US1736333A - Machine for grinding meat and the like - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 19, 1929. A. c. VAN H OOYDONK MACHINE FOR GRINDING MEAT AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 9, 1927 v In lb.

IIIIIIIIIIIIO'IIIIIIII, 7") v I a Patented Nov. 19, 1929 UNITED STATES ADRIAN C. VAN HOOYDONK, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN E. SMITH PATENT OFFICE SONS 00., F BUFFALO, NEW YORK, .A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK MACHINE FOR GRINDING MEAT AN D THE LIKE Application filed August 9, 1927. Serial No. 211,717.

material through the openings of said plate.

As usually constructed, the feed hopper of the machine is located centrally over the easlng and delivers the material upon the ascending as Well as the descending side of the feed screw, with the result that the ascending side of the screw-blade tends to force up some of the material back into the hopper. Attendants are therefore in the habit of pressing the meat or other material down out of the hopper by hand at the risk of becoming injured.

One of the objects of my invention is to improve the construction of such grinders with a view of preventing such return movement of the material by the screw, while r taining the usual function of the latter to force the material through the perforated plate, thus discouraging the dangerous practice of thrusting the hands into the hopper.

In such machines it is customary to use interchangeable plates with lar e and smallsized perforations, a plate with large holes being first used to coarsely grind or reduce the material and the material being then again run through the machine after substituting the plate or plates with smaller holes to grind the material to the desired degree of fineness.

A further object of this invention is to do away with such coarsely perforated plate or plates and provide the machine with simple cutting means cooperating with the feed screw by which the lumps or larger pieces of material are reduced preliminary to the final reduction by the action of the perforated plate and the usual rotary knife or cutter cooperating with it.

Another object is to provide the feed hopper with simple and reliable means for warning the attendant when it is empty or nearly so, to guard against injuring his hands in the event of his putting them into the hopper for any purpose.

- Other objects and improvements will appear in the following description.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a power driven grinding machine embodying the invention. Figure 2 is a view of the delivery end of the machine. Figure 3 is a fragmentary top plan view thereof. Figure 4 is an enlarged cross section on line 4.4, Figure 1. Figure 5 is an enlarged longitudinal section on line 55, Figure 2. Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary cross section of the screw and its casing.

imilar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. 1

10 indicates the stationary frame or standard of the machine; 11 the screw casing mounted on the rear end of the frame; 12 the usual screw; 13 the perforated plate at the rear end of the casing and 14; the knife-blades secured to the screw-shaft 15 at the rear side of the plate.

In the construction shown by way of example, this shaft is journaled in the per? forated plate and the frame 10, and it may be driven from an electric or other motor 16 by sprocket gearing 17, 18, or other suitable transmission elements.

The feed hopper 19 surmounts the front portion of the screw casing, but instead of being arranged centrally over the front end of the screw as usual, is offset laterally as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4: to bring the discharge throat 20 of the hopper over the descending side of the feed screw and practically isolate the throat from the ascending side of the screw. The result is that the part of the screw under the hopper-throat tends to draw the meat or other material down out of the hopper into the screw-zone, rather than to feed some of it upward and return it into the hopper and tempting the attendant to push the material down into the hopper and risking injury to his hands.

Otherwise expressed, the far wall 19 of the feed hopper (relative to the near side of the machine as it appears in Figure 1) has its lower end arranged over and substantially in alinement with the axis of the screw, practically shutting off the far or ascending half of the screw-blade from the hopper throat and exposing only the descending half of the screw to the same or nearly so, as best illustrated in Figure 4.

Arranged at one side of the casing 10, preferably opposite the front or receiving end of the screw, is a cutter or cutting mechanism 21 enclosed by a housing 22 and adapted to sever and reduce the lumps or larger pieces of meat or other material before being forced through the openings of the perforated plate 13. In the preferred embodiment of the mechanism shown in the drawing, it consists of a series of rotary disks mounted on a shaft 23 and having beveled and sharpened teeth 24 passing through a comb or slotted plate 25 forming the inner wall of the housing 22. These cutter-disks are driven in the opposite direction to the feed screw, as indicated by the arrows in Figure 4, so that the opposing sides of the screw and disks travel downward and the disks as well as the screw tend to draw the material out of the feed-hopper down into the screw-casing. The cutter-shaft 23 may be supported on the frame and the screw-casing and driven from the screw-shaft by gears 26, 27 or other appropriate means, the cutter shaft being rotated preferably at twice the speed of the screw-shaft, but this ratio may be varied at will. A suitable clutch 28 may be provided to throw the cutter-shaft in or out of gear with the screw-shaft.

