Cutting machine for slicing circular articles into wedges

Apparatus for slicing a circular article into a plurality of equally sized wedges, comprising a longitudinally extending conveyor, an endless conveyor loop trained over rolls at opposite ends of the conveyor and forming upper and lower reaches, substantially identical carrier means fixed to the loop at spaced intervals, the carrier means each including a generally planar face mounted on the loop in a manner in which it is generally horizontal and faces upwardly when disposed on the path of the upper conveyor reach and is permitted to rotate about a substantially vertical axis, a series of horizontally spaced cutting blades suspended above the upper reach of the conveyor loop, said cutting blades lying in a common vertical plane passing through the vertical axes of the carrier means, and means responsive to horizontal movement of said carrier means between said cutting blades to rotationally index said carrier means about said vertical axes through an angle corresponding to the desired angular wedge size, the cutting blades each depending into the path of articles carried on said carrier means whereby such articles are cut on lines corresponding to the angular displacements of the carrier means induced by said indexing means, said indexing means including stationary cam means disposed along the path of the upper reach of the conveyor, follower means associated with said carrier means sensitive to the configuration of said cam means to produce corresponding rotation of said carrier means, said follower means including a pair of cam follower means diametrally opposite one another with respect to the axis of its associated carrier means, said cam means including a cam track having at least in several regions a pair of transversely spaced slots adapted to receive said follower means, said spaced slots and pair of cam follower means being arranged to rotationally index said carrier means through angles of less than 90 degrees.