Breading machine

A food product breading machine comprising:

• a breading reservoir having side walls for confining a breading material removably mounted to a breading machine base;
• a breading conveyor comprising a conveyor belt disposed in said reservoir having one or more conveyor runs extending through the reservoir for moving breading material in said reservoir toward a breading station;
• a driven shaft mounted by support bearings to the reservoir for moving the conveyor belt;
• and
• a drive transmission for applying a torque to said driven shaft, said transmission including i) a motor drive shaft rotatably supported by a machine housing that provides motive power to said driven shaft;
• ii) a coupling detachably connected to said drive shaft having a connection that overlaps a conforming surface of the drive shaft and iii) said driven shaft comprising a coupling engaging end for engagement with the coupling for transmitting power and thereby moving said conveyor belt.

A food product breading machine comprising:

• a breading reservoir having side walls, a lower wall that spans between the side walls and slopes upwardly at one end, an end wall adjacent an upper end of said sloping wall, and an upper wall spaced from said end wall to provide an opening through which breading material is dispensed from the reservoir;
• a breading conveyor comprising a conveyor belt disposed in said reservoir with a first conveyor run extending generally horizontally along said upper reservoir wall, and a second conveyor run extending along said sloping lower wall, said conveyor moving breading material in said reservoir along said sloping lower wall toward said end wall for delivery to a breading station above said upper wall;
• a driven shaft mounted by support bearings to the reservoir for moving the conveyor belt;
• and
• a drive transmission for applying a torque to said driven shaft comprising i) a motor drive shaft rotatably supported by a machine housing that provides motive power to said drive roller;
• ii) a coupling detachably connected to said drive shaft having a connection that overlaps a conforming surface of the drive shaft and iii) said driven shaft engaging the coupling for rotation with said coupling to move said conveyor belt.

A method for use in breading a food product comprising:

• providing a movable breading reservoir having side walls, a lower wall that spans between the side walls and an upper wall that spans the side walls above breading material within the reservoir;
• providing a breading conveyor comprising a driven shaft coupled to a conveyor belt disposed in said reservoir for moving breading material in said reservoir to a breading station above said upper wall;
• moving the conveyor belt through the reservoir to force breading material into contact with a food product at the breading station;
• said step of moving the conveyor comprising i) coupling a drive shaft to the driven shaft by a coupling engagement having an internal bore having multiple facets and a drive having a multi-sided external shaft surface that transmit torque by engagement with the multiple facets of said bore;
• and
• ii) rotating the drive shaft to transmit a torque to the driven shaft