The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 25, 1985
Filed:
Jun. 18, 1984
Hubert Harris, Auburn, AL (US);
Durward A Smith, Auburn, AL (US);
Auburn Research Foundation, Auburn, AL (US);
Abstract
This disclosure embodies an apparatus and process for the rapid removal of outer coverings and other unedible portions from food products with minimal loss of or damage to edible portions. The process has proven to be effective in the peeling of fruit and vegetable crops, coring peppers, shelling of legume seed pods, shucking and silking corn, popping corn, skinning onions, shelling of nut crops, scaling and skinning of fish, and removal of shells from shellfish. These processes are accomplished with an apparatus which heats the surface of the product very rapidly in an atmosphere of superheated steam under elevated pressure, supplemented with radiant heat from a vessel wall, and then flashes to atmospheric pressure by instantaneous opening of the vessel cover. The result is an explosion which blows the product from the vessel and simultaneously blasts the covering from the product by violent action of highly energized moisture beneath the product covering. In the particular case of the pimiento and bell peppers, the unedible core is also blown free of the edible pod during the thermal blast treatment. Suitable means are provided for catching the product as it leaves the vessel.