Abstract: One known type of machine in use for separating meat from feed material containing sinew-like material and bone particles includes a foraminous cylinder or sleevelike screen in which a conveying auger rotates. Such feed material is introduced into the infeed end of the cylinder/auger combination. The auger conveys the feed material toward the discharge end of the combination. During conveyance, meat is separated by exuding through the foramina. Compacted residue formed primarily of bone particles and sinew-like material discharges through a restricted orifice provided by a valve located at the discharge end of the cylinder/auger combination. Heretofore, the foramina in the screen were arranged in circumferential rows separated from each other by circumferential bands free of foramina. According to the present invention, novel foraminous cylinders or screens are provided in which the foraminous areas do not include circumferential bands which are free of foramina.

Abstract: In the "undercap" method of, and closure cap crimper-propellant fill head apparatus for, introducing a charge of volatile propellant in its liquid state into an aerosol container containing product to be dispensed, a significant residual amount of the propellant charge remains in the crimper-propellant fill head bell after the closure cap has been secured in place to seal the container. Not all crimper-propellant head machines are equipped with systems for reclaiming residual propellant, and even when so equipped, it is not always practical to reclaim residual propellant since certain products to be dispensed will foul the reclamation equipment. According to this invention a compressed purge gas is injected into the crimper-propellant fill head bell to purge a substantial portion of the residual propellant into the container before it is sealed by crimping its closure cap on the container mouth.

Abstract: An automatically controlled Chub packaging machine wherein the product delivery pump, tube or film feed, and clamping mechanism of the vertically reciprocating clipping head, are automatically controlled by means of servo actuators operatively connected to a microprocessor. The microprocessor of the automatic control system also coordinates the functioning of the film heat sealer and the voider. An operator interface membrane panel with video display allows the operator to set, observe and adjust the various functions of the machine. The microprocessor system links all elements together and places various rates and set points in memory for immediate recall.

Abstract: In the "undercap" method of, and closure cap crimper-propellant fill head apparatus for, introducing a charge of volatile propellant in its liquid state into an aerosol container containing product to be dispensed, a significant residual amount of the propellant charge remains in the crimper-propellant fill head bell after the closure cap has been secured in place to seal the container. Not all crimper-propellant head machines are equipped with systems for reclaiming residual propellant, and even when so equipped, it is not always practical to reclaim residual propellant since certain products to be dispensed will foul the reclamation equipment. According to this invention a compressed purge gas is injected into the crimper-propellant fill head bell to purge a substantial portion of the residual propellant into the container before it is sealed by crimping its closure cap on the container mouth.

Abstract: A supply of a propellant gas is maintained at substantially uniform temperature and pressure. Uniform predetermined increments of the propellant gas are withdrawn in rapid succession and rapidly introduced into aerosol containers in which product to be dispensed has already been introduced. Such containers are subjected to ultrasonic frequency agitation during the introduction of the propellant thereby enhancing the speed of introduction. The propellant may be introduced into a container either by the "through-the-valve" method or by the "under-the-cap" method at conventional speeds using known commercial equipment.

Abstract: Improvements in a Chub packaging machine wherein paris of clips are applied to voided constricted lenghts of the filled tubing and then such lengths are severed mid-way between each pair of clips. In one improvement the severing knife operates within a composite or dual gathering plate allowing the spacing between the clips in each pair to be appreciably closer than is conventional, thereby reducing wastage of film and product adhering thereto and producing Chub packages with shorter tails or stubs at their opposite ends.

Abstract: A crimper head for use in introducing a fluid product under pressure into the mouth of a container provided with a closure and thereafter crimping the closure to the container mouth. A container, such as for an aerosol package, with a closure resting freely in the mouth of the container is delivered to the crimper head. The head has a lower bell which forms a seal with the upper end of the container when the head is lowered. While the bell remains stationary, other parts of the head are actuated so that vacuum is applied to the bell and the container while the closure is lifted by vacuum from the mouth. Thereafter, the head is actuated to shut off the vacuum and admit a metered quantity of fluid under pressure, such as aerosol propellant, into the bell and container. When the pressurized fluid is admitted it lifts the closure from the container mouth and also acts to lift as a unit all parts of the head except the bell which remains stationary and engaged with the container.

