Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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~e 1~$
~ he invention ~r~ to a device for severin~ meat fro~
bone by pressi.ng the mass of ~eat ar.d bone within a press
c&vity arranged with rec~bent axis and being stationary
during the preqsing operation and into which said mass of meat
and bone can be introduced via a sup~ly connection directed
upwardl~ and transversely relative to the axis of the press
cavity and from which the rem~inin~ bones and meat residues can,
after the pressing o~eration, be removed via a closable dis-
charge opening 9 the press cavity bein~ provided between t~is
discharge opening and the supply connection with slit shaped
outlet openings for the meat h~ving ass~ed a pasty condition
during the pressing operation and said outlet openings being
delimited by a group of rings.
~IP~
In known clevices of the ~ mentioned (~ OS ~ 501 6~3),
a pi~ton is introduced into the press cavity from one side
thereo~ ~nd is pressing the mass of meat and bone introduced
into the press cavity against a plurality of rings ~rranged
at the side of the discharge openirlg of -the press cavity and
having a conically taperin~ internal width. The disc~arge
opening can be closed by means of a slide bein~ moveable in
transverse direction to the axis of the piston. The ~lasticized
meat flows through the ~lot-shaped outlet openings forrned
between the rings into ~l annular space surrounding the rings
and having connected thereto a dischar~e means for the meat ma6s
thus obtained. ~he residual bones and meat re~idues are, how~
ever, pushed through the discharge opening after having opened
~8~7~7
the slide, This device shows the disadvantage that the dis-
charge opening for the bone and meat residues remaining after
the pressing operation has a substantially smaller cross sec-
tion than has the press cavity so that bulky bones can object
the operation. Further, the rings defining the outlet open-
ings are different in shape and are thus not interchangeable
and can therefore be mounted within the device only in a
definite sequence. When operating this device it is in addi-
tion necessary to release the slide closing the discharge
opening by retracting the piston because only then it becomes
possible to move the slide for the purpose o~ opening the dis-
charge opening. This is responsible for a delay in the opera-
ting sequence of the device. Finally, it is also disavantag-
eous that the pressed good pushed into the discharge opening
and primarily consisting of bones must be shifted through the
through-passage of the slide having an only small thickness
as measured in axial direction of the piston. By a bone
remaining within this through-passage the movement of the slide
can be blocked.
The present invention improves the device initially
defined such tha-t the drawbacks mentioned above are avoided.
In particular the present invention increases the operating
safety and effic:iency of such a device and to facilitate and
~5 accelerate operation and cleaning of this device.
According to the invention, the cylindrical press
cavity is delimited by a plurality of rings of mutual equal
shape and size and is on both of its
ends closed by axially shiftable pistons and in that one of
these pistons is, during its retracting movement, makinq
free the discharge opening which is in connection with a dis-
charge path extending in downward direction and transversely
relative to the axis of the press cavity. The piston which
is movable in direction of the axis of the press cavity and
controls the discharge opening, thus avoids the drawbacks
of a slide movable in transverse direction to the axis of
the press cavity and, in addition, allows a more intense and
effective squeezing of the pressed goods. For shifting the
pressed goods out of the device it is thus no longer neces-
sary to release the piston exerting a pressure force in
direction to the discharge opening. The discharge opening
arranged in transverse direction relative to the axis of the
press cavity can without any difficulties be given a suf-
ficient length and width so that even bulky bones can with-
out difficulties pass this discharge opening. The inven-
tion additionally allows to delimit the press cavity by a
plurality of rings of mutually equal shape and size and thus
to reduce the production costs for the rings and addition-
ally provides advantages when re-introducing the rings into
the device after cleaning work because a special arrangement
of the rings need not be considered. The invention addi-
tionally provides the possibility to make the internal dia-
meter of the rings equal to the diameter of at least one ofthe pistons so that this piston is entering the press cavity
in matched relation. This does not only contribute to auto-
matically keep clean the rings but also to a more intense
and efficient squeezing or compression of the pressed good.
For forming the slit-shaped outlet openings it is convenient
to provide on the rings and distributed over their circum-
ference spacers, the rings being, for example, by piercing
bolts extending in parallel relation to the axis or by
engagement of the spacers within recesses of the adjacent
ring, securecl against becoming shifted in radial direction.
