Abstract Food processing method for cooking rows of filled containers within a cylindrical pressure housing and for supporting the containers in elongated carriers of an endless processing conveyor. The conveyor is trained around a multiplicity of drive sprockets near the upper portion of the housing and is draped therefrom and guided along a plurality of looped paths below the drive sprockets as well as along an arcuate path above the sprockets to more fully utilize the holding capacity of the housing. The plurality of drive sprockets are arranged to cause a plurality of direction changes and to permit the conveyor to be driven at high speeds during processing thereby agitating the contents of the containers to affect more efficient heat transfer. Additional agitation may be imparted to the containers by permitting them to project downwardly from the carriers against curved retaining plates during a portion of their travel through the cooker. The cooker also includes an improved feed and discharge mechanism for feeding rows of containers into and discharging rows of containers from the housing of the pressure cooker through one end thereof.
Inventors
👤 J Reimers
Bibliographic Details
Application Number—
JurisdictionUS
Data Sourcegoogle_patents
Last Synchronized2026-11-07 16:12
CPC Classifications
A; A23; A23B; A23B2/00; A23B2/20; A23B2/22
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 4
Claim 1
Independent Claim
26 words
A method according to claim 1 wherein said high speed is about 300 feet per minute and said slow speed is about 5 feet per minute.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
30 words
A method according to claim 1 wherein said rows of containers are introduced into and are discharged from said zone when moving transversely of the longitudinal axes of said containers.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method according to claim 1 wherein said rows of containers are introduced into and are discharged from said zone when moving parallel to the longitudinal axes of said row of contAiners.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
205 words
A method of processing products in sealed containers comprising the steps of introducing rows of containers to be processed from a feed station into a processing zone, confining the containers within said zone, subjecting the confined containers first to a heating medium and thereafter to a cooling medium maintained at superatmospheric pressure, agitating the contents of the containers with subjected to said heating medium and cooling medium by moving the confined rows of containers transversely at a high rate of speed along an endless tortuous path hich includes a plurality of arcuately curved portions of small radii arranged to alternately and abruptly swing the containers clockwise and counterclockwise at high speeds thereby subjecting the containers to substantially and rapidly varying angular accelerations within the processing zone, repeatedly moving the containers through said endless path and past said feed station during application of said heating and cooling mediums, reducing the speed of the rows of containers to a slow container transfer speed for slowly advancing the containers transversely along said tortuous path until all rows of treated containers are released from said path at a common discharge point, and thereafter releasing the containers from confinement within the processing zone and removing the containers from said zone.