Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Vemag Mas~ n~au Gm~H, Weserstrasse 32, 27266 ~erden
_____________~_________________ ________~____________________________
Method and Device ~or Producing Poxtioned Sausage
_____________________________________________________________________
The invention concerns a methbd ~or producing portioned raw ~;au~;age,
boiling sausage, o~ the like o~ a predeterminable sausage-mass coars-
enes~, in which production the 6ausage meat, sausage mass, or the like
is introduced into a ~illing ~achine and there compressed by a
conveyor pump. The invention concerns ~urther a de~ice ~or producing
proportioned raw sau~age, boiling sausage, or the like with a
predeterminable sau age-~a~ coarseness, with a conveyor pu~p, a sha~
dri~ing the con~eyor pump, and a ~iller pipe that in particular is
~;uitable for carrying ou~ the method according to the invention. Such
a ~illing machine is shown in D~-Al-36 35 191.
In the production o~ ~au~age, the nece-~sary amou~t o~ meat and other
ingredients are ~ir~ o~ all introduced into a cu~er and there
~inely chopped and mixed. The sau6age mass thus obtained is then, ~or
example, ~illed into the suppl~ ~unnel o~ the known, above-mentioned
~ausage-~illing machine, led to its conveyor pump by means o~ a
~eeder de~ice, and delivered under pressure by thi~ conveyor pu~p
into the sau~age casing through a ~iller pipe, the sau~age casi~g
being gathered up onto the ~iller pipe and then gradually drawn down
by the sausage mass.
.
For the portioning of the sausage, the delivery o~ the sausage mass
is thereby usually interrupted Between two deli~ery measures the
casing is mechanically or ~n~lally twi~ted o~ or di~ided into the
individual sausages through clipping.
The portio~ing takes place either in the ~o~m o~ a longit-~; n~l
portioning o~ ~he sausage or in a volume portioning. The latter is
nor~ally the case and i8 possible throu~h ~he application o~ timed
pumps. A longit~; n~l portioning permitg di~eren~ ~olumes ~or a
constant sausage }ength and is thu~ undesirable, on accoun~ on the
di~erent values o~ the individual, e~ually long sau~ages
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The desire to improve the degree o~ fineness and the homogeneity o~
the sausage mass in ~he product~on o~ ground meat, in order ~o
attain, on the one hand, a product with a better appearan~e, and on
the other hand, impro~ed maturing characterist~c~, has in practice
led to the occasional additional grinding o~ the chopped sausage
mass. ~owe~er, due to the dange~ o~ a smearing o~ the sausage mas~,
the grinder could not be arranged be~ore t~e fillin~ machine in the
direction of operation. Thus, in an arrangement known ~rom practice,
the output o~ the ~illiny machine is connected to the input o~ a
separating grinder, i.e. to a special implemen~a~ion o~ a yrinder,
~hich in the course of ~ine-gr; n~; ng removes all materials that are
di~icult to pass and are ~craped by the conveyor blade of the
grinder, s~ch as tendons, cartilage, a~d bone ~ragment~. There~ore,
with this prior art, which is ~ed primarily ~or producing ground
meat, the exact portioning desired and nece~sary~~or producing raw
sausage i~ not possible.
The task ~ormin~ the ba6i6 o~ the invention is to produce a raw
sausage wi~h precisely determi~able coar6eness, but without
impairment o~ the exact portioning that has alread~ been achieved
hitherto.
~ccornplishing this task is a method o:~ production o:e portioned ra~7
~au~age, ~oiling sausage, or the like o~ a predeterminable sausage-
mass coarseness, in which production the sa~sage meat, sausage mas~,
or the like i~ introduced into a ~illing machine and there compressed
b~ a con~e~er pu~p, which method according to the invention consists
in leading the sausage mass to the set o~ cutting edges o~ a grinder
immedia~ely a~ter i~ leaves the con~eyor pump, by which cutting edges
it is chopped to the de~ired ~i~al coar~eness, and in inter~upting ~he
drive o~ the se~ o~ cùtting edges f or the portioning o~ the sausage
mas~, analogou~6ly to the drive of~ the conveyor pump.
