Description Field of the art

The present invention refers to the mechanical field. More in detail, the present invention refers to a new and innovative system constituted by a sequence of cutters and fixed extrusion discs suitably configured for cooperating with the collection and moving of the dense connective tissues away from minced meat for producing sausages, especially salami.

Prior art

Sausages and salumi in general are among the foods which are widely produced, sold and purchased by consumers today throughout the world. Salumi, in particular sausages, are generally foods based on raw or cooked meat to which salt, animal fat, spices and possible preservatives are added, which are inserted within closed containers, conventionally constituted by animal intestines.

Sausage dates back to the Etruscan and Roman period and the term "salumen", of Latin origin, refers to all the salt-preserved products.

In pre-historic times, small cuts of meat were subjected to preservation. In this phase, the cuts were dried with fire and preserved, while during the Egyptian and Greek period the first approach began towards "sausages" as we know them today. Descriptions of sausages can be found in the Odyssey, with a sausage made with "fat" and then with Aristophanes (circa 400 B.C.) who, in his comedies, often speaks of "lucanica".

From 1200-1300 A.D., a certain specialization in the preparation and preservation of salami came to be widespread; such salami came to enrich the tables of the nobles of that period. The processing techniques were refined with the use of products that facilitate preservation. In Italy, between the 12th and 17th centuries, there was a strong development of trades tied to the transformation of pork meat. In that period, there arose the figure of the pork butcher, who due to his ability gave life to the creation of new salumi products. Such professional figures started to be organized in corporations or in brotherhoods and take on important societal roles. The figure of the pork butcher maintained his fame intact right up to the end of World War II. Today, the pork butcher heritage has passed on to artisans and to the food industry world, which is always ready to give life to innovative productions, recovering antique recipes.

Modern technology provides that the fresh meat arrive in the production plant in anatomic cuts of pork that have been separately frozen. Such meat, after having reached an ideal temperature for the processing thereof, is minced and reduced to a creamy emulsion through various passages in suitable mincing machines. Depending on the type of sausage, cubes of fat obtained from the throat fat - the hardest and most valued of the fats - can be prepared, along with fat obtained from the lard of the pork back. The lean emulsion is then mixed with the fat cubs and mixed with salt, water and spices (or powder aromas or aromas in solution). The necessary additives are then added and the mixture thus obtained is sausage of the desired caliber. The sausage is also subjected to cooking, by using suitable dry air stoves, in times which vary from several hours up to an entire day depending on the size and type of sausage. A spray with cold water then follows, as well as a stay in cooling cell in order to stabilize the product.

The quality of a sausage mainly depends on factors such as the quality of the raw material used given by its composition, the chemical-physical as well as microbiological characteristics, the additives used, the storage, the distribution of the finished product and, undoubtedly, the production technology.

The international patents currently effective in this field - many of which having the same Applicant as owner - seem to be concentrated on various problems regarding the animal meat processing plants, but not on the possibility to remove the hard tissues from the finished product. Consumers of sausages, in particular salami, in fact often find that they have the so-called "nerves" of the meat stuck between the teeth, such nerves being hard to chew and firmly resistant to cutting, even by means of the sharpest cutters/knives. Among the various patents of the sector, we can mention the document EP 0850689, which refers to a particular blade for a mincer cutter, characterized by the indispensable cutting edge as well as by a plurality of openings, also of different shape, positioned along an arc of circumference placed at the cutting edge, adapted for lightening the overall weight of the cutter, improving the effectiveness thereof.

The document CN201227599Y attempts to resolve the problem of the perfect reduction of the meat grain size; such document proposes in particular a double-blade cutter with acute profile - but nothing is present for separating the dense tissues from minced meat.

The current production plants comprise an auger which pushes the meat, still semi-frozen, through a cutting device which rotates around a central shaft; subsequently, the meat, reduced into smaller-size pieces, traverses a cross-like fixed disc which has the purpose of conveying the meat towards the mincer cutter in an axial direction, eliminating possible rotational inertia deriving from the just-traversed cutting device. At this point, the meat, in order to obtain an even smaller grain size, must cross through a mincing device. Between the cutting device and the extrusion device, a plurality of fixed extrusion discs are placed, thus generating an alternated sequence of discs and cutters within the cutting group. The currently employed mincing devices substantially have a discoidal shape, characterized by at least four blades arranged in a cross-like manner, which rotate due to the movement transmitted by a central rotation shaft. Such mincer cutters however to do not apply different treatment to the different tissues that they encounter. They indiscriminately mince meat and dense connective tissues which, however, being more resistant, are found in the final minced product in rather long segments, which can be annoying for the consumer during chewing.

For such purpose, the object of the present industrial invention patent application, described in detail hereinbelow, is to propose a new and innovative system constituted by at least one cutter and at least one fixed disc which cooperate in order to separate the meat from the connective tissues, moving the latter away in order to enable a differentiated processing thereof. Description of the invention

According to the present invention, a system is made for separating collagen from minced meat, suitable to be used in plants for processing animal meat for producing sausages, particularly salami. More in detail, the present system comprises at least one cutter 10 and at least one fixed extrusion disc 20 which synergistically cooperate in order to convey the collagen, and hence the dense connective tissues present in the unprocessed meat, into a different zone of the production plant.

