| 摘要 |
<p>A method and apparatus for producing helical slices (4) of an object, such as a potato. The apparatus includes a rotatably mounted knife assembly (21, 29, 31) having one or more sets of knife blades (23, 24) arranged in a spiral pattern. Each set of knife blades produces a set of helically shaped potato slices. The spiral arrangement of each blade set reduces the torque needed to slice an object using the knife assembly. The knife assembly includes a knife bearing (31) rotatably mounted within a housing (33). To rotate the knife assembly, a gear (35) engages and drives an outer annular surface of the knife bearing. A liquid is injected through a channel (12) within the knife bearing housing, and preferably also through a channel (12a) within the gear mounting member, to align and lubricate the rotating knife assembly and flush fragments of the objects being sliced from the knife assembly and gear. In a preferred embodiment, the inventive apparatus includes two sets of slicing blades (82, 83, 84, 85), for producing two sets of intertwined helical product slices. A curved separator tube (100), which extends downward from the slicing blade area, disentangles the pair of intertwined slices having the smallest radius, as the blade assembly and the separator tube rotates as a unit.</p> |