The carrying out o~ this method produces in particular an excellent
raw sausage, without the obser~ing o~ a noticeable smearing o~ the
sa~sage ~a~ and without the por~ionin~ exactness su~ering with
respect to the prior art. Above all, it has gurprisingly become
e~ident that the ~mall gap, poggi~le according to the in~ention,
between pu~p outlet and ~et o~ cutting edges o~ the grinder greatly
advances ~he guality o~ the f~inished produc~. The ~ .al coarsene~;s o~
the sausage ma~s can hereby ~e predetermined almost at will; the
output sausage mass with a coarser granularity than that of the raw
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sausage can, ~ith the method according to the in~ention, be
introduced into ~he ~illing machine and then be chopped by the set
o~ cutting edges o~ the gri~der to the desired ~inal coarseness,
according to the perfora~on ~ize i~ the grinder.
I~ the me~hod a~cording to the invention, the conveying capacity
o~ the ~illing machine and o~ the se~ o~ c~t~ing edges must be
coordinated. For this reason, according to an e~peclally pre~erred
impleme~tation ~orm o~ the ~ethod according to the invention, the
pressure o~ the sausage mass is measured bet~een the ~illing
machine and the set of cut~ing edges, in order to regulate the
co~veying capacity in such a ~anner thac the pressure of the
sausage mass re~ains within a pre-established threshold value.
Advantageously, the pressure measurement takes place continuouslyi
however, depending on the control ~sed, it can also be o~ ad-
vantage to carry out discreee pressure measurements a~
prede~ermined time intervals.
The tasX-accomplishing de~ice ~o~ producing portioned raw sausage,
boiling sausage, or the li~e of a predeter~inab}e sausage~mass
coarseness, with a conveying pu~p, a sha~t drivi~g the conveying
pump, and a filler pipe, distinguishe~ itself according to the
invention hereby, that it shows a set of cutting edge~ ~et~een the
ou~let of the conveying pump and the filler pipe, the cutting
eleme~ts o~ which set are coupled to the ghaft driving the
conveying pump
The direct coupling of the sha~t driving the con~eying pump to the
set o~ cutting edges ensures that the set o~ cutting edges is
interrupted during ~he portioning pauses in the same m~nn~r as the
conveying pump o~ the sausage-~illing machine. only by this ~eans
can it be ensured that the exactness of portioning is not less
than that o~ the devices known in the prior art~
Pre~erably, in this device application is made o~ a sau~age-
~illi~g machine whose con~eying pump is a double-spindle pump and
one of who~e two spindles shows a central ~ha~t extension at its
pressure-side end, whiCh sha~t extension projects through the pump
outlet ~nd to whic~ the ~et of cutti~g edges ls coupled.
~speclally simple in construction and thus ~avorable ~o~
production i8 a device o~ this sort in which the set o~ cutti~g
edges is arranged as an axial continuation o~ one spindle of the
con~eying pump.
The particular advan~age of ~he applica~ion of a displacement pu~p
as the con~eying pump, advan~ageously a do~ble-spindle pump,
results, in conjunction with an aspect o~ the invention, ~rom the
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~act th~ only with a double-spindle pump - but ~ot wi~h a simple
screw con~eyor - is i~ possible to build up a defined pre6~ure
behind the ou~let of the con~eyor pump. That is to say, a screw
con~eyor with a ~imple conveyor spindle shows, in contrast to a
double-spindle pump, no conveyor chambers that are separated a~d
sealed o~ from ea~h other, 80 that with a simple screw conveyor
intake and output ar~ at approximately the same pressure level. Of
co~rse, in ad~ition to do~hle-spindle pumps, the speciali~t knows
o~ other displacement pumps with which a de~ined pres~ure di~-
~erence bet~een the input and output can be achieved, for example
gear pumps, roots p~mps, propeller pumps, and the like.