Abstract: A crimper head for use in introducing a fluid product under pressure into the mouth of a container provided with a closure and thereafter crimping the closure to the container mouth. A container, such as for an aerosol package, with a closure resting freely in the mouth of the container is delivered to the crimper head. The head has a lower bell which forms a seal with the upper end of the container when the head is lowered. While the bell remains stationary, other parts of the head are actuated so that vacuum is applied to the bell and the container while the closure is lifted by vacuum from the mouth. Thereafter, the head is actuated to shut off the vacuum and admit a metered quantity of fluid under pressure, such as aerosol propellant, into the bell and container. When the pressurized fluid is admitted it lifts the closure from the container mouth and also acts to lift as a unit all parts of the head except the bell which remains stationary and engaged with the container.

Abstract: A cut-off nozzle for use in dispensing increments of flowable products comprised of a liquid medium in which solids are dispersed, particularly burrito fillings. The cut-off nozzle structure incorporates a light-weight slide member which is shuttled with fast movement between "open" and "close" positions within a chamber having outlet openings in the bottom with which discharge openings in the slide member register or coincide when the slide member is shuttled to its "open" position. The geometry of the chamber-outlet and slide-discharge openings combines with the fast closing action of the slide to provide a sharp positive cut-off of increments of product dispensed from the nozzle with elimination of leakage or drip, plugging and separation of product constituents. The nozzle may be fed with a single stream of product or with two different streams.

Abstract: A water bath apparatus for testing pressurized cans of aerosol products in groups for leakers. A spokeless horizontal cylinder is supported and rotatable on trunnions in a tank partly filled with water. The cylinder has end rings which ride on sets of trunnions mounted on opposing walls on the tank interior. Uniformly spaced elongated clamps structurally interconnect the end rings to form the sidewall of the cylinder. Each clamp after loading carries a group of cans down into the water and then upwardly out of the water for unloading. A horizontal tube extends through the tank and through the spokeless interior of the cylinder. An elongated conveyor extends through the top of the tube and the interior of the cylinder. Each clamp is normally closed so as to retain a group of cans to be tested.

Abstract: A meat separating machine for separating meat from a feed material which has an appreciable bone content. The machine includes a foraminous cylinder or screen in which a conveying auger rotates. Feed material is introduced under compression into the infeed end of the cylinder/auger combination. The auger conveys the meat material to the discharge end of the combination. During such conveyance, meat is separated from the bone and exudes through the foramina as de-boned meat. Compacted residue high in bone content discharges through a restricted discharge orifice at the discharge end of the cylinder/auger combination. The flights on the auger have an outer diameter on the infeed end which has substantial radial clearance in the neighborhood of 0.25 inch with respect to the inner diameter of the cylinder. The auger flights taper outwardly toward the discharge end where the radial clearance is from about 0.010 and 0.025.

Abstract: Apparatus for feeding cylindrical containers (cans) to a rotary filling machine having a turntable with a plurality of work stations (can stations) spaced around its border. Signal producing devices, such as cone-jet sensors, are provided to produce gate operating signals each time an inactive (malfunctioning) work station passes the signal producing device. The container feed apparatus includes a conveyor which receives containers into an elongated section wherein the containers form two parallel rows confined between parallel sides from which they pass into a funnel section wherein the containers form a single file and discharge sequentially to the infeed of a worm which delivers the containers sequentially to a transfer mechanism (star wheel) which transfers the containers to the work stations. A gate incorporated at the discharge end of the funnel section closes and opens to prevent containers from being fed to the inactive work station.

Abstract: Apparatus for making food products, such as burritos, having fillings wrapped or enrobed in dough sheets, such as tortillas. Dough sheets are conveyed to a first station of the apparatus wherein a rotatably reversing crease-forming roller operates in conjunction with the discharge end of a dough sheet conveyor and its non-reversing end roller to form a downward crease or groove in each dough sheet while simultaneously a predetermined quantity of filling is deposited into the crease or groove. Each dough sheet having a crease or groove with a filling deposited therein is conveyed through a series of stations wherein the dough sheet is folded and formed into a wrapper encasing or enrobing the filling.

