Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
22 `
23 I FIELD OF INVENTION , , _
24 The present invention relates generally tfO systems and
methods for rendering fat ~rom the fleshings and trimimings of
26 hldes whether hog hides, steer hides, or any other type hide, a
27 slgnlflcant portion of such fleshings and trimmings containing
28 entrapped fat to be recovered.
29 DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
30 . : ; Fat and fleshings heretofore hlve been rendered by
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l cooking in heatea vessels, with some agitation in order to promote
2 the separation of the fat ~rom the fleshings or tris~nings. The
3 particulate residue is then screened, sieved, or otherwise
4 physically xemoved from the rendered fat, and thereafter the fat
is combined with water in order to stratify the sasne for separa-
6 tion. In such methods or systems, there is a distinct possibi-
7 lity that the particula-te ma-terial will coalesce, and form
8 larger clods of solids. The larger -the particle of solid, parti-
9 cularly if much more than 3/8" -to l/2", the more fat remains en-
trapped, and the more difficult it is to remove the fa-t by
applyiny heat. At temperatures sigrlificclrltly above that of
12 boiling water, thc fat may change l.n its consi.stcncy, or composi-
13 tion, and the particulatc soJ.i~s tend to cook alld b~lrn, tilUs
14 contaminating the pure at.
16 SUMM~RY
17 A fat recovery system and method is disclosed in which
18 the fleshings and -trimmings are first co~ninuted by a grinder,
19 preerably to a si~e approximating 3/8". Thereafter the same are
passod throucJsl a cooker ha~incJ at least one steam jacketed tube
21 with an interior scr~w conveyor, the purpose oE the la-tter being
22 to move the particulate material through the cooker and at the
23 same time agitate the particulate material to an extent that
24 coalescence is significantly reduced, and the particulate inte-
grity of the ground fleshings and trisl~lnys is main-tained.
26 Thereafter the particulate material is separated fr.om the fat
27 by delivering the output of the cooker to a screen, preferably
28 a cylindrical rotary screen. The fat drops into a collec-tor, and
29 the par-t~ulate mat~rialin-to a press, with -the liquid output oE -the
press being delivered in-to the fat conduit and -the same conveyed
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l to a settling tank. The settling tank is heated, while water is
2 introduced, to maintain the fat ln a floating condition above
3 the water while the particulate material settles. Thereafter
4 means may be provided for draining the water and remaining parti-
culate material, and optionally transferring the fat to a further
6 receptacle for drying. The method comprises essentially the
7 steps of fat recovery from fleshings and trimmings which included
8 comminuting the same to a particle size, preferably 3/8", cooking
g the same while agitating in a longitudinal path to maintain the
particulate integrity of the fleshings and trimmings, and there-
ll after screening or sieving the particulate material into a press,
12 and diverting the fat to a conduit. Subsequent1y,most o~ the par-
13 ticulat~ material is removed Erom the press ancl the fclt produced
~4 by pressing is delivered to a settlincJ area, heated, ~ncl mixed
with water so that the fat will float. Subsequently the fat is
16 removed and dried for storage and shipment, and the remaining par-
17 ticulate material may be recycled, or dried and disposed of as
18 protein.
19 It is a principal object of the present invention to
provide a Ea-t recovery system and method which removes essent~ly
21 all o~ the ~at ~rom ~leshings and trimmings, and in addition, driec
22 the remaining particulate rnaterial to the end that it can be
23 processed for use a~ a source of pro-tein, or otherwise disposed of
24 A related object of the present invention is to provide a
fat recovery system including a plurality of tubular cookers -
26 having logitudinal conveyors which maintain -the particulate
27 inteyrity of the fleshings and trimmings while the same is cooked
28 to remove the fat.
29 Still another object of the present invention is to
provide a fat recovery sys-tem and method which reduces any
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1 tendency to produce noxious odors and fumes, and at the same
2 time results in an economical recovery oE the fat product, as
well as the particulate material.
4 Still another object of the present invention is to
provide a fat recovery sytem for hide fleshings and trimmings
6 which is economical to construct, simple -to monitor in its opera-
tion, and readily controllable with simple instrumentation, and
8 routine observation by an operator.
9 Yet another object of the present invention is to provide
a fat recovery system and me-thod which is susceptible of batch
r 11 operation, and in which the start-up and operating expenses are
12 minimized due to the utili~ation o.E steam, and electrica:L motors
13 ~s thé sole ~ource o~ indeperldent app:Lied ellercJy.