~or accommodati~g di~erent conveying ~apacitie~ o~, on the one
hand, the ~et of cu~ing edges, and o~ the o~her hand the
conveylng pump, it can be o~ advantage ~o ~rrange between the set
o~ cut~ing edges and the conveyi~g pump a dri~e that is coupled to
the sha~t driving the conveying pump.
Th~ compo~ents o~ the sausage ~ass can be pro~essed without harm
to q~ality only within predete~mined pressu~e values The ~aximum
permissible pressure for beef, for example, amounts ~o 15 to 20
bar, for pork 11 to 17 bar, and ~or fat 5 to 8 bar. Since the
~ausa~e mass generally consists of a ~ixture o~ t~ese three
components, one can calc~l~te ~rom the composition o~ the ~ausage
ma~s the highest possible pressure that can be exerted on the
sau~age mass without detriment to quality Especially ~re~erred,
~here~ore, is the axrangement o~ a pressure sensor in the conveyor
section between the conveyor pump and the set o~ cutting edges,
which sensor ~easures the pre~sure of the sausage mass at this
point. Ad~antageously, the measure~ent should take place
continuously; ho~eve~, it is also possible as an alternative to
take individual pressure measurements in disc~ete steps In a
~pecially preferred con~guration, the pre~sure values regi~tered
by the pressure sensor are led to a cont~ol de~ice that So
regulates the drive of che shaft propelling the set o~ cutting
blades that the pressure values during the production of t~e
sau~age lie only ~ithin a predeeer~ined interval, in partic~lar
under the highe8t-perm~tted pressure value Through this control
device, it i8 possible, for exa~ple, to input the components o~
the sa~sage mass be~ore ~he sau age-production process and then
ensure, by mea~s o~ the control device, t~t the pressure value
automatically lies within a threshold value that is co~sidered
fa~orable.
In a dev~ce ~ith a vacuum ~illing-machine whose conveyo~ pump is a
spindle pump, tAe~cutti~g elemencs of the grinder and the conveyor
pump are pr~ferably so chosen that the sausage-mass throughput o~
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the cutting elements, wit~ a predetermined pressure impingement of
~he ~ausage mass on the inlet of the cut~ing elements, is ~reater
than the rotational ~ol~me of the conveyor curves of the conveyor
pump. ~ere the rotational volume is that volume which ~he conveyor
pump dellvers upon one revolution o~ ~he sha~t. That is to say, i~
has been shown that otherwise the exce~sive pressure in the
spindle pump can cause smearing e~fects and raw-material
de~t~uction, which are detrimental to the quality o~ ~he
manu~actured produc~. Por adapting the sau~age-mass throughput o~
~he cutting elements to ~he rotational volume o~ the conveyor
cu~ves, the perforated di~cs o~ the cutting elements can be
replaced and accommodated to the rotational volume. With a
sausage-mas~ pressure o~ 5 to 20 bar at the intake o~ the grinder,
a ~ausage-masE ~hroughput of 50 to lOOg per minute and boring was
obse~ved with perforated discs with 2mm per~orations, a Sausage-
ma~ throughput of 80 to 180g per minute and boring with
perforated di~cs with 3mm per~orations, and ~inally, 250 to 500g
pe~ minute and boring was meas~red with a per~orated disc with 4mm
per~orations. An enlargemen~ o~ the per~oration diameter of lmm
thu~ results in 2 to 2 5 times as much sausage-mass throughput in
the grinder. Through appropriate cho~ce o~ a per~o~ated-disc
combination and of a corresponding number o~ knife blades, the
device according to the invention ca~ be adap~ed to different
composi~ions of sau~age mass. I~ haS proved particularly
advantageou~ that the cutting elements show at least two
per~orated di~cs spaced apa~t in ~he direc~ion of con~eyance, in
front o~ and~or behind which discs i~ arranged in each case at
least one cut~ing blade o~ ehe set o~ cutting edgeR.