If the rings are maintained at a distance from the internal
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wall of a common cylindrical shell being removable together
with the rings from the path of movement of the pistons in
normal direction thereto, removal and reinstallation of the
rings for cleaning purposes becomes substantially facili-tated.
Removal of the shell accommodating the rings is, according to
the invention, facilitated if the shell can be extracted from
the path of movement of the pistons along a guide means or if
the shell c~ be swung out around an axis. In the case it is
recommended that clamping plates are contacting both sides
of the shell in its operating position within the device,
said clamping plates being travelled through by the pistons
and being adapted for being mutually clamped and at least one
of said clamping plates being removable from the shell in di-
rection of movement of the piston after having loosened the
clamping means. Thus, the shell can be released and be pul-
led with exertion of only low forces from between the clamp-
ing plates without the danger of becoming scratched. Pres-
sure release of the shell is facilitated if the clamping pla-
tes are pressed one from the other by elastic elements, the
spring force of which is overcome by the clamping means.
For preventing the rings from falling out of the
shell on removal of the shell, the shell has, according to an
advantageous embodiment of the invention, a central annular
rib on its internal wall and one set of rings is located on
either si~e said annular rib. Each of these sets of rings
is maintained in position by means of an end ring of increased
thickness and sealingly engaging the shell so that the plas-
ticised meat cannot emerge from the front ends of the shell.
A particularly favourable embodiment of the invention provides
piercing bolts extending on both sides of the annular rib, on
which the rings can be pinned with recesses provided on thelr
circumference or with openings, noting that the recesses or
openings are staggered one against the other in direction of
the circumference for unequal angles. This results in a
quite definite insertion of the rings in only one definite
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angular position, the rings being, however, mutually inter-
changeable. Preferably, the arrangement of the bolts is
different for both sets of rings for permanently keeping the
rings of one set separated from the rings of the other set.
It is convenient to maintain the bolts with their ends oppo-
sed from the annular rib within openings of the end rings,
because in this manner the bolts are maintained in an exactly
aligned condition.
According to an advantageous further development
of the invention, at least one of both pistons is tapered
and composed over part of its conical area of rings at its
generated surface, said rings defining between themselves
outlet openings for the meat. The tapered portion of the
piston penetrates the mass of bone and meat along the axis
of the press cavity, so that this mass becomes pressed in
outward direction against the rings, thus not only increas-
ing the ac-tion of the pressing pressure but also acting,
above all, better on the mass portions located adjacent the
axis of the press cavity.
The inventive process for operating the device
described essentially consists in that the mass of meat and
bones is introduced into the press cavity by means of one
piston and is then compressed between both pistons, so that
the pasty meat is emerging the slits between the rings, and
in that finally both pistons are moved in the same direction
for moving the pressed good remaining after finished press-
ing operation in longitudinal direction of the press cavity
out of this cavity in direction to the discharge opening.
This results in a continuous operation and, compared with
known devices of equal size, in an increased throughput with
simultaneously increased operating safety~ According -to the
invention the operation is preferably such that the piston
introducin~ the mass of meat and bones into the press cavity
is, for the purpose of introducing several charges, recipro-
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cated several -~imes, the other piston being arrested during
retracting movement of said first mentioned piston. On each
stroke of said first mentioned piston, a portion of the mass
of meat and bones is introduced into -the press cavity and
compressed together with-the press good already contained
therein. The piston associated with the discharge opening
is conveniently retracted in accordance with the increasing
amount of press good within the press cavity.
In the drawings, embodiments of the subject of the
invention are schematically shown.
Figure 1 shows the principle of the device in a
section;
Figure 2 shows a detail of the arrangement of the
rings in a section;
Figure 3 is a vertical section of a modified em-
bodiment; and
Fi~ure 4 shows a section along line IV-IV of Fig-
ure 3 in an enlarged scale.
:
The device has a press cylinder 1 having connected
to its top side a supply hopper 2 and having therein a press
piston 3 provided with a plate front surface 4, said press
piston 3 being shiftable in its longitudinal direction by
means of a drive means not shown in Flgure 1~ An outlet
cylinder 5 of similar construction is provided at the other
end of the ~evice and has arranged therein for shifting move-
ment in axial direction a piston 6 being provided at its
surface facin~ the press cavity 8 with a conical tip 7.
