Olive pitting and stuffing machine

摘要

An olive pitting and stuffing machine has a drum rotatable about an axis and provided with opposing pairs of clamping members angularly equispaced about the axis and respectively engageable with opposite ends of olives fed in succession generally tangentially to the drum. The drum also comprises respective tubular cutters axially aligned with each pair of clamping members and displaceable to cut an end out of the olive, a plunger axially aligned with each pair of clamping members on the opposite side of the drum adapted to pierce the olive through the other end and push out the olive pit, and a pimento inserter also aligned with the clamping members and effective to insert a folded piece of pimento as the stuffing in the interior of the olive. The plunger, cutter and pimento inserter all rotate together with the clamping members as part of the drum and with the respective olive and all are displaceable by engagement with respective circular stationary cams so that the entire sequence of operations takes place in less than a full revolution of the drum and without any interruption in the continuous movement of the olive from the point at which it is engaged by the clamping members to the point at which it is discharged from the drum.