The provision of the preliminary cutter mechanism 21 eliminates the perforated plate with large holes heretofore employed, saving the time required to interchange two or more plates and to run the material through the machine several times. It follows that the material is mashed less and a more juicy and wholesome product is obtained.

The comb-plate is preferably separate from the casing 11 and housing 22 and is suitably secured thereto, to permit convenient machining of the plate.

To guard against injuring the attendant in case he should be tempted to thrust his hands into the feed-hopper, a warning or telltale device 29 may be arranged in the hopper. As best shown in Figure l, this preferably consists of a plate arranged within the hopper at the same side as the cutter-disks and hinged at its upper end to the adjacent wall of the hopper, the hinged end of the plate having an overbalancing weight 30 which tends to swing it to its full-line position. \Vhen the J feed-hopper is filled more or less, the weight of the material holds the warning plate against the wall of the hopper out of active position, as indicated by dotted lines, but when the material-level in the hopper falls below the lower end of the plate, the weight 30 swings the plate to its full-line position, extending it over the cutter-disks where it will be encountered by the attendants hands and warning him that they are dangerously close to them.

31 indicates the longitudinal ribs or abutments which project inwardly from the wall of the screw casing 11 and which compel the material to move toward the perforated plate under the action of the screw. 'When these ribs are formed integral with the cast-iron casing, their sides lack the desired sharpness of abruptness to insure the proper propulsion of the material through the casing. To improve this construction, the ribs are made separate from the casing and preferably of harder metal than it, such as steel bars. These are squarely machined or sharpened, after which they are placed in the core of the mold in which the casing is cast, the inner embedded portions of the bars having a number of openings 82 which become filled with the metal of the casing, thereby firmly anchoring the bars in place without requiring separate fastenings of any kind, saving time and reducing expense.

I claim as my invention 1. A machine for grinding meat and the like, comprisng a casing, a feed-hopper leading to said casing, a feed screw in the easing, a chamber at one side of the casing, rotary cutters in said chamber and means for rotating said screw and said cutters to travel donwardly on their opposing sides, the descending sides of the screw and out ters extending into the discharge throat of the feed-hopper while their ascending sides are located outside thereof.

2. A machine for grinding meat and the like, comprising a casing, material-reducing means in the casing, a feed-hopper leading into the casing, a movable warning device arranged in the hopper and adapted to be held out of operative position by its contents, and means for moving the warning device to a position over said material-reducing means when released by the descending material in the hopper.

3. A machine for grinding meat and the like, comprising a casing, material-reducing means in the casing, a feed-hopper leading into the casing, a warning plate pivoted within the hopper to swing against a wall thereof or to its operative positon over said material-reducing means and a weight for extending said plate to its operative position when released by the hopper-contents.

l. A machine for grinding meat and the like, comprising a casing, a feed-screw therein, a cutting chamber at one side of said casing, a comb-plate arranged between said casing and chamber and separate therefrom, means for securing said plate in place and rotary cutters in said chamber passing through said comb-plate.

5. In a machine for grinding meat and tlfe like, a casing, a feed screw in the casing, a feed hopper leading to said casing and having a discharge throat arranged substantially on one side of the screw-axis, a chamber arranged on the opposite side of the screwaxis and communicating with said casing and the discharge throat of said hopper, and a cutting mechanism arranged in said cham her in opposing relation to said feed screw.

6. In a machine for grinding meat and the like, a casing, a feed screw in the casing, a feed hopper leading to said casing and having a discharge throat arranged substantially on one side of the screw-axis, a chamber arranged on the opposite side of the screw-axis and communicating with said casing and the discharge throat of said hopper, and a rotary cutter disposed in said chamber and having its axis arranged parallel to that of the feed-screw.

7. A machine for grinding meat and the like, comprising a casing, a material-reducing means at the delivery end of the casing, a feed screw in the casing, a feed hopper surmounting the casing and having its discharge throat leading to the descending side of said screw, and a rotary cutter disposed opposite the feed screw adjacent said discharge throat and having its axis parallel to that of said screw.

ADRIAN C. VAN I-IOOYDONK.

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