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:
Jul. 24, 1990
Filed:
Aug. 26, 1988
Warren R Schack, Leawood, KS (US);
Richard G Powers, Overland Park, KS (US);
Marlen Research Corporation, Overland Park, KS (US);
Abstract
An improved method and apparatus is provided for the crust-freezing and slicing of comminuted meat products in order to produce patties, all without the use of conventional casings and freeze/temper cycles. The preferred method involves supplying an elongated, preformed body (60a, 160a) of substantially uncooked, peripherally unrestrained comminuted meat, typically through use of a pumping device (12, 112) and an associated delivery horn (18, 118). The preformed meat bodies are then subjected to a cryogenic freezing operation in order to form a continuous circumscribing peripheral frozen crust (62) and a non-frozen central section (64) in each body (60a, 160a). The crust frozen bodies (60a, 160a) are suitable for direct slicing to yield the desired patties. Handling of the bodies (160a) can be accomplished by direct immersion of a meat stream (160) in a cryogenic fluid (125a) in a freezer (122), followed by a downstream severing and patty formation. Alternately, use can be made of a conveyor (46) supporting plural, end-to-end, perforate racks (48 ) which receive comminuted meat from the pumping device (12) and support the same during crust-freezing in a freezer (22).