Fruit peeling machine
OwnerJames A. Berube, W. Garrett Howardinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A machine for cutting strips of peel from citrus fruit, particularly for the purpose of producing "twists" of lemon and lime, employs a cutting assembly with a circular array of cutters. The cutters have upwardly oriented, transversely extending cutting edges to simultaneously produce a multiplicity of peel strips; they are biased to radially inward positions, and are automatically retractable so as to accommodate passage of the fruit axially between them. The machine includes a cup for receiving and permitting the convenient retrieval of the fruit and strips from the machine, and normally a plunger mechanism will be provided for manually forcing the fruit through the array of cutters.
Claims18
In a machine for cutting peel strips from fruit, the combination comprising:
- a housing having a receptacle portion therewithin;
- a blade assembly supported upon said housing over said receptacle portion;
- and means for forcing a piece of fruit through said blade assembly toward said receptacle portion, said blade assembly including:
- a holder having a central opening, and a multiplicity of bores extending thereinto radially outwardly from said opening;
- a corresponding multiplicity of cutters slidably mounted within said bores of said holder;
- and means for inwardly biasing said cutters;
- each of said cutters having an elongated body portion slidably seated within an associated one of said bores for substantially radial reciprocation, a blade element projecting therefrom into said holder opening, and a depth guide element disposed closely adjacent thereto and radially outwardly thereof, each of said blade elements having an upwardly oriented cutting edge thereon extending generally transversely of the longitudinal axis of the associated body portion, said multiplicity of cutters providing a circular array of said blade elements disposed so that a piece of fruit forced downwardly through said holder opening will contact said cutting edges substantially simultaneously, whereby said cutting edges and said guide elements will cooperatively cut a multiplicity of strips of peel therefrom, in a single action, for receipt by said receptacle portion.
The machine of claim 12 wherein said housing defines an underlying space beneath said blade assembly and a lateral opening thereinto, and additionally includes an upwardly opening collecting cup adapted to pass through said lateral opening for removable containment within said underlying space, said cup providing said receptacle portion.
In a machine for cutting peel strips from fruit, the combination comprising:
- a housing having a receptacle portion therewithin;
- a blade assembly supported upon said housing over said receptacle portion;
- and means for forcing a piece of fruit through said blade assembly toward said receptacle portion, said blade assembly including:
- a holder having a central opening, and a multiplicity of at least 12 bores equidistantly angularly spaced and extending thereinto radially outwardly from said opening and downwardly at a slight angle with respect to a common plane;
- a corresponding multiplicity of cutters slidably and nonrotatably mounted within said bores of said holder;
- and means for inwardly biasing said cutters;
- each of said cutters having an elongated body portion slidably seated within an associated one of said bores for substantially radial reciprocation, a blade element projecting therefrom into said holder opening, and a depth guide element disposed closely adjacent thereto and radially outwardly thereof, each of said blade elements having an upwardly oriented cutting edge thereon extending generally transversely of the longitudinal axis of the associated body portion, said multiplicity of cutters providing a circular array of said blade elements disposed so that a piece of fruit forced downwardly through said holder opening will contact said cutting edges substantially simultaneously, whereby said cutting edges and said guide elements will cooperatively cut a multiplicity of strips of peel therefrom, in a single action, for receipt by said receptacle portion.
In a machine for cutting peel strips from fruit, the combination comprising:
- a housing having a receptacle portion therewithin;
- a blade assembly supported upon said housing over said receptacle portion;
- and a cover assembly mounted upon said housing and including a plunger subassembly for forcing a piece of fruit through said blade assembly toward said receptacle portion said blade assembly including:
- a holder having a central opening, and a multiplicity of bores extending thereinto radially outwardly from said opening;
- a corresponding multiplicity of cutters slidably mounted within said bores of said holder;
- and means for inwardly biasing said cutters;
- each of said cutters having an elongated body portion slidably seated within an associated one of said bores for substantially radial reciprocation, a blade element projecting therefrom into said holder opening, and a depth guide element disposed closely adjacent thereto and radially outwardly thereof, each of said blade elements having an upwardly oriented cutting edge thereon extending generally transversely of the longitudinal axis of the associated body portion, said multiplicity of cutters providing a circular array of said blade elements disposed so that a piece of fruit forced downwardly through said holder opening will contact said cutting edges substantially simultaneously, whereby said cutting edges and said guide elements will cooperatively cut a multiplicity of strips of peel therefrom, in a single action, for receipt by said receptacle portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.