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A shaping machine for dividing a deformable mass, such as a meat product, into separately shaped portions comprises a stock container, at least two piston-cylinder units for alternately feeding in the mass from the stock container to a shaping plate provided with shaped recesses, and also means for removing the shaped portions from the shaping plate. Valve means for connecting the cylinder alternately to the stock container arc also provided. The cylinders are accommodated next to each other in a housing which has a chamber connecting at one side to the shaping plate and at the other side to the cylinders, while the valve means also operate the connection between chamber and cylinders.

Inventor: Poul Lygum
Original Assignee: Tetra Laval Food Koppens B.V.
Current U.S. Classification: 452/174
International Classification: A22C 700

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Citations

Cited PatentFiling dateIssue dateOriginal AssigneeTitle
US3121449Oct 24, 1960Feb 18, 1964MACHINE FOR
US3964127Dec 30, 1974Jun 22, 1976Hollymatic CorporationMolding apparatus
US4356595Nov 7, 1980Nov 2, 1982Formax, Inc.Method and apparatus for molding food patties
US4597135Feb 21, 1984Jul 1, 1986Holly Systems, Inc.Food patty forming method and apparatus employing two or more agitator bars
US4801097Dec 4, 1987Jan 31, 1989Food product ingredient dispensing apparatus
US5021025Sep 12, 1989Jun 4, 1991Method and machine for making food patties
US5022888May 3, 1990Jun 11, 1991Formax, Inc.Co-forming apparatus for food patty molding machine
US5149293Nov 29, 1991Sep 22, 1992Brassiere accessory

Referenced by

Citing PatentFiling dateIssue dateOriginal AssigneeTitle
US5730650Feb 11, 1997Mar 24, 1998Progressive Technology of Wisconsin, Inc.Food patty molding machine
US6892901Feb 10, 2003May 17, 2005Automatic Bar Controls, Inc.Sauce pumping apparatus
US7993049Oct 16, 2008Aug 9, 2011Automatic Bar Controls, Inc.Turntable for on-demand mixing and distributing of a food product

Claims

1. Shaping machine for dividing a deformable mass, such as a meat product, into separately shaped portions, comprising a stock container, a shaping plate provided with shaped recesses, at least two piston-cylinder units for alternately feeding in the mass from the stock container to said shaping plate and also means for removing the shaped portions from the shaping plate, characterized in that valve means are provided for connecting the cylinders alternately to the stock container.

2. Shaping machine according to claim 1, in which the cylinders are accommodated next to each other in a housing which has a chamber connecting at one side to the shaping plate and at the other side to the cylinders, while the valve means also operate the connection between chamber and cylinders.

3. Shaping machine according to claim 2, in which the valve means can be moved between two positions, in each of which the connection between one of the cylinders and the chamber is shut off and the connection between that cylinder and the stock container is opened each time.

4. Shaping machine according to claim 3, in which a swivellable valve element is provided in the chamber, which valve element has a passage whose one end is permanently connected to the stock container by way of an opening in the top wall of the chamber, and whose other end in both positions of the valve element is connected to the appropriate cylinder in each case.

5. Shaping machine according to claim 4, in which the chamber has a rectangular cross-section, and the valve element has a bottom base plate with circular periphery which interacts in a sealing manner with the bottom chamber wall.

6. Shaping machine according to claim 5, in which the valve element has a top base plate with circular periphery which interacts in a sealing manner with the top chamber wall.

7. Shaping machine according to claim 5, in which each base plate is accommodated in a correspondingly shaped recess in the appropriate wall of the chamber.

8. Shaping machine according to claim 5, in which provision is made for a channel which is bent through 90.degree. and one end of which is concentric in relation to each base plate, while the other end can also be connected to one of the cylinders.

9. Shaping machine according to claim 1, in which the chamber connects to the bottom side of the shaping plate.

10. Shaping machine according to claim 1, in which the chamber connects to the top side of the shaping plate.

11. Shaping machine according to claim 1, in which two pairs of piston-cylinder units and a valve means belonging to each pair are provided.

12. Shaping machine according to claim 11, in which each pair of piston-cylinder units interacts with its own essentially conical stock container, which stock containers intersect each other in a common vertical plane, thus forming a common recess in their facing wall parts.

Drawings