Method and apparatus for severing shirred tubular food casing, and article
AssigneeViskase Corporation
InventorsJohn Farkonas, Michael P. Kazaitis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Severing a shirred stick of sausage casing from casing feed stock joined to the stick is accomplished by cutting a longitudinal slit in the feed stock adjacent the shirred stick. A tear is initiated at some point spaced around the casing from the slit and the tear is allowed to propagate in opposite directions from that point around the casing and into the slit. The result is that the severed ends of casing are each free of loose shards of casing.
Claims18
A method of severing a stick of shirred casing from a length of feed stock casing joined to said shirred stick comprising the steps of:
- a) cutting a longitudinal slit in said feed stock casing;
- b) stressing said feed stock casing at a point on said feed stock casing which is spaced circumferentially around said feed stock from said slit to create a localized stress concentration sufficient to initiate a tear in said feed stock casing at said point;
- and
- c) propagating said tear in said feed casing stock casing circumferentially around the casing from said point and into said slit.
Apparatus for transversely severing a stick of shirred casing from a length of feed stock casing joined to said shirred stick comprising:
- a) means for cutting a longitudinal slit in said feed stock casing;
- b) means for stressing said feed stock casing to create a localized stress concentration at a point on said feed stock casing spaced circumferentially around said feed stock from said slit;
- and
- c) means for tensioning said feed stock casing to initiate and propagate a tear from said point and circumferentially around said casing and into said slit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.