Food Product Cutting Apparatus Having Anti-Binding Food Pusher Guide Mechanism

A thrust-type food product cutting apparatus for cutting a food product, comprising:

• a chassis designed and configured to engage a supporting structure so that the thrust-type food product cutting apparatus is stable during a cutting operation;
• a food product loading side;
• a cutting thrust axis backward leaning relative to said food product loading side;
• a blade set fixed relative to said chassis, said blade set having:
• a plurality of blades spaced to define a plurality of food openings for receiving therethrough during the cutting operation of the thrust-type food product cutting apparatus;
• and
• a cutting edge side;
• a food product guide fixed relative to said chassis, said food product guide having guide walls extending away from said blade set on said cutting edge side, said guide walls being parallel to said cutting thrust axis and defining a concave food product receiving region relative to said food product loading side;
• first and second slide rails attached to corresponding respective ones of said guide walls and each having longitudinal axes extending parallel to said cutting thrust axis;
• a pusher assembly movable relative to said chassis and having first and second slides slidably engaging corresponding respective ones of said first and second slide rails;
• and
• a handle mechanism coupled to said chassis and engaged with said pusher assembly, said handle mechanism designed and configured to allow a user to manually drive said pusher assembly along said cutting thrust axis toward said blade set with said first and second slides sliding correspondingly respectively along said first and second slide rails so as to guide said pusher assembly along said cutting thrust axis.