AUTOMATIC FEEDING APPARATUS OF SUB-MATERIAL OF MEAT PRODUCT

Abstract

The present invention relates to an automatic feeding apparatus of a sub-material of a meat product for automatically feeding a sub-material (salt solution or brine) into meat during processing of meat. The automatic feeding apparatus has an improved structure so that a needle pressing mechanism and a sub-material supply container can be easily detached and cleaned from an operating part.

Claims

1. An automatic feeding apparatus of sub-material of meat product, comprising: an operating part provided on a guide bar and configured to be moved up and down by a stroke set by an operating cart driving means, a pair of horizontal beams arranged side by side on upper and lower portions of the operating part, a needle pressing mechanism and a sub-material supply container coupled to the operating part, the needle pressing mechanism having coupling holes formed on both sides thereof configured to couple the needle pressing mechanism to the horizontal beams; and locking means installed on the operating part such that the needle pressing mechanism and the sub-material supply container are locked in a state where the needle pressing mechanism and the sub-material supply container are assembled with the horizontal beams by the opening holes.

2. The automatic feeding apparatus of sub-material of meal product according to claim 1, wherein each horizontal beam has a circular or polygonal cross section, and the coupling holes formed in the needle pressing mechanism and the sub-material supply container have a shape in which one side is open.

3. The automatic feeding apparatus of sub-material of meal product according to claim 1, wherein the locking means comprises first and second support pieces fixed to both upper and lower sides of the operating part and having a hole respectively, and first and second fixing elements inserted and fixed in the holes of the first and second support pieces so as to support the needle pressing mechanism and the sub-material supply container.

4. The automatic feeding apparatus of sub-material of meal product according to claim 1, wherein the operating part driving means comprises: a base fixed to the upper portions of leg members; one pair of guide bars fittingly installed on the base and to which an upper portion of the operating part is fixed; a fixing plate fixed to the lower ends of the guide bars; a motor serving as a driving source; and a driving link, of which one end is fixed to a rotating shaft of the motor and the other end is hinge-coupled to the fixing plate.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0023] FIG. 1 is a photograph showing a conventional device,

[0024] FIG. 2a is a perspective view showing a feeding apparatus of a sub-material according to the present invention,

[0025] FIG. 2b and FIG. 2c respectively show a sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 2a and a sectional view taken along line B-B,

[0026] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing principal parts of the present invention,

[0027] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a disassembled sub-material supply container according to the present invention, and

[0028] FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the inside of a needle pressing mechanism when a needle is lowered.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

[0029]

TABLE-US-00001 1: operating part 2: needle pressing mechanism 2a, 3a: coupling holes 3: sub-material supply container 4: pressure plate 5a, 5b: horizontal beams 6: needle 7: guide bar 8: pressing part 9a, 9b: first and second fixing elements 11: valve main body 12: valve 21: coil spring 22: sub-material supply hole 23: motor 24: driving link 25: meat product 26: bone 28: leg member 29: fixing plate

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0030] Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings so that it can be readily carried out by a person skilled in the art to which the present invention belongs. The present invention may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. It is noted that the drawings are schematic and are not shown to scale. The relative dimensions and ratios of the parts in the figures are exaggerated or reduced in size for clarity and convenience in the figures, and any dimensions are merely illustrative and not restrictive. In addition, to the same structures, elements or parts appearing in more than one drawing, the same reference symbols are used to denote similar features.

[0031] FIG. 2a to FIG. 2c are views respectively showing a feeding apparatus of a sub-material according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing principal parts of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a disassembled sub-material supply container according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, the present invention is configured in such a manner that one pair of horizontal beams 5a, 5b are arranged in parallel to each other at the upper and lower portions of an operating part 1 provided on one pair of guide bars 7 and coupling holes 2a, 3a coupled to the horizontal beams 5a, 5b are respectively formed in both side surfaces of a needle pressing mechanism 2 and a sub-material supply container 3, which are coupled to the operating part 1, such that the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3 are locked or unlocked by a locking means in a state where the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3 are assembled with the horizontal beams 5a, 5b in the front portion of the present invention.

[0032] A base 18 formed with a path 19 having a predetermined width is provided to be positioned at the lower portion of the operating part 1, to which the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3 are coupled, the guide bars are mounted on the base 18, and a conveyor (not shown) is provided at the lower portion of the base 18 and circulates in a predetermined orbit by a rotary drive source or a linear link drive source (not shown) for transferring a meat product 25 such that the meat product 25 can be transferred directly below a pressure plate 4.

[0033] In each of the drawings illustrating an embodiment of the present invention, the locking means includes first and second support pieces 13a and 13b, which are fixed to both upper and lower sides of the operating part 1, and first and second fixing elements 9a, 9b, which are inserted into the first and second support pieces 13a and 13b respectively so as to support the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3. However, it can be understood that the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3 can be detachably provided by using snap rings (not shown) at the front of the horizontal beams 5a and 5b.

[0034] If the cross sections of the horizontal beams 5a and 5b are formed in a circular, square or hexagonal shape and the coupling holes 2a and 3a formed in the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3 are formed in a shape in which one side is opened, it is possible to carry out cleaning hygienically and quickly since parts of the coupling holes 2a and 3a are open in the state where the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3 are separated from the horizontal beams 5a, 5b.

[0035] According to the present invention, a pressure plate pressurizing means for allowing a needle 6 to be lowered while the pressure plate 4 presses and supports the meat product 25 is provided to operate mechanically/wherein the pressure plate 4 is formed with the same number of holes 4a as the plurality of needles 6 so that the plurality of needles 6 are passed therethrough.