Each component of the system, object of the present invention, will be advantageously made of a common metal or metal alloy material adapted to resist the stresses imparted by the meat pushed by the auger of the plant, avoiding any release of material into the meat being processed.

The advantage of the present invention lies in the fact that in the finished product, the so- called "nerves" that are hard for cutting and chewing will not be present, as these could bother the salumi consumer. The separate processing of the collagen also advantageously allows reintegrating it in the minced meat in powder form after a suitable freeze-drying process.

Given the wide use of collagen in the cosmetic industry, among the other advantages of the present invention there is also the possibility to recover all or part of the collagen present in the anatomic cuts of pork in order to use it in the aforesaid industry type.

The cutter 10 used by the present system is constituted, like the known cutters typical of similar animal meat processing plants, by a metal body provided with a central hole 11 suitable to enable the passage of a central shaft of the processing plant, which confers a rotary movement to the cutter 10. Due to its motion, each radial arm 12 constituting the cutter 10 contributes to the cutting of the meat and to the pressing thereof against the underlying fixed extrusion disc 20.

It should be specified that, without departing from the protective scope offered by the enclosed claims, the system of the present invention can be constituted by a plurality of cutters 10 and by a corresponding plurality of fixed discs 20, arranged in alternating sequence, in order to operate the mincing in gradual passages, progressively reducing the grain size of the meat.

In addition to the common cutting profiles 13 of each radial arm 12 of the cutter 10, a shearing tooth 14 is advantageously present on each radial arm. The shearing tooth precedes the cutting profile 13, leaving a fissure 15 between the two. More specifically, shearing tooth 14 and cutting profile 13 have opposite tilt and the fissure that separates them, which is arranged in longitudinal direction with respect to the radial arm 12, has preferred width of 5 mm, or in any case a width comprised between 2 mm and 10 mm.

Due to the continuous rotary movement of the cutter 10, the shearing tooth 14 of each radial arm 12 advantageously presses part of the meat being processed towards the underlying fixed extrusion disc 20. The meat that does not cross through said fixed disc 20 is cut by the cutting profile 13 and, through said fissure 15, is reached by the shearing tooth 14 of the following radial arm 12.

Advantageously, the lower end of said shearing tooth 14 is raised with respect to the lower end of the corresponding cutting profile 13 by a distance comprised between 1 mm and 8 mm, preferably 5 mm.

Therefore, as is known, a fixed extrusion disc 20 is arranged immediately downstream of the just-described cutter 10, such disc 20 provided with a central hole 21 suitably sized for allowing the passage of the central shaft of the processing plant, preventing this from imparting a rotational force on said fixed disc 20.

Advantageously, the extrusion holes 23 - which allow the passage of the minced meat towards the more-downstream components of the processing plant - are suitably sized for preventing the passage of the collagen connective tissues, which remain on the upper surface of the fixed disc 20.

Advantageously, said fixed disc 20 is characterized by the presence, on the upper surface, of at least one centripetal collection channel 24, preferably three collection channels 24, up to a maximum of six centripetal collection channels. These are the grooves arranged in radial direction on the upper surface of the fixed disc 20 and tilted towards said central hole 21. The collagen which is unable to traverse the extrusion holes 23 is pushed by the various shearing teeth 14 up to one of said collagen collection channels 24, into which it falls and slowly slides in centripetal direction towards a suitable disposal channel 26. The latter is situated in proximity to said central hole 21 and is advantageously suitable to move said collagen away from the meat being processed, definitively separating it.

In order to ensure the fall of the collagen in the disposal channel 26, at the intersection between the perimeter edge 22 of the fixed disc 20 and each collection channel 24, a projecting profile 25 is arranged which closes the corresponding collection channel 24, ensuring a centripetal progression of the collagen. In addition, in order to prevent the fall of the meat in said disposal channel 26, the lower surface of said cutter 10, i.e. that in contact with the fixed disc 20, is provided with a thickening ring 17 arranged between the proximal end of the radial arms 12 and said central hole 11.

In one version of the present invention, advantageously, each shearing tooth 14 of the cutter 10 is connected to a bushing 16 adapted to prevent the introduction of meat to be minced inside the collagen collection channel 24 arranged on said fixed disc 20. In this manner, within each collection channel 24, nearly exclusively collagen will be found together with only a minimal percentage of meat.

Description of the figures

The invention will be described hereinbelow in at least one preferred embodiment, as a non- limiting example with the aid of the enclosed figures, in which:

- FIGURE 1 shows a three-dimensional view of the cutter 10 constituted by central hole 11, four radial arms 12 with relative cutting profile 13, shearing tooth 14 and fissure 15 interposed.

- FIGURE 2 illustrates the detail of the section of a radial arm 12 of the cutter 10 in which one observes the opposite tilt of the shearing tooth 14 with respect to the relative cutting profile 13; the thickening ring 17 is represented with gray coloring.

