Method and system for providing small sausage portions

A portioning apparatus for providing portions of pasty food mass located in a casing, which has a looper horn, drivable by a drive, which is designed to transfer multiple portions, connected to one another by the casing, to a suspension machine, and respectively a controller for controlling components of the portioning apparatus,

• wherein the controller is designed and equipped to carry out a method comprising:
• (a) providing portions of pasty food mass located in a casing by a first portioning apparatus,
• (b) providing portions of pasty food mass located in a casing by a second portioning apparatus,
• (c) transferring the portions from each of the first and second portioning apparatuses to hooks of the suspension machine,
• (d) transporting, after the transfer of portions, the hooks by the suspension machine in a transport direction,
• (e) determining a number of hooks, which must pass by the second portioning apparatus in the transport direction, without portions being transferred from the second portioning apparatus to the hooks, to facilitate a gapless and non-overlapping draping of hooks of the shared suspension machine, and
• (f) controlling using the controller such that, for the determined number of hooks, no portions are transferred from the second portioning apparatus to the hooks, and after the determined number of hooks has passed by, portions are again transferred from the second portioning apparatus to the hooks.

A system for providing portions of pasty food mass provided in a casing, the system comprising:

• a first portioning apparatus for providing portions of pasty food mass located in a casing, which has a looper horn, drivable by a drive, which is designed to transfer multiple portions, connected to one another by the casing, to a suspension machine,
• a second portioning apparatus for providing portions of pasty food mass located in a casing, which has a looper horn, drivable by a drive, which is designed to transfer multiple portions, connected to one another by the casing, to a suspension machine,
• a suspension machine for transporting multiple portions, which has multiple hooks for receiving multiple portions connected by the casing, wherein the hooks may be further transported by at least one circulating drive element drivable by a drive,
• a controller for controlling components of the portioning apparatus, characterized in that the controller is designed and equipped to carry out a method comprising:
• (a) providing portions of pasty food mass located in a casing by the first portioning apparatus,
• (b) providing portions of pasty food mass located in a casing by the second portioning apparatus,
• (c) transferring the portions from each of the first and second portioning apparatuses to hooks of the suspension machine,
• (d) transporting, after the transfer of portions, the hooks by the suspension machine in a transport direction,
• (e) determining a number of hooks, which must pass by the second portioning apparatus in the transport direction, without portions being transferred from the second portioning apparatus to the hooks, to facilitate a gapless and non-overlapping draping of hooks of the shared suspension machine, and
• (f) controlling using the controller such that, for the determined number of hooks, no portions are transferred from the second portioning apparatus to the hooks, and after the determined number of hooks has passed by, portions are again transferred from the second portioning apparatus to the hooks.