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US 4,003,302 AGranted
Retort system
AssigneeFMC Corporation
InventorsSamuel A. Mencacci, Jurgen H. Strasser, Tom Mansfield
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AssigneeFMC Corporation
InventorsSamuel A. Mencacci, Jurgen H. Strasser, Tom Mansfield
Estimating the term…
A retort system for thin walled, generally flat containers filled with a food product or the like including a pressure vessel having one or more batches of flat containers therein disposed within a heat treatment tunnel. A heat transfer liquid is circulated through the tunnel parallel to the flat sidewalls of the containers at a rate sufficient to transfer heat between the fluid and the containers without incurring a large change in temperature of the liquid between the inlet and outlet of the tunnel for assuring uniform cooking of the contents of the containers. During a cooking cycle the liquid is reheated while being returned externally of the tunnel from the discharge end of the tunnel to the inlet end of the tunnel. The tunnel is partially defined by the side walls of nesting containers supporting trays, which trays may be rotated for an agitating cook or may be stationary for a still cook. In one embodiment of an agitating type retort system, carts are provided having reels thereon which are loaded and unloaded when in a vertical position and which are arranged to be disposed horizontally during processing to define a rotating radially extending tunnel within the pressure vessel.
A retort system for changing the temperature of substantially flat containers having thin flat sidewalls with high heat penetration rates, said system comprising a vessel having an enclosing outer wall and a longitudinal axis, imperforate wall means defining a tunnel disposed within said vessel spaced from at least a portion of said outer wall thereof and having an inlet end and an outlet end for liquid, said imperforate wall means extending between said inlet end and said outlet end to confine the flow of liquid within said tunnel, flow inducing means for moving a heat treatment liquid at a predetermined temperature through said tunnel and past the containers to transfer heat between the containers and the liquid, said flow inducing means thereafter returning the liquid discharged from the tunnel externally of the tunnel between said tunnel and said outer wall of the vessel to the inlet end of the tunnel for recirculation through said tunnel, means for supporting the containers in the tunnel in positions spaced apart in a direction perpendicular to the flow path through the tunnel and so that the flat sidewalls thereof are parallel to the flow direction of the heat treatment liquid, and means for returning the temperature of the liquid to said predetermined temperature as the liquid is moving externally of said tunnel toward said inlet end.
A retort system for changing the temperature of substantially flat containers having thin flat sidewalls with high heat penetration rates;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.