US 4,428,263 AGranted

Food loaf slicing machine

AssigneeFormax, Inc.

InventorsScott A. Lindee, Glenn A. Sandberg

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Abstract

A high volume food load slicing machine comprising a pair of loaf feed belt conveyors that continuously advance a food loaf along a downwardly inclined path through a collar into a slicing station at which a rotating and orbiting knife slices the load includes a variable speed knife rotation drive independent of the main drive that orbits the knife and drives the loaf conveyors. A hydrostatic speed variator in the drive connection for the conveyors, with speed corrections made by a stepper motor, affords precision control of slice thickness. A split collar and associated sensor afford continuous sensing of the loaf cross section to provide effective slice thickness correction; the collar is of molded machinable resin so that the knife can cut a working surface on the collar to a precise contour. The collar includes vacuum means to hold the butt end of a loaf for slicing.

Claims21

Dependent claims

In a high volume food loaf slicing machine of the kind comprising:

a loaf support, supporting a food loaf for movement along a downwardly inclined path;
loaf feed conveyor means, positioned at the lower end of the food loaf path, for continuously advancing a food loaf along that path and into a slicing station;
and a rotory knife, supported for orbital movement into and out of the slicing station in a direction transverse to the food loaf path, for cyclically cutting individual slices from the loaf as the loaf enters the slicing station;
the improvement comprising:
variable speed main drive motor means;
knife orbit drive connection means, connecting the main drive motor means to the knife to drive the knife through its orbital movement at a slicing rate determined by the speed of the main drive motor means;
conveyor drive connection means, connecting the main drive motor means to the loaf feed conveyor means to drive the conveyor means at a loaf feed rate determined in part by the speed of the main drive motor means;
variable speed knife rotation motor means, connected to the knife to drive the knife through its rotary motion at a cutting rate determined by the speed of the knife rotation motor means and independent of the speed of the main drive motor means;
a collar encompassing the loaf at the entrance to the slicing station, the collar being of transverse split construction, including first and second collar members, one collar member being movable toward and away from the other in a direction transverse to the food loaf path;
collar closure means, connected to the one collar member, for biasing the movable collar member toward the other collar member to maintain both collar members in predetermined limited pressure engagement with the lowermost end of the feed loaf but permitting continuous movement of the loaf through the collar;
a loaf size sensor, connected to the one collar member, for sensing movements of the one collar member indicative of variations in cross-sectional area of the loaf;
and control means, connected to the loaf size sensor, for actuating the conveyor drive connection means to vary the loaf feed conveyor speed to compensate for changes in loaf cross-sectional area.

9 more elements

In a high volume food loaf slicing machine of the kind comprising:

a loaf support, supporting a food loaf for movement along a downwardly inclined path;
loaf feed conveyor means, positioned at the lower end of the food loaf path, for continuously advancing a food loaf along that path and into a slicing station;
a rotary knife, supported for orbital movement into and out of the slicing station in a direction transverse to the food loaf path, for cyclically cutting individual slices from the loaf as the loaf enters the slicing station;
variable speed knife orbit drive means for driving the knife through its orbital movement at a predetermined slicing rate;
variable speed conveyor drive means for driving the conveyor means at a predetermined loaf feed rate;
and variable speed knife rotation drive means for driving the knife through its rotary motion at a predetermined cutting rate;
the improvement comprising:
a collar encompassing the loaf at the entrance to the slicing station, the collar being of transverse split construction, including first and second collar members, one collar member being movable toward and away from the other in a direction transverse to the food loaf path;
collar closure means, connected to the one collar member, for biasing the movable collar member toward the other collar member to maintain both collar members in predetermined limited pressure engagement with the lowermost end of the feed loaf but permitting continuous movement of the loaf through the collar;
a loaf size sensor, connected to the one collar member, for sensing movements of the one collar member indicative of variations in cross-sectional area of the loaf;
and control means connected to the loaf size sensor, for actuating the conveyor drive means to vary the loaf feed conveyor speed to compensate for changes in loaf cross-sectional area.

8 more elements

In a high volume food loaf slicing machine of the kind comprising:

a loaf support, supporting a food loaf for movement along a downwardly inclined path;
loaf feed conveyor means, positioned at the lower end of the food loaf path, for continuously advancing a food loaf along that path and into a slicing station;
a rotary knife, supported for orbital movement into and out of the slicing station in a direction transverse to the food loaf path, for cyclically cutting individual slices from the loaf as the loaf enters the slicing station;
variable speed knife orbit drive means for driving the knife through its orbital movement at a predetermined slicing rate;
variable speed conveyor drive means for driving the conveyor means at a predetermined loaf feed rate;
and variable speed knife rotation drive means for driving the knife through its rotary motion at a predetermined cutting rate;
the improvement comprising:
a collar encompassing the loaf at the entrance to the slicing station, the collar being of transverse split construction, including first and second collar members, one collar member being movable toward and away from the other in a direction transverse to the food loaf path;
and
collar closure means, connected to the one collar member, for biasing the movable collar member toward the other collar member to maintain both collar members in predetermined limited pressure engagement with the lowermost end of the feed loaf but permitting continuous movement of the loaf through the collar;
the collar closure means further including means to apply a high pressure to the movable collar member to clamp the lowermost end of the loaf in the collar and preclude further movement of the food loaf into the slicing station.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.