Technical Field

The present invention concerns an apparatus and method for portioning of objects into accurate weight and form. Background Art

In many areas of the food industry, it is desirable for certain food to be prepared in portions which are as accurate and equal in weight, shape and size as possible.

Modern food industry demands high levels of productivity and precision. It is the aim of the producer and requests of the buyer to obtain as accurate portion size as possible. It is also an important factor that the objects, in this case fish or meat portions have a certain configuration and/or thickness due to the end buyers' requests. Enhanced processing technology would lead to much better utilization of raw material and thus cost-effectiveness of processing.

It would be desirable if the production and further processing of meat products such as i.e. beef, pork or turkey could be cut and prepared in portions which are almost identical. Correspondingly equally sized portions of meat could then be processed further or sold optimally.

Corresponding calibrating devices have been disclosed for shaped and processed meat, in which the meat is initially processed and then pressed together again to take on a certain shape. However, this requires the stringy meat to be processed into very small pieces or involves utilizing meat residues. A calibrated cutting installation having a shaping tube for feeding the meat to a cutting device in order to separate meat into portions which are as much as possible of equal size by means of a cutter has already been disclosed. The shaping tube can be separated into two parts in the longitudinal direction. The end of the shaping tube, at a so-called delivery hole, is adjoined by pot-shaped or shell-shaped depressions, the size and volume of which predetermine the corresponding portion. Then, a cutter can be moved through a spacer gap between the feed hole of the shaping tube and the abovementioned calibrated shaping cavity, the oblique arrangement of the cutting edges of the cutter causes a pulling cut, with the result that the corresponding amount of meat situated in the calibrated shaping cavity can be separated from the large remaining amount of meat situated in the shaping tube. Then, the pot-shaped calibrating plate can be moved in order to remove the amount of meat which is situated in the calibrating cavity from the calibrating cavity and, for example, to deliver it to a conveyor belt.

A device for cutting pieces of raw meat into dices or strips has already been disclosed. Since meat in the thawed state is too yielding and soft to be cut into dice or longitudinal strips, some of these known methods require the meat to be partially frozen beforehand. It may even be necessary for the piece of meat to be laterally compressed prior to cutting so that it can then be forced out of a pressing cavity. However, known methods of this type are generally only able to produce unevenly portioned slices, since the small pieces of meat are often not cut through cleanly.

In view of the above prior art, the object of the present invention is to provide an improved calibrated cutting device which can be used to portion any type of food that is suitable for cutting, in particular meat, with or without bones, as optimally as possible, with the minimum possible weight, shape and size discrepancies. Disclosure of Invention

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved portioning device and an improved method for producing food products in slices, in particular for producing pieces of raw meat in slices. The present invention allows a considerable improvement compared to conventional solutions while using amazingly simple means.

In a first aspect, the present invention relates to an apparatus for portioning meat, comprising a base unit (1), and a control means. A first drive means (2) mounted to the base unit (1), and a casing (3) mounted to the base unit (1). The casing (3) further comprises a second drive means (4) to cooperate with the first drive means (2) for rotating the casing (3), and a pressing member (5) for dividing the casing (3) into at least two chambers, an in-feed chamber (6) and a pressing chamber (7). The pressing member (5) is mounted to the base unit (1) off-center, with respect to the casing (3), substantially closer to the pressing chamber (7) such that the pressing member (5) has freedom to move in direction substantially perpendicular to the off-center direction. The pressing member (5) rotates along with the casing (3) when the first (2) and second (4) drive means cooperate causing the pressing member (5) to glide within the casing (3) thus producing a pressing force between the pressing member (5) and the casing (3).

An ejecting device (8) is mounted to the base unit (1) for ejecting meat from said pressing chamber (7). A portioning means (9) receives the meat ejected from the pressing chamber (7). The portioning means (9) further comprises a third drive means (10) for operating said portioning means (9), a position adjustable bottom piece (11), wherein the adjustable bottom piece (11) is automatically adjusted to optimize the yield of the meat.

A cutting means (12), is positioned between the pressing chamber and the portioning plate. The meat is placed in the in-feed chamber (6), and the in-feed chamber (6) and the pressing chamber (7) change places due to the off-center placement of the pressing member (5) when said first and second drive means rotate the casing 180°, thus the in-feed chamber (6) becomes a new-pressing chamber (7'), and the pressing chamber (7) becomes a new-in-feed chamber (6').

In a second aspect, the present invention relates to a method wherein the casing (3) rotates about its center, while the pressing member (5) rotates about its own center, off-center with respect to the center of the casing (3), causing the meat to be pressed into a shape determined by the walls of the casing (3) and the pressing member (5).

Brief Description of Drawings the front and side of the meat portioning apparatus, the in-feed chamber of the casing and the first and second drive means. cross section of the casing, the portioning plate and the adjustable bottom piece, a cross section of the meat portioning apparatus.

the cutting means, the third drive means and the adjustable bottom piece of the portioning plate.

Detailed Description In the following, the invention will be described in further details with reference to figures 1 through 5. The food portioning apparatus (20) of figure 1 is equipped with a computer (13) for interacting with the operator, and controlling the portioning process. The meat is loaded into the portioning apparatus through the opening (22, figure 2) of the in-feed chamber (6, figure 3). When the casing (3) is rotated 180° the meat is compressed between the casing (3) and the pressing member (5) due to an off-center location of the pressing member with respect to the casing. Therefore, after rotating the casing 180° the former in-feed chamber (6) becomes the present pressing chamber (7). The compressed meat takes on the shape determined by the walls of the pressing chamber and the pressing member. This shape is substantially similar to the shape of the portioning means (9). The portioning means (9) is equipped with two symmetrical portioning plates arranged 180° apart and rotate-able about its center. The meat, compressed in the pressing chamber (7), is ejected into the portioning means (9) by the ejecting device (8). The thickness of the portion is adjusted by the means of a position adjustable bottom piece (11). The meat extending from the pressing chamber (7) and filling the portioning plate (19) is sliced by the means of a rotating knife cutting the meat by passing through a slot formed between the portioning means (9) and the pressing chamber (7). When the portion has been cut from the meat in the pressing chamber (7) the portioning means (9) is rotated 180° bringing an empty portioning plate under the pressing chamber to receive the next portion ejected from the pressing chamber (7), and bringing the newly cut portion out from underneath the pressing chamber (9). The newly cut portion is then ejected out of the portioning plate (19) by the means of an ejecting device (23) onto a conveyor (21), which transfers the slices from the portioning apparatus (20).

To optimize yield, the portioning apparatus (20) is controlled by controlling means which comprise a control computer (13), a computer program, an input scale, an output scale, position generating means to indicate the position of the ejecting device (8), and a position generating means to indicate the position of the bottom of the portioning plate (19). The computer receives input information from the input scale, the output scale, the position generating means of the ejecting device, and the position generating means of the portioning plate, and generates output signals to control the adjustable bottom (11) of the portioning plate and the position of the ejecting device (8).

The ejecting device (8) comprises a rod (14), an end piece (15), and a stepper motor (16). The end piece (15) is fastened to one end of the rod (14) and the stepper motor (16) is coupled to the other end of the rod (14). Similarly, the adjustable bottom means (9) of the portioning plate (19) comprises a rod (17), an end piece (11), and a second stepper motor

(18). The end piece (11) is fastened to one end of the rod (17) and the second stepper motor (18) is fastened to the other end of the rod (17).