Automatic slicing of artichokes to isolate the core of the base - to produce tinned artichoke hearts without manual cutting

摘要

A machine for cutting the hearths out of artichokes has a series of cup-shaped holders for supporting whole artichokes upside down without allowing them to turn. The holders travel intermittently past a series of automatic cutters, opposite each of which the holders can rise until the body of the artichoke contacts a locating collar. The successive cutters trim off the stalk and the base of the artichoke, trim the centre of the cut base to a convex form, perform a cylindrical cut to trim the sides of the artichoke from the heart of the fruit, pref. simultaneously chamfering the crown of the core with an ancillary bevelled knife, and slice across the centre of the fruit to allow the trimmed heart to be lifted clear by an elastic cup. Pref. a further blade trims the transversely cut face to a concave face before the shaped core is discharged e.g. into a tin.