Slicer feed mechanism

An apparatus for feeding product to a slicer assembly having a blade for slicing an elongated product that is fed to the blade by a product supporting and conveying assembly, wherein the product supporting and conveying assembly includes a supplemental product supporting assembly and a controlled feed assembly downstream of and generally coextensive with the product supporting assembly, said controlled feed assembly comprising:

• a plurality of augers, said augers being rotatably mounted along respective axes that are generally parallel to the feed path of said product supporting and conveying assembly;
• a leading edge on each of said augers, said auger leading edges being closely spaced from the blade of the slicer;
• said augers are sized and positioned for engaging the product along a leading length of longitudinal surface, said leading length of longitudinal surface of the product being along that portion of the product which is closest to the slicing blade, and said auger leading edges define a leading end of the product leading portion, whereby rotation of said augers in a respective feed direction of each auger pulls said product into slicing engagement with said blade;
• and
• said controlled feed assembly includes means for controlling the rotational movement, rotational speed and direction of rotation of said augers to thereby control longitudinal movement of the leading length of the product and the speed and direction of product feed relative to said blade.