[0036] The pressure plate pressurizing means has a coil spring 21 or a fluid pressurizing mechanism installed outside the guide bar 7, as shown in FIG. 2b, and the lower portion of the pressing part 8 is connected to the pressure plate 4 which presses the meat product 15 when the operating part 1 is lowered FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the inside of the needle pressing mechanism when a needle is lowered. Referring to FIG. 5, the needle pressing mechanism 2 has a plurality of through holes 2b formed therein, a needle pressing member 27 is installed inside each of the through holes 2b so as to be lifted or lowered, and a pressurized fluid or a coil spring (not shown) for pushing the needle pressing member 27 downwards is provided in a through hole 2b positioned at the upper portion of the needle pressing member 27.

[0037] According to the present invention described above, it is possible to allow the operating part 1 to be automatically lifted or lowered by a certain stroke by the operating part driving means.

[0038] That is, as shown in FIG. 2a to FIG. 2c showing an embodiment of the operating part driving means, the base 18 is fixed to the upper portions of leg members 28, one pair of guide bars 7 are installed on the base 18 so as to be move up and down, a fixing plate 29 is fixed to the lower ends of the guide bars 7, and a driving link 24 is fixed to the rotating shaft 23a of a motor 23 serving as a drive source with one end and hinge-coupled to the fixing plate 29 with the other end.

[0039] However, it can be understood that the operating part 1 may be manually lifted or lowered.

[0040] Hereinafter, the operation of the present invention will be described as follows.

[0041] First, the meat product 25 to be placed directly below the pressure plate 4 is fed on the conveyor or manually and then the guide bar 7 on which the operating part 1 is fixed is lowered.

[0042] That is, when power is supplied to the motor 23 by operating the control unit (not shown) in the state shown in FIG. 2b showing an embodiment, the one pair of guide bars 7 are gradually lowered by the driving link 24 connected to the rotating shaft 23a of the motor 23 and thus the operating part 1 and the pressure plate 4 are lowered together such that the pressure plate 4 touches the meat product 25 positioned directly below the pressure plate 4.

[0043] If the operating part 1 is further lowered together with the guide bar 7 in this state, the coil spring 21 installed inside the pressing part 8 is compressed by the lower end of the operating part 1 and the operating part 1, which is provided with the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3, is lowered such that the pressure plate 4 presses the meat product 25 and the plurality of needles 6 are stuck into the meat product 25.

[0044] When the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3 are lowered simultaneously in association with the lowering of the operating part 1 and thus the needles 6 provided to the sub-material supply container 3 are stuck into the meat product 25, if there is a bone 26 in the meat product 25, the needle 6 touching the bone cannot be lowered any more even if the sub-material supply container 3 is lowered. The needle 6 is not lowered any more but pushes up the needle pressing member 27 installed in the path 2b of the needle pressing mechanism 2 such that the needle 6 is prevented from being broken or bent by the bone 26.

[0045] In the process that the operating part 1 is lowered and the plurality of needles 6 are stuck into the meat product 25 through the above-mentioned operations, if the valve 12 that is mounted in the valve main body 11 and movable back and forth opens a sub-material supply hole 22 of the sub-material supply container 3 electrically or mechanically, the operating part 1 is positioned at a bottom dead center and the sub-material is supplied at constant pressure through a sub-material supply tube 16 by a pump and the like (not shown) such that the sub-material in the sub-material supply container 3 is evenly injected into the meat product 25.

[0046] To the contrary, once the injection of the sub-material into the meat product 25 is completed for a set time, the valve closes the sub-material supply hole 22 just before the one pair of guide bars 7 provided with the operating part 1 is lifted and the needles 6 are drawn out of the meat product 25 at the same time. After that, the pressure plate 4 that presses the meat product 25 is lifted to a top dead center as shown in FIG. 2b such that the driving of the motor 23 is stopped and accordingly the injection of the sub-material into the meat product 25 is completed.

[0047] Meanwhile, it is possible to control the configuration of automatically stopping the driving of the motor 23 by installing a limit switch or a sensor (not shown) for detecting whether the operating part 1 is positioned at the top dead center.

[0048] After the injection of the sub-material is completed according to the present invention, in order to well maintain the hygienic conditions of the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3, it is necessary to separate the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3 from the operating part 1 and to clean the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3. According to the present invention, since the horizontal beams 5a and 5b are fitted in the coupling holes 2a and 3a of the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3, the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3 can be separated in the front of the apparatus by simply releasing the fixing elements 9a and 9b provided at the upper and lower portions of the operating part 1. Therefore, the present invention has the advantages that not only quick cleaning but also hygienic cleaning can be performed by removing the contaminants stuck in the coupling holes 2a and 3a therefrom since the coupling holes 2a and 3a are open to one side.

[0049] Furthermore, in such a cleaning-completed state, the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3 are fitted with the horizontal beams 5a and 5b by pushing the coupling holes 2a and 3a formed in the needle pressing mechanism 2 and the sub-material supply container 3 onto the horizontal beams 5a and 5b and then the first and second fixing elements 9a, 9b are locked, thereby finishing assembly in a manner opposite to that described above.

[0050] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings hereinabove, a person skilled in the art, to which the present invention belongs, could understand that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its technical spirit or essential characteristics.

[0051] Therefore, it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and the scope of the present invention described in the foregoing description is defined by the appended claims, and all changes or variations derived from the meaning and range of the claims and the equivalency thereof are to be construed as being included within the scope of the present invention.