Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Title: 2-PIECE CUTTER BLADE FOR PRODUCING
HELICAL VEGETABLE STRIPS
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This patent application relates generally to an apparatus for
mass producing helical vegetable strips, and specifically to a rotating cutter
used on such an apparatus. French fried potatoes and other vegetables of
generally spiral or helical shape have become increasingly popular.
Consumers like them because of their interesting appearance, and they are
appealing to institutional food providers and restauranteurs because a
given volume of french fries has more plate coverage when they are of
helical shape.
Systems for cutting helical french fries are currently available
in the marketplace. The cutters in many of the systems are disk-like in
nature; that is, the cutter which slices the potatoes or other vegetables into
helical strips is generally a substantially flat or helical circular plate
having
a knife blade or "slabber blade" extending from the axis of rotation to the
periphery of the disk. Mounted directly on the front face of the disk is a
plurality of slitter blades. The slitter blades are located at different radii
from the axis of rotation and sometimes are spaced with a radial pitch to
one another.
The previously described rotating cutters are used in
conjunction with various feed systems to feed whole potatoes into the
rotating cutter. One such feeding means is a hydraulic feed system. In
such a system, potatoes are placed in a hydraulic medium which is
pumped through a conduit. The outlet of the conduit is positioned to be
in alignment with the rotating cutter. The potatoes are transported to the
rotating cutter by the hydraulic medium.
The slitter blades extending from the surface of the cutter first
contact the potato and score it. The locations of the slitter blades and their
spacing from each other determine the width of each helical potato strip to
be cut. The Blabber blade then cuts each helical strip into a desired
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thickness. The length of the resulting helical strip is controlled by the
length of the whole potato. Preferably, the slabber blade cuts a continuous
1
helical strip the entire length of the potato.
A problem encountered with this type of cutting system ,
involves the repair, maintenance or replacement of the slitter blades
themselves. The slitter blades are relatively thin compared to the disk and
have a tendency to dull, bend or break and must be sharpened, repaired or
replaced frequently, often more than once a day. The Blabber blade, on the
other hand, is much thicker than the slitter blades and does not dull, bend
or break as easily as the slitter blades. As a result, the disk which
incorporates the slabber blade has to be replaced much less frequently than
the slitter blades. Since the slitter blades are mounted or affixed directly
to
the surface of the cutter disk in the prior art, the entire cutter disk must
ordinarily be removed from the feed system in order to resharpen, repair,
clean or replace one or more of the slitter blades, thus making the system
completely inoperable until maintenance has been completed and the
cutter disk replaced in the system. This results in an increase in down-
time and a decrease in productivity.
Applicant is aware of one 2-piece rotating cutter system in the
marketplace. The system, as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,224,409,
includes a disk, comprised of two separate halves which are affixed
together in operation. One half of the dish contains both the slabber and
slitter blades. The slabber and slitter blades are included in one set of
blades with both vertical and horizontal sharpened edges. The vertical
sharpened edges are the slitter blades, and the horizontal sharpened edges
are the slabber blades. This system encounters the same problems noted
above regarding increased downtime and decreased productivity with
E-
respect to maintenance, repair and replacement of the blades. Moreover,
when only the slitter blades need to be replaced, the Blabber blades must be
replaced as well, and vice-versa. Furthermore, when replacing the blades,
the half disk upon which the blades are mounted must also be replaced.
Most of this surface material is not used to cut the potato and, thus, it does
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not wear out during the left of the cutter.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved
rotating cutter for cutting helical vegetable strips which is aimed at
reducing
the down-time and cost of maintaining or replacing slitter blades.
The cutter provided by the invention includes a cutter disk
having a front surface, a back surface, an axis of rotation and a knife blade
io thereon extending radially outwardly from the axis of rotation and being
axially displaced from the front surface. The disk has a plurality of slots
spaced apart from one another and located at different distances from. the
axis
of rotation. A slitter plate is provided and has a front surface an<i a back
surface. A plurality of slitter blades are integral with the slitter plate and
15 extend from and are substantially perpendicular to the front surface
thereof.
The slitter blades extend through the slots in the disk and means is provided
for removably securing the slitter blade to the disk. The securing means
includes a backing plate that traps the slitter blade between the backing
plate
and the back surface of the disk.
2o In a preferred embodiment, the cutter has a generally circular
disk which has a radial slit therein defining a cutting edge which extends
from
the axis of rotation to the periphery of the disk, the leading edge being
sharpened to create a Blabber blade. A plurality of slots radiate from the
center of the disk towards the outer periphery, and a plate or insert is
25 removably secured to the disk and incorporates a plurality of integral
slitter
blades which extend from and are substantially perpendicular to the plate.
The slitter blades align with said slots on the face of the disk and extend
therethrough when the removable plate is secured to the disk.
The invention consists of certain novel features and a
3o combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the
accompanying drawings and particularly pointed out in the appended claims,
it being understood that various changes in the details may be made without
departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the present
invention.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of the
invention, there is illustrated in the accompanying drawings a preferred
embodiment thereof, from an inspection of which, when considered in
connection with the following description, the invention, its construction and
operation, and many of its advantages should be readily understood and
appreciated.
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FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a cutter assembly for
producing helical potato strips incorporating the features of the present
invention, showing the removable slitter blade insert and accompanying
backing plate used to secure the slitter blade insert to the cutting disk.
FIG. 2 is a side view of the cutter assembly of Figure 1.
