Continuous manufacture of small smoked sausages

Claim 1

THE SUBSTANTIALLY CONTINUOUS PROCESS OF MAKING PACKAGED WIENER-SIZED SMOKE AND HEAT PROCESSED SAUSAGES CHARACTERIZED BY THEIR SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETE UNIFORMITY IN SIZE, STRAIGHTNESS, SHAPE, WEIGHT, COMPOSITION, FLAVOR, TEXTURE, COLOR AND GOOD KEEPING QUALITIES WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF: PREPARING A UNIFORM BLEND OF SAUSAUSAGE BATTER INGREDIENTS HAVING AN ACCURATE PREDETERMINED COMPOSITION WITH RESPECT TO ITS CONTENT OF MOISTURE, PROTEIN, FAT, ASH, SALT AND SPICES AND INCLUDING A FRACTION OF A PERCENT OF AN OXYGEN SCAVENGER; COMMINUTING SAID BLEND IN THE ABSENCE OF APPRECIABLE AMOUNTS OF OXYGEN TO FORM SAUSAGE BATTER; MAINTAINING SAID BATTER SUBSTANTIALLY OUT OF CONTACT WITH AIR AND STUFFING IT AS A METERED STREAM INTO ARITIFICAL CASINGS OF UNIFORM DIAMETER FED AT PREDETERMINED UNIFORM SPEED; LINKING THE STUFFED CASINGS INTO LINKS OF UNIFORM LENGTH AND INDIVIDUALLY SUPPORTING THE LINKS AS FORMED AND DURING THE SUBSEQUENT SMOKING AND HEATING PROCESSING STEPS ON CONVEYORIZED LINK-FORMING AND SUPPORTING MEANS; CONVEYING THE LINKED PRODUCT AT PREDETERMINED SPEED THROUGH A MULTI-ZONE PROCESSING TUNNEL WHEREIN THE PRODUCT PASSES THROUGH AT LEAST ONE SMOKING AND SKIN-FORMING ZONE IN WHICH THE SURFACES OF THE LINKED PRODUCT ARE UNIFORMLY TREATED WITH A SMOKE-CONTAINING FLUID AND THEN THROUGH AT LEAST ONE COOKING AND DRYING ZONE WHEREIN HEATED UNSATURATED AIR IS CIRCULATED PAST THE PRODUCT SO AS TO SUBSTANTIALLY RAISE THE INTERNAL TEMPERATURE THEREOF AND DRY THE EXTERIOR THEREOF; REMOVING THE PRODUCT FROM SAID SUPPORTING MEANS; AND SKINNING THE PRODUCT TO REMOVE SAID CASING THEREFROM.