Manufacture of curved, low-oil potato chips

• Main Authors: GREG PAUL HILLIARD, BARBARA LOUISE WARBURG, OLIVER HERBERT, RICHARD ANDREW BAILEY, PAUL DAVID WORTH
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 28.12.2011
• Subjects: CONVEYING; FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; FOODS, FOODSTUFFS, OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT COVERED BYSUBCLASSES A23B - A23J; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; HUMAN NECESSITIES; PACKING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS; PRESERVATION OF FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS, IN GENERAL; SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS; STORING; THEIR PREPARATION OR TREATMENT, e.g. COOKING, MODIFICATION OFNUTRITIVE QUALITIES, PHYSICAL TREATMENT; THEIR TREATMENT, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES; TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING ORTIPPING; TRANSPORTING

An apparatus for manufacturing curved, low-oil potato chips comprises a microwave oven (4) having a longitudinal cavity (6) forming a microwave chamber and a belt conveyor (24) extending through the microwave chamber. The conveyor comprises a plurality of links 50 arranged in a plurality of rows, each row having a leading edge 62 and a trailing edge 64, each of which edges is pivotally connected to a respective adjacent row. Each row has a continuously convex arcuate upper surface for supporting slices of potato. The leading edge and trailing edge of adjacent rows intersect to form an intersection 66 at the intersecting upper surfaces. The upper surface between adjacent intersections is entirely convex. A second invention provides a belt conveyor that extends through a microwave chamber having a continuously undulating surface with a maximum height of the undulations of from 5 to 15 mm and a pitch between adjacent undulations of from 35 to 75 mm. In a third invention, a conveyor surface is formed from a plurality of links wherein some of the intersections between links include a stop surface to prevent potato slices from sliding past the intersection.