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US 5,921,677 AGranted
Food processing agitator device
AssigneeWalker Stainless Equipment Company, Inc.
InventorsVirgil J. Scherping, George H. Schwinghammer, Gary L. Starkson
Life of this patent
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AssigneeWalker Stainless Equipment Company, Inc.
InventorsVirgil J. Scherping, George H. Schwinghammer, Gary L. Starkson
Estimating the term…
An enclosed food processing device is provided having one or more conveyor belts and vertical agitators positioned above the belt. The agitators have forward and backward prongs that stir the food being processed without causing physical damage to it. The food enters the device through an inlet and is evenly distributed across a draining screen by an inlet deflector plate, which is adjustable to account for the different rates at which the food may flow into the device. Ramps are positioned under the device to collect liquid drained from the food, and the ramps have independent segments that separate the liquid based on the stage of the process at which it is drained from the food. A salting apparatus is provided for conveying salt to the food to be processed. The salt is dispensed in proportion to the amount of food to be salted. Salt is moved from a salt hopper into a chamber by a rotating dispensing wheel. The salting apparatus has a pump that moves a fluid, such as filtered air, through a Venturi pickup tee, where it creates a partial vacuum that pulls salt into the airstream from the chamber. The salt then is pushed through stationary salt distribution tubes and applied to the food to be salted.
An agitator mounted over a conveyor belt having a surface for conveying stirred curd cheese curds, said agitator having a generally elongated blunt prong with a blunt end for agitating curds by stirring them without physically damaging them, wherein said prong has blunt surfaces that face in the direction of stirring and not sharp edges or points that face in the direction of stirring.
An agitator adapted to be mounted in operable relation with a conveyor for conveying cheese curds, the agitator for rotatably processing the cheese curds without harming them as they travel on the conveyor, the agitator comprising:
An agitator adapted to be operably positioned over a conveyor belt having a surface for conveying cheese curds, said agitator having a generally elongated prong adapted to rotate about an axis to agitate the curds, wherein the axis intersects the surface of the conveyor belt.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.