JPS6044899B2 - Bag-shaped fried tofu manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing bag-shaped fried tofu for stuffing such as fried tofu for inari sushi, and more specifically, in the continuous production of bag-shaped fried tofu, it is possible to simultaneously produce a large number of pieces of fried tofu. Puffing/opening (However, "swelling/opening" as used in the present invention means providing a continuous cavity within the frying pan.

), and relates to an apparatus for producing bag-shaped fried tofu by simultaneously cutting the expanded and open fried tofu to improve the productivity of bag-shaped fried tofu. Conventionally, the bag-shaped fried tofu used for inari sushi or kinchiyaku, etc., is produced manually by cutting the center of the fried tofu with a knife or the like and pushing open the soft tissue inside the fried tofu with your fingers, or by blowing compressed air into the inside of the fried tofu in advance. The method used was to introduce the tofu, expand and connect the soft porous tissue inside the fried tofu, expand and open the inside, and then cut the tofu with a knife or the like.

In either case, it was still a manual process, and a large number of people were required to produce large quantities of bag-shaped fried tofu. In recent years, with changes in eating habits, inari sushi and the like have come to be produced not only at home and at sushi restaurants, but also on an industrial scale and sold in large quantities at supermarkets and the like. With this industrial-scale production, the demand for bag-shaped fried tofu has increased, and it has been difficult to meet this demand with conventional manual production. Recently, a method of mechanically automating this manual method has been proposed, reducing the manual work that requires human labor.
Productivity has also improved. However, even the mechanized methods that have been proposed have not been fully satisfactory in terms of productivity. That is, the conventional mechanized method uses a device that intermittently moves fried tofu arranged one by one on a belt conveyor and sends compressed air to the fried tofu provided on the machine side. Compressed air is pumped through the fried tofu one by one to expand and open the fried tofu, which is then sent to a cutting process equipped with a rotating blade, where the central part is cut and a bag-shaped fried tofu is made. It was intended to produce. At this time, the process of sending compressed air to the fryer became the rate-limiting step for the production rate, making it difficult to further improve productivity. In other words, this process involves temporarily stopping the movement of the fried tofu lined up on a conveyor, inserting an air supply needle similar to a hypodermic needle into the side of the fried tofu, and sending compressed air into the inside of the fried tofu to puff up and puff up the tofu. Immediately after opening, the injection needle-like air supply needle is removed, and transport to the next process is started. Although this series of operations is carried out automatically, there is a mechanical limit to shortening the cycle, and it has not been fully satisfactory as a device for mass production. In order to meet the large demand, the present invention improves the process of puffing and opening the fried tofu by supplying compressed air, which is the rate-limiting step for productivity in the conventional method, and at the same time improves the process of cutting the puffed and opened fried tofu. The present invention provides an apparatus that can produce a large amount of bag-shaped fried tofu in a short time.

