Cutting heads, cutting machines equipped therewith, and methods of operation

A method of adjusting a gate opening of a cutting head of a cutting machine, the cutting head having a pair of mounting blocks spaced apart from each other, a slicing unit mounted with the pair of mounting blocks and comprising a knife having a cutting edge configured to produce product slices, and an adjustable gate mounted with the pair of mounting blocks, the adjustable gate defining a gate opening between the cutting edge of the knife and a trailing edge of the adjustable gate and the adjustable gate being adjustable by moving the trailing edge thereof relative to the cutting edge of the knife, the method comprising:

• providing an adjustment unit associated with a first mounting block of the pair of mounting blocks, the adjustment unit comprising a housing, an adjustment screw disposed in a bore of the housing and threadably received in a threaded bore in a first mounting block of the pair of mounting blocks, a spring disposed in the bore of the housing, an indicator disposed in the bore of the housing and surrounding a head of the adjustment screw, and a scale along a perimeter of the indicator, the indicator having an indicator mark aligned with a first calibration mark of the scale, the adjustment screw having splines and the indicator having splines that are complementary to each other, the spring being arranged within the bore of the housing so that the splines of the adjustment screw and the splines of the indicator are engaged with each other under a biasing influence of the spring and the splines of the indicator disengage from the splines of the adjustment screw by compressing the spring;
• and then either
• rotating the adjustment screw to adjust the gate opening, the indicator rotating in unison with the adjustment screw as a result of the splines of the indicator being engaged with the splines of the adjustment screw, wherein rotating the indicator aligns the indicator mark with a second calibration mark of the scale;
• or
• compressing the spring to disengage the splines of the indicator from the splines of the adjustment screw and rotating the indicator independently of the adjustment screw to align the indicator mark with a second calibration mark of the scale.