SAUSAGE LINK FORMING DEVICE INFEED CONVEYOR

CONVOYEUR D'ALIMENTATION POUR MACHINE A LIGATURER LA SAUCISSE

English Abstract

SAUSAGE LINK FORMING DEVICE WITH INFEED CONVEYOR
Abstract of the Disclosure
A sausage link handling and packaging machine
which comprises a feed conveyor for receiving individual
sausage links from a link forming machine and for
transferring them onto a main conveyor where they are
oriented in groups in a side-by-side transverse alignment
relationship for packaging. An infeed conveyor is
provided to feed the stuffed sausage casing to the link
forming machine to support the casing and feed it at
substantially the same speed as the rotational speed of
the link forming machine. This infeed conveyor supports
the casing and prevents it from being ripped or punctured
by the link forming machine by eliminating the tension
that would otherwise be present by the load of the
stuffed casing if fed directly to the link former and
pulled thereby.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive
property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:-
1. In a sausage link forming machine having a
rotating support means for supporting and forming sausage
links from a stuffed casing fed to a peripheral support
surface thereof and clasped by shearing elements to form
individual sausage links, the improvement comprising an
infeed conveyor positioned and aligned adjacent said link
forming machine to feed and deposit said stuffed casing
on said peripheral support surface at a speed to match
the speed of said link forming machine to eliminate any
pulling force on said stuffed casing by said machine,
said stuffed casing being in friction contact with a
conveying surface of said infeed conveyor and drawn
thereon by a smooth surface at an inlet end thereof, and
speed control means to couple a drive of said infeed
conveyor to a drive of said link forming machine.
2. An infeed conveyor as claimed in claim 1
wherein stationary guide walls are disposed above said
conveying surface to guide said sausage casing along a
predetermined path over said conveying surface to align
same with said peripheral support surface of said link
forming machine.
3. An infeed conveyor as claimed in claim 2
wherein said guide walls are adjustable guide walls.
4. An infeed conveyor as claimed in claim 2
wherein said speed control means is a gear box coupling
said drive of said link forming machine to a drive
sprocket of said infeed conveyor.
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Description

2 ~ 1 9
B~CKGROUND OF INVENTION
Fleld of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sausage link
handling and packaging machine wherein sausages are
formed at an input end of the machine by a link former
which is fed a stuffed sausage casing. More
particularly, the present invention relates to an infeed
conveyor associa-ted with the link former to prevent the
saùsage casing from being ripped or punctured by the link
forming machine.
Description of Prior Art
In my earlier patent application Ser. No.
522,916 filed on May 14, 1990 and entitled "Sausage Link
Handling and Packaging Machine", there is illustrated a
link forming machine to which is fed a stuffed sausage
casing. The casing is pulled by the link forming machine
which~ is provided with a plurality of equidistantly
spaced clasping and shearing elements or pincers to form
individual sausages from the casing. When the link
former handles large diame-ter casings, and particularly
casings which have a very fragile skin, the skin is
damaged by the link former due to the load of the casing
which applies a tension on the skin as the stuffed cas.ing
is pulled onto t.he link former causing the skin to
puncture or rupture when the p,incers squeeze the skin to
form link5.

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SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is therefore a feature of the present
invention to provide an infeed conveyor associated with
the link former to support and feed the casing to the
link former in order to substantiall~ overcome the
above-mentloned disadvantage.
According to the above feature, from a broad
aspect, the present inven-tion provides an improvement in
a sausage link forming machine having rotating support
means for supporting and forming sausage links from a
stuffed casing fed to a peripheral support thereof and
clasped by shearing elements to form individual sausage
links. ~he improvement comprises an infeed conveyor
which is positioned and aligned adjacent the link forming
machine to feed and deposit the stuffed casing on the
peripheral support surface of the link forming machine
and at a speed -to match the speed of the link forming
machine whereby to eliminate any pulling force on the
stuffed casing by the machine~ The stuffed casing is in
friction contact with a conveying surface of the infeed
conveyor and is drawn thereon by a smooth surface at an
inlet end thereof. A speed control means is provided to
couple a drive of the infeed conveyor to a drive of the
link orming machine.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the present invention
will now be described with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which:
FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a sausage
link forming machine having the infeed conveyor of the
present invention secured to a feed end thereof; and
-- 2 --

205~ 8~9
FIGURE 2 is a simplified schematic view showin~
the position of the infeed conveyor with respect to the
link forming machine and the gear coupling between the
infeed conveyor and the link forming machine.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to the drawings, there is shown at
10, a link formlng machine which is comprised of a wheel
14 having a plurality of clasping and shearing elements
16 equidistantly spaced about a peripheral support
surface of the wheel formed by the clasping elements
wherein sausage links 17 are formed and severed and
dropped under the link forming machine and onto a feed
conveyor 13. This type of link formin~ machine is well
known in the art.
The present invention relates to an infeed
conveyor 10 which is supported in position and aligned
adjacent the link forming machine 14 to feed and deposit
a stuffed sausage casing 11 on the peripheral support
surface, that is to say, between the cl.asping and
shearing elements 16. The infeed conveyor 10 has an
endless belt 13 which is trained about an idler roll 15
and a drive roll 17, the latter being coupled to a gear
box 18 through a drive sprocket 19 and a chain link 20.
The gear box is also coupled to the drive 21 of the link
forming machine 14. Accordingly, the speed of the infeed
conveyor 10 is substantially matched to the speed of the
link forming machine 14.
As better illustrated in Figure 2, the infeed
conveyor 10 is positioned such as to deposit the stuffed
sausage casing 11 onto the link forming machine thereby
eliminating any pulling force on the stuffed casing 11 by
-- 3

2~1gl9
the clasping and shearing element 16. The stuffed casing
11 is drawn by the conveyor 10 and more particularly by
the smooth curved inlet end portion 23 thereof. The long
sausage casings 11 are placed and supported on a table 22
at the feed end of the conveyor 10 and may be also
supported by a person standing at this feed station.
It is pointed out that as the link forming
machine rotates, the clasping and shearing element 16
operates like scissors in that the V-shaped opening which
receives the stuffed casing, as shown in Figure 1, closes
as the machine rotates so that when the sausage casing
reaches the underside portion of the link forming wheel
14, the sausage link is severed and falls onto the
conveyor 13. As shown in Figure 1, the conveyor 13 feeds
a sausage aligning device 25 and the link former is
operated so as to form groups of sausage links, as shown
at 17" which are conveyed on the conveyor belt 30 in the
direction of arrow 31.
By eliminating the axial load on the stuffed
casing 11, there is less likelihood of the skin of the
casing being ripped or punctured by the link forming
machine during its transport about a portion of its
peripheral support surface. I'his also results in less
machine stoppages and the forming of substantially
per~ect sausage links, thereby furtller eliminating time
loss in having to replace a sausage with a defective
casing when these are later packaged.
A pair of stationary guide walls 26 are also
positioned above the top support surface 13' of the
infeed conveyor 10 whereby to guide the stuffed sausage

2~5~ 9
casing 11 precisely in alignment with the clasping and
shearing elemen-t 16 disposed about a peripheral support
surface of the link former.
It is within the ambit of the present invention
to cover any obvious modifications provided such
modifications fall within the scope of the appended
claims.

Representative Drawing