Abstract: A molding device for molding food articles of raw finely divided beef and similar tissue containing food material that is normally subject to uneven shrinkage during cooking comprising supply means for the material, a mold having a mold opening including a peripheral arcuate edge, a supply passage means for supplying pressurized material to the mold opening from the supply passage, the supply passage having an arcuate exit end at the arcuate edge of the mold opening and this arcuate exit end including means for projecting the food material directly into the mold opening in a thin ribbon of a thickness that is only a fraction of the spacing between end surfaces defining the mold opening and the projecting being at an obtuse angle to an adjacent one of the end surfaces.

Abstract: A device and method for molding food articles of raw finely divided beef and similar tissue containing food material that is normally subject to uneven shrinkage during cooking comprising supply means for the material, a mold comprising superimposed mold plates each having an opening each with a peripheral edge with the edges of these plate openings being adapted to be aligned to define a mold opening in which the plate openings are of the same size and shape, and a supply passage for supplying pressurized material to the plate openings when the mold is in a mold filling position with the plate opening edges out of alignment. This results in projecting food material across the non-aligned openings to fill the plate openings and there are provided means for moving the plate openings into edge alignment to comprise the mold opening and for removing the resulting shaped article from the mold opening.

Abstract: A molding device for molding articles of plastic material such as ground raw meat to make hamburger patties and the like while at the same time limiting the maximum total pressure applied to the material. The device comprises a hopper for the material, a mold with a mold opening adapted to communicate with a pressure chamber for receiving pressurized material from this chamber and transfer means in the hopper for moving the material toward an exit portion of the hopper leading to this pressure chamber. In order to direct the material from the transfer means into the pressure chamber there is provided a pressure confining baffle in the hopper with sufficient clearance between the baffle and the transfer means to permit escape of material around the baffle back into the hopper.

Abstract: A pressure gas engine in which pressurized gas such as air is supplied to a series of arcuately arranged nozzles for blasting the gas into a single series of closely adjacent impulse buckets in a rotor at its rim. Each bucket lies on a chord of the rim that is adjacent to a tangent to the rim that is parallel to this chord. Each bucket has an arcuate impulse surface of substantially constant radius transverse to the direction of rotation of the rotor and extending from an entrance side of the bucket that is adjacent to one end of the bucket to an opposite exhaust side adjacent to the opposite end of the bucket with each exhaust being subjected to minimum back pressure for maximum efficiency. There is also provided nozzle means comprising an arcuate series of nozzles in the casing around the rotor and closely adjacent to the rim for providing these gas blasts through the nozzles into the buckets for rotating the rotor.

Abstract: A device and method for molding food articles of raw finely divided beef and similar tissue containing food material that is normally subject to uneven shrinkage during cooking comprising supply means for the material, a mold having a mold opening to form the articles and means for projecting the material under pressure across the mold opening from one edge thereof to fill the mold opening with pressurized material and shape said article.

Abstract: An apparatus for pressure molding a shaped article from moldable material comprising a pressured supply of material to a mold opening with vent means controlled by a normally open but automatically closed valve for venting air from in front of the material advancing into the mold opening together with means operated by the advancing material for closing the valve means after the air is vented, thereby aiding in preventing the entrapment of air within the mold opening.

Abstract: An apparatus for refrigerating articles of the nature of food materials tending to give off waste including both liquid and solid comprising top, bottom and side walls forming a thermally isolated refrigerating tunnel or chamber. These boundary walls include a flat bottom wall and one side wall forming a bottom L-shaped structure having an outer edge that is opposite the one wall and a complementary top wall and second side wall located opposite to the one side wall forming a top L-shaped structure. These two L-shaped structures are complementary to each other to form a rectangular chamber and are mounted for opening and closing movement relative to each other so that when closed they define a closed tunnel and when open expose the interior of the chamber including the bottom wall and an outer smooth edge thereof for cleaning.

Abstract: A rotary device with a speed governor as a part of a centrifugally radially expandable rotor and having radially adjustable prestress means for preselecting the maximum speed at which the governor operates to limit the speed to this maximum. The rotor which contains both torque imparting means and governing means as integral parts is a hollow flexible rotor that expands radially under centrifugal forces to move the sides of the rotor toward each other during increasing centrifugal expansion with increasing speeds of rotation. The rotor also has a fluid valve that is moved toward closed position by the centrifugal expansion to govern the speed of the rotor to a preselected maximum.

Abstract: An apparatus, method and valve for refrigerating articles with a liquid cryogen that is liquid at low temperatures and converts to a solid and then to a gas at a critical and decreasing pressure. The cryogen is introduced to the refrigerating apparatus through a pipe in which is one or more valves having a valve opening closed by a pressure member that is biased to closed position by pressure that is at least equal to the critical pressure with means for subjecting the member to the cryogen at a pressure that is sufficient to overcome the biasing means and eject the cryogen from the valve. This ejecting pressure is at least equal to the critical pressure for the cryogen which may be liquid carbon dioxide so that the cryogen remains in the liquid state until it leaves the valves in order that it will not set up to a solid within the valve body. The disclosure also includes a method for refrigerating articles and a valve embodying these principles.

Abstract: A yieldable knife meat tenderizing apparatus particularly for meat that contains bones and including a plurality of elongated knives each comprising a blade with a sharp meat penetrating and meat severing end and a piston on which a blade is mounted in substantial alignment. In order to provide the force yielding feature the apparatus also includes a transverse lock plate having openings through each of which a piston extends and cooperating friction jam means on the piston and the lock plate member having cooperating surfaces for jam locking each piston on the lock plate when the piston is forced into its opening but releasable by reverse movement under preselected reaction force on each piston created by the resistance to the blade entering the meat.

