FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to a sausage cutting apparatus. The invention relates also to a method of cutting a sausage rope.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a sausage cutting apparatus including: a support structure defining a feed path along which a sausage rope to be cut is displaced; a cutting head including first and second cutting assemblies which are mounted to the support structure and which are each located at an opposite side of the feed path for cutting the sausage rope into smaller sausage portions, each cutting assembly including an elongate continuous carrier member and a plurality of longitudinally-spaced cutting devices which are connected to the carrier member, the cutting devices of the cutting assemblies being displaceable along cutting paths wherein the cutting devices of the first and second cutting assemblies are displaced repeatedly inwardly towards one another for cutting the sausage rope and away from one another so as to permit release of cut sausage portions; an infeed guide system for guiding displacement of the sausage rope into the feed path of the support structure between the first and second cutting assemblies, the sausage cutting apparatus being characterized in that the infeed guide system includes a pair of spaced driven infeed belts for supporting and conveying the sausage rope to the cutting head, the infeed belts comprising an elongate upper infeed belt and an elongate lower infeed belt which frictionally engage upper and lower sides of the sausage rope, the upper and lower infeed belts being disposed parallel to a longitudinal axis defined along a length of a sausage rope when the sausage rope is located between the infeed belts, and further in that the infeed guide system includes at least one pitch adjustment mechanism for adjusting a spacing between the infeed belts so as to adjust a thickness of the sausage rope.

The infeed guide system may include a drive system including a drive motor and a system of pulleys on which the infeed belts are mounted, the drive system being operable to drive synchronous displacement of the infeed belts via the pulleys for conveying a sausage rope to the cutting head.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method of cutting a sausage rope into smaller sausage portions, the method including: providing a cutting head including first and second cutting assemblies which define a feed path between them along which the sausage rope is displaced and which each include a carrier member to which a plurality of cutting devices are connected, the cutting devices being displaceable repeatedly inwardly towards one another for cutting the sausage rope and away from one another so as to permit release of cut sausage portions; providing an infeed guide system for guiding displacement of the sausage rope to the cutting head, the infeed guide system including a pair of spaced driven support formations which frictionally engage opposite sides of the sausage rope; displacing the sausage rope along the feed path via displacement of the support formations defined between the cutting assemblies; displacing the cutting devices of the cutting assemblies repeatedly towards and away from one another so as to cut the sausage rope into smaller sausage portions; and adjusting the spacing between the support formations so as to adjust a thickness of the sausage rope to the sausage rope entering the cutting head.

The method may be implemented by the sausage cutting apparatus in accordance with the first aspect of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features of the invention are described hereinafter by way of a non-limiting example of the invention, with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings. In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a three-dimensional view of sausage processing equipment including a sausage cutting apparatus in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 shows a side view of the sausage processing equipment of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 shows a top plan view of the sausage processing equipment of Figure 1 ; Figure 4 shows a three-dimensional view of the cutting assemblies and the infeed guide system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 5 shows another three-dimensional view of the cutting assemblies and the infeed guide system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 6 shows a top plan view of the cutting assemblies and the infeed guide system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 7 shows a front side view of the cutting assemblies and the infeed guide system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 8 shows a three-dimensional view of the infeed guide system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 9 shows another three-dimensional view of the infeed guide system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 10 shows a front side view of the infeed guide system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 1 1 shows a rear side view of the infeed guide system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 ;

Figure 12 shows a front side view of the cutting assemblies and the infeed guide system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 , illustrating a relatively narrow spacing between the infeed belts; and

Figure 13 shows a front side view of the cutting assemblies and the infeed guide system of the sausage cutting apparatus of Figure 1 , illustrating a relatively wide spacing between the infeed belts. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to the drawings, a sausage cutting apparatus in accordance with the invention, is designated generally by the reference numeral 10. The sausage cutting apparatus is adapted for severing a sausage which is provided in an elongate continuous sausage rope 1 1 , into separate sausage portions.

The sausage cutting apparatus forms part of sausage processing equipment 12 which includes a support structure in the form of a stand 14 and a top processing structure 16 mounted on the stand. The processing structure includes an extrusion nozzle 18 for co extruding a sausage filler emulsion which is fed into the extrusion nozzle via an emulsion feed pipe 19 together with a sausage casing gel composition which is supplied to the extrusion head along gel feed pipe 20. The casing gel composition is initially provided in a flowable form but after extrusion, sets around the filler under the action of a suitable chemical agent to form a sausage casing. A gear pump 21 is provided for pumping the gel composition to the extrusion nozzle. After co-extrusion, the extruded sausage rope 11 is conveyed along a rectilinear path, where it is guided and supported towards a cutting head for cutting the extruded sausage rope into smaller portions. The sausage processing equipment includes a flume 25 for carrying the cut sausage portions to a cooker or other processing equipment.

The sausage cutting apparatus 10 comprises, broadly, a support structure 26, a cutting head 27 including a first cutting assembly 28 including a plurality of cutting devices 30 and a second cutting assembly 32 including a plurality of cutting devices 30, an outfeed conveyor 23 for guiding displacement of cut sausage portions from the cutting head to the flume 25; and an infeed guide system 33 for guiding displacement of the sausage rope 1 1 between the cutting devices during a sausage cutting operation. The cutting devices 30 of the first and second cutting assemblies have identical configurations.

