Stacking conveyor for product slicing machine

A stacking apparatus for vertically stacking a plurality of relatively thin, flexible sheet-form product slices disposed in coplaner relationship to a substantially horizontal plane and moving in series along a generally horizontally disposed path and gravity deposited at a receiving station into a stack of slices of predetermined superposed configuration comprising

• a stacking conveyor positionable at the slice receiving station and having a conveyor belt supported for displacement in longitudinal alignment with the path of movement of the product slices, said belt having an upper run forming a slice receiving surface disposed in a substantially horizontal plane underlying the path of movement of the product slices to be received thereon, the upper run of said conveyor belt being selectively displaceable in said horizontal plane along a path aligned with the path of movement of the slices, and drive means operatively coupled with said conveyor belt responsive to a slice being deposited on said conveyor and operable for selectively displacing said conveyor belt to reciprocably displace the upper run thereof from a first position to a second position where the slice being deposited is fully received thereon in a same direction as that of a gravity-fed slice being deposited thereon at substantially the same horizontal velocity of the slice being received whereby the receiving surface is maintained essentially stationary with respect to the moving slice while the slice is being received and to then displace the upper run thereof in the opposite direction to a predetermined position relative to said first position for receiving thereon a next successive gravity-fed slice in superposed stacked relationship to the previously received slice, said drive means alternatively selectively operable in response to a predetermined number of slices having beeen deposited thereon in a formed stack for displacing said conveyor belt upper run to discharge a formed stack of product slices from the conveyor.