Angled fill ports and seal-off arrangement for patty-forming apparatus

1. A food patty molding machine, comprising:

a mold plate having at least one mold cavity therein;

mold plate drive for driving the mold plate along a given path, in a repetitive cycle, between a fill position and a discharge position;

food pump for pumping a moldable food product;

a fill passage connecting the food pump to the mold cavity when the mold plate is in its fill position;

a fill plate, interposed in the fill passage immediately adjacent the mold plate, having a multiplicity of fill orifices distributed in a predetermined pattern throughout an area aligned with the mold cavity when the mold plate is in its fill position, said fill orifices defining paths through said fill plate, wherein a plurality of said paths each have an outlet path portion that is obliquely angled to a face of said mold plate and an inlet path portion that is perpendicular to a face of said mold plate;

a stripper plate interposed in the fill passage immediately adjacent the side of the fill plate opposite the mold plate, and movable along a path transverse to the mold plate path between a fill location and a discharge location, the stripper plate having a multiplicity of fill openings aligned one-for-one with the fill orifices as extensions thereof when the stripper plate is in its fill location;

and stripper plate drive, synchronized with the mold plate drive, for moving the stripper plate between its fill location and its discharge location; and

wherein the spacings between fill openings in the stripper plate, in the direction of the stripper plate path, are such that movement of the stripper plate to its discharge location seals off the fill openings.

2. A food patty molding machine according to claim 1 , in which the fill orifices are distributed in rows regularly spaced in the direction of mold plate movement by a spacing S and in which the distance the stripper plate moves, from its fill location to its discharge location, is S/2.

3. A food patty molding machine according to claim 2 , in which the stripper plate has two fill locations spaced by a distance T such that T=S, and in which, in each mold plate cycle, the stripper plate moves from one fill location by a distance S/2, in a given direction along its path, to its discharge location, and subsequently moves a further distance S/2 in the same direction to its other fill location.

4. A food patty molding machine according to claim 3 , in which, in each mold plate cycle, movement of the stripper plate from its one fill location to its discharge location occurs in a first interval that starts approximately when movement of the mold plate to its discharge position begins, and movement of the stripper plate from its discharge position to its other fill position starts when the mold plate approaches its fill position.

5. A food patty molding machine according to claim 1 , wherein greater than 50% of said paths include said inlet path portions and said outlet path portions.

6. A food patty molding machine according to claim 5 , wherein said outlet path portions are parallel.

7. A food patty molding machine according to claim 1 , wherein said inlet path portion and said outlet path portion are in fluid communication, and wherein said inlet and outlet path portions are oriented at an obtuse angle.

8. A food patty molding machine according to claim 1 , wherein said outlet path portions are angled from the fill passage toward a front of said apparatus.

9. A food patty molding machine according to claim 8 , wherein said outlet path portions form ellipses on an outlet face of said fill plate.

10. A food patty molding machine according to claim 1 , wherein said outlet path portions form ellipses on an outlet face of said fill plate.

11. A food patty molding machine according to claim 1 ,

wherein the stripper plate drive moves the stripper plate to its discharge location, in each mold cycle, before the mold cavity moves appreciably away from its fill position toward its discharge position; and

wherein the stripper plate drive maintains the stripper plate in its discharge location while the mold plate moves toward its discharge position at least until the mold cavity is displaced beyond the fill orifices.

12. Tooling for a food patty molding machine having a mold plate having at least one mold cavity therein, a mold plate drive for driving the mold plate along a given path, in a repetitive cycle, between a fill position and a discharge position, a food pump for pumping a moldable food product, a fill passage connecting the food pump to the mold cavity when the mold plate is in its fill position, comprising:

a fill plate, interposed in the fill passage immediately adjacent the mold plate, having a multiplicity of fill orifices distributed in a predetermined pattern throughout an area aligned with the mold cavity when the mold plate is in its fill position, said fill orifices defining paths through said fill plate, wherein a plurality of said paths each have an outlet path portion that is obliquely angled to a face of said fill plate and an inlet path portion that is perpendicular to a face of said fill plate.

13. Tooling according to claim 12 , wherein the inlet path portion and the outlet path portion intersect at an inflection.

14. Tooling according to claim 12 , wherein greater than 50% of said paths include said inlet path portions and said outlet path portions.

15. Tooling according to claim 14 , wherein said inlet path portions and said outlet path portions are in fluid communication, and wherein said inlet and outlet portions are oriented at an obtuse angle.

16. Tooling according to claim 12 , wherein said outlet path portions are angled from the fill passage toward an outlet face of said fill plate.

17. Tooling according to claim 12 , wherein said outlet path portions form ellipses on an outlet face of said fill plate.

18. Tooling according to claim 12 , wherein adjacent inlet path portions or adjacent outlet path portions are evenly spaced.

19. Tooling according to claim 12 , wherein the inlet path portions are parallel.

20. Tooling according to claim 12 , wherein the outlet path portions are parallel.