That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, a roll conveyor 1 and a belt conveyor 1 2 were provided, and fried tofu was filled in each conveyor in a lined manner in the thickness direction. The cutting box 3 is transported. Through the cutting part 4 of the moving cutting box, the fried tofu is pressed against the air supply needle 5 at a fixed position, and as the belt conveyor 12 moves, the air supply needle 5 is skewered through the fried tofu. At this time, compressed air is sent to the air supply needle 5, and while being skewered, the fried tofu expands and opens. When all of the fried tofu filled in the cutting box 3 is skewered and the expansion and opening are completed, the air feeding needle 5 is operated by the air feeding needle sliding cylinder 6, and the air feeding needle gripping tool 7 quickly blows air. The needle gripping tool moves along the slide bar 18 and separates from the cutting box 3. In order to prevent the cutting box 3 from moving forward faster than the moving speed of the belt conveyor 12 due to the resistance between the oil and the air feeding needle 5 when the air feeding needle 5 is detached, a slip prevention device is installed on the machine side. For this reason, it is preferable to provide a cutting box slip prevention device 9 that utilizes spring pressure or the like. When the air supply needle 5 is detached, the air supply needle lifting platform 10 is operated to lower the air supply needle below the belt conveyor 12. The lifting platform maintains the lowered position while the cutting box 3 passes over the air supply needle 5 as the belt conveyor 12 moves, and during that time, the air supply needle 5 is moved by the operation of the air supply needle sliding cylinder 6. Move forward, and after passing the cutting box 5, lift the platform 1 again.
With the rise of 0, the air supply needle 5 returns to its initial position and takes care of the cutting box 3 which is subsequently transported. The cutting box 3 filled with the expanded and opened fried tofu is moved directly toward the cutting process, and the cutting part 16 and groove part 17 of the cutting box are cut by the rotary blade 1.
1 passes through and the center of the fried tofu is cut. In this cutting process, only the movement of the fried oil is stopped by the pressing plate 12 that protrudes just before the cutting part 16 of the cutting box 3 comes into contact with the rotary blade 11. As a result, the oil is compressed between the rear side wall of the cutting box 3, which is still moving, and the holding plate 12, and when a certain degree of compression is achieved, the holding plate is moved to the holding plate slide bar 13.
Due to the operation of the cylinder directly connected to the cylinder, it moves together with the cutting box 3 while maintaining its compression, and the expanded/opened oil remains compressed)
Cutting is performed by passing through the rotary blade 11. After the fried tofu is cut, the holding plate 12 is raised by the holding plate pulling bar 19 by the operation of the cylinder 14, and is kept in a position in contact with the holding plate sliding bar 13, while the cutting box 3 passes. By the action of the cylinder directly connected to the presser plate slide bar 13, the presser plate slide bar 13 is returned to the initial position, and further by the action of the cylinder 14, the presser plate 12 is returned to the vertical position, and the cutting box is subsequently transported. Deal with 3. In this manner, a large number of pieces of fried tofu are simultaneously expanded, opened, and cut according to the capacity of the cutting box 3 of the present invention.

Conventionally, when puffing, opening, and cutting the fried tofu in this way, the air supply needle penetrates the fried tofu in a short period of time and continuously, so the whole of the fried tofu filled with the tofu is not completely expanded and opened. Furthermore, when cutting a large number of layers of aburaage, the pressure of the cutting blade causes dents in the contact area of elastic aburaage, and in extreme cases, the layered aburaage loses its shape, making it impossible to cut satisfactorily. Alternatively, when a rotating blade is used, slips occur between the stacked layers, and the frictional force of the rotating blade causes problems such as fried tofu scattering. The present invention is the second
As shown in the figure, the progress of the cutting box 3. Opposite side wall 1
Cutting portions 16 and 16'' are provided at 5 and 15'', and a groove portion 17 is provided on the bottom surface connecting the cutting portions 16 and 16'', and if necessary, a cutting box 3 in which a plurality of the above structures are continuous is provided. A cutting box is filled with a large number of fried tofu pieces lined up in the thickness direction. The cutting box 3 filled with fried tofu 4 is shown in FIG. 3.
The figure is a view taken along the line A-N in FIG. 1, and the air supply needle 5 is located in the cutting portion 16 on the front surface. As shown in FIG. 5, the air supply needle 5 is provided with an air supply hole 18 on the side surface of its tip. The air supply needle 5 is fixed at the initial position, and as shown in FIG. 4, it successively pierces the fried tofu 4 in the moving cutting box 3 in a skewered manner. The penetrating fried tofu 4 is swollen and opened by compressed air blown from the air supply hole 18 when the air supply needle passes through, as shown in the fried tofu 4a at the time of expansion and opening in FIG. fried tofu 4b
The compressed air is sequentially discharged under the inflation pressure of 200 to return to the normal shape. One of the features of the present invention is that the air supply hole 18 at the tip of the air supply needle 5 is located on the side surface. Since air is blown into the deep-fried tofu when it reaches the point, the inflation can be done in the opposite direction to the direction of the needle, compared to the conventional air-blowing needle, which is similar to a hypodermic needle in which the tip swells and opens in the direction of the needle. , it is possible to easily expand and open the fried tofu. On the other hand, the cutting box 3 filled with the expanded and opened fried tofu is shown in the arrow B-B'' view of FIG. It is shown in Figure 6.

