Automatic draft length compensation for slicing machine system

A method of controlling the length of an elongated combined draft of food slices cut by a plurality of slicing machines, comprising the steps of:

• providing a first slicing machine having a rotating slicing blade operable in an effective first cutting plane, and a loaf feed introducing a first loaf into said first cutting plane to form a succession of first slices;
• providing a first output conveyor beneath said first slicing machine for receiving said first slices in a first draft;
• providing a second slicing machine having a rotating slicing blade operable in an effective second cutting plane, and a loaf feed introducing a second loaf into said second cutting plane to form a succession of second slices;
• providing a second output conveyor beneath said second slicing machine for receiving said second slices in a second draft;
• providing a pass-through conveyor receiving said first draft from said first output conveyor and transferring said first draft to said second output conveyor, wherein said second draft is added to said first draft to form a first combined draft;
• providing that one of said first and second slicing machines comprises a third loaf feed for introducing a third loaf into one of said first and second cutting planes to form a succession of third slices in a third draft;
• providing an overlap conveyor arranged downstream of said second output conveyor, said overlap conveyor having merging paths, wherein said first combined draft is transferred onto said overlap conveyor and merged with said third draft on said overlap conveyor to form an elongated combined draft;
• sensing a length of said first draft from said first slicing machine;
• sensing a length of said second draft from said second slicing machine;
• sensing a length of said third draft;
• and
• automatically adjusting the speed of at least one of the output conveyors to adjust the length of one of the first, second or third drafts to adjust the length of subsequent first second and third drafts.

A slicing and conveying system for arranging slices from a slicing machine, comprising:

• a slicing machine having a rotating slicing blade operable in an effective cutting plane, and a loaf feed introducing a loaf into said cutting plane to form a succession of slices;
• an output conveyor beneath said slicing machine for receiving said slices, said output conveyor movable to create a shingled draft of said slices;
• a length sensor for determining a length of said draft;
• a control receiving input from said length sensor and outputting a control signal to said output conveyor to control the length of a subsequent draft.

A slicing and conveying system for arranging slices from two separate slicing machines, comprising:

• a slicing system having at least one rotating slicing blade operable to slice a first loaf into a succession of first slices and a second loaf into a succession of second slices;
• a first output conveyor arranged beneath said slicing system for receiving said first slices in a first draft;
• a second output conveyor arranged beneath said slicing system for receiving said second slices in a second draft;
• an overlap conveyor arranged downstream of said first and second output conveyors, wherein said first draft is transferred onto said overlap conveyor and combined with said second draft on said overlap conveyor to form an elongated combined draft;
• a combined length sensor for sensing a length of the elongated combined draft;
• and
• a control, wherein said combined length sensor is signal-connected to said control, and said control receives input from said combined length sensor and outputs a control signal to the overlap conveyor to control the length of a subsequent elongated combined draft.