Food processing transport system
AssigneeDEC International, Inc.
InventorsClaude L. McFarlane, David E. Lukens, Dennis F. Conohan, Steve O. Schultz, Wendell J. Holl, Mark A. Persson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A food product processing transport system (300) includes an overhead transport rail (302) having first and second runs (356 and 358, 390 and 392), a food product carrier (310) suspended from the rail and defining a vertical plane, a drive mechanism (326) for advancing the carrier along the rail, and a turning arrangement (354, 394) between the first and second runs and changing the relative orientation between the vertical plane defined by the carrier and the direction of advancement of the carrier. The carrier includes a slider block (312) slidable along the rail.
Claims15
Food processing apparatus comprising:
- a processing chamber extending longitudinally along a longitudinal axis and having
- a narrow vertically extending inlet opening and
- a narrow vertically extending outlet opening;
- an overhead rail having
- an entry run extending into said chamber perpendicularly through said inlet opening,
- a processing run extending longitudinally through said chamber along said longitudinal axis, and
- an exit run extending out of said chamber perpendicularly through said outlet opening;
- a food product carrier suspended from said rail and defining a vertical plane;
- a drive mechanism advancing said carrier along said rail;
- an inlet turning arrangement between said entry run and said processing run and changing the relative orientation between the vertical plane defined by said carrier and the direction of advancement of said carrier such that
- said plane of said carrier is parallel to said entry run as said carrier passes through said inlet opening, and
- said plane of said carrier is nonparallel to said processing run as said carrier advances through said chamber along said longitudinal axis;
- an outlet turning arrangement between said processing run and said exit run and changing the relative orientation between the vertical plane defined by said carrier and the direction of advancement of said carrier such that
- said plane of said carrier is nonparallel to said processing run as said carrier advances through said chamber along said longitudinal axis, and
- said plane of said carrier is parallel to said exit run as said carrier passes through said outlet opening.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.