CO-EXTRUDER HAVING A FILLING ENTRANCE FROM THE REAR

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

[0001] The present invention relates to a cutter assembly for an extruder for extruding filled food pieces. More particularly, the present invention relates to an extruder cutter assembly, which includes a filling tube that that enters through the rear of the cutter assembly.

2. Description of Background Art

[0002] Extruders for producing extruded food pieces are known. Such extruders can conventionally include a pressure vessel for containing, under pressure, a mash of the food to be extruded. Furthermore, pressure exerting means for maintaining pressure in the pressure vessel, a manifold in fluid communication with the pressure vessel, and a cutter assembly, generally located underneath the pressure vessel, in fluid communication with the manifold can be included. The extruder cutter assembly cuts the extruded food to size. An extruder of the above type is disclosed, for example in U.S. Patent No. 5,773,043 to Hunter (hereinafter "the '043 Patent"). The '043 Patent is hereby incorporated by reference. [0003] In the '043 Patent, an extruder cutter assembly extrudes a food piece in the shape of a natural food piece. The extruder cutter assembly includes an extrusion member and a tubular cutter member for cutting extrudate exiting the extrusion member. However, the '043 Patent does not include a filling tube that enters through a rear of the cutter assembly as in the present invention.

[0004] The present inventor has also invented an extruder cutter assembly for extruding foodstuff containing a filling. In U.S. Patent Nos. 6,511,309 and 6,964,562 (hereinafter "the '309 Patent" and "the '562 Patent", respectively), an extruder cutter assembly includes a filling tube or passageway for extruding a filling along with the mash of food to form a filled food product. An extension is formed on the extrusion member and the cutter member to allow for the extrudate to exit the extruder cutter assembly from the side. This extension to the extrusion member and cutter member is similar to the present invention. However, the

extruder cutter assembly in the '309 Patent and the '562 Patent does not include a filling tube that enters through the rear of the cutter assembly as in the present invention. The '309 Patent and the '562 Patent are hereby incorporated by reference.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to provide cutter assembly for an extruder, which makes up for the above deficiencies of the background art. Specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide an extruder cutter assembly, which includes a filling tube that enters the cutter assembly through the rear.

[0006] By providing the filling tube entering through the rear of the cutter assembly, the distance between the entrance of the filling tube and the outlet of the die assembly is much shorter than in the background art devices. In the background art devices, a 1 Vi inch inside diameter feed tube is used to feed the filling material to the filling tube. The filling tube is a /4 inch inside diameter tube that extends the entire vertical length of the cutter assembly. Therefore, the cutter assembly must operate at a higher pressure to force the filling material through the filling tube. In the present invention; however, although a 1 V2 inch inside diameter filling tube is used to feed the filling material to the filling tube, which is also a '/> inch inside diameter tube, for example, the distance that the filling material has to travel is much less than in the background art. In view of this, the pressure needed to feed the filling material is much less than that background art. In addition, if larger pressures are used, filling material having much higher particulate sizes can be fed through the filling tube than when compared with the background art devices.

[0007] With the cutter assembly according to the present invention, it is also possible to form products that are larger than in the prior art, mainly because the operating pressure can be obtained to feed the extrudate through the die. For example only, a product that is approximately 3/8 to ¹ A inches thick, but still filled in the middle can be formed with the present cutter assembly. As one example only, the present invention can be used to form a 12 mm thick mashed potato/omelet product having an 8 mm thick filling (omelet) and a 2 mm thick outer layer (potato). This product can also be formed 49 mm wide, for example. [0008] According to the present invention, it is also possible to exchange the filling tube and the extrusion die portions of the cutter assembly very easily by simply unbolting the existing portions and substituting therefore a filling tube or extrusion portion having a

different size and/or shape. In this way, it is possible to provide a variety of shapes, thicknesses and widths of a product and also very easily adapt the amount of filling to correspond to the particular product. The removal of the extrusion die and the filling tube also makes the extruder cutter assembly very easy to clean between processes to make sure that no contamination of a process occurs.

[0009] According to the present invention, an adjustable ramp can be provided to ensure that the product does not break when exiting the cutter assembly.

[0010] In order to accomplish the above objects of the present invention, A cutter assembly for an extruder, comprises:

[0011] an elongated extrusion member having an open feed end, said open feed end being attachable in fluid communication with the extruder for supplying a mash to said elongated extrusion member;

[0012] an extrusion die supported on a front of said elongated extrusion member, said extrusion die including an extrusion outlet formed therein;

[0013] a filling tube, said filling tube being mounted on a rear of said elongated extrusion member and being attachable in fluid communication with the extruder for supplying a filling to the filling tube; and

[0014] a cutter member having a drivable end and a cutter blade with a cutting surface for cutting extrudate to a desired length as the extrudate exits the extrusion die, said cutter member being operably connectable at the drivable end to a drive device of the extruder for reciprocatably sliding the cutting surface of the cutter blade over and away from the outlet of the extrusion die.

[0015] Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

[0017] Figure 1 is a perspective view of the extruder cutter assembly of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 2 is a cross-section of the extruder cutter assembly of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 3 is a left perspective view of the extruder cutter assembly of the present invention;, wherein the cutter member is in the raised position;

[0020] Figure 4 is a left perspective view of the extruder cutter assembly of the present invention;, wherein the cutter member is in the lowered position; and

[0021] Figure 5 is a perspective view of the filling tube member of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0022] The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar elements are identified by the same reference numerals throughout the several views.