- FIGURE 3 shows a three-dimensional view of a fixed disc 20 according to the present invention in which, in addition to the central hole 21 and the delimitation perimeter edge 22, one sees the upper surface characterized by the extrusion holes 23 and by two centripetal collection channels 24, externally closed by the projecting profiles 25, which convey the collagen (according to the direction indicated by the arrows) towards the disposal channel 26.

- FIGURE 4 shows a section of the entire system, object of the present invention, with the cutter 10 arranged upstream of the fixed disc 20. In this version, one sees that the shearing tooth 14 of the sectioned radial arm 12 is characterized by the presence of the bushing 16, which prevents the introduction of meat inside the collection channel 24.

Detailed description of the invention

The present invention will now be illustrated as a merely non-limiting or non-binding example, with reference to the figures which illustrate several exemplifying embodiments that are not at all limiting or binding with regard to the present inventive concept.

With reference to FIG. 4, this shows, in a schematic section, a sequence of a cutter 10 and a fixed extrusion disc 20. A system constituted by these two elements, or better yet by a plurality of cutters and fixed discs arranged in alternating sequence, normally forms a part of the plants for mincing the meat for producing sausages, in particular in the cutting and extrusion step.

What differentiates the system that is the object of the present patent from the systems currently used is the innovative possibility to separate the dense connective tissues, constituted by collagen, from the actual meat in order to send the collagen to a differentiated processing and to remove the connective tissue residues from the sausage, as such residues annoyingly resist cutting and chewing.

FIGS. 1 and 2 thoroughly illustrate the innovations made to the cutter 10, while FIG. 3 shows those relative to the fixed disc 20.

With reference to the cutter 10, this will preferably be configured as in FIG. 1, adapted to rotate around the central axis passing through the central hole 11 in clockwise sense and with four rectilinear radial arms 12, arranged in a cross-like manner. Nevertheless, versions of the cutter 10 in which radial arms 12 have curvilinear axis, and are present in a number comprised between two and eight, are admissible.

The preferred shape of each radial arm 12, main area of the innovations which regard the upstream component of the system, i.e. the cutter 10, is shown in FIG. 2 where it can be seen that the cutting profile 13, tilted in the advancing direction of the radial arm 12, is preceded by a shearing tooth 14, tilted in the opposite direction. Between the two, a fissure 15 is present with width comprised between 2 mm and 10 mm, preferably 5 mm. The lower end of the shearing tooth 14, additionally, is slightly raised with respect to the lower end of the cutting profile 13 which is in contact with the upper surface of the underlying fixed disc 20. Such height is preferably 5 mm, or in any case comprised between 1 mm and 8 mm.

With regard to the fixed disc 20 (FIG. 3), this is provided with a plurality of extrusion holes 23 which allow the passage of the minced meat but not that of the collagen of the connective tissues, which thus remain on the upper surface of the fixed disc 20. More particularly, due to the rotary movement of the cutter 10, the shearing tooth 14 presses the meat on the fixed disc 20. The meat part that has already attained a sufficiently fine grain size crosses through the extrusion holes 23 of the fixed disc 20, in order to reach the more-downstream components of the plant. The meat not yet sufficiently minced - which also includes the connective tissues to be separated - encounters the cutting profile 13 for a further reduction of grain size while the collagen, resistant to the cutting, passes through the fissure 15 in order to be subsequently driven by the subsequent radial arm 12. In its transportation by the various radial arms 12, the collagen reaches one of the collection channels 24 which characterize the upper surface of the fixed disc 20, into which it falls, definitively separated from the meat.

In one version of the present invention, such as that represented in FIG. 4, each shearing tooth 14 of the cutter 10 is provided with a bushing 16 which has the function of preventing the fall of the meat into the collection channel 24. In this manner, the separation between the meat and the collagen is optimized. FIG. 3 shows a fixed disc 20 provided with a pair of collection channels 24, but it is specified that alternative versions are admissible provided with a number of collection channels 24 comprised between one and six, preferably three.

In order to convey the collected collagen towards the branch of the processing plant dedicated thereto, the collection channels 24 are tilted in a centripetal direction and allow the connective tissues to gradually fall towards a disposal channel 26 placed in proximity to the central hole 21. Even if the centripetal tilt of the collection channels 24 has proven sufficient for the correct conveying of the collagen, a projecting profile 25 is arranged at the intersection between the perimeter edge 22 which delimits the fixed disc 20 and the collection channel 24, such projecting profile 25 externally closing the collection channel 24. In order to prevent the fall of minced meat within the just-described disposal channel 26 intended only for collagen, the cutter 10 is provided with a thickening ring 17 arranged on the surface in contact with said fixed disc 20, between the proximal end of said radial arms 12 and said disposal channel 26.

Finally, it is clear that modifications, additions or variations that are obvious for a man skilled in the art can be made to the invention described up to now, without departing from the protective scope provided by the enclosed claims.