Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
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Technical Field. This invention relates to cutting
blade assemblles for hydraulic food cutting apparatus.
More particularly it relates to a cutter blade assembly
which defines a core area and a perlpheral scrap area
wherein the core area of the food product is cut into a
recognizable decorative form.
Background Art. Many food products, and par-
ticularly vegetables and fruits are processed prior to
sale either by canning or freezlng. Unless the product
involved ls of a naturally occurring edible size, for
example peas, the product ls usually trimmed and sllced,
or dlced, to edible size prior to preservation process-
ing such as cannlng or freezing.
These slicing, dicing and other cutting operations
have traditionally been accomplished with mechanical
cutters. However, relatively recent advances in food
product cutting technologies has resulted in the common
use of hydraulic cutting apparatus whlch can be used to
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cut relatively huge quantities of food product at very
high speeds. Cutting capacities of 30,000 pounds to
50,000 pounds per hour are not unusual.
In a typical hydraulic cutting apparatus wherein
potatoes are to be cut, they are dropped into a tank
filled with water and then pumped through conduit into
an alignment chute wherein the potatoes are aligned and
accelerated to high speed before impinglng upon a cutter
blade assembly where the potato core is cut into a
plurality of smaller pieces. Hydraulic cutting ap-
paratus, or as they are known in the trade, hydroknlves,
can be utilized to cut extremely high volumes of
potatoes lf the potatoes can be properly aligned and
accelerated to high speed lmmediately prior to impact
with the cutter blade assembly.
FISHER, ET AL., Patent No. 4,372,184, discloses a
cutter blacle assembly for use in coring a potato.
Quite obviously there are a varlety of applications
for hydraulic cutter knlves other than ~ust for pota-
toes. Some of these would include beets, pickles,carrots, apples, plneapples and literally a host of
other edlble food products.
None of the prior art discloses or teaches a method
of utllizing a hydroknife apparatus for cutting the core
of a potato into a decorative form so as to enhance the
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marketing value of the processed food product, such as
fish-shaped french fries for fast food seafood
restaurants. Or, to enhance the edible appeal of the
product in relationship to a particular market group
such as alphabet french fries for small children.
Decorative shaped food products have been developed
and suc~essfully marketed for many years. However, as a
universal rule, they are formed products as opposed to
directly cut from food product in original cellular
form. Examples include cookie and pasta dough which is
then either extruded and then cross sliced or sheet cut
by cookie cutter type apparatus. The direct cutting of
a decorative shape of a product core, which can then be
cross sliced has not been attempted before.
Accordingly, it is an object of an aspect of this
invention to produce a cutter blade assembly which can
be utilized in a hydraulic cutting apparatus to cut the
core of food product passing through the cutter blade
assembly into a decorative, recognizable shape.
Various aspects of the invention are as follows:
In a system for the cutting of food products into
decorative forms, having a product receiving tank
adapted to be filled with a fluid medium, means to
discharge said products into said tank, a food pump for
withdrawing said medium and said products from said
tank, a product fee line, said pump discharging said
products into said product feed line, a tapered section
in said feed line to separate, align, accelerate and
feed said products into a cutter blade assembly, and
means posterior to said cutter blade assembly, to
discharge cut product, wherein the improvement is
characterized in a cutter blade assembly having:
a perimeter frame having an inner longitudinal
passage of size and shape for the longitudinal passage
of product and fluid medium there through at a speed of
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greater than 40 feet per second and less than 60 feet
per second;
a plurality of sequentially arranged strip knives
disposed one after another within the longitudinal
passageway of said perimeter frame for forming a single
non-triangular, non-rectilinear, non-circular
decoratively shaped food product core by segmenting said
longitudinal passageway into a plurality of peripheral
segments for the cutting of a food product passed there
through;
said plurality of strip knives being of size and
shape so as to define said peripheral segments of the
longitudinal passageway which results in the cross
sectional shape of the core having a single non-
triangular, non-rectilinear, non-circular decorative
shape.
