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US 4,355,437 AGranted
Quick change drive for shirring machine control shaft
AssigneeTeepak, Inc.
InventorsNorbert L. Wright, Wayne L. Hahn
Life of this patent
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AssigneeTeepak, Inc.
InventorsNorbert L. Wright, Wayne L. Hahn
Estimating the term…
This relates to a continuous shirring machine wherein there is a control shaft which controls the timed operation of various components of the machine. The control shaft is driven by a primary drive unit of the machine through a quick change gear unit and an adjustable drive connection so as to vary the functions of the machine primarily for the purpose of varying the lengths of strands of shirred casing produced by the machine.
A shirring machine for continuously shirring a tubular casing and separating the continuously shirred casing into separate strands, said shirring machine comprising a control motor, drive means for continuously feeding casing and continuously shirring casing coupled to said control motor, a control shaft for controlling subsequent operations of said machine including casing separation, a quick change drive between said control motor and said control shaft for varying the rotational speed of said control shaft relative to the speed of continuous casing feed and shirring to change cycle time whereby the length of a separted shirred casing strand from a continuous shirred casing and subsequent operations may be varied, said quick change drive being of the type wherein there may be change in the rotational relationship between said drive means and said control shaft during a drive change, and timing means mounted on one end of said control shaft adjacent said quick change drive for assuring the proper rotational position of said control shaft relative to said drive means after a drive change.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
Drawings are temporarily unavailable. Open the PDF at USPTO
Sausage casings: shirring of sausage casings
Processing meat, poultry, or fish
Term ended 8 May 2000 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
This invention relates to improvements in machines for shirring tubular casings, such as sausage casings. The machine specifically is one which continuously shirrs casings and separates the casings into individual strands of predetermined lengths and densities and then performs further operations on the strands including compressing and doffing.
The machine in accordance with this invention is provided with a primary control shaft which extends the length of the machine and which drives various mechanisms of the machine either by power takeoffs, cams or electrical control switches.
This invention has to do with a quick change gear unit and adjustable drive connection between a primary drive unit of the shirring machine and a main or control shaft of the machine.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are side elevational views of the continuous casing shirring machine showing the general details thereof.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the sequence of operation of the machine.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary end view, with parts broken away and shown in section, of the forward end of the machine and shows various details of the timing mechanism.
Referring now to the drawings in detail, reference is first made to FIGS. 1A and 1B wherein the general details of the continuous casing shirring and spinning machine are illustrated, the machine being generally identified by the numeral 50. The machine is formed of a plurality of replaceable units which include a casing feed and shirring unit 51 located at the head of the machine. Next, there is a combined shirred casing hold back and density control unit 52. This is followed by a casing separator unit 53 which receives the density controlled shirred casing and separates it into individual strands of regulated lengths. When desired, there is next an auxiliary hold back unit 54 which also carries clamp type supports for the mandrel in a manner to be described in detail hereinafter, the mandrel being generally identified by the numeral 55.
The next unit is a casing compresser and doffer unit generally identified by the numeral 56. This unit has associated therewith a combined strand handler and end closer unit 57.
Bridging generally between the units 53 and 56 is a transport device 58 for transporting a separated shirred casing strand from the casing separator device 53 into the combined casing compresser and doffer device 56.