Slicing machine for two or more food loaves
US5628237A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 11, 1994 |
| Grant date | May 13, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 11, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T83/6579
- WIPO fieldMachine tools
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A high speed slicing machine supports first and second food loaves for movement along parallel loaf paths into a slicing station where both loaves are sliced by one cyclically driven knife blade; the slices are stacked or shingled in groups on a receiving conveyor located below the slicing station. Independent loaf feed drives are provided; slices cut from one loaf may be thicker than slices from the other. The machine combines manual and automated mechanisms to load food loaves onto the food paths. These mechanisms share a central barrier that is used only during loading; at other times the barrier is clear of the loaf paths. The automated loaf loading mechanism has a sweep to push one or more loaves onto a support defining the loaf paths. There are two grippers, one on each loaf path; each grips the end of a loaf remote from the slicing station. For each gripper, a loaf feed drive impels the gripper (and loaf) toward the slicing station and then moves the gripper back to a home position, releasing an unsliced loaf butt on the way through a door opening in the loaf support. Each loaf feed drive includes two "short" conveyors driven at the same speed as the gripper. The loaf suppor…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.