GB1321832A - Production of foodstuffs - Google Patents

Abstract

1321832 Moulding foodstuffs &C UNILEVER Ltd 22 June 1970 [26 June 1969] 32299/69 Heading B5A Articles, for example crinkled chips, of foodstuff material, for example mashed potato or minced meat, are moulded in an apertured slider movable in a closely fitting longitudinally ribbed or grooved channel from a feed station to a discharge station. In the embodiment of Fig. 1, material is fed through a filling station 5 provided with a spring loaded pressure fluctuation damping piston 7 into either of two mould cavities 2, 2<SP>11</SP> located in a plate reciprocable within a channel in the housing 4. The side walls of the cavity are corrugated as are the walls of the channel so as to give an article crinkled on four surfaces. In operation, the reciprocation of the plate brings one cavity under the filling station whilst the previously filled other cavity is moved to the appropriate of a pair of air ejection stations 6 located on either side of the feed station. In the embodiment of Fig. 4, a cavitied plate is reciprocated under a central air ejection station 16 and a pair of piston dampened feed stations 15, the material from the cavities being ejected into a container 20. Different materials may be fed to the stations 15 to form a layered product, for example, minced meat may be fed to one and mashed potato to the other to form a multilayered shepherds pie. The cavities and channel of the housing are again provided with corrugated walls to provide crinkled layers, the upper layer of the pie thus presenting a crinkled surface. In the embodiment of Fig. 5, the reciprocating plate is replaced by a cavitied table which is either oscillated to bring cavities into and out of alignment with feed and discharge stations 25 and 26 respectively or which is continuously rotated to do so. Sanitation station 27, at which the mould cavities are cleaned, is provided. In the embodiment of Fig. 9, a cylindrical member apertured at 32 is rotatable between the outer wall and inner fixed core of a housing 34 between a feed station 35 and an air ejection station 36. The member may be oscillated to bring the apertures alternately into register with the stations or may be continuously rotated to the same effect.