Patent Application
20230126324
The present disclosure generally relates to a side strapping assembly for a food product slicing apparatus which is used to slice food products, and more particularly to a side strapping assembly that can be released from the food product slicing apparatus without the use of tools.
Bacon bellies are often unshaped which is not ideal for slicing. The unshaped bacon bellies can result in nonconforming slices exiting the slicer which cannot be used for consumption. As a result, the yield of the bacon belly is reduced. Additionally, unshaped parts produce scrap on the slicer, result in significant grading effort, and reduce throughput on the slicer.
Prior slicing apparatus which include an assembly for side strapping bacon bellies have the side strapping assembly bolted thereon such that it is time consuming to remove the side strapping assembly in order to clean the slicing apparatus. In addition, prior slicing apparatus which includes a side strapping assembly for side strapping bacon bellies typically cut to a fixed width of the bacon belly. This results in predefined, uniform side strapping. With prior machines, it is typically not possible to individually cut the sides with respect to the shape to optimize the bacon belly for maximum yield on the slicer.
The organization and manner of the structure and operation of the disclosed embodiments, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, wherein like reference numerals identify like elements in which:
While the disclosure may be susceptible to embodiment in different forms, there is shown in the drawings, and herein will be described in detail, a specific embodiment with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the disclosure, and is not intended to limit the disclosure to that as illustrated and described herein. Therefore, unless otherwise noted, features disclosed herein may be combined together to form additional combinations that were not otherwise shown for purposes of brevity. It will be further appreciated that in some embodiments, one or more elements illustrated by way of example in a drawing(s) may be eliminated and/or substituted with alternative elements within the scope of the disclosure.
Food product slicing apparatuses and methods associated with the same are included in the present disclosure. With reference to the figures, one example of a food product slicing apparatus 20 having a side strapping assembly 108 is shown. The food product slicing apparatus 20 is used to slice food products into slices. The food products may be comprised of a wide variety of edible materials including, but not limited to meat, such as pork bellies, beef, chicken, fish, etc., and cheese.
As generally shown in
In an embodiment, and as shown, the load assembly 24 includes a loading frame 40 on which a conveyor 44 is provided. Other load assemblies 24 may be provided.
The feed assembly 26 includes a loading tray assembly 104 mounted on the main frame 22 forward of the load assembly 24, a drive assembly 106 mounted on the main frame 22 forward of the loading tray assembly 104, and the side strapping assembly 108. The loading tray assembly 104 moves food products from the load assembly 24 to the drive assembly 106, and the drive assembly 106 moves food products to the slicing assembly 28. The side strapping assembly 108 side straps the food product along one side thereof prior to entry into the slicing assembly 28. As shown in
The main frame 22 includes a drive frame plate 126 which is cantilevered therefrom. The drive assembly 106 includes an upper drive assembly 130 cantilevered from the drive frame plate 126, a lower drive assembly 132 cantilevered from the drive frame plate 126, and a motor assembly 134 coupled to the drive frame plate 126 and to the upper and lower drive assemblies 130, 132. In an embodiment, the motor assembly 134 include gears and belts for coupling to and driving the upper and lower drive assemblies 130, 132. The drive frame plate 126 extends parallel to the longitudinal axis of the food product slicing apparatus 20. The upper drive assembly 130 includes at least conveyor and the lower drive assembly 132 includes at least conveyor. The conveyors may include endless belts wrapped around a plurality of shaft mounted wheels. The endless belts defines a planar surfaces upon which food products will translate. As shown in in an embodiment, the upper drive assembly 130 includes a rear conveyor 140 mounted on a rear shaft 138, and a front conveyor 144 mounted on a front shaft 142. The front end of the rear conveyor 140 is proximate to, but spaced from, the rear end of the front conveyor 144 such that a gap is formed therebetween. The lower drive assembly 132 includes a rear conveyor 156 mounted on a rear shaft 154, and a front conveyor 160 mounted on a front shaft 158. The front end of the rear conveyor 156 is proximate to, but spaced from, the rear end of the front conveyor 160 such that a gap is formed therebetween. The rear conveyor 140 is partially positioned over the rear conveyor 156 and the front ends of the conveyors 140, 156 generally align. The rear end of the rear conveyor 140 is rearward of the rear end of the rear conveyor 156. The front conveyor 144 is positioned over the front conveyor 160 and the rear ends and the front ends of the conveyors 144, 160 generally align. The gaps are generally vertically aligned. When the loading tray assembly 104 is moved to the raised position, the front end 116b of the conveyor 116 is underneath the rear conveyor 140 and proximate to the rear end of the rear conveyor 156.
The motor assembly 134 includes a motor 246 which is coupled to the shafts 138, 142, 154, 158 to drive the conveyors 140, 144, 156, 160. A single motor 246 may be provided to drive all of the conveyors 140, 144, 156, 160 at the same speed. If only a single motor 246 is used, the cost and complexity of the food product slicing apparatus 20 is reduced.
