초록 ▼

An extruder for producing a food piece in a shape of a natural food piece. The extruder has a pressure vessel for containing a mash, a manifold communicating with the pressure vessel, and at least one die and cutter assembly communicating with the manifold. The die and cutter assembly has an extrusi

An extruder for producing a food piece in a shape of a natural food piece. The extruder has a pressure vessel for containing a mash, a manifold communicating with the pressure vessel, and at least one die and cutter assembly communicating with the manifold. The die and cutter assembly has an extrusion member with an extrusion wall, a closed extrusion end, an opened feed end attachable to the manifold, at least one extrusion die formed in the extrusion wall, and a tubular cutter member which is reciprocably slidable on the extrusion wall. An opened cutter end has at least one cutting surface. The improvement is where the extrusion die has a shape generally configured to a cross-sectional shape of the food piece and configured to provide a substantially constant transverse flow rate of the mash through the die at substantially all portions of the die. The cutter member is reciprocated at speeds sufficient that a pressure of the mash in the extrusion member is not substantially changed during a reciprocation. The cutting surface is configured to approximate the shape of the at least first one-quarter of the die first encountered by the cutting surface.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] In an extruder for producing an extruded food piece in a shape which simulates the shape of a natural food piece comprising a pressure vessel for containing a mash of the food under pressure, a pressure exerting device for maintaining a pressure in the pressure vessel, a

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] In an extruder for producing an extruded food piece in a shape which simulates the shape of a natural food piece comprising a pressure vessel for containing a mash of the food under pressure, a pressure exerting device for maintaining a pressure in the pressure vessel, a manifold in fluid communication with the pressure vessel, and at least one die and cutter assembly in fluid communication with the manifold, said die and cutter assembly having(a) an elongated, annular extrusion member with a tubular extrusion wall,(b) a closed extrusion end,(c) an opened feed end attachable in fluid communication to the manifold,(d) at least one extrusion die formed in the tubular extrusion wall near the extrusion end, and(e) a tubular cutter member having an opened driveable end, an elongated cutter wall and an opened cutter end with at least one cutting surface for cutting extrudate into said shape as the extrudate exits the die, said cutter member being disposed at least partially over and reciprocally slideable on the tubular extrusion wall and operably connected at the driveable end to a drive device for reciprocatably sliding the cutter member over and away from the die,the improvement wherein the extrusion die has a shape generally configured to a cross-sectional shape of said natural food piece but which die is configured so as to provide a substantially constant transverse flow rate of the mash through the die at substantially all portions of the die, the drive device is operable to reciprocate the cutter member at speeds sufficient that the cutter member is disposed over the die for a time period that a pressure of the mash in the tubular extrusion wall is not substantially changed during a reciprocation of the cutter member, and the cutting surface is generally configured to a shape approximating the shape of the at least first one-quarter of the die first encountered by the cutting surface when cutting a food piece.