In a system for the cutting of food products into
decorative forms, having a product receiving tank
adapted to be filled with a fluid medium, means to
discharge said products into said tank, a food pump for
withdrawing said medium and said products from said
tank, a product feel line, said pump discharging said
products into said product feed line, a tapered section
in said feed line to separate, align, acoelerate and
feed said products into a cutter blade assembly, and
means posterior to said cutter blade assembly, to
discharge cut product, wherein the improvement is
characterized in a cutter blade assembly having:
a perimeter frame having an inner longitudinal
passage of size and shape for the longitudinal passage
of product and fluid medium there through at a speed of
greater than 40 feed per second and less than 60 feet
per second;
a plurality of sequentially arranged arrays of
strip knives disposed one after another within the
longitudinal passageway of said perimeter frame wherein
each of said arrays of strip knives is shaped to cut
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away different portions of the periphery of a single
non-triangular, non-rectilinear, non-circular decorative
food core as the food product sequentially impacts each
array of strip knives thereby minimizing deceleration of
the food core within said passageway.
In a system for the cutting of food products into
decorative forms, having a product receiving tank
adapted to be filled with a fluid medium, means to
discharge said products into said tank, a food pump for
withdrawing said medium and said products from said
tank, a product feed line, said pump discharging said
products into said product feel line, a tapered section
in said feed line to separate, align, accelerate and
feed said products into a cutter blade assembly, and
means posterior to said cutter blade assembly, to
discharge cut product, wherein the improvement is
characterized in a cutter blade assembly having:
a perimeter frame having an inner longitudinal
passage of size and shape for the longitudinal passage
of product and fluid medium there through at a speed of
greater than 40 feed per second and less than 60 feet
per second;
a plurality of strip knives, each being shaped to
cut a different portion of the total perimeter of a
single non-triangular, non-rectilinear, non~circular
decorative food core, said strip knives being disposed
within said perimeter frame in sequential fashion, one
after another along the longitudinal food path, whereby
deceleration of the food product is minimized within
said cutter blade assembly.
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DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
Thls object is achieved by use of a cutter blade
assembly wherein a plurality of strip knlves are
utilized to define peripheral segments of the lon-
gitudlnal passageway which result in a resldual crofissectlonal core area havlng a partlcular decorative
shape.
Because of the dynamic forces assoclated with the
impact of the product against the strlp knives, and the
need to frequently sharpen the strlp knives, it is not
practical to fabricate the complete form fro~ a single
strlp knife in cookie cutter fashlon. Instead, the
perimeter frame is subdivided into a number of parallel
sequential planes, each containing strip knives which
define particular segments of the peripheral area.
End tabs on the strlp knlves are lnserted lnto
notches ln the perimeter frame and are held firmly in
position to mlnlmize wobble by compression of said tabs
inserted into the perimeter frame from the strip knives
when the varlous sections of the perlmeter frame are
bolted together.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig~ 1 is a schematic representation of a hydraulic
cutting apparatus.
Flg. 2 is the top plan view of a cutter blade
S assembly for cutting a decorative M.
Flg. 3 is a representatlonal perspective view of a
partially cut potato core in the shape of an M.
Fl~. 4 lS a representatlonal perspective view of
the cutter blade assembly for cuttlng a decorative core
M.
Fig. S ls a representational ~lde view of a cutter
blade ring and blade.
Flg. 6 is a representatlonal vlew of the cutter
blade assembly for cuttlng a slngle decorative fish
shaped core.
Flg. 7 ls a representatlonal vlew of the cutter
blade assembly for cuttlng two decoratlve flsh shaped
cores.
Fig. 8 18 a representational vlew of the cutter
blad~ assembly for cuttlng a decorative A shaped core.
Fig. 9 is a representatlonal view of the cutter
blade assembly for cutting an decorative X shaped core.
Flg. 10 is a representatlonal view of the cutter
blade assembly for cutting a decorative K shaped core.
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BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT INVENTION
Fig. 1 shows, ln schematlcal format, the main
components of a hydraullc cuttlng apparatus for use in
cutting potatoes. Potatoes 17 are dumped into the water
fllled receivlng tank 20. Food pump 21, usually a
single impeller centrifugal pump, draws its suction from
receiving tank 20, and pumps water and the suspended
potatoes 17 from the tank lnto nozzle gun 22.