Abstract: In apparatus for folding a dough sheet to enclose a foodstuff filling, such as in a tortilla-forming machine, an improved means for folding opposite sides of the dough sheets having side belts with runs extending along opposite sides of the upper run of a flat conveyor belt and a stationary elongated dough sheet engager disposed over the upper run and between the side belt runs. The side belt runs are substantially co-planar with the conveyor belt adjacent the beginning of its upper run and twist spirally so that intermediate portions thereof become upwardly and inwardly inclined above the conveyor belt upper run. The opposite sides of the dough sheets riding on the conveyor upper run are engaged from their undersides by the side belts and turned upwardly, inwardly and downwardly while being slidably supported by opposite sides of the stationary elongated dough sheet engager.

Abstract: A rotary filling apparatus and method are provided that are of the type which use gravity to fill liquids into a plurality of containers while they rotate about a rotary filling head. The apparatus includes a level control chamber having a sensor that is disposed from the axial center of the apparatus a distance that is substantially the same as that between this axial center and the nozzle orifice through which the liquids are dispensed into the container, so that the centrifugal force at the sensor is substantially the same as that at the dispensing nozzle when the rotary head is rotated during the filling operation in order to maintain a substantially constant hydraulic head during the operation. The nozzle orifice is included within a nozzle assembly that directs the liquid in a non-vertical direction toward a sidewall of each container being filled.

Abstract: Portable polishers and buffs are provided for surface preparation or for surface repair of substrates such as sheet aluminum. The polisher and buffs are particularly well suited for restoring the polished finish of aluminum aircraft skin that has been dulled by normal use and to repair blemishes on polished aluminum that occur during handling and fabrication. Elongated polishing rolls or buffs counter-rotate such that one polishing buff rotates in a clockwise direction about its elongated axis and another polishing buff rotates in a counterclockwise direction about its elongated axis. The buffs, which include a plurality of fabric disks that are axially compacted and secured onto a disposable sleeve, provide a buff having substantially enhanced polishing attributes. A universal mount assembly is also provided to facilitate use of the portable polisher in combination with a power-assisted lift assembly.

Abstract: An improved machine for separating meat from meat feed material having a substantial content of sinews or sinew-like material and being essentially free of bone particles larger than bone slivers, and wherein such a meat feed material is fed into one end of a foraminous cylinder in which an auger rotates at relatively high speed and fluidized meat separated from sinews, sinew-like material and bone slivers extrudes through the foramina while sinews, sinew-like material and bone slivers when present exit through a restricted discharge orifice, the improvement residing in a strip of flexible non-abrasive material being mounted on the crest of the auger flite so as to engage the interior of the foraminous cylinder and cut, and thereby free sinews or the like that may be lodged or trapped in the foramina.

Abstract: A rotary filling apparatus is provided that is of the type which uses gravity to fill liquids into a plurality of containers while they rotate about a rotary filling head. The apparatus includes a level control chamber having a sensor that is disposed from the axial center of the apparatus a distance that is substantially the same as that between this axial center and the nozzle through which the liquids are dispensed into the container, so that the centrifugal force at the sensor is substantially the same as that at the dispensing nozzle when the rotary head is rotated during the filling operation in order to maintain a substantially constant hydraulic head during operation.

Abstract: A chub packaging machine, or the like, incorporates a double-knife cut-off or severing device of the invention. Chub packages are elongate tubular packages which are gathered at their opposed ends and have metal clips clinched therearound to close those ends. The double-knife cut-off device is mounted on the closure head assembly of a conventional chub packaging machine, with appropriate modification, and produces a shorter and cleaner stub end on a chub package than heretofore available. The appreciable amounts of product trapped in the stub ends of chub packages formed on conventional chub machines are substantially eliminated by shortening the stub ends to approximately one-third the usual length. The double knife cut-off device severs a short gathered portion of the tubing between two packages at two spaced apart positions rather than in the center of the portion as heretofore known.

Abstract: A deboning apparatus of the type for effecting a separation of boney material from the meat portion of fish, fowl, or other animals, and includes an auger means that is arranged through an adjoining pressure housing and perforated housing, with the auger means being coupled to for direct drive by a motor, for effecting its rotation within the said housing to achieve this meat-bone separation; the auger means includes a motor coupling section that connects directly to the motor, and which section incorporates a thrust bearing for absorbing axial thrust generated during functioning of the apparatus, a pressure auger section that is disposed within the pressure housing, and which includes an infeed section for deposition of the bone laden material therein, and wherein significant pressure is developed upon said boney material prior to its being conducted to a conveying auger section located within the perforated housing of the apparatus, and wherein the bone and meat material are substantially separated, with sa