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US 4,041,822 AGranted
Sausage slicing machine
OwnerFloyd S. Gabelinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sausage slicing machine which includes a framework, an endless conveyor mounted on the upper side of the framework, and a plurality of articulated, automatically operable cradle elements connected to, and movable with, the endless conveyor. A plurality of opposed, circular cutter blades are mounted on the framework over the endless conveyor for rotation about a horizontal axis extending normal to the direction of conveyor movement. The blades are separated by a plurality of spacing and guiding plates and are dimensioned to pass through gaps formed in the cradle elements to cut into patties, a roll of sausage carried in the cradle elements. The conveyor and blades are driven from a prime mover mounted on the framework.
Claims16
A sausage slicing machine comprising:
- a framework;
- a conveyor assembly mounted on said framework and including:
- an endless chain having an upper horizontal run and a lower horizontal run;
- and
- an articulated cradle subassembly secured to said chain and comprising:
- a trailing element secured to said chain and extending transversely with respect to the direction of travel of the chain and including transversely spaced, concavely recessed roll backing plates;
- a central element secured to a different part of said chain than said trailing element and movable independently of said trailing element, said central element extending transversely with respect to the direction of travel of the chain and including transversely spaced, concavely recessed roll bottoming plates;
- and
- a leading element secured to a different part of said chain than said trailing element and central element and movable independently of said trailing element and said central element, said leading element including transversely spaced, concavely recessed roll confining plates;
- said trailing, central and leading elements being responsive to the travel of said chain in a straight path in said upper horizontal run to move into a contiguous, juxtapositioned relationship to each other defining a generally cylindrical, hollow interior in the cradle subassembly adapted to contain and confine a cylindrical sausage roll, and further being responsive to movement of said chain to a semicircular path between said horizontal runs to open said elements apart from each other, whereby a sausage roll can be dropped into one of said concavely recessed plates;
- and
- a cutter assembly supported above said framework over said conveyor assembly and including a plurality of rotatable, transversely spaced cutter blades aligned with the spaces between said transversely spaced, concavely recessed roll backing plates, and with the spaces between said roll bottoming plates and the spaces between said roll confining plates.
9 more elements
A sausage slicing machine comprising:
- a framework;
- a conveyor assembly mounted on the framework and including:
- an endless chain having an upper horizontal run and a lower horizontal run;
- an articulated cradle subassembly secured to said chain and having a plurality of separately actuable elements automatically movable between an open position apart from each other, and a closed, sausage roll-carrying position, during the course of travel of said chain;
- and
- a cutter assembly supported on the framework over the conveyor assembly, said conveyor assembly comprising:
- a horizontal shaft extending transversely across the direction of travel of said endless chain and positioned thereabove;
- means for driving said shaft in rotation;
- a plurality of disc-shaped cutter blades keyed to said shaft for rotation therewith and spaced axially therealong;
- and
- a blade grate subassembly removably supported above the framework in proximity to the blades and including a slotted web plate having a plurality of spaced, vertically extending plate subelements each extending between two of said blades in a horizontal direction from one side thereof to the other, and projecting upwardly from said shaft a major portion of the way to the top sides of said blades, each of said plate subelements having a central recess in the lower side thereof to accommodate passage of said shaft whereby said plate subelements, in extending alongside a major portion of the blades on opposite sides thereof, protect and guide said cutter blades during usage of said slicing machine,
8 more elements
A sausage slicing machine comprising:
- a framework;
- a conveyor assembly mounted on said framework and including:
- an endless member having an upper horizontal run and a lower horizontal run;
- and
- an articulated cradle subassembly secured to said endless member and comprising:
- a trailing element secured to said endless member and extending transversely with respect to the direction of travel of the endless memeber and including transversely spaced, concavely recessed roll backing plates;
- a central element secured to a different part of said endless member than said trailing element and movable independently of said trailing element, said central element extending transversely with respect to the direction of travel of the endless member and including transversely spaced, concavely recessed roll bottoming plates;
- and
- a leading element secured to a different part of said endless member than said trailing element and central element, and movable independently of said trailing element and said central element, said leading element including transversely spaced, concavely recessed roll confining plates;
- said trailing, central and leading elements being responsive to the travel of said endless member in a straight path in said upper horizontal run to move into a contiguous, juxtapositioned relationship to each other defining a generally cylindrical, hollow interior in the cradle subassembly adapted to contain and confine a cylindrical sausage roll, and further being responsive to movement of said endless member to an arcuate circular path between said horizontal runs to open said elements apart from each other, whereby a sausage roll can be dropped into one of said concavely recessed plates;
- and
- a cutter assembly supported above said framework over said conveyor assembly and including a plurality of rotatable, transversely spaced cutter blades aligned with the spaces between said transversely spaced, concavely recessed roll backing plates, and with the spaces between said roll bottoming plates, and the spaces between said roll confining plates.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.