Abstract: A pressure gas engine such as a compressed air turbine having a variable speed device for controlling the speed of a rotor and also having an overspeed safety device to prevent damage to the engine in the case of excess speed through malfunction. The overspeed safety device includes speed responsive elements that force the rotor against braking elements that are successively operated to brake the rotor to a complete stop in successive gentle braking actions and with the speed responsive elements including means for preventing resumed rotation of the rotor until the engine has been partially dismantled and the cause of the malfunction corrected.

Abstract: A pressurized gas engine with an axially rotatable rotor having aerodynamically smooth exterior and interior fluid flow surfaces and a central opening in one of a pair of end walls that define with a peripherally circular border wall a hollow interior. The rotor includes energy conversion means that convert fluid pressure energy into mechanical energy of rotation with the conversion means including a plurality of nozzles in and spaced around the border wall and exhausting rearwardly of the direction of rotation. The rotor is enclosed in a casing that is spaced from the rotor at the areas traversed by the nozzles a distance sufficient that the exhaust fluid within the casing does not serve as a drag or brake on the rotating rotor so that the engine attains high speeds in an efficient manner. The disclosure also includes the fact that the total area of the entrance opening means to the rotor is greater than the total area of the exit opening means with the preferred ratio being about 2 to 1.

Abstract: A pressure gas engine such as compressed air turbine in which gas flow to a pressure responsive rotor is controlled by a movable valve that is operated by a bellows with means connecting each side of the bellows to the gas in the turbine for substantially equal gas pressure on both the inside and the outside of the bellows. There is also provided a speed control member that closes the gas inlet but that can be opened to any desired degree to achieve a desired speed. A bleed line leads from one side of the bellows so as to regulate the pressure on that side and a speed responsive throttle valve is provided to meter the amount of flow through the bleed line thereby maintaining the desired speed dependent upon the setting of the main supply valve.

Abstract: Apparatus for tenderizing meat that contains fibers, tissues and similar toughening elements and including reciprocable spaced long slender knives with sharp meat penetrating and severing blade ends with means for reciprocating the knives into and from meat penetration. The apparatus particularly includes means for mounting these blades at an angle other than 0.degree. to the direction of movement of a meat conveyor and staggering the blades so that the assembly of blades spans substantially the entire meat carrying portion of the conveyor so that as the blades are reciprocated into and from meat penetration as the conveyor moves the meat in increments all of the toughening elements are severed.

Abstract: Apparatus for pressure molding a shaped article such as a food patty from moldable food material comprising a supply means such as a hopper for the material, a pressure chamber, a movable ram in the pressure chamber to pressurize the material therein, a receiver chamber such as a cylinder communicating with the pressure chamber to receive the pressurized material, a wall member such as a piston movable in the receiver chamber displaced by the force of the material entering thereinto, a mold having a mold opening adapted to register with the material in the receiver chamber, and mold filling means for forcibly moving this wall member to apply pressure to the material in the receiver chamber thereby forcing the moldable material into the mold opening.

Abstract: A pressure gas engine such as a compressed air turbine in which gas flow to a pressure responsive rotor is controlled by a movable valve that is operated by a bellows with means connecting each side of the bellows to the gas in the turbine for supplying substantially equal gas pressure to both the inside and the outside of the bellows, a gas control member that closes a gas inlet independently of the bellows operated valve, a bleed line leading from one side of the bellows so as to regulate the pressure on that side and a speed responsive throttle valve in the bleed line to meter the amount of flow through the bleed line thereby maintaining the desired speed, all regulated and dependent upon the setting of an adjustable throttle valve.

Abstract: An apparatus for tenderizing meat having a plurality of knives each comprising an elongated blade including structure for reciprocating the knives to project and withdraw the cutting edge ends of the knives into and from the meat in order to sever fibers therein. The apparatus also has a blade stabilizer through which the blades extend engaging the blades intermediate their ends for supporting the blades against lateral bending which would tend to damage the blades. The apparatus also includes structure for retracting the stabilizer member relative to the blades during the final completion of the penetrating so as not to restrict the penetrating.

Abstract: A molding apparatus for forming articles and especially edible patties from such moldable materials as ground meat, fish and the like in which the apparatus includes a movable mold having a shaping portion therein, pressure means including a pressure chamber for applying pressure to the material therein for forcing the compressed material into the mold and pressure operated seal means communicating with the pressurized material for providing pressure operated seals that substantially prevent escape of the pressurized material from the pressure cavities of the apparatus.

Abstract: A yieldable knife meat tenderizing apparatus that includes a plurality of force yieldable elongated knives with each knife having a sharp meat penetrating and meat severing end and force yieldable friction members holding the knives in meat penetrating position but with the knives being independently slidably yieldable relative to the friction members upon striking an obstruction such as a bone and meat retainers through which the blades extend and which engage the meat when the knives are in meat penetrating position to hold the meat against substantial movement with the knives upon withdrawal of the knives from the meat and a tiltable lacking device for tilting and locking onto a guide member when the retainer is in engagement with the meat.

Abstract: A pressure gas engine in which pressurized gas such as air is supplied to a series of arcuately arranged nozzles for exhausting into a series of arcuately arranged impulse buckets thereby causing rotation of a rotor in which the buckets are located, each nozzle having an exit adjacent the buckets and each bucket having a curved surface with an entering boundary edge and a leaving boundary edge for the gas blast leaving the bucket so that the blast sweeps across the curved surface of each bucket. The exit diameter of each nozzle is less than the radius of the curved surface of each bucket to achieve a full sweep of each bucket's curved surface from the entering edge to the leaving edge.