The intermediate space between conveyor pump and set o~ cutti~g
edges i~ advan~ageously kept relatively small, in order to
~aintain raw-ma~erial quality. ~specia~ly preferred i~ a hollow
space between conveyor pump and set o~ cutting edges, through
which space the sausage mass iS pre~Eed ~om the outlet o~ ~he
conveyor pump to the inlet o~ the se~ o~ cutting edges, o~ a
volume of three ~o eight liters.
The ability to c~ange the volume o~ the hollow space is o~
advantage. To this end, the hollow ~pace can be ~ormed, for
example, o~ several sec~ions that can be joined to~ether. ~e~e,
thro~gh the removing or adding of additional sections, the hollow
sRace can be enlarged or reduced according to requirement. The
e~larging of the hollow space can come about, ~or example, through
~he insertion o~ an intermediate piece between the hollow space
and the inlet of the cut~i~g element~ and/or be~een the outlet o~
the conveyor pump and the kollow space.
Ad~antageous ~urther development~ of the i~vention are
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characterized thro~gh the ~eatures of the dependent claims.
In the ~ollowing, the invention is explained in greater detail
with re~exence to ~he dxawings. They show:
~ig. l: A ~ection through the outlet region o~ a sausage-
~illing machine.
Fig. 2: A sectio~ similar to ~ig. l wi~h twist-off
e~uipmen~ arranged at the ou~let of the sausage-
filling machine.
~ig. 1 shows only a small part o~ a vacuum sa~sage-~illing machine
10. The sausase-~illing ~achin~ has i~ the ~sual manner a conveyor
pu~p 12, which in the implemen~ation e~ample i~ a do~ble-spindle
pu~p with spi~dles (conveyor curves) 14, 16. ~ocated at the end o~
the conveyor pump 12 on the left in the drawing is i~ pu~p outlet
18. Addi~ionally repregented in Fig 1 is a con~e~tional ~iller
pipe 20, as well as a ring ~la~ge 22 that is pro~ided ~ith
external threads ~nd is ~irmly joined to the filling ~achine lO.
Assi~ned to this ~ing ~lange is a tensionin~ nut 24, by ~hose aid
a ~iller pipe or additional equipment can be ~unctionally attached
to the p~mp outlet 1~.
In the implementation example according to Figs. 1 and 2, the
housing 32 of a grinder 30 is fir~ly a~tached to the ~illing
machine 10 ~y means o~ the ring flange 2Z and the tensioning nut
24. Positioned within the housi~g so as to be spaced apart in the
direction of a central axis 34 are two per~orated discs 36, 38 o~
a ~ype conventional ~or a grinder, which discs are seated ~irmly
in the housing. Between these discs a conventional rotating
cut~ing blade 40 is at~ached ~o a sha~t 42 coa~ial with the axis
34. ~3etween the pump outlet 18 and the per~orated disc 38 o~ the
grinder 30, an additional co~v~-ltional, rotat~ng cutting blade 4~
is likewise moun~ed on ~he sha~t 42, which cutting blade wo~ks in
conjunction with the per~orated disc 38.
