Appeal No. 2000-1052
Application No. 09/060,012
every cubic centimeter should have the same amount of
pickle throughout the entire belly. When the
crosshead and needles are moved up and down by a crank
mechanism, the velocity of the needles is constantly
changing from zero to maximum and back to zero, etc.
as the needles move up and down in the belly. With a
constant flow pump, the bellies get more or less
pickle per cubic centimeter, depending on the velocity
of the needles in moving into and out of the meat.
Stated differently pickle is generally supplied
into the injector head by a positive displacement pump
with constant flow rate. The needles driven by a
rotational crank travel at a variable speed through
the thickness. When needles are near either top or
bottom position, the needle traveling speed is close
to zero, while at the middle stroke needles travel at
highest speed. More pickle is injected per unit
length of travel when needles are moving at slow speed
and less pickle is injected at high speed. It is
highly desirable to inject equal amount of pickle per
unit length of thickness to achieve the best quality
of injection.
The appellant's solution to this problem is as follows (id.
at page 5):
The constant change in velocity of the needles means
that the time that a needle is passing through each
vertical centimeter will constantly be changing from
fast to slow to fast to slow. Thus, the flow of
pickle should also change accordingly. This invention
accomplishes this goal by using a double action piston
type pump where the piston is controlled or
synchronized by the same drive as the needles. That
piston pump is timed exactly with the needle crank, so
that the action of the piston pump corresponds with
the timing of the crank action that drives the
needles. This assures that the flow of pickle from
the pump at any instant of time will correspond with
the velocity of the needles at that same instant of
time. Therefore, the amount of pickle injected into
every portion of the belly will be constant and
uniform throughout the bellies in spite of the
variation in velocity of the needles due to the crank
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