The support structure 26 defines a rectilinear feed path 36 between the cutting assemblies along which a sausage rope to be cut, is supported and displaced. The first cutting assembly 28 is mounted to the stand 14 and located at one side of the feed path 36 while the second cutting assembly 32 is located at an opposite side of the feed path with the sausage rope 1 1 being displaced along the feed path between the first and second cutting assemblies. The first cutting assembly 28 includes an elongate continuous carrier member in the form of a flexible toothed belt 38 to which the cutting devices 30 are fixedly connected in an arrangement wherein the cutting devices are spaced along the length of the belt. More specifically, the cutting devices 30 are fixedly mounted to an external side of the belt 38.

Each of the cutting assemblies has a top cover plate 41 , an underside of which defines a guide rail along which the cutting devices are displaced. The sausage cutting apparatus further includes a bottom cover plate 43, the upper side of which defines part of a support base along which the sausage rope and cut sausage portions are displaced. An upper side of the bottom cover plate defines a pair of guide rails along which the cutting devices of the cutting assemblies 28 and 30, respectively, are displaced.

The second cutting assembly 32 is identical to the first cutting assembly 28. The second cutting assembly 32 is mounted to the stand 14 and includes an elongate continuous carrier member in the form of a flexible toothed belt 38 to which the cutting devices 30 are connected in an arrangement wherein the cutting devices are spaced along the length of the belt. The belt 38 has a plurality of teeth defined on an inner side thereof. More specifically, the cutting devices 30 are fixedly mounted to the belt 38.

The sausage cutting apparatus includes a drive system for synchronously driving the belts 38 of the cutting assemblies 28, 32. The drive system synchronously drives the belts 38 in a controlled manner wherein the cutting devices are sequentially displaced into and out of meshing engagement with one another for severing the sausage rope 11 into sausage portions. Each of the cutting devices 30 has a cutting blade. Each cutting device of the first cutting assembly is associated with a particular one of the cutting devices of the second cutting assembly, with the cutting blades of each of the associated cutting devices sliding past one another in a shearing action for cutting the sausage. The cutting devices are displaced along arcuate cutter paths during meshing engagement of the cutting blades wherein cutting faces of opposing pairs of cutting blades mesh.

The infeed guide system 33 includes a pair of spaced driven elongate infeed belts 45 for supporting and conveying the sausage to the cutting head 27. The infeed belts comprise a continuous upper infeed belt 45.1 and a continuous lower infeed belt 45.2 which frictionally engage upper and lower sides, respectively, of the sausage rope 1 1. The upper and lower infeed belts are disposed parallel to a longitudinal axis defined along the length of the sausage rope 1 1 when the sausage rope is supported and conveyed by the infeed belts.

The infeed guide system includes drive pulleys 48 on which the infeed belts 45.1 and 45.2 are mounted. The drive pulleys 48 are synchronously driven at the same velocity by an electric motor 52 via drive belts 50. The infeed guide system further includes follower pulleys 54 on which the infeed belts 45.1 and 45.2 are mounted.

The infeed guide system includes an adjustment mounting plate 56 and a pair of pitch adjustment mechanisms 60.1 and 60.2 which are mounted to the adjustment mounting plate for adjusting the pitch (i.e. spacing) between the pulleys 48 and 54 and thereby the pitch between infeed belts. In operation, when the sausage rope 1 1 is extruded through the extrusion nozzle 18 at a higher linear velocity than a linear velocity of the infeed belts 45.1 and 45.2, the sausage rope is slowed down. This causes the thickness of the sausage rope 1 1 to increase. In order to accommodate a relatively longer diameter of the sausage rope, the spacing between the infeed belts 45 is increased using the pitch adjustment mechanisms 60.1 and 60.2. By increasing the spacing between the infeed belts 45.1 and 45.2, the diameter of the sausage is increased. Conversely, when the sausage rope 1 1 is extruded through the extrusion nozzle 18 at a lower linear velocity than a linear velocity of the infeed belts 45.1 and 45.2, the speed of travel of the sausage rope is increased by the infeed belts. This causes the thickness of the sausage to decrease. In order to accommodate a relatively smaller diameter of the sausage rope the pitch of the infeed belts 45.1 and 45.2 is decreased using the pitch adjustment mechanisms 60.1 and 60.2.

By adjusting the pitch of the infeed belts, the thickness and length of the sausage rope can be manipulated and adjusted. This is beneficial when striving to achieve a specific optimal cut sausage end product weight and thus avoid overfilling or underfilling of the sausage end product.

Overfilling or underfilling of sausage end product also has an influence on the level internal stress in the sausage rope induced during extrusion and infeed through the infeed belts 45.1 and 45.2 and as such, dictates, to an extent, the amount of shrinkage that will occur in a sausage end product during cooking. Adjustment of the spacing between the infeed belts thus provides a means for controlling the thickness and velocity at which the sausage rope which enters the cutting head 27.