Apparatus for cutting food product and method of use thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10059019-B2
Application number	US-76188310-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 16, 2010
Priority date	Apr 17, 2009
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

Method and apparatus for reducing food products. The apparatus includes a casing, an impeller adapted for rotation within the casing, and a cutting device. The casing has axial and circumferential openings for product entering and exiting, respectively, the casing. The impeller includes a drum, paddles mounted to the drum, and pockets defined by and between adjacent pairs of paddles that are radially aligned with the circumferential opening of the casing as each pocket travels past the circumferential opening. The cutting device includes a knife disposed at the circumferential opening of the casing and oriented perpendicular to the axis of the impeller. The knife lies on a sector of the casing and has a cutting edge located within an interior of the casing so that the knife extends into the path of the paddles and passes through relief slots defined in the paddles as the impeller rotates.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for cutting food product, the apparatus comprising:
a casing defining a stationary housing, the casing comprising an axial opening sized to accommodate a food product entering the casing, and comprising a circumferential opening sized to accommodate the food product exiting the casing;
an impeller rotatable within the casing about an axis of symmetry thereof, the impeller comprising a drum, paddles mounted to the drum, and pockets defined by and between adjacent pairs of the paddles, each of the paddles being associated with one of the pockets that is circumferentially ahead thereof in a direction of rotation of the impeller, the drum having an axial opening coinciding with the axial opening of the casing to define an inlet through which the food product enters the impeller, the paddles being circumferentially spaced along a perimeter of the drum so that each pocket is radially aligned with the circumferential opening of the casing to expel the food product within the pocket through the circumferential opening as the impeller rotates within the casing and the pocket travels past the circumferential opening of the casing, each paddle defining a planar surface for pushing the food product and having a relief slot defined in an outer radial edge of the paddle;
means for rotating the impeller within the casing to expel the food product through the circumferential opening as the impeller rotates within the casing and as each of the pockets travels past the circumferential opening of the casing; and
a cutting device comprising at least a first knife disposed at the circumferential opening of the casing and having a cutting edge that is oriented perpendicular to the axis of symmetry of the impeller, the first knife being secured to the casing at oppositely-disposed ends of the first knife and defining a cord of the casing and having the cutting edge located within an interior of the casing so that the first knife extends into the path of the paddles, passes through the relief slots of the paddles, and cuts the food product expelled through the circumferential opening as the impeller rotates and the pockets pass across the circumferential opening in the casing;
wherein the planar surface of a first of the paddles is approximately perpendicular to the cutting edge of the first knife at the moment the first paddle has completed its pass across the circumferential opening of the casing.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each of the paddles is inclined relative to radials of the impeller so that, for each of the paddles, an inner radial edge thereof is circumferentially ahead of the outer radial edge thereof in the rotational direction of the impeller.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first knife is the only cutting means of the cutting device disposed at the circumferential opening of the casing.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the first knife is positioned at a central portion of the circumferential opening to halve the food product expelled from the casing through the circumferential opening.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first knife does not pass entirely through radial extents of the paddles defined between the outer radial edges of the paddles and corresponding inner radial edges of the paddles.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the relief slots do not extend entirely through radial extents of the paddles defined between the outer radial edges of the paddles and corresponding inner radial edges of the paddles.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising means downstream of the first knife for performing additional processing on the food product.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the additional processing means comprises at least a second knife chosen from the group consisting of circular knives and crosscut knives.

9. A method of reducing the size of a plurality of food products using the apparatus according to claim 1 , the method comprising:
providing the apparatus of claim 1 ; and
introducing the plurality of the food products into the impeller and cutting the plurality of the food products with the first knife by rotating the impeller.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein each individual food product of the plurality of the food products is cut and expelled from the casing during a single rotation of the impeller.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein each paddle is parallel to the first knife at the moment the individual food product carried thereby encounters the first knife.

12. The method according to claim 9 , wherein each paddle is perpendicular to the first knife at the moment the paddle has completed its pass across the circumferential opening of the casing.

13. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising performing additional processing on the plurality of the food products downstream of the first knife.

14. A method of reducing the size of a plurality of food products using the apparatus according to claim 3 , the method comprising:
providing the apparatus of claim 3 ; and
introducing the plurality of the food products into the impeller and making a single cut through each individual food product of the plurality of the food products with the first knife by rotating the impeller.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein each of the individual food products is cut and expelled from the casing during a single rotation of the impeller.

16. The method according to claim 14 , wherein each paddle is parallel to the first knife at the moment the food product carried thereby encounters the first knife.

17. A method of reducing the size of a plurality of food products using the apparatus according to claim 4 , the method comprising:
providing the apparatus of claim 4 ; and
introducing the plurality of the food products into the impeller and halving each individual food product of the plurality of the food products with the first knife by rotating the impeller.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein each of the individual food products is cut and expelled from the casing during a single rotation of the impeller.

19. The method according to claim 17 , wherein each paddle is parallel to the first knife at the moment the food product carried thereby encounters the first knife.

Assignees

• Klockow Scott Alan
• Jacko Michael Scot
• Urschel Laboratories Inc

Inventors

• Klockow Scott Alan
• Jacko Michael Scot

Classifications

• B26D3/30

  Halving devices, e.g. for halving buns · CPC title

• Y10T83/6473

  Centrifugal feed to tangential tool [e.g., "Beria" type] · CPC title

• B26D1/36

  and rotating continuously in one direction during cutting, e.g. mounted on a rotary cylinder (for flying cutting B26D1/62) · CPC title

• Y10T83/04

  Processes · CPC title

• B26D3/28

  Splitting layers from work; Mutually separating layers by cutting (B26D3/30 takes precedence; Recovery of plastics or other constituents of waste material containing plastics B29B17/00) · CPC title