US 4,903,590 AGranted

Apparatus for injecting liquid into pieces of food

AssigneesFomaco Food Machinery Company A/S, Stevns Maskinfabrik ApS

InventorsFrank Muller, John Nielsen

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Abstract

Brine, pickle or another liquid is injected into a piece of food through groups of hollow needles, which are plunged into various parts of said piece of food. Different amounts of liquid are injected through said groups of needles in dependency of estimated liquid absorbing characteristics of the respective parts of the piece of food, so as to obtain a substantially uniform distribution of the brine or liquid therein. Pressurized liquid may be supplied to each group of needles from a common source through a liquid valve, and the amount of liquid injected into the various parts of the piece of food may then be controlled by controlling the pressure of the liquid supplied to said group of needles by adjusting the valve. Such adjustment may be controlled by an electronic control device comprising a micro processor.

Claims13

Dependent claims

An apparatus for injecting liquid into pieces of food and comprising an arrangement of hollow needles divided into groups, means for moving said pieces of food and said arrangement of needles in relation to each other along a path of movement, means for moving said hollow needles into and out of penetrating engagement with said pieces of food, supply means for supplying pressurized liquid to said needles while they are in engagement with said pieces of food, said supply means comprising a common pressurized liquid source for supplying pressurized liquid to said groups of needles, and control means for controlling the amount of liquid supplied to each group of needles, said control means including pressure reducing means for independently reducing the pressure at which the liquid is supplied to each of said needle groups, whereby different amounts of liquid may be injected into various zones of each piece of food so as to obtain a substantially uniform final liquid distribution in each piece of food.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.