Abstract: A breading machine for selectively dispensing flour breading or free flowing breading and wherein the machine has a frame and conveyor means supported in the frame defining a conveyance path having a product inlet end and a product outlet end, and a hopper pivotally attached to the frame at the inlet end and movable between a breading dispensing position and a hopper cleaning position, frame support means pivotally attached to the frame at the outlet end and selectively adjustable to provide for flour breading of a food product wherein the said product is flipped over at the outlet end of the conveyor means or for free flowing breading to be applied to the food product wherein the said product exits from the conveyor means in the same manner in which it is initially introduced to the conveyor means, and wherein the frame support means is also adjustable between a conveyor means supporting position and a cleaning position above said conveyor means, and breading pumping slot means pivotally attached to the fram

Abstract: In a typical breading machine for automatically coating the exterior surfaces of edible products such as for example seafoods, poultry, red meats and vegetables, a method and apparatus for distributing and sifting what is defined in the art as Japanese style bread crumbs which display a wide variation in crumb sizes. The typical breading machine provides for the conveyance of the product to be coated along a conveyance or coating path on a bed of breading placed on the conveyance means at a first location whereby the surfaces of said product which engage said bed are coated with breading. A separate quantity of breading is subsequently presented to the product being conveyed at a second location along the conveyance path whereby the remaining surfaces of the product are coated with breading.

Abstract: Apparatus is disclosed for providing a very light pre-dusting coating on a food piece intended for batter-coating. The apparatus includes a movable belt on which is provided a preliminary coating of breading material on which the product pieces are placed. A series of drag plates are then provided across the belt supported from above in a position to engage the breading material on the belt and to provide a standing wave of breading material pushed up by contact with the drag plates. These plates then distribute the standing wave of breading material over the top of the product while the plate lower edges remove a majority of the top coating.

Abstract: The apparatus of this invention provides a mixing pot, open at the top, into which are simultaneously discharged a measured amount of water and a measured amount of a finely divided dry mix of leavened batter forming material, herein called a batch. This introduction of a batch takes place quickly in about thirty to sixty seconds. At the same time a specially designed mixer cage is suspended in the mixing pot and rotated and orbited around the pot in a manner to agitate thoroughly all the contents. The completed batter is then quickly propelled mechanically to batter applicator apparatus.

Abstract: A vertical joint structure is shown extending longitudinally of a generally cylindrical housing encasing a screw conveyor for a breading machine or the like. The housing comprises two generally C-shape half portions formed of sheet metal and assembled by means of a novel joint structure along two longitudinal zones diametrically opposite in the housing. One half portion is fixed in the machine and the other half portion is movable toward and away from a tight fit of the joint structure with the fixed half portion. The distal edges of the movable C-shape half portion extend a short distance beyond a diameter of the housing at approximately a right angle to that diameter and are there bent downwardly and outwardly at an acute angle to a zone just at, or a little beyond, that diameter and there bent outwardly approximately radially of the cylindrical housing. This forms a first linear sealing surface at the acute angle portion.

Abstract: A filter is provided for removing particles entrained in a liquid, this filter comprising an endless fine mesh filter belt which is relatively short and which moves slowly over a supporting plurality of generally cylindrical rolls. This belt is a single layer of generally delicate woven metallic mesh and is provided with special means for moving and tracking the belt. This moving and tracking structure includes a link belt endless chain outside of each longitudinal side edge of the belt, these chains being rigidly attached over the adjacent edge of the belt. The belt can be held to its desired path around all of the supporting rolls and, preferably, over a suction box and past a cleaning point and returning to a starting point with no sensing devices, no special tracking rolls or tenter rolls, without powered devices, and with a minimum of close tolerance machining.

Abstract: Apparatus is disclosed for coating the under side of a food product with a batter material of intermediate viscosity so as to eliminate substantially all bare spots.

Abstract: A char marker is presented for marking meat patties to simulate the marking normally produced when broiling a patty over charcoal on spaced bars which produce parallel charred dark stripes on the surface of the product. The char marker of this invention permits a plurality of hot marking rings each to independently follow its own rolling path over the product, thus compensating for the individual irregularities of the patties and producing superior and consistent markings.

Abstract: A machine is presented which is specifically designed to accept a batch of mixed cut-up poultry parts, to coat the parts in a wet coating unit with a liquid mixture of water and egg or milk solids by tumbling them in a smaller volume of the liquid mixture, to transfer the parts with a short drip time by gravity to a dry coating unit, there to tumble them in a smaller weight of flour and coat them with the flour to an appearance equal to or better than hand coating, to continue tumbling them while excess dry material is removed from the tumbling volume and stored, to stop after a pre-set dry tumbling time and present the fully coated parts with a minimum of excess flour for hand removal, while properly cycling a sifting mechanism to entrap dough balls above a desired minimum size. Each successive batch may be liquid coated while the preceding batch is hand removed. The operator may determine the number of successive batches processed before changing the liquid mixture or removing the entrapped dough balls.

Abstract: A method is presented of coating a food product with a finely divided particulate coating material comprising the steps of providing a flow of said coating material to a moving belt which provides a product path centrally thereof; splitting said flow and providing a bed of said material of predetermined thickness on a central portion of said product path while diverting parts of said material flow laterally on both sides of said central portion; placing a food product on said central portion; advancing said product and said coating material down said path; and discharging said coated product at the end of said path. The method also includes the additional steps of moving the laterally diverted parts of material flow laterally inwardly on top of the food product on the central portion of the product path, and assisting excess coating material under and around the product to return to circulation.

Abstract: A patty stacker is presented which is fully adjustable over a wide range of length, width and thickness of frozen or reasonably stiff meat patties or other flat food shapes hereinafter called patties; which accepts a predetermined configuration of individual patties either plain or frozen on a rectangle of paper from the discharge point of a separate conveying means in one or more parallel independent lanes; which quickly attains and retains a reasonably positive hold on the individual patty as it enters the conveying means; which accelerates the patty to a predetermined rate of speed; which conveys the patty in a horizontal plane past patty sensing means; which delivers the patty in a reasonably controlled manner into the top of a substacking volume; which counts patties into a reasonably stable substack at a level below the plane of the conveying means; which drops the substack in a reasonably controlled manner into a main stack volume; which repeats the substacking operations as necessary to obtain the pre

Abstract: A machine is presented which includes a liquid-coating or battering unit associated with a dry-coating or breading unit, the units being useful separately or when combined as described. The battering unit includes a batter reservoir in which an open mesh wire belt under tension travels beneath a submerger wheel so as to gently nip the product and drag it below the surface of the batter. In the breading application unit, the loose breading material is stored in a hopper above which is a flat slider plate over which passes an open mesh wire conveyor belt in its product-advancing run. This belt then passes downwardly after discharging the coated product, to a lower point in the hopper where the belt is inclined upwardly toward the opposite end of the unit at the inlet end of the slider plate. This portion of the conveyor belt is the breading material elevating run and it travels close to an inclined bottom wall of the hopper.