This piston 6 is by means of a drive means, which is equally
not shown in detail, of smaller power than has the drive
means of the piston 3, driven for being moved in direction
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to the press cavity 8. The mantle of the press cavity 8 is
composed of a plurality of mutually identical rings 10 being
arranged one beside the other with formation of slit-shaped
outlet openings 11 for plasticized meat. For this purpose,
spacer members 12 are on one side of each ring 10 distribu-
ted over the circumference of the respective rings and de-
pressions 13 are associated with these spacer members on the
other side of the respec-tive rings, said depressions match-
ing correspondingly the spacer members. The spacer members
12 of one ring are engaging the depressions 13 of the adja-
cent ring so that the rings 10 are secured in their relative
position.
The rings 10 are arranged between two clamping
plates 16,16' which are firmly connected by means of screw
bolts 15 with flanges 14,14' of the supply cylinder 1 and
the discharge cylinder 5, respectively. By tightening the
screws 15, the rings 10 are fixed in their position and the
whole unit is clamped together such that the pressure re-
quired for severing the mass of meat from the bones can beexerted.
The mode of action of this device is as follows:
The press good to be treated and consisting of raw meat and
bones is introduced into the supply cylinder 1 via the supply
hopper 2 and pushed into the press cavity 8 by means of the
piston 3. Simultaneously, also the piston 6 is shifted in
opposite direction to the direction of movement of the piston
3. The press good is thus compressed within the press cavity
8 and the tapered tip 7 of the piston 6 is, in addition,
pressing the press good in outward direction. Under the
action of the compression force, the major part of the meat
is given a pasty consistency and, with this consistency,
pressed outward from the press cavity and through the slit-
shaped outlet opening 11 existing between the rings 10,where the meat emerges over the whole circumference of the
77
rings. As soon as the front end of the press piston 3 has
approached the tip 7 of the piston 6 and the press pressure
of the piston 3 has reached a val~le exceeding the maximum
press pressure of the piston 6, the piston 6 is pushed back-
wardly by the piston 3 and the remainder of the press good
remaining within the press cavity, essentially the mass of
bones, is discharged through the discharge opening 9 in down-
ward direction, i.e. transversely to the direction of the
a~es of the pistons 3 and 6.
The conical tip 7 of the piston 6 can be provided
with ribs parallely extending relative to the generatrices
of the mantle surface, said ribs acting as a guide means for
the press good.
In the embodiment according to Figures 3 and 4,
two clamping plates 16,16' are supported within the frame 17,
the clamping plate 16 being rigidly connected with the screw
bolts 15 designed as strong tension rods, whereas the clamp-
ing plate 16' is pierced by these screw bol~s and pressed
agains-t the clamping plate 16 by nuts 18 screwed onto the
screw bolts 15, the clamping plate 16' being pressed against
the clamping plate 16 against the action of elastic elements
19, for example cup springs, rubber blocks or the like,
being tensioned on tightening of the nuts 18. The elastic
elements 1~ are, in this case interpositioned between rods
21 connected with the clamping plates 16,16'. Between the
clamping plates 16,16', there is located a cylindrical shell
~0 surrounding the press cavity 8 and enclosing the rings 10
defining the outlet openings 11 wlth a certain clearance so
that an annu:lar space 22 is kept free between the circurn-
ferential surace of the rings 10 and the inner surface of
the shell 20, said annular space serving as a collecting
space for the plasticized meat which is discharged from this
annular space 22 via hoses 23 extending through the shell 20
into a carriage 24 having been moved into the frame 17. A
central annular rib 25 is provided within the shell 20 for
subdividing -the total number of rings into two sets of rings,
the rings of which are pinned onto bolts 26 fixed on both
sides of said annular rib 25. Three such bolts 26 are pro-
vided for each set of rings 10, said bolts engaging recesseson the mantle surface of the rings 10. For obtaining unam-
biguous pinned position of the rings 10 on said bolts 26,
the bolts 26 are staggered one against the other for unequal
angles in circumferential direction of the annular rib so
that the rings 10 can be pinned onto bolts 26 in only one
definite position. For reliably keeping separated the rings
10 of one set of rings from the other set of rings, the
arrangement of the bolts 26 on one side of the annular rib
25 is different from the arrangement of the bol-ts on the
other side of the annular rib. The ends of the bolts 26 are
in engagement with end rings 27 and are thus reliably main-
tained in position. These end rings 27 are introduced into
the front ends of the shell 20 and sealed relative to the
shell by means of O-rings 28 along their circumferential
wall, so that meat cannot emerge from the annular space 22
at this location.
