Portioning, shaping and dispensing apparatus

Apparatus for portioning, shaping and dispensing a plurality of molded, spherically shaped meatballs comprising:

• a food product entry area including a food product supply hopper and an interconnecting compression chamber for the containment and pressurizing of the food product,
• sets of spaced interdigitating food product engaging fingers swingably mounted in the supply hopper for moving the food product into the compression chamber,
• a pair of spaced wiper blades swingably mounted in the supply hopper for wiping food product from the hopper walls, compression means within the compression chamber comprising a trio of side-by-side compactors and a compactor carrier,
• the compactors including a central compactor flanked by outside compactors all linked to the compactor carrier,
• the central compactor being rigidly linked to the compactor carrier and the outside compactors being spring-loaded and mounted for reciprocatory movement relative to the compactor carrier,
• the compression means pressurizing the food product within the compression chamber preparatory to and during the movement of the food product into a positioning area,
• the portioning area including a drum rotatable confined within a housing and having a diametrically-disposed opening therethrough defining a pair of aligned radially-arranged pockets of alternately increasing and decreasing size according to the movement of a plug limitedly-reciprocable within the opening in the area intermediate the two pockets, the pockets of the drum each communicating through the houslng in seriatim first as a receiving pocket with the compression chamber for shaping, and measuring a charge of the food product loaded thereinto from the compression chamber responsively to the motivation of the compactors and second as a dispensing pocket with atmosphere for dispensing the shaped and portioned charge from the area into the shaping and dispensing area, with the compressing stroke of the compactor maintaining a tension on the food product during loading into the receiving pocket and therefollowing during a momentary dwell period as rotation of the drum out of register with the compression chamber is initiated folowing which the compactors are retracted in relieving stroke as the food product charged pocket is completely encapsulated by the cooperant drum and plug and housing is rotated into dispensing position as effected by the loading of the second-to-be-filled pocket and the resultant limited sliding movement of the plug within the drum opening,
• the portioned food product exiting from the portioning area to the shaping and dispensing area,
• the shaping and dispensing area comprising a grooved shaping wheel mounted for rotation relative to a grooved fixed shoe, the food product being deposited in the groove between the shaping wheel and fixed shoe for imparting a spherical shape thereto, with the resultant shaped article being dispensed into a suitable receiving means.