The side strapping assembly 108, see
The shaft outboard end 274 has a non-circular profile, and may be hexagonal. The side strapping blade 280 is positioned to the outboard side of the rear conveyor 156 opposite to the side on which the drive frame plate 126 and the motor 262 are provided. The axis of rotation of the side strapping blade 280 provided by the driving shaft 278 is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the rear conveyor 156, and the side strapping blade 280 is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rear conveyor 156.
The blade driving assembly 276 includes first and second plates 284, 286 which are spaced apart from each other. The shaft outboard end 274 extends through the plates 284, 286 and is coupled thereto by bearings 287. The blade driving assembly 276 further includes a toothed gear 288 affixed to the shaft outboard end 274 and which is positioned between the plates 284, 286. The toothed gear 288 is mounted for co-rotation with the shaft outboard end 274. The blade driving assembly 276 further includes a drive belt 290 looped around the toothed gear 288 and a toothed gear 292 affixed to the blade shaft 278. When the motor 262 is driven, the gear 264 on the motor shaft 262a drives the belt 270, which rotates the gear 268 and the shaft 266, which rotates the gear 288 and the drive belt 290, which rotates the gear 292, the blade shaft 278 and the side strapping blade 280. The side strapping blade 280 cuts a side portion of the food product with which the side strapping blade 280 engages. A chute 294 is mounted between the side strapping blade 280 and the plate 284 which collects the trim cut from the food product during the side strapping and provides a path for disposal of the trim.
The clamp 282 is coupled to the shaft 296. The clamp 282 includes a split ring 300 between the first and second plates 284, 286, and a handle 302 mounted to the split ring 300. The split ring 300 is mounted on a cylindrical portion of the shaft 296. The split ring 300 includes an encircling portion 304 that partially encircles the cylindrical portion of the shaft 296, a rear end portion 306, and a front end portion 308. The end portions 306, 308 are spaced apart from each other by a space 310. The space 310 is parallel to the axis of the shaft 296. Each plate 284, 286 has a split 312 which extends from the opening 313 through which the shaft 296 extends to a bottom end of the plate 284, 286. The splits 312 in the plates 284, 286 align with the space 310 between the end portions 306, 308 of the split ring 300. The end portions 306, 308 of the split ring 300 are coupled to each plate 284, 286 by fasteners 314, 316. The end portions 306, 308 have aligned passageways 318, 320 therethrough which are perpendicular to the axis of the shaft 296 and open into the space 310. Passageway 318 is threaded, and passageway 320 is unthreaded. The handle 302 includes a pivotable grip portion 324 and a fastener 322 extended therefrom. The fastener 322 has a rounded head engaged with rounded head 326 of the pivotable grip portion 324 and a threaded shaft extending therefrom. The shaft of the fastener 322 is threadedly engaged with the wall forming the passageway 318 of the rear end portion 306, and passes through the unthreaded passageway 320 in the front end portion 308. The rounded head 326 seats within a cam surface 328 of the front end portion 308. A nut 330 is coupled to the rear end of the threaded shaft of the fastener 322.
When the grip portion 324 is in the position as shown in
The distance the side strapping blade 280 is from the rear conveyor 156 can be varied so as to vary the width of the side strapped food product by releasing the split ring 300 to increase the widths of the splits 312 and the space 310 and sliding the blade driving assembly 276, the driving shaft 278, the side strapping blade 280 and the clamp 282 along the lengths of the shafts 266, 296. After the desired position is reached, the split ring 300 is re-engaged to prevent the sliding movement of these components of the side strapping assembly 108 relative to the shaft outboard end 274 and the shaft 296.
While the side strapping assembly 108 is only shown and described as being on one side of the rear conveyor 156, a second side strapping assembly 108 can be provided on the other side of the rear conveyor 156 so that both sides of the food product can be side strapped.
In use, the food product is loaded on the load assembly 24 with the loading tray assembly 104 positioned in the lowered position. The conveyor 116 is activated to move the food product onto the loading tray assembly 104. Thereafter, the loading tray assembly 104 is moved to the raised position and the upper surface of the food product engages with the rear conveyor 140. The rear conveyor 140 and the conveyor 116 are activated to move the food product forward. The food product moves off of the conveyor 116 and onto the rear conveyor 156, while still being engaged by the rear conveyor 140. The food product is transported between the conveyors 140, 156 and the side strapping assembly 108 cuts the side of the food product as it moves along the conveyor 156. The cut side portion of the food product falls into the chute 294 and is taken away for further processing. Thereafter, the side strapped food product is sliced by the slicing blade 344 to cut the food product into individual slices. The individual slices fall onto the output assembly 30 for packaging.
While a particular embodiment is illustrated in and described with respect to the drawings, it is envisioned that those skilled in the art may devise various modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. It will therefore be appreciated that the scope of the disclosure and the appended claims is not limited to the specific embodiment illustrated in and discussed with respect to the drawings and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure and appended drawings. Moreover, although the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings describe example embodiments in the context of certain example combinations of elements and/or functions, it should be appreciated that different combinations of elements and/or functions may be provided by alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the disclosure and the appended claims.
This application claims the priority of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 63/271,459, filed on Oct. 25, 2021, the contents of which are incorporated herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63271459 | Oct 2021 | US |