The shell 20 can, together with the rings 10 be
maintained in position by this shell, be shifted in trans-
verse direction relative to the axes of the pistons 3,6,whereupon the rings 10 can, after removal of the end rings 27,
easily be taken out of the shell 20 for cleaning purposes
and equally easily be reinstalled. For providing a possi
bility to extract the shell 20, the shell 20 is fixed onto
bent brackets 29, the other ends of which are non-rotatably
fixed on a shaft 30, in its turn being pivotable by means of
pneumatic cylinders 31 linlced with said shaft 30. The pneu-
matic cylinders 31 are operated by a control means 33 via a
conduit 32.
~5
~s is shown in Figure ~, the brackets 29 are bent
such that they will not collide with the screw bolts 15 and
the rods 21, respectively, when swivelling out the shell 20
around the axis of the shaft 30.
S Prior to swivelling ou-t the shell 20, the clamped
condition of the clamping plates 16,16' must be discontinued
by loosening the nuts 18, whereby the elastic elements 19
force both clamping plates 16,16' one from the other and the
clamping plate 16' is sliding on the screw bolts 15. The
front ends of the shell 20 are thus released and the shell
can be swung out wi.thout problems.
Each of the rings 10 comprises on one of its front
surface grooves for the emerging meat, said grooves being
delimited by webs of essentially trapezoidal shape. For the
ease of manufacturing such grooves, these grooves are provi-
ded wi~h mutually parallel limiting walls. The depth of the
grooves is approximately 0.5 mm and the same at all loca-
tions. Each ring is chamferred on its inner mantle surface
so that an effect like that of barbs is exerted on the mass
of meat and bones.
As is shown in Figure 3, the piston 6 is provided
at its conicaltip 7 with a section equally formed of rings
34. At this section the plasticized mass of meat can also
enter the interior of the piston 6, from where this mass of
meat can flow via passages 35 provided within the piston 6
into a hose 36 transferring the meat into the carriage 24.
The squeezed mass of bones falls together with the residue
through the discharge opening 9 into a further carriage 37
after having retracted the piston 6.
: The piston 3 is formed by the mantle of a piston-
cylinder-aggregate having its piston 38 stationarily fixed
within the frame 7. In similar manner, a pressurized air
cylinder 39 for the piston 6 is fixed to the frame 17.
-- 10 --
~8~77
Acutation of the pistons 3,6 is effected by means
of conduits 40 and 41, respectively, supplying the corres-
ponding pressurized air aggregates, said conduits receiving
pressurized air from a compressor 43 via a control means 42.
S The aggregates 38,39 can, however, also be hydraulically
actuated.
The piston 6 can also be used for pressing the
clamping plate 16', after reinsertion of the shell 20,
against the clamping plate 16, so that the nuts 18 can easily
be tightened.
As is shown in the drawing, the internal diameter
of the rings 10 is preferably equal to or somewhat greater
than the external diameter of the piston 3. The piston 3
can thus be introduced into the interior space of the rings
10 so that the press good can there completely be squeezed.
In an analogous manner, at least the conical tip 7 of the
piston 6 can, via an opening ~4 provided in the clamping
plate 16'~ be introduced into the inner space of the rings
10, so that the press good contained therein can be pressed
in radially outward direction.
The operation of the device according to Figures 3
and ~ is essentially the same than that of a device accord-
ing to Figures 1 and 2. It is, however, also possible to
perform the operation (as has been described in connection
with the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2) such that by recip-
rocating the piston 3 several times a plurality of charges
of the mass of mea-t and bones is introduced from the supply
hopper 2 into the press cavity 8. In this case, the piston
6 can, in correspondence with the increasing residual mass
formed within the press cavity 8 after each charge introduced,
be pressed back step by step.
The device provides a profitable recovery of
7'7
residual meat from pigs as well as from cattle, calves,
sheep and other meat-producing animals. The yield from the
recovery of residual meat is, in dependence on the bone
material, up to 5S percent. The content in calcium is sub-
stantially below the maximum admitted value and lower thanin meat obtained by manually removing meat from bones~ By
the mentioned stepwise squeezing, the residual meat does
emerge under a lower resistance, so that in praxis no tem-
perature increase will occur.
1~