Method and apparatus for cutting and peeling the packaging material of an elongated package containing a product

Apparatus for cutting and peeling the packaging material of elongated packages each containing a product comprising an intermittently feeding means for intermittently feeding the package separately one by one to a cutting section, a cutting means and a gripping means at said cutting section for lifting the whole package upwardly from below and for simultaneously gripping the package at the upper side along the length thereof while the gripped packaging material of the package is cut simultaneously by a plurality of cutting blades of said cutting means to form a continuous cut line along the whole length between the gripped upper side thereof and the product, means for feeding the package to a peeling section, a peeling and removing means at said peeling section having a pair of rollers, said peeling and removing means resiliently supporting said package at both ends thereof and intermittently pressing the package at both upper sides of the front and back portions thereof with the continuous cut line interposed between said both upper sides while the packaging material of the package is rolled in and peeled between said pair of rollers contacting the underside of the package along its longitudinal axis and the exposed product is then discharged, a delaying and storing means in which the product discharged is shifted stepwise and successively to be delayed and stored therein, said delaying and storing means comprising an accumulator chute for transferring the product regularly in dead weight fashion, said accumulator chute having a base plate, seesaw stoppers alternately projecting through said base plate of the accumulator chute to shift the product stepwise and successively, and a delivering and discharging means in which the products regularly and successively received from the delaying and storing means are discharged in one or more lines to form a continuous process line.