Back to results
US 6,082,252 AGranted
Pre-heat apparatus for peeling system
AssigneeFMC Corporation
InventorsSherman Howell Creed, Rey A. Elizondo, Robert Leland Frenkel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tomato lye applicator (10) including a pre-heat apparatus (14) mounted to the shell (16) of applicator (10) for pre-heating tomatoes prior to submerging in a lye solution bath (28). Pre-heat apparatus (14) includes a conveyor (42) and steam connections (64, 66) for heating enclosure (40) so that as tomatoes move from inlet (18) to applicator inlet (20), the skins of the tomatoes are pre-heated an amount sufficient to enhance skin loosening by the lye solution.
Claims18
A lye applicator for loosening skins of a product, comprising:
- a lye solution bath for submerging of the product for a period of time,
- an applicator conveyor for moving the product through the lye solution bath, the applicator conveyor including an upper run before the lye solution bath,
- an applicator inlet positioned along the upper run of the applicator conveyor, through which product can be delivered into the lye applicator and onto the applicator conveyor,
- the upper run of the applicator conveyor between the applicator inlet to the lye solution bath having a length sufficient to provide enough pre-heating to the product to allow for one of reduced lye solution concentration and reduced time for submerging of the product.
1 more element
A lye applicator for loosening skins of a product, comprising:
- a lye solution bath for submerging of the product for a period of time,
- an applicator conveyor for moving the product through the lye solution bath,
- an applicator inlet positioned along the upper run of the applicator conveyor, through which product can be delivered into the lye applicator and onto the applicator conveyor, and
- a pre-heat apparatus external of the lye applicator for pre-heating the product prior to entry into the applicator inlet.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.