Nozzle gun 22 functlons as a venturi which is used
to accelerate and align potatoes 17 immediately prior to
impinging upon the knife blades of cutter blade assembly
10. Depending upon the product belng cut, its size,
core density and physlcal characteristics, normal speeds
at the point of impingment upon the knife blades of
cutter blade assembly 10 range from forty feet per
second to sixty feet per second.
The cut product, whlch ln thls case is a decora-
tively shaped potato core 18, and the peripheral scrap
19 exit cutter blade assembly 10 lnto deceleration loop
23 which in effect is the second half of the venturi.
The deceleration loop returns to a point above recelving
tank 20 where the water, cut cores 18 and scrap 19 are
deposited onto chain separator 24. The water passes
through chain separator 24 and returns to receiving tank
2' 20. Chaln separator 24 ls typlcally an endless loop
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chain or dewatering shaker which is used to mechanically
remove the potatoes from the hydraulic cutting apparatus
assembly. The decorative cores 18 and scrap l9 are then
usually mechanically separated by means of a sizer
conveyor, not sh'own. The cores 18 are then sllced,
again usually mechanlcally, into appropriate thicknesses
for further processing by blanching, freezing and
packaging for sale.
The cutter blade assemblies in use today normally
run at capacities of 30,000 pounds per hour to 50,000
pounds per hour, and can be operated at capacities of up
to 100,000 pounds of product per hour. During the
course of an eight hour work shlft, that represents a
relatively huge amount of food product passing through
lS the cutter blade assembly, and as a result, strip knives
are removed for resharpening about once per eight hour
work shift.
Referring to Figs. 2, 4 and S, my cutter blade
assembly, in an embodlment designed to produce a potato
core ln the shape of an M, as shown in Fig. 3, ls
disclosed. In order to produce the decorative M, as is
shown ln Figs. 2 and 3, a plurality of strip knives must
be utilized to cut away peripheral segments of the
potato in order to define an M in the core area of the
potato. The end tabs of strip knives 15 as is shown in
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Figs. 4 and 5 are inserted into notches 14 of rings 11, 12
~ and 13, each ring and its connecting strip knives 15
defining a separate array, and all rings together de-
fining a multisegmented peripheral volume of the longi-
tudinal passageway. By arranging a plurality of strip
knives lS to define various segments of the longitudinal
passageway, the residual cross sectional core area can be
shaped into a variety of recognizable decorative forms.
In the case of a decorative M as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and
4, six strip knives are required, and result in a core in
the form of a decorative M and up to twelve separate
peripheral areas. Referring to Fig. 2, whole potato 17 is
schematically represented at the point where it is just
about to impinge upon the cutter blade assembly 10. It
can be seen that potato 17 will be cut into a potato core
having a cross sectional shape of an M and twelve separate
peripheral scraps.
Fig. 5 is a representational side view which shows a
feature of my invention which results in a minimization of
wobble of the strip knives in the cutter blade assembly.
The end tab sections of strip knife 15 are slightly ele-
vated above the plane surface of ring 13 so that when all
of the rings containing the strip knives are bolted to-
gether by use of bolts passing through holes 16, strip
knives 15 will be tightly clamped into place.
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This deslgn, as is shown in Figs. 4 and 5 results
in a cutter blade assembly which can be quickly disas-
sembled for purposes of removing and sharpening strip
~nives lS.
Figs. 6 through 10 show other configurations of the
strip knives which are designed to produce decorative
shaped cores in a variety of different configurations.
Figs. 6 and 7 disclose strlp knife configurations whlch
result in a decoratlve core in the shape of fish. Fig.
6 uses six strlp knlves to configure the core in the
shape of a single fish. ~t requires the use of three
sectional rings to hold six strip knives. Fig. 7
dlscloses a strip ~nife configuration which results in
the product core being cut into two decorative fish
lS sections, and requlres the use of eight strip knives and
four rlng sections. Figs. 8, 9 and 10 disclose other
configurations of strip knives which result in core
shapes in the forms of an A, X and R. In practice it
has been found that virtually all of the letters of the
alphabet as well as decorative geometric shapes such as
stars and triangles can be easily produced by varying
the configurat~ons of the strip knives.
While there is shown and described the present
preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be
di~tinctly understood that thls invention is not limited
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thereto but may be variously embodied to practice within
the scope of the following claims.
