Abstract: A rotatably supported pressure vessel is disclosed for treating product under high pressure. A pressure medium is supplied to the pressure vessel through two separate supply conducts feeding the pressure medium under different pressures. When supplying the pressure medium to the pressure vessel, in a first step the pressure medium is supplied under lower pressure. During this step, the pressure within the pressure vessel is monitored. When a predetermined pressure is reached indicating that the feed opening of the pressure vessel is completely closed by an associated cover, the pressure medium is supplied under high pressure. The pressure medium source may either comprise a high pressure supply and a lower pressure supply, or two separate supply conducts of substantially different cross-sectional areas are provided to provide different pressure differentials.

Abstract: Apparatus for slicing or skinning bacon, fish or like products has a frame which supports an adjustable knife downstream of an endless belt conveyor serving to deliver successive products along a horizontal path into the range of a rotary traction wheel which is driven to advance the products past the knife. A rotary hold-down device with a row of elastic discs is installed in a shroud which normally overlies the knife and the traction wheel as well as at least a portion of the conveyor and is mounted on two pairs of levers which enable the hold-down device to move in parallelism with as well as at right angles to the upper reach of the conveyor so that the discs can conform to the configuration of the upper side of a product approaching and moving past the knife. The shroud is biased to maintain the hold-down device in a starting position close to the cutting edge of the knife in the absence of products in the path.

Abstract: Pepper coring and slicing apparatus including a conveyor having individual pepper holding devices for holding peppers with the stem portion upward, a processing station for coring and splitting the peppers, and a discharge station where the peppers are ejected from the pepper holders and dropped onto a conveyor for further processing. The conveyor includes a pair of adjacent plates for holding each pepper by means of a resilient rubber structure half of which is carried on each plate of the pair and between which the pepper is disposable with the bottom of the pepper seated in an opening between the two plates. When the conveyor moves the pepper into the processing station, a pair of side cutting blades and a corer descend from above to core the pepper and slice through the pepper sides while a second slicing knife rises from below through the hole between the conveyor plates and cuts the center of the pepper beneath the core. The core is stripped from the corer and remains with the pepper.

Abstract: This invention relates to a pitting needle and malfunction detector for use in automatic fruit pitting machinery. The needle has a bottom portion which is releasably fixed with respect to a holder. Movement of the bottom portion with respect to the holder as, for example, when a foreign object is struck, is sensed and, as a result thereof, an alarm is sensed and/or the machinery is stopped. In one embodiment, the needles are made in two parts and movement of one part with respect to the other is detected by a pressure sensor which is electrically connected to a power supply for the machinery to render it inoperative. In another embodiment, the needle is made in one part and the shank of the needle is releasably mounted in a holder bar which contains electrical, electro-mechanical, or pneumatic sensing means to detect movement of the needle with respect to the holder bar.