1~ Yet another objec;t o the present invention is to provide
a fat recovery system for hide fleshings and -trimmin~s, the
16 operation and use of.which produces.a..fat which has not.been sub-.
17 jected to unduly elevated -tem~eratures.,..and.thus pure in form, and
18 similarly produces a concentrated pro-tein form of fleshings and
r 19 trimminys which are readily marketable
20 Y~t another important object o~ the present .inven-tion
~1 is to provide a ~at recove.ry syst~ln an~ metllod which involves a
22 minimal arnount of Eine tolerances, thereby permitting the trans-
23 port and the settling of dirt, oEal, and other contaminants at
24 the settling terminus of the system and method to thereby cleanse
the ultimate fat product.
26
27 DFSCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
28 F.urther objects and advantages of the present invention
2~ will become apparent as -the following descrip-ki.on of an iIlus-
trative embodiment proceeds, taken in conjuncti.on with the
~ o / J ~ u / J ~ ~
1 accompanying drawings in which:
2 FIG . 1 is a flow sheet showing the sequential elements
3 employed in the system and the steps embodied in the method.
DESCRIPTION OF PR~FERRE D SYST~M
. - - _
6 The subject recovery system 10, as shown in its entirety
7 diagrammatically in FIG. 1, presupposes a hide from which the
8 flesh and trimmings have been collected. This may be accomplished
9 in standard scraping, skinniny, and other techniques. The hides
may be fresh or cured. The recovery system 10 beg:ins with a
1 grinder 11, having a yrinder hopper 12 in-to which the fleshings
12 and tril~lincJC; are irltroduc~d. ~rlle grirlcler i.s selectcd from that
13 typ~ o~ grincler availabl~ to insurc that the l~arti.culate si~e o~
1~ the EleshincJs or tri~nings is :reducecl to 3/~" or less prior to
delivering the same into the output. A typical grinder motor 14
16 and grinder pump 15 drive the unit, with the exhaust or discharge
17 portion of the grinder 11 dropping into a pump hopper 19.
18 ~hereafter the pump motor 18 and grinder pump 15 drives the
19 discharyed~material through the particulate conduit 16, and
towards the cooker 20. A steam inlet 21 is provided in the
21 particulate conduit 16 on the ~ischarge sicle of th~ cJrinder
22 pump 15~ Generally a 1~2" or 3/4" stem inlet pipe is sufficient
23 however, the size and number of steam inlets is dependent upon
24 the distance and quantity oE the material to be pumped. The
steam inlet is injected at substantially a 45 angle with the
26 particulate conduit 16 so that the steam will assist in driving
27 the particulate raw material to the cooker 20 as well as
28 preheating the same.
29 The cooker 20, as noted in the upper left hand portion
o~ FIG. 1, is shown as comprising an upper steam tube 25, a
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l middle steam tube 26, and a lower ~team tube 27. Interiorly of
2 each of the steam tubes 25, 26, 27, a half pi-tch screw conveyor
3 28 is positioned, having its own screw conveyor drive 29. The
4 half pitch screw conveyors or augers are commercially available
as manufactured by Screw Conveyor Pacific Co., Visalia,California.
6 Steam jackets 30 are provided in surrounding cylindrical relation-
7 ship to the interior portion of the steam tubes 25, 26, 27, said
8 steam jackets normally carrying a dry steam from a conventional
g boiler at approximately 90 psig and 320F. A pressure relief valve
and condensate drain (no-t shown) is also normally provided. The
ll pressure and temperature o~ the stearn can ~c var.ied such that
12 proper cookiny o the particu:Late material occurs witllout undue
13 waste of steam. ~rhe ~team jacket and tube~: arc col~unerc.i~l:ly avcliL-
14 able as manufactured by Canal Boiler Works, Seattle, Washington.
A clearance is provided between the half pitch screw conveyor 28
16 and the interior of the steam tube to permit relief for the
17 passaye of contaminants such as sand, clay, ofal, residual hair,
18 and the like. A screw conveyor drive 29 is provided at the end of
19 each o the half pitch screw conveyors 28 so that the s~le are
driven at substalltially the same speed o~ rotakion.