The rotary blade 11 and the press plates 12 located on both sides thereof are positioned so as to pass through the cutting part 16 and the groove part 17 of the front side wall 15 of the cutting box 3. FIG. 7 shows the point in time when the fried tofu 4 is compressed by the preceding presser plate 12, the cutting box 3 and the presser plate 12 move forward with the compression fixed, and the fried tofu 4 just contacts the rotary blade 11. Providing the presser plate 12 in this manner is also one of the features of the present invention, and by the action of the presser plate 12, it is possible to simultaneously cut a large number of pieces of fried tofu 4 contained in the cutting box 3. In this way, the present invention is an apparatus for efficiently producing bag-shaped fried tofu, but the rear cutting part 16'' of the cutting box 3 may be cut to such an extent that the rotary blade can pass through, and the front part The cutting parts 16 and 16'' at the rear may be of the same shape and size, so that the cutting box can be passed through the cutting process from any direction.

Further, the bottom surface of the cutting box 3 may be made horizontal, shaped like a letter, or inclined, so that it is possible to give an arbitrary angle to the cutting. ”
When the bottom of the cutting box is horizontal, a cut is made perpendicular to the bottom in the center of the aburaage, and when a square aburaage is cut into a letter shape, the aburaage is cut diagonally to form a triangular bag-shaped aburaage. obtain.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows the main parts of the bag-shaped fried tofu manufacturing apparatus of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A fried bean curd cutting box which is open at the top, has a cutting part provided on a pair of opposing side walls, and has a groove part provided in the bottom surface connecting the cut parts; After arranging them horizontally and filling them, the aburaage is pierced in a skewer-like manner by an air supply needle with an air supply hole at the tip, and compressed air is blown into the aburaage to expand and open the aburaage. It is equipped with a device for extracting the swollen and open tofu, a presser plate and a rotary blade that compresses the expanded/opened tofu in the thickness direction, and the rotary blade passes through the cutting part and the groove of the cutting box while compressing it with the presser plate. An apparatus for producing bag-shaped fried tofu, comprising a device for cutting fried tofu in a box. 2. The apparatus for producing fried tofu according to claim 1, wherein the air-feeding hole at the tip of the air-feeding needle is bored on the side surface of the tip of the air-feeding needle. 3. The apparatus for producing bag-shaped fried tofu according to claim 1, wherein the bottom surface of the cutting box is horizontal. 4 Claim 1 in which the bottom portion of the cutting box is V-shaped
Apparatus for manufacturing bag-shaped fried tofu as described in . 5 Immediately before the start of cutting the fried tofu, a presser plate inserted from the cutting part of the cutting box presses and compresses the fried tofu, and when the compression suitable for cutting is achieved, the presser plate is inserted to complete the cutting while maintaining the compression. 2. The apparatus for producing bag-shaped fried tofu according to claim 1, wherein the cutting box moves at the same speed and the presser plate is removed from the cutting box after cutting. 6 After filling the cutting box with a large number of fried tofu, the air supply needle is pierced through the fried tofu in a skewer shape, and compressed air is sent through the fried tofu to expand and expand the inside of the fried tofu.
After that, the air supply needle is removed, and the swollen and opened aburaage inside the cutting box is compressed using a presser plate, and the aburaage is cut while maintaining the compression. After cutting is completed, the presser plate is removed from the box. An apparatus for producing bag-shaped fried tofu according to claim 1, which automatically performs a series of steps to obtain removed bag-shaped fried tofu in succession.