Feed drive for a cutting machine for cutting foods

A cutting machine for cutting elongated products into slices, comprising:

• undriven roller conveyor means for supporting a product to be sliced, the conveyor means having a forward end and a rear end;
• cutter means adjacent the forward end of the conveyor means for cutting slices from a front end of the product;
• first feed means for driving the product forwardly in a feed direction along the conveyor means into the cutting range of the cutter means, the first feed means comprising claw means for gripping a rear end of the product, and drive means for driving the claw means in the feed direction;
• and
• second feed means for guiding a forward portion of the product towards said cutter means in synchronism with the driving of the claw means, said second feed means being located adjacent said cutter means and comprising at least one feed roller separate from said roller conveyor means for engaging a bottom surface of the product in the vicinity of said cutter means in a force-locking and form-locking manner.

A cutting machine for cutting elongated products into slices, comprising:

• undriven roller conveyor means for supporting a product to be sliced, the conveyor means having a forward end and a rear end;
• cutter means adjacent the forward end of the conveyor means for cutting slices from a front end of the product;
• first feed means for driving the product forwardly in a feed direction along the conveyor means into the cutting range of the cutter means, the first feed means comprising claw means for gripping a rear end of the product;
• second feed means for guiding a forward portion of the product towards said cutter means in synchronism with the driving of the claw means, said second feed means being located adjacent said cutter means and comprising at least one feed roller separate from said roller conveyor means for engaging a bottom surface of the product in the vicinity of said cutter means in a force-locking and form-locking manner;
• and
• a single drive assembly for driving said claw means and said feed roller in synchronism, said drive assembly comprising an endless belt drive extending between the rear end of said roller conveyor means and said feed roller and linked to said claw means and said feed roller, and drive means for driving said belt drive to drive said claw means in the feed direction and to simultaneously rotate said feed roller.