Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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PEELING MACHINE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a machine for auto-
matically peeling vegetables, particularly onions, and
5 some fruits.
As shown in Fig. 6, an onion l comprises an outer skin
2 which is a thin outer layer of the onion l, an inner skin 3
which is a layer inside said outer skin 2 and has a thickness
of about l to 2 mm, and an edible portion 4 inside said inner
10 skin 3. Needless to say, the outer skin 2 is not used for
food. The inner skin 3 is not edible either because the inner
skin 3 may be discolored or damaged. Therefore, it is necessary
to remove the outer skin 2 and the inner skin 3 before cooking
the onion.
The onion is usually peeled as follows: First, the two ends,
root and stem,(unuseable portions) la and lb of the onion l are
cut off along lines A and A' (Fig. 5); then, the outer skin 2
and the inner skin 3 are removed from the edible portion 4.
Some other vegetables, such as scallions, some fruits, such
20 as pineapples, are usually peeled in the same manner as onions
First, both ends (unuseable portions) of the vegetable or fruit
are cut off, and then the outer covering of the vegetable or
fruit is taken off.
In any case, the peeling work is done by hand and requires
25 much labor and time particularly when large quantities of veg-
etables or fruit are peeled.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It iB the object of the present invention to provide a
machine for automatically peeling vegetables or fruits, partic-
30 ularly onions.
This object has been attained by a machine having means forautomatically removing both ends of the vegetable and means for
automatically removing the outer covering of the vegetable.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a schematic elevation illustrating a peeling
machine according to the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of one portion of said machine taken
5 in the direction of an arrow A in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a partially sectional view showing the vegetable
holding means.
Fig. 4 i6 an enlarged sectional view taken on line IV-IV
of Fig. 3
Fig. 5 is a view illustrating an onion.
Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line VI-VI of Fig. 5
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present invention will now be described with reference
to the attached drawings.
Numeral 10 represents a frame of a pePling machine according
to the present invention. A conveyor 11, such as a chain con-
veyor, driven by a suitable driving means (not shown) is mounted
on the frame, said conveyor 11 being preferably in an inclined
position. A plurality of vegetable-holding means 12 are fixed
20 on the conveyor 11 at suitable intervals. The vegetable-holding
; means 12 comprises a vegetable support 13 and a vegetable press-
ing device 14 opposing said vegetable support 13 (at the right
of said vegetable support 13 in Figs. 2 and 3). The vegetable
support 13 preferably comprises an angle bar member formed so as
25 to have a general shape resembling the letter L (See Figs. 3
and 4.). The vegetable pressing device 14 is adapted to press
a vegetable 1, such as an onion, against the vegetable support
13 so as to hold the vegetable 1 in place thereon. Said veg-
etable pressing device 14 comprises, for example, a supporting
30 cylinder 17 mounted on said conveyor 11, a pushing shaft 16 pro-
vided at one end thereof with a vegetable pressing surface 15,
the other end of said shaft 16 being slidably inserted into said
supporting cylinder 17, and a spring 18 being positioned between
said other end (inner end) of said shaft 16 and the closed end
35 of said supporting sylinder 17 so that said spring 18 always
presses said shaft 16 toward said vegetable support 13 (See Fig.3.)
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A cutting device 19 for cutting off an end of the veget-
able is disposed one on each side of the conveyor 11 on the
frame 10. Each of the cutting devices 19 comprises a cutter-
supporting member 21 pivotably mounted at its leading end
5 (left end in Fig. 2) at pivot 23 and adapted to pivot in a
plane parallel with the surface of the conveyor 11, the trail-
ing portion (right portion in Fig. 2) of said cutter-supporting
member 21 being urged inward (toward the center line of the
conveyor 11) by spring means 20, said cutter-supporting member
10 21 being provided on its inside with a cutter 22. The cutting
edge of said cutter 22 is preferably inclined with respect to
the plane of travel of the conveyor 11, but it may be perpen-
dicular thereto or also may be a disc cutter rotated by an
electric motor. Referring further to the cutter-supporting
15 member 21, a pivot shaft 2a i8 erected at each side of the con-
veyor 11, the leading end of the cutter-supporting member 21
being attached to said pivot shaft 23, said spring means 20
being disposed between said trailing portion of the cutter-
supporting member 21 and a spring support 24 erected on the
20 frame 10. When the cutter 22 is inclined with respect to the
plane of travel of the conveyor 11, it is desirable that an
auxiliary cutter 25, with its cutting edge inclined in a dir-
ection opposite to the direction of inclination of said cutter
22, is attached to the inside of the cutter-supporting member 21,
25 under said cutter 22 (See Fig. 1.). When the auxiliary cutter
25 is attached under the cutter 22, the ends of the vegetable
are more certain to be removed.
A slitter-cutter 26 i8 disposed at one side of the conveyor
11 beyond one of the vegetable-end dutting devices 19, said
30 slitter-cutter 26 being adapbed to move back and forth substan-
tially perpendicularly to the direction of feed of the conveyor
11. For example, at one side of the conveyor 11 behind one of
the cutting devices 19, an air cylinder 27 is disposed in a dir-
ection substantially perpendicular to the direction of feed of
35 the conveyor 11, and the slitter-cutter 26 is attached to the
; end of the piston rod 28 of the air cylinder 27 (See Fig. 2.)