21 To be noted is the provision oE an upper transEer tube 31
22 from the upper steam tube 25 tothe middle steam tube 26. The
23 upper transfer tube 81 conveys the cooked material from the upper
24 steam tube 25 into the middle steam tube 26. In the middle
steam tube 26, the particulate material is continually cooked
26 but moves in a direc-tion contra to the direction of the upper
27 steam tube 25. After passing through the middle steam tube 26,
28 a lower transfer tube 32 is encountered which drops the thus
29 cooked product into the lower steam tube 27. Because -the upper,
middle, and lower steam tubes 25, 26, 27 are oriented in vertical
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1 fashion, a single exhaust manifold 35 is provided in coupled
2 relationship to each of the steam tubes 25, 26, 27 to vent the
3 interior to atmosphere. By the time the particulate has passed
4 through the three steam tubes 25, 26, 27, the same is discharged
by fluid gravitation flow through the discharge tube 34 into the
6 rotary screen 40. Prior to the discharge, it will be noted that
7 the lower exhaust feed 36 is adjacent the discharye tube 34 and
8 immediately thereabove, leading into the exhaust manifold 35.
9 In addition, a middle exhaust feed 38, and upper exhaust-feed 39,
are provided at ends o~ the respective steam tubes 25, 26, 27.
r 11 Preferably the exhaus-t feeds 36, 38, 39 are provided at the dis-
12 charge portion oE the steam tubes 25, 26, ~7 so thclt they do not
13 lnk~r~ere with tlle eed tube to ~he par~icu:lar st~am tube.
14 The rotary screerl 40 is driven b~ means Oe the screen
lS drive 41, and posi-tioned to rotate along a genera~ly horizontal
16 axis, with the axis sloping downwardly at an accute angle with
17 the horizontal to the end that the particulate material will be
18 transported across the rotary screen 40. The size of the ro-tary
r screen 40 varies with the desired production. A standard
! 20 commercially available size is lSI' diame-ter, 48" long and
21 12-15 mesh. A vibrating screen with 50-~0 mesh and 48" diameter
22 could also be used, wllich is commercially available from Sweco
23 Manufacturing, Los ~ngeles, California. The fat which drains
24 drops into the screen hopper 42. At the lower portion of the
screen hopper 42, provision is made for a screen hopper fat dis-
26 charge 44 which connects at a fat connector 52 to the mixed
27 discharge conduit 54. The balance of the partic~llate matter
28 passing through the rotary screen 40 drops into -the press hopper
29 22. The press 45 has an in-terior press auger 46 with a decreasing
pitch diameter, and optionally a decreasing pitch. The same
~ 9L9~L
1 is driven by a press auger drive 48 to carry the particulate
2 material through the press. The fat and water is extruded
3 through slots in a cone 47 which encompases the auger 46. The
slots are approximately .003" wide, 1/2" long, 3/8" apart,
and cover the entire cone. The cone is yeneral~y made of 3~16"
6 stainless steel; however, other materials could be used. The
7 solids are conveyed to the end of the press and are dischar~ed
8 at a press solid discharge point 53. The tapered auger Elights
9 49, as commented upon, have a decreasing pitch diameter and
optionally a decreasing flight proportion. The fat and water
11 extruded by the press ~5 -then drops down throucJh the liquid
12 pres~ discharge 50 in~o a prcss discllarcJe condult 51 and tl-ence
13 to the ~at coll~ecto~ 52 allc-l ollwE~rdly tllroucJII thc mi.xed cll.scl~alc
1~ conduit 5~ to the discllarcJ~ pump 55. rl'he disc~larc~e pump 55
carries the combination of remaining solids, Eat and water
16 con-tinuing throuyh the mixed clischarye conduit 54 into the
17 ¦ settling tank 56. ThereaE-ter the product can be transferred
18 ¦ into the drying tank 58 as will be described hereinafter.
19 ¦ ~ preferably convoluted steam coil 60 ls positioned
¦ int~riorly oE the settLiny tallk 56, and heated -to a temperature
21 ¦ somewhere between 180F an~ 200L~'. In this mclnn~r the settlincJ
22 ¦ tank 56 is heated as it is beincJ filled. :[E s~paration of the
23 ¦ fat and water has taken place, the steam coil 60 is turned
24 ¦ off. If separation has not yet taken place, the steam coil 60
¦ is left on until it does. The steam coil 60 thus maintains the
2~ ¦ fat in a liquid condition, and thereafter as water is intro-
27 ¦ duced in-to the settling tank 56, the par-ticulate ma-terial
28 ¦ will drop to the lower portion where i-t can be removed at the
29 ¦ settliny tank discharge 65, and in the meantime the fat separates
¦ and floats above the water ~t -the lower portion of the settling
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1 tank 56. The particulate material removed at the settling tank
2 discharge 65 are recycled by being mixed with the raw materials
3 going into the cooker.
