Apparatus for stacking, singulating, and dispensing pliable food products and methods therefor
AssigneeKraft Foods Group Brands LLC
InventorsMark E. Malenke, Gary S. Rusch, Tod W. Heleniak, Brian Adamski, Larry D. Wierschke, Scott A. Adler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for handling food products comprises an alignment trough disposed at an incline for holding a stack of the food products at an incline. The alignment trough defines a portion of a passage upon which the food products travel. The stack defines a bottom food product. At least one movable member extends into the passage to control the separation of the bottom food product from the remainder of the stack by moving to provide clearance fro the food product to pass.
Claims6
1-15. (canceled)
A method of separating a supply of thin, pliable food products into groups of a specified number of the food products comprising:
- forming a stack of the food products from the supply of food products, the stack being piled in a first direction;
- isolating a single food product from the stack of the food products in the first direction;
- moving the single food product in a second direction different from the first direction to move the single food product to a collection point;
- and
- repeating the isolating and moving of the single food products from the stack for a specified number of food products before removing the specified number of food products form the collection point together.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.