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The slitter-cutter 26 cuts into the outer covering (the outer
skin 2 and the inner skin 3 in case of the onion) of the vege-
- table so as to facilitate removing the outer covering, said
slitter-cutter 26 being adapted to move quickly so as to co-
5 incide in time with the feed of the vegetable.
The discharge end of the conveyor 11 is connected, throughthe intermediary of a chute 29, with means for automatically
removing the outer covering of the vegetable. The means com-
prises a pair of rollers 30 and 31 disposed near the outlet of
10 the chute 29, said rollers 30 and 31 being suitably spaced to
receive the vegetable and being rotated in the same direction
so as to rotate the vegetable. An air blowing nozzle 32 is
provided near said rollers 30 and 31, said air nozzle 32 being
adapted to blow compressed air from an air compressor (not shown)
against the vegetable to dislodge the outer covering. it least
one of the rollers 30 and 31 is adapted to move forward and
bachw~rd at controlled time intervals to change the spacing
between the two rollers. For example, the roller 30 is in a
fixed position and is rotated in one direction through a belt,
20 chain, or the like, etc. (not shown) by an electric motor 33.
The other roller 31 is attached to the end of the piston rod 35
of a cylinder 34 controlled to act at controlled time intervals
(for example, every 2 to 3 seconds) by a timer, said roller 31
being rotated, in the same direction as the roller 30, through
25 flexible power transmission means (not shown) by said electric
motor 33.
The operation of the peeling machine according to the present
invention will now be described, using onions as an example. It
is to be noted that the following description applies also in
30 the case of peeling other vegetables such as scallions and fruits
; such as pineapples.
At the front end (left end in Figs. 1 and 2) of the conveyor
11, each onion 1 is placed sideways on a vegetable support 13 of
a vegetable-holding means 12. Then, the onion 1 is pressed
35 against the vegetable support 13 by a vegetable pressing device
14 and is firmly held between thbm. Particularly when the
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vegetable support 13 comprises an angle bar formed so as to
have a general shape resembling the letter L, the onion 1 is
held very securely because it is supported on two points (c
and d) of the vertical portion of the vegetable support 13
5 and further two points o the horizontal po.'ion thereof (See
Figs. 3 and 4). When the onion 1, thus held by the vegetable-
holding means 12, is passed between the two vegetable end
cutting devices 19 by the conveyor 11, the onion 1 pushes the
cutter supporting members 21 outward against the force of the
10 spring means 20 as shown by broken lines in Fig. 2, and both
ends la and lb of the onion 1 are cut off by the cutters 22
and auxiliary cutters 25 attached to the inside of the cutter
supporting members 21. Even onions having various sizes are
cut respectively to their suitable size because the cutting
15 devices 19 at the two sides of the conveyor 11 are pushed out-
ward by the onions according to their size. When the onion 1
has passed between the cutting devices 19, the cutting devices
19 are returned to their original positions by the spring means
~20. hen the onion 1, both ends of which have been cut off by
20 the cutting devices 19, i5 conveyed near the slitter-cutter 26
by the conveyor 11, the slitter-cutter 26 is quickly moved
across the conveyor 11 by the air cylinder 27 so as to cut into
the outer covering (outer skin 2 and into the inner skin 3) of
the onion 1 (See Fig. 3.) and then the slitter-cutter 26 is
25 quickly returned to its original position by the air cylinder 27.
When the vegetable holding means 12 comes to the discharge end
(right end in Figs. 1 and 2) of the conveyor 11, the distance
between the vegetable pressing device 14 and the vegetable sup-
port 13 becomes larger as shown by broken lines in Fig. 1, and
30 the onion 1 is released prom the vegetable holding means 12.
The onion 1 then drops through the chute 29 onto the rollers 30
and 31 which are suitably spaced to hold the onion. Since the
rollers 30 and 31 are rotating in:the same direction, the onion
1 also is rotated in the same direction (See arrows in Fig. 1).
At the same time, compressed air is blown onto the onion 1 from
the air blowing nozzle 32. That is, since the onion 1, which
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has a cut made by the slitter-cutter 26 and whose ends la and
lb have been cut off, is rotated on the rollers 30 and 31
while being blown by compressed air, the outer skin 2 and inner
skin 3 of the onion 1 are separated from the edible portion 4.
5 When the roller 31 is moved toward the right in Fig. 1 so as to
increase the distance between the rollers 30 and 31, the edible
portion 4, outer skin 2 and inner skin 3 of the onion 1 sep-
arately fall through the opening between the rollers 3~ and 31.
Then, the roller 31 is returned to its original position. Thus,
10 the outer skin 2 and inner skin 3 of the onion 1 are automat-
ically separated from the edible portion.
As mentioned above, if vegetables such as onions are put
on the vegetable supports of the vegetable holding means, the
peeling machine of the invention automatically peels the veg-
15 etables. Therefore, the peeling machine saves much time andlabor particularly when large quantities of vegetables are
handled. Although the peeling machine has been described with
reference to peeling onions,the invention is not limited to
such and, as iB obvious from the specification and drawings,
20 the machine is suitable for peeling other vegetables and some
fruit.
