Food processing apparatus
US5201259A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 9, 1990 |
| Grant date | Apr 13, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 9, 2010 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T83/9464
- WIPO fieldMachine tools
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed for efficiently cutting food items, such as potatoes, into helical strips. The food items are provided seriatim to the cutting assembly from a conveyor system fed by a trough shaker or other singulator device. Food items on the conveyor are aligned longitudinally and are then impaled on small spikes protruding from the conveyor so that they maintain the longitudinal orientation during their travel to a feed roller portion of the system. The feed rollers firmly grip the food items by their peripheries and advance them into the rotary cutting assembly. This assembly includes a helically shaped cutting member defining at a leading edge thereof a slicing blade and supporting on its front surface a plurality of perpendicularly extending scoring blades. The helically shaped cutting member is mounted at its periphery by being threadedly received in a helical thread cut in an annular holder. This holder, in turn, is affixed to a toothed drive ring which is rotatably mounted in a cutting assembly housing. This composite assembly is removably mounted in the apparatus and the toothed drive ring driven by a drive gear that extends through an opening in the …
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.