4 Once the fat has adequately se-ttled from the particulate
material and floa-ted upon the wa-ter, a fa-t -transfer tube 61 is
lowered into the settling tank 56, and the fat transfer pump 62
activated to transfer the fat throuyh the fat transEer discharge
8 64 into the drying tank 58. The drying tank 58 may be optionally
g heated by an additional steam coil as with the steam coil 60
in the settling -tank 56, or otherwise ayitated or trea-ted to
11 remove residual water from the fat. The purpose of the drying
12 tank 58 is tQ remove any excess moisture throucJh evaporation.
13 Tllcrea~ ter tllc Eat contain~d in the dryincJ tcll~k 5~ is div~rt~d ~y
14 moans o th~ fat ~i~char~Je 66 into permanent s~orage, or p~ckacJ-
ing, or other containerizatiorl for shipment, or op-tionally for
16 further processing.
17 The process is desiyned to be most efficiently opera-ted
18 as a con-tinuous process up to the se-ttling tanks where some ;
19 retention time is required to allow the par-ticula-tes -to settle
from the fat and water. The system can be designed for any
21 desired capacity by increasincJ the equipmcnt or adding equipment
22 to an existiny system.
23 A -typical system using -three s-team tubes, each 10" in
24 diameter by 10 feet long,will handle 7,000 to 8,000 pounds per
hour of raw material. This amount of raw material would yield
26 approximately 1,300 pounds of fat and 700 pounds of solids
27 (wet bases) per hour. The amounts vary as they are dependent
28 on the size, type of hides, and the amoun-t of Eleshings on the
29 hides. The quality of the finished fat one could expect is
basically-
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1 F.A.C. COLOR: 3-5
2 Titre: 37C
3 Free Fatty Aclds: .005%
4 .
S THE METi~OD
6 The method of the present invention contemplates first
7 removing fleshing and -trimmings from a cured or fresh hide. The
8 fleshings are then comminuted into a size less than l/2", pre-
9 ferably 1/8". The means for comminuting are confined in such a
fashion that any fat which is pressed from the particulate
11 material at the time is conEined and conveyed.
12 ThereaEter, the particulate mater.ial. is introduccd into
13 a cooker provid:iny a~ollcJitudinal or horizontal passageway in
14 constant acJitation, ~ubject to a temperature apl~roximatinc~ that
o~ live steam. The confinemen-t, however, is provided with a
16 further step in venting the same to atmosphere to prevent
17 pressure build-up, or pressure cooking. Irhereafter~ the
18 particulate ma-terial is separated from the thus rendered fat,
19 and the particulate ma-terial further pressed -to remove residual
entrained fat.
21 A Einal step contemplates the transfer of the combined
22 ~at and particul.ate material into mearls for separating the same
23 by water floatation, with the further imposed ste~ of maintaining
24 the fat portion at the upper portion of the settling means at a
temperature between 180F and 200F to promote the settling, and
26 to maintain the fat in -the fluid state. Thereaf-ter, the fat is
27 transferred to a further confined area for drying, while the
28 particulate material is removed by discharging the same with the
: 2~ water.
In review it will be seen tha-t a :Eat recovery system has
11~9~
1 been shown and described for fleshings and trimmings of cured
2 and fresh hides which constantly agitates particulate material
3 to the end that a total cooking takes place removing the
4 majori.ty of the fat from the particulate material. In addition,
however,. the particulate material is further pressed to remove
6 residual fat. Therea~ter, a settling means separates the fat
7 from the par-ticulate material prior to final processing.
8 ~lthough particular embodiments of the invention have
9 been shown and described in full here, there is no intention
to thereby limit the invention to the details of such e~bodi-
11 ments. On the.contrary, the intention is to coVer all modifi-
12 cations, alternativcs, embod:irnellts~ USa(JeS alld equ:i.valents of
13 a l.at recovery sy~tem .IS .I.clll withill tlle spiri~ and scoue o~
th~ inventioll, sp~ci.~icatiorl and thc apperl~ed cla:im~;~
16 _
17 _
18 _
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21 1 -
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26 _
27 _
28 _
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