The present invention relates to stuffing machines and more particularly to an improvement in an automatic frankfurter stuffing machine of the type utilizing removable stuffing horns.
Stuffing machines using replaceable stuffing horns are known in the art. The horns used in these machines are provided with a casing supply predisposed on the stuffing horn. After the horn is mounted to the stuffing machine and its casing supply is stuffed, the horn is removed and a new horn and casing supply is installed.
When the horn is removed from the stuffing machine, there is foodstuff remaining in the horn. The problem is the removal of this foodstuff in a rapid and efficient manner which does not otherwise interfere with the stuffing operation.
In one system, as disclosed for example in a co-pending application Ser. No. 481,031, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,460, the casing article, including the stuffing horn and its casing supply, are carried by a rotating turret to a stuffing position. After the casing supply is exhausted, the spent stuffing horn is indexed by the turret into a stripping position where a piston is extended through the spent stuffing horn to push the foodstuff it contains into a collection bucket. Periodically, the bucket is emptied so the collected foodstuff can be reworked. In the present invention, however, an arrangement is provided which cleans out the stuffing horn in a manner that allows the residual foodstuff in the stuffing horn to pass directly into a trailing end portion of the casing on the stuffing horn, thereby directly contributing to production of a stuffed product. Such a system eliminates the need for transporting the spent stuffing horn to a separate clean-out station, and it also eliminates the need for collection of the residual foodstuff for later rework.
In the system of the present invention, a casing article, including a stuffing tube and casing supply, is carried to and located in a stuffing position, wherein a flowable foodstuff is pumped under pressure through the stuffing tube to stuff out the casing supply. Just prior to the time that the casing supply is used up, the flow of foodstuff under pressure is stopped or bypassed and a clean-out member is pushed longitudinally through the stuffing tube. The clean-out member pushes out the residual foodstuff from the stuffing tube and into the remaining portion of casing, thereby forming part of one or more additional stuffed casing products. The clean-out member is thereafter returned rapidly in a backward direction, so that a minimal amount of time is lost before the spent stuffing tube is removed and replaced by a new stuffing tube and a new supply of casing.
In order to make the most efficient use of the casing supply, it is preferred that the clean-out member be activated while there remains on the stuffing tube, a terminal length of casing sufficient to encase the volume of foodstuff contained within the stuffing tube, and sufficient to permit the closing or tying-off of the thusly stuffed casing and sufficient to permit handling the tail end of the stuffed casing during further processing. Also, the stuffed casing product made by advancing the clean-out member through the stuffing tube, preferably, has the same diameter and configuration as the stuffed product otherwise made during the conventional stuffing cycle of the stuffing machine. For this purpose, the rate of speed at which the clean-out member is advanced through the stuffing tube must be sufficient to provide the desired fully stuffed diameter.
In stuffing machines of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,668, a linker is used in association with the stuffing machine to form the stuffed casing into links. The linker, as is disclosed in the aforementioned patent, engages the stuffed casing and draws it forward in order to form the links. When such a linker is used with the present invention, it is preferred that the speed of the clean-out device be synchronized to the speed of the linker so that the residual foodstuff in the stuffing tube is pushed forward by the clean-out device at the same rate as the foodstuff is moved forward during the conventional stuffing operation. When this is done, the casing receives the residual food emulsion so as to produce fully stuffed links which are of substantially the same size and shape as the links which are formed during the normal stuffing operation.