As ~hown in Pigs. l and 2, the c~ntral axis 34 is not only the
axi~ of the grinder 30, but at the same time represents also the
central axis o~ the spindle ~4 o~ t~e con~eyor pu~p 12, so that
the grinde~ 30 with its drive sha~t 42 ~or the cutting blades 40,
44 ~orms an axial continuation of the spindle 14. By means of a
connecting sha~ 50, the spindle 14 and the dri~e sha~t 42 o~ the
grinder 30 are joined together ~o as to be rotationally ~ixed to
one another. T~e connecting sha~t 50 can be constructed as a plug
shaft that is inse~ted into, on the one hand, a central driver in
the ~ace of the spindle 14, and on the other hand into a
corresponding driver i~ the drive shaft 42; the connecting ~ha~t
50 can al~o, however, be a fixed component o~ either the spindle
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14 or the dri~e sh~t 4~ Finally, the device can al80 be ~o
designed that the apindle 14 contains the connection shaft 50 and
the drlve shaft 42 in a plugged-in manner NeverthelesS, it is
sel~-eviden~ that 1n the case o~ a deviant positioning o~ the
rota~ional axis o~ ~he co~veyor pump, gearing must be inserted
between the pump sha~t arld the dri~e sha~t ~2, or that a sceering
around o~ the conveying po~er is required whe~ the pump outle~ 18
and the grinder 30 ha~e a rel~tive posicioning t~at deviates ~rom
the pre~erred implementation example.
As one ca~ clearly see in the drawing, the conveying pump 12 ~eeds
through the pump out~et 18 by the shortest possible route directly
into the entry ~egion 52 o~ the grinder 30. The sausage ~ass
lo~ted there under pressure is ~ed through the t~o per~orated
discs 36, 40 and is thereby brought to the desired coarseness. The
sausage mass then reache~ the already-mentio~ed filler pipe 20 ~ia
an outlet 54 of the grinder 30. It i~ evide~t that the ~iller pipe
~0 show~ a ~lange 56 at its riyht end in the d~awing, which ~lange
is ~irml~ ~oined to the housing 32 o~ che grinder 30 by means o~
a~ additional tensioning nut 58.
The implementation form o~ the invention according to Fig. 2
dl~ers fro~ the implemen~atio~ described a~o~e only in that here
the simple ~iller pipe 20 is the ~iller pipe 20', attached to the
outlet 54 of the grinder 30 via an intermediate pipe 70, o~ a
portioni~g apparatus 75, which is coupled to the sausage-~illing
~achine 10 in a manner that is co~ventional and therefore not
described i~ partic~lar, and which has no special ~unction within
the scope o~ the prese~t invencion. Therefore, let it be mentioned
merely that the ~iller pipe 20~ i~ designed in the usual m~nn~
for tak1ng up a gathered-up sausage casing and that the twist-of~
device on the ~ree end o~ the ~iller pipe 20~ shows 2 conventional
casin~ brake as well as the required me~ns o~ twisting o~f succes-
si~e sausages.
In the present case, part o~ the twist-o~ device 75 is a spacing
element ~8 that bridges over the space that become~ necessa~y ~or
the grinder 30 and the intermediate pipe 70
Drawn in Fig. 1 as well as in Fig. 2 are ~he elementR re~uired ~or
a regulation o~ pres~ure, namely a pressure sengor ~O, a control
unit 82, a~d a drive unit 84 ~or che conveyor pump 12 and the sets
of cutting edges 40, 44.
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The drive uni~ 1~ mechanlcally coupled to the gha~t o~ t~e spindle
ls. The ~ressure sen~or 80 i~ built into ~he wall o~ the housing
32 Pnd measureS the pressure in the conveyor segmen~ between the
conveyor pump 12 and che ~e~s o~ cutting edges 40, 44. The
pre~sure sensor 80 is connec~ed electricall~ to the control unit
82 and provide~ the latter wieh an electrical signal correspond~ng
co the measured pre~sure. I~ the control unit 82, the measured
pressure i8 compared to a pre-se~ target pre~sure PSO11 or target
pre~ure-interval. According to the dif~erence ~etween the
measured pressure and the target pre~sure or to the position o~
the measured pressure inside or ou~slde the target pressure
in~erval, a correspondins adjustment value for the drive unit 84
i~ ~ormed in the con~rol unit 82, thu~, ~or example, a motor-speed
target value ~or a ~otor-speed regulator connecced as a la~er
~tage ~or the ~rive, or a corresponding con~rol voltage. The
adjustmen~ value is transmitted electrically ~rom the control unit
82 to the drive unit 8~