[0023] The extruder cutter assembly 1 of the present invention is used to extrude a filled food piece and operates in generally the same manner as the '309 Patent and the '562 Patent mentioned above. However, rather than having the filling tube extending parallel to the elongated extrusion member, the filling tube enters the elongated extrusion member from the rear. Specifically, referring to Figure 1, the elongated extrusion member 3 includes a plate 5 that is bolted to the right side of the elongated extrusion member 3. The plate 5 includes the filling tube 7 that extends through the plate 5 and into the elongated extrusion member 3. The filling tube 7 is integrally connected to the plate 5 by, for example, welding; however, it is conceivable that the filling tube 7 be attached in another manner as well. As long as the filling tube 7 can be sealed to the plate 5 to prevent leakage of the extrudate, then such attachment would be sufficient. Further to this, an o-ring 9 is mounted to the plate 5 to seal between the plate 5 and a generally block-shaped extrusion portion 11 of the elongated extrusion member 3.

[0024] The filling tube 7 has a first end 8 that is attachable to an extruder that provides filling to the extruder cutter assembly. A second end 10 of the filling tube 7 forms an exit of the filling tube 7.

[0025] On the left side of the extrusion portion 11, an extrusion die 13 is bolted thereto.

An annular portion 15 of the elongated extrusion member 3, which includes the mash therein, and the filling tube 7, which includes the filling therein, are in communication with the outlet

17 of the extrusion die 13. As the food product exits the extrusion die 13, the food product is cut to a predetermined length by the cutter member 19.

[0026] The cutter member 19 is reciprocable between a first, raised position (see Figures

1-3) and a second, lowered position (see Figure 4), so that the extrudate is cut as it is exiting the extrusion die 13. Specifically, a driving mechanism (not shown) is received in a slot 12 of a collar 14 that is slidably mounted on an outer surface of the annular portion 15 of the elongated extrusion member 3. The cutter member 19 is bolted to the collar 14 and includes a replaceable cutter blade 20 attached to an end thereof. The speed of the reciprocation of the cutter member 19 is set to the speed of the extrusion of the extrudate, depending on the particular application, in order to adjust the length of the finished food product.

[0027] The annular portion 11 of the elongated extrusion member 3 is connectable at a top 16 thereof to an extruder that includes a source of mash. The mash surrounds the filling material to be located on an outside of the filling material at the outlet 17 of the extrusion die

13.

[0028] The extrusion die 1 includes a ramp (sled) member 21 removably attached to a left side thereof. The ramp member 21 includes an adjustable sloped portion 22 that is pivotably mounted thereto. The sloped portion 22 is also adjustable to change the height of the pivot point by sliding the pin 24 up and down an adjustment slot 25. The ramp member 21 also includes two side walls 23 that prevent the food product from falling off of the ramp member

21 sideways.

[0029] The sloped portion 22 is adjustable in order to change the incline amount thereof, depending on the application. If the incline of the sloped portion 22 is too high, bending of the food product exiting the extrusion die 13 can occur. If the incline is not high enough, smooth flow of the food product exiting the extrusion die 13 does not occur.

[0030] As can be understood from the cross-section in Figure 2, the pin 24 is a single pin that extends completely through the sloped portion 22; however, the pin 24 could be two

separate pins, one on each side of the sloped portion 22. As long as the sloped portion 22 is pivotably mounted to the ramp member 21, so that the ramp member can be adjusted by moving the pin 24 up and down the adjustment slot 25, it would be within the scope of the present invention.

[0031] The end of the sloped portion 22 of the ramp member 21 is operably placed in association with an adjustable conveyor (not shown). The conveyor would be set to the speed of the extruder cutter assembly 1 , so that a smooth and continuous process of making a food product occurs.

[0032] In addition, as can be seen in Figure 4, the cutter blade 20 is downwardly movable into a gap formed between the sloped portion 22 of the ramp member 21 and the outlet 17 of the extrusion die 13 to make sure that the extrudate is completely cut by the cutting blade 20 during operation.

[0033] It should be understood that the filling tube 7 can be easily replaced with a filling tube 7 having a different shape, depending on the application. Also, the extrusion die 13 can be replaced to have a shape that corresponds to the shape of the filling tube 7 outlet. For example, referring to Figure 3, the outlet of the filling tube 7 and the outlet 17 of the extrusion die 13 are generally rectangular in shape. However, the shapes of the filling tube 7 and the extrusion die 13 can be of various other shapes, depending on the application. For example, the extrusion die 13 and the filling tube 7 can have an oval shape, a round shape, etc.

[0034] Figure 5 is a perspective view of the filling tube 7 and plate 5, which are preferably formed as a single, integral unit. The filling tube can be easily replaced by unbolting the plate 5 from the extrusion portion 11, so that the amount of filling can be adjusted very easily to a particular extrusion die 13 outlet 17. As mentioned above, the size and shape of the outlet 10 can be changed to correspond with a particular extrusion die 17. In addition, the length of the filling tube 7 itself can be adjusted as well as the length that the extrusion die extends into the extrusion portion 11 in order to control the exiting of the extrudate and make sure that is comes out straight.

[0035] The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.