Flexible cable dry peeler

Abstract

A dry peeler is provided for food products such as vegetables, potatoes or the like which have had their skins softened and loosened such as by a caustic treatment bath. The dry peeler is formed as a rotary cylindrical cage having an abradant surface provided by an envelope of axially extending, circumferentially spaced, parallel, braided stainless steel wire cables, stretched between axially spaced rings, with a screw conveyor fitting within the envelope of cables. Both the cage of cables and the screw are rotated and the flexible cables abrade off and undercut a high percentage of the skins of the pre-treated products without the addition of water during the peeling process. Alternate cable supporting rings are rotatably adjustable to vary the tension on the cables.

I claim: 
     
       1. A peeler for generally spheroidal food products such as vegetables, potatoes or the like which have been treated to soften their skins for removal, said peeler being of the type that provides a rotary cage having an open abradant surface, means for rotating the cage, means for propelling the products longitudinally through the cage, means for feeding treated products to the cage, and means for removing peels that fall from the cage; the improvement wherein said cage comprises a pair of end support rings, at least one intermediate support ring and an abradant envelope formed of longitudinally extending, circumferentially spaced, straight braided steel wire cables supported on said rings, means for tensioning said cables sufficiently to maintain their generally longitudinal direction under product load while accommodating sufficient deflection of the cables under product load to cause the cables to partially conform to the product contour and hence to provide an abradant, supporting contact of substantial longitudinal extent with the generally spheroidal products, said cables being spaced by a distance that is several times greater than the cable diameter. 
     
     
       2. The peeler of claim 1, wherein said cables are formed of braided stainless steel wire and are about three thirty-seconds inches in diameter. 
     
     
       3. The peeler of claim 1, wherein said means for propelling the products longitudinally through the cycle comprises a helical conveyor that is of substantially the same diameter as the envelope of cables, and means for rotating said conveyor independently of the cage. 
     
     
       4. A dry peeler for food products such as vegetables, potatoes or the like which have been treated to soften their skins for dry removal, said peeler being of the type that provides a rotary cylindrical cage having an abradant surface, means for rotating said cage, means for propelling the products through said cage, means for feeding treated products to the cage, and means for removing peels that fall from the cage, the improvement wherein said cage comprises a plurality of axially spaced wire mounting rings, and an abradant envelope of axially extending, circumferentially spaced wires supported on and stretched between said rings, said wires being stretched sufficiently to maintain the generally cylindrical nature of their envelope but being loose enough to be sufficiently deflected by the products to cause the wires to conform to the product contour and hence provide an abradant, supporting contact of substantial extent with the products, said means for propelling the products through the cage comprising a helical conveyor that is of substantially the same diameter as the envelope of wires, means for rotating said helical conveyor independently of the means for rotating said cage, and means for adjusting the speed of the conveyor relative to that of the cage. 
     
     
       5. A dry peeler for products such as vegetables, potatoes or the like which have been treated to soften their skins for dry removal, said peeler being of the type that provides a rotary cylindrical cage having an abradant surface, means for rotating said cage, means for propelling the products through said cage, means for removing peels that fall from the cage; the improvement wherein said cage comprises a plurality of axially spaced wire mounting rings, and an abradant envelope of axially extending, circumferentially spaced wires supported on and stretched between said rings, said wires being stretched sufficiently to maintain the generally cylindrical nature of their envelope but being loose enough to be sufficiently deflected by the products to cause the wires to conform to the product contour and hence provide an abradant, supporting contact of substantial extent with the products, said wire mounting rings comprising end rings and an intermediate ring, and means for adjustably turning one ring relative to an adjacent ring to adjust the tension of said wires. 
     
     
       6. The dry peeler of claim 5, wherein said one ring comprises a fixed outer ring and a relatively adjustable inner ring that mounts the wires. .Iadd. 7. A peeler for generally spheroidal food products such as fruit, vegetables, potatoes or the like which have been treated to soften their skins for removal, said peeler being of the type that provides a rotary cage having an open abradant surface, means for rotating the cage, means for propelling the products longitudinally through the cage, means for feeding treated products to the cage, and means for removing peels that fall from the cage; the improvement wherein said cage comprises a pair of end rings, axially spaced intermediate annular support means and an abradant envelope formed of longitudinally extending, circumferentially spaced, straight cord-like tension members mounted on said support means, means for tensioning said members sufficiently to maintain their generally longitudinal direction under product load while accommodating sufficient deflection of the members under product load to cause the members to partially conform to the product contour and hence to provide an abradant, supporting contact of substantial longitudinal extent with the generally spheroidal products, said members being spaced by a distance that exceeds their diameter. .Iaddend.