Abstract: A stuffing hand tool for inserting food material into pitted or cored produce items such as olives, figs, strawberries, cherries, which includes a body easily gripped with one hand by a user allowing a tube projecting from one end to be pressed into a mass of food material creating a plug of food material retained in the tube which is stuffed into an item when a plunger is advanced by depressing a pusher cylinder extended out from the opposite end of the body.

Abstract: Such are designed to optionally allow the stoning machine to work as an olive stoner-slicer and lie in establishing at quite some distance from a disc (14') bearing cups (14) serving as dollies during the olive stoning stage, a disc (17') bearing a plurality of cradles (17) toward which the stoned olives (31) are conveyed when the stoning punch (13) retracts, which punch is to this end provided with olive retaining spears (13') and it is thus at these cradles (17), i.e. outside the stoning area, where the olive is cut into slices with the assistance of a set of parallel, disc-shaped and turning blades (23) or fixed blades with an arcuate and concave cutting-edge (38), each such blades (23-38) being capable of taking up two near- and far-end positions with respect to the cradles (17) in order for the stoning machine to act also as a slicer or only as a slicer.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for pitting olives, in which each olive is held between a pair of matching knives as the knives are rotated along parallel circular paths by a rotating drive shaft. The knives may both be coring knives or may both be pitting knives, and are aligned so that their longitudinal axes coincide and the common longitudinal axis is substantially perpendicular to the plane of the olive's circular path. As the knives rotate along parallel circular paths, they are translated by cams along their common longitudinal axis so as to penetrate opposite ends of the olive simultaneously and then to push the pit out through one end of the olive. The coring knife embodiment of the invention leaves a clean bore through the pitted olive after removal of the core (including the pit), and prevents the pit from tearing away an irregularly shaped olive portion during removal.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for separating the meat of an olive into two end portions and preparing such an olive for packing. This method and apparatus provides for receiving an olive and producing a cut substantially through the meat in a plane transverse to an axis extending through the ends of the olive, thus defining a pair of olive meat end portions each extending around and adhered to a portion of the olive pit, with the receiving and cut-producing structure being configured to restrain movement of the olive end portion along the axis while permitting movement of the pit of the olive along that axis. Also provided are first and second punches each aligned with and mounted for reciprocation along the axis between two sets of respective positions, in one set the punches being outside the respective ends of the olive meat end portions and in the other set of positions the punches extending at least partially through the olive meat end portions sufficient to dislodge the pit from the end portions.

Abstract: A stone fruit cutting apparatus for slicing apricots, this apparatus having a pair of substantially vertical belts defining a channel to guide and carry the fruit therealong to the cutting position. The cutter comprises a pair of vertical disc cutters displaced one above the other to give an upper and lower cutter, so that during cutting the fruit is supported by the belts and rotated to produce a cut around its circumference to the depth of the stone.

Abstract: A single-stone containing fruit of the drupe family is laid open to permit removal of the stone and implanting of a filling, if desired, by centrally impaling it on a row of tines, every other one of which is held on one half of a split platform with the remainder being held on the mating other half of the platform such that when the split platform is forceably opened the fruit is torn open exposing the stone. The row of tines has tines of lesser length in mid-portion to accommodate the stone and an overhead moveable bar carries a mating row of tines that pierce the fruit above the stone. This bar can be carried on a strike arm adapted to engage a strike plate on one of the platform halves and force the platform to open when the bar is forced downwardly as by being struck smartly with the hand.