Cuber-perforator for food patties

A cuber-perforator for hamburger patties, pressed steaks, and other similar food products, in which the patties are passed between two matched aligned arrays of multi-tooth rotary knives that penetrate the patties from opposite sides to form multiple perforations extending completely through the patties or to any other desired depth in the patties; stripper belts are interleaved with the knives and matched in speed to the peripheral speed of the knives to strip the patties from the knives without undue deformation and to convey the patties away from the knives.Get more news about Cuber Perforator Machine,you can vist our website!
[451 Aug. 26, 1975 Primary Examiner-Richard C. Pinkham Assistant Etaminer-Wi1liam R. Browne Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Kinzer. Plyer, Dorn & McEachran [57] ABSTRACT A cuberperforator for hamburger patties, pressed steaks, and other similar food products, in which the patties are passed between two matched aligned arrays of multi-tooth rotary knives that penetrate the patties from opposite sides to form multiple perforations extending completely through the patties or to any other desired depth in the patties; stripper belts are interleaved with the knives and matched in speed to the peripheral speed of the knives to strip the patties from CUBER-PERFORATOR FOR FOOD PATTIES Inventors: Henry N. Lekan, Chicago; Louis R.
PATENTEB AUBZ 6 I975 SiiLU 1 BF 5 PATENTED AUBZ 61975 SHEET l 0F C UBER-PERFORATOR FOR FOOD PATTIES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Increased volume requirements for standardized food products. particularly hamburger patties and other molded food products, has led to increased centralization of the manufacturing operations for these products. Furthermore, high volume manufacture of hamburgers and other molded food patties often includes cryogenic freezing of the products to provide for effective storage and transportation to distant locations of use without substantial loss of flavor or other desirable characteristics in the food products. Frozen hamburgers and similar molded food products, however, present some substantial problems at the point of use. Thus, the frozen products may require substantially longer cooking periods than conventionally refrigerated products. producing intolerable delays at high volume outlets during peak demand periods. Furthermore, the frozen food patties may tend to warp or to puff up when cooked, usually as the result of generation of steam pressure within the patties in the course of a rapid cooking operation.
The concentration of production of hamburger patties, molded steaks, and similar products in highvolume facilities also creates some difficult problems for the manufacturer. For example. some of the customers of a given food processing plant may require freezing of the food product that they purchase, whereas other customers may demand that an essentially similar food product be delivered under normal refrigeration. Some customers may demand that the food products be cubed or scored, in varying patterns, whereas other may insist upon no cubing or scoring. The molded food products to be cubed or scored for some customers may be quite thick, and those for other customers may be very thin. Some of the molded food products may be formed of ground meat, others may be molded from flaked or chopped meat, fowl, or fish; other variations may occur, such as the addition of vegetable proteins and seasonings to be competitive and add variety in the marketplace.
Molded meat products with added soy protein are often given a shallow scoring to add texture to an otherwise slick appearing surface. On the other hand, products molded from coarse flaked or chopped materials are less inclined to break apart when the particles are knitted together by deep-penetration cubing. Rotary scoring and cubing knives can also be used as rollers to adhere condiments (e.g., mushrooms or peppers) to molded food products and to flatten and bind folded or stacked patties used to form sandwiches with cheese,
In a hamburger patty molding operation or similar processing line, product distortion and product disorientation can also be introduced by cubing or scoring equipment itself. Thus. the knives or like elements used for cubing. and the stripping devices used for separating the molded food patties from the knives, may tend to wrinkle the surface of the patties or cause random hesitation in the transfer of the patties through the cubing knives. Distortion and uneven transfer can be caused by fat, gristle, sinew, or food particles building up on the strippers or between the knives. It is important that the perforating or cubing operation not wrinkle or disturb the flatness of the molded food patty be cause the misshapen patty may be frozen, resulting in poor stacking during packaging, and also in insufficient grill contact during plate grilling, which causes stewing or whitening of the raised under surface. Also, disorientation of the patties on a transfer belt from the cuber eliminates the possible use of simple stacking equipment during packaging.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a principal object of the invention, therefore, to provide a new and improved cubing machine for hamburger patties, pressed steaks, and similar food products that is capable of high speed operation without introducing undue distortion into the food products being processed.
A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved high speed cuber-perforator for use on hamburger patties, pressed steaks, and similar food products that can be readily adjusted to afford cubing indentations or scoring indentations of virtually any desired depth, including perforations that extend completely through the food products.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved high speed cuber-perforator for food products such as hamburger patties and pressed steaks that is inherently self-cleaning in its operation.
A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved cuber-perforator for hamburger patties, pressed steaks, and other like food products that can be readily adjusted to accommodate wide variations in product dimensions, product composition, and similar factors.