Abstract: Shoes for tracking against the opposite sides of a stuffed casing are carried by two independent parallel motion linkages suspended from two shared shafts. Each linkage is journaled to one shaft and fixed to the other so each link drives only one shaft. Each shaft in turn drives a signal generator so that an electrical signal is generated in response to the movement of the shoes in a plane transverse the longitudinal axis of the stuffed casing as represented by the rotation of the shafts.

Abstract: An apparatus for controlling the stuffed casing diameter includes shoes which ride against the stuffed casing to monitor its diameter. These shoes drive a digital encoder which issues pulses representing deviations of the stuffed diameter from a predetermined nominal value. A microcomputer process these pulses and issues an appropriate control signal to a stepping motor for increasing and decreasing drag on the casing as may be needed to correct the stuffed diameter of the casing. The microcomputer can include a delay so that each stuffed product is the reference for establishing the drag characteristics of the next product to be stuffed.

Abstract: A machine for molding hamburger patties and other similar food patties, of the kind incorporating a vacuum-intake plunger-type food pump that pumps food product from a supply hopper into mold cavities in a reciprocating mold plate, is equipped with a hydraulic drive system that drives both the food pump and a pair of feed screws that impel the food product toward the pump intake. The feed screws axes are approximately parallel to the direction of travel of the plunger and the outlet end of the feed screws is enclosed to preclude reverse movement of food product from the food pump into the supply hopper at the beginning of the pumping stroke; rotation of the feed screws is timed to coincide with the intake stroke of the pump in an arrangement that can be made to compensate for variations in pumped volume of the food product. A single hydraulic pump provides both a low-pressure hydraulic supply for plunger advance and a high-pressure hydraulic supply for plunger retraction and feed screw rotation.