Claims
- 1. An apparatus for forming edible products from formable, edible, comminuted material comprising in combination:
- (a) a hopper for containing comminuted, edible material and means for chilling said material;
- (b) a substantially vertical mold cavity cooperating with said hopper to receive comminuted, edible material, said cavity having an upper inlet opening and a lower outlet opening;
- (c) a substantially vertical, movable compression piston mounted for reciprocation within said cavity; means for reciprocating said compression piston between a retracted position when said chamber is being charged with said comminuted material and an extended position when said comminuted material is compressed through said lower outlet into a horizontally retractable sliding block;
- (d) said horizontally retractable sliding block having at least one shaped-form cavity formed therethrough cooperating with said lower outlet;
- (e) means for horizontally sliding said block to a position exterior to said mold cavity lower outlet; and
- (f) means for cooling said sliding block cavity from about -5.degree. F. to about 5.degree. F.; and
- (g) means for ejecting frozen, compressed material from the form cavity when said block is positioned exterior to said lower outlet.
- 2. Apparatus for forming edible products from formable, edible, comminuted material comprising in combination:
- (a) a hopper for containing said comminuted, edible material and means for chilling said material from about 25.degree. F. to about 35.degree. F.;
- (b) a substantially vertical cavity cooperating with said hopper to receive the comminuted material, said cavity having an upper inlet opening and a lower outlet opening;
- (c) a movable compression piston mounted for reciprocation within said cavity, means for reciprocating said compression piston between a retracted position when said chamber is being charged with said comminuted material and an extended position when said comminuted material is compressed into a lower outlet opening cooperating with a horizontally retractable sliding block;
- (d) said horizontally retractable sliding block having a shaped-form cavity formed therethrough by an outer portion and a rigidly supported, smaller center portion, said center portion connected to said outer portion by a non-interfering offset means for connecting the center and outer portions;
- (e) means for horizontally sliding said block to a position exterior to said cavity lower outlet; and
- (f) means for ejecting frozen, compressed material from the form cavity when said block is positioned exterior to said lower outlet.
- 3. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said sliding block includes means for chilling said sliding block to maintain a temperature of from about -5.degree. F. to about 5.degree. F. in said sliding block during compression.
- 4. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said means for ejecting the frozen, compressed material from the form cavity is a vertical, reciprocally movable, split ring-shaped member cooperating with said form cavity.
- 5. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 wherein the offset means for connecting said center portion to said outer portion in the horizontal sliding block is with an offset connected to and positioned below the sliding block.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said center portion is a solid, substantially circular member and said outer portion is substantially circular and having a larger diameter thereby forming a ring therebetween.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the horizontally retractable sliding block has means for extensive cooling throughout said sliding block.
CROSS REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a division of application Ser. No. 07/735,585, filed Jul. 25, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,163, itself a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 07/696,807, filed May 7, 1992, now abandoned, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 07/523,762, filed May 16, 1990, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (14)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
3429990A1 |
Jan 1985 |
DEX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (3)
Entry |
Ziemba, J. V., "Strides in forming," Food Engineering 44 (11) 66-70 (1972). |
Anon., "Processes onions take big slice of frozen food market," Food Sciences and Technology Abstracts, vol. 2, No. 9 9J899. |
Lukas and LaBell, "Fabricated onion rings have homestyle look and mild onion flavor," FSTA, vol. 17 (1985) No. 7. |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
735585 |
Jul 1991 |
|
Continuation in Parts (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
696807 |
May 1992 |
|
Parent |
523762 |
May 1990 |
|