to monitor the linking chains to determine stretching thereof, and weighing the encased product and increasing or decreasing the output speed of the pump as the weight of the product decreases or increases, respectively with respect to a predetermined target weight.

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Cary, NC, United States of America

William E Ryan, Iv