GB1070346A - Improvements in or relating to machines for peeling tomatoes - Google Patents

Abstract

1,070,346. Peeling tomatoes. G. BUSCETTO. Sept. 7, 1965 [Sept. 22, 1964; June 24, 1965], No. 38216/65. Heading A4C. A tomato peeling machine includes a plurality of peeling devices 4 each comprising a hollow, open ended body 27 carried by a moving support 28, a perforated wall 29 mounted within the body 27 with an annular space 30 therebetween, an elastic jacket 32 with a roughened inner surface secured by enlarged end flanges 33 within the perforated wall 29, means 41, 37 for supplying air under pressure to within and outside the jacket 32, and a cutting device over which the support 28 is moved to cut the skin of a tomato 8 supported in a deformed jacket 32<SP>1</SP>. In operation, tomatoes are fed singly from a hopper 26 into the jacket 32 and compressed air from a toroidal channel 41 urges the tomato 8 to the middle of the jacket. Compressed air is then passed through an inlet 37 to act on the outer surface of the jacket 32 and deform it, as at 32<SP>1</SP>, to a tomato skin gripping position. The lower, stem end of the tomato has its skin cut so that the skinned tomato is ejected from the jacket 32 and the skin remains adhered to the jacket 32. The hollow body may be of cylindrical form (Figs. 9, 10) and is selectively fitted with one of a number of alternative perforated walls (44) and jackets (46) according to the size of the tomatoes being skinned. The moving support 28 may be in the form of a rotary disc (3) or an endless conveyer (12) each carrying a plurality of rows of peeling devices 4, the tomatoes being fed to the support by a conveyer system which is advanced synchronously with the operation of the peeling devices. An electronic device senses the difference in ripeness between the zone of the stem of the tomato and the tomato itself and energizes an elecromagnet which rotates the peeling device through 180 degrees if the tomato is wrongly oriented therein.