US 4,212,237 AGranted

Automatic asparagus peeling machine

OwnerTauan-Yuan Hsuinventor

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Abstract

A completely automatic asparagus peeling machine comprises a material feeding means vibrating with high frequency, a parallel guide means, a conveying means and an automatic peeling assembly. The material feeding means with its high frequency vibration permits a heap of asparagus to successively fall down on a parallel guide means, and asparagus moves forward therefrom successively one at a time by means of the upward and downward movement of the parallel plates in the parallel guide means until dropping on the conveyor belt of a conveying means, thereby advancing to the inlet opening of an automatic peeling assembly for proceeding automatic peeling operation.

Claims8

Dependent claims

An automatic asparagus peeling machine comprising:

vibrating type feeding means;
parallel guide means adapted to transport single stalks of asparagus transversely in parallel alignment from said feeding means;
conveying means which receive individual stalks of asparagus sequentially from said parallel guide means and which transport the stalks linearly in a transverse direction away from said parallel guide means;
and
an automatic peeling assembly, including:
multiple guide entry means;
several pairs of vertical cylindrical rollers, aligned in parallel so as to form two files, each such roller being driven by a shaft which is adapted to swing in a pendulum fashion, said shaft being housed in a protective tube, each said pair of rollers being joined by resilient means connected to said protective tube so as to weakly bias the rollers of a pair against spreading apart beyond an initially fixed gap, and each of said rollers in said pairs being independently driven so as to rotate in opposite directions, thereby providing a linear transporting force to stalks of asparagus which enter therebetween, the combination of said resilient bias and said pendulum action being selected to avoid crushing the stalks, all said pairs of rollers being commonly driven;
knife tool means mounted upon multiple pairs of opposed swinging arms, which arms align knives with the said files of said rollers when in peeling position and which said arms are biased to swing outwardly so as to separate the knife tools by a distance which is large compared to the diameter of asparagus stalks when said arms are in an open position;
and
an enclosure, surrounding the peeling assembly and to which the said cylindrical roller pairs, said knife tool means, and said guide entry means are assembled, and where said conveying means delivers the asparagus stalks to the first of said guide means, said first guide means directing the stalks to the first of said pairs of rollers, other guide means being placed before subsequent pairs of rollers.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract

An automatic asparagus peeling machine comprising:

vibrating type feeding means;
parallel guide means adapted to transport single stalks of asparagus transversely in parallel alignment from said feeding means;
conveying means which receive individual stalks of asparagus sequentially from said parallel guide means and which transport the stalks linearly in a transverse direction away from said parallel guide means;
and
an automatic peeling assembly, including:
multiple guide entry means;
several pairs of vertical cylindrical rollers, aligned in parallel so as to form two files, each such roller being driven by a shaft which is adapted to swing in a pendulum fashion, said shaft being housed in a protective tube, each said pair of rollers being joined by resilient means connected to said protective tube so as to weakly bias the rollers of a pair against spreading apart beyond an initially fixed gap, and each of said rollers in said pairs being independently driven so as to rotate in opposite directions, thereby providing a linear transporting force to stalks of asparagus which enter therebetween, the combination of said resilient bias and said pendulum action being selected to avoid crushing the stalks, all said pairs of rollers being commonly driven;
knife tool means mounted upon multiple pairs of opposed swinging arms, which arms align knives with the said files of said rollers when in peeling position and which said arms are biased to swing outwardly so as to separate the knife tools by a distance which is large compared to the diameter of asparagus stalks when said arms are in an open position;
and
an enclosure, surrounding the peeling assembly and to which the said cylindrical roller pairs, said knife tool means, and said guide entry means are assembled, and where said conveying means delivers the asparagus stalks to the first of said guide means, said first guide means directing the stalks to the first of said pairs of rollers, other guide means being placed before subsequent pairs of rollers.

7 more elements