FIG. 3 is a top view of the cutter assembly of Figure 1.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of the removable slitter blade
insert.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Turning now to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, there is depicted a cutter
assembly 20 for cutting potatoes into generally helically shaped strips,
which cutter incorporates the features of the present invention. Cutter 20
comprises a circular disk 21 having several apertures 23 in its interior and
a plurality of slots, 22a, 22b, 22c, 22d, and 22e, radiating from the center
of
the disk towards the outer periphery. Preferably, the slots are arranged in a
shallow arc. Disk 21 is slit radially to produce a pair of edges 24 and 25
which are substantially parallel, spaced from each other and axially
displaced. The leading edge 25 is sharpened to create a cutter blade
ordinarily known as a slabber blade. In a preferred embodiment of the
present invention, disk 21 has a substantially flat first part extending
approximately 100° in an arc between edge 24 and phantom line 29, and a
raised second part extending approximately 260° in an arc between
phantom line 29 and Blabber blade 25. In another embodiment. disk 21
may be formed into a right helicoid beginning at edge 24 and terminating
at raised edge 25 and having a substantially uniform pitch therebetween.
In either embodiment, the slabber blade 25 is integral with and formed
from the disk 21 and axially displaced from the front surface of the disk 21.
The Blabber blade 25 is axially displaced from the front surface of the disk
so that the cutter disk will cut helical strips of even thickness. The Blabber
blade 25 does not have to be integral with and formed from the disk 21,
and can be a separate blade axially displaced from and attached to the front
surface of the disk 21 by screws or other securing means which are readily
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known in the art. In all embodiments, a quill or center tube 27 projects
axially from the center of disk 21. The quill may be solid or hollow.
Turning now to FIG. 4, in a preferred embodiment, five slitter
blades, 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d, and 33e, are one piece and formed from a
removable slitter plate or insert 33 for mounting on the disk 21. In
another embodiment, the slitter blades may be separate from and secured
to the plate. The slitter blades, 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d, and 33e, are arranged on
the removable insert 33 to correspond and align with the slots, 22a, 22b,
22c, 22d, and 22e, respectively, on disk 21. Slitter plate 33 includes a slot
34
on the side away from blades 33a-a and also two notches 35 on the other
side, adjacent blades 33a and 33e, respectively. The removable plate 33 may
be secured to the disk 21 by a variety of means, such as by screws and nuts
extending through aligned holes in the disk 21 and plate 33. Ln a preferred
form, a backing plate 36 is provided to aid in securing plate 33 to disk 21.
The backing plate 36 includes three threaded screw holes which align with
three threaded screw holes on the disk 21. Backing plate 36 includes
projection 37 centrally on one side and two projections 38 respectively at
the ends of the other side. When the parts are assembled, projection 37 is
located in slot 34 and projections 38 fit into notches 35, respectively. The
backing plate 36 is removably secured to the back surface of the disk 21
with three screws such that the plate 33 opposes the back surface of the disk
21 and the backing plate 36 and is trapped therebetween. Thus, the slitter
plate 33 is captured between backing plate 36 and disk 21. Also, projection
37 being in slot 34 and projections 38 being in notches 35, lateral
movement of slitter plate 33 is prevented. In this way, no holes have to be
made in the insert.
Preferably, the slitter blades, disk, and removable backing
plate are made of steel and are approximately 0.89 mm (0.035 inches), 3.56
mm (0.140 inches), and 1.52 mm (0.060 inches) in thickness, respectively.
In operation of the cutting assembly, the cutter rotates
counterclockwise. Blade 33a is innermost, and, as the cutting disk rotates,
leads blade 33b. In a similar manner, blade 33c is next and trails blade 33b.
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Blade 33d is next and trails blade 33c. Blade 33e is outermost and trails
blade 33d. In one operative embodiment, the angles between edge 24 and ,
the mid-points of blades 33a, 33b, 33c, 33d, and 33e are, respectively, about
44.0°, 30.6°, 19.7°, 10.4°, and 3.1°.
In operation, a potato is propelled into cutter 20 by a feed
means (not shown). As the potato approaches cutter 20, it first contacts
quill 27 which keeps the potato axially aligned with the axis of the quill.
Because of the rounded shape of the end of the potato, the point of slitter
blade 33a first makes contact with the front end of the potato during the
first rotation of cutter 20, and blade 33a begins scoring the potato
concentrically about the longitudinal axis of the potato. Then blade 33b
starts scoring the potato. The slabber blade starts cutting even before the
outer slitter blades score the potato. Finally, blades 33c, 33d, and 33e start
to
cut. As the potato continues to be fed into cutter 20, it contacts edge 25
which begins cutting the potato transversely to the longitudinal axis of the
potato, thereby forming helical strips. The widths of the strips are
determined by the spacing between adjacent slitter blades. It will be
appreciated by those skilled in the art that the number of slitter blades may
vary to include more or less than five as a particular application may
require.
This construction increases the productivity of said cutter by
decreasing maintenance down-time. When one or more slitter blades
need to be resharpened, cleaned, repaired or replaced, the removable slitter
blade insert can be quickly and easily removed for cleaning, resharpening,
repair and immediate replacement with a substitute slitter blade insert. In
this way, maintenance down-time is significantly decreased thereby
substantially increasing productivity. ,
What has been described, therefore, is an improved cutter for
cutting vegetables into helical strips incorporating a removable plate
incorporating slitter blades. Productivity is significantly increased by
decreasing maintenance down-time through the use of a removable slitter
blade insert.
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While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has
been described, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is
defined by the following claims:
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