Apparatus for portioning dough

Apparatus for portioning dough comprising:

• frame means;
• a filler hopper on said frame means for holding dough therein, said filler hopper including an open bottom and a side wall having an interior surface and an exterior surface;
• pre-portioning means in said filler hopper for preportioning said dough;
• a dough chamber on said frame means, said dough chamber having an open top for receiving dough from the open bottom of said filler hopper, and an open front end;
• a cylindrical drum having an outer surface and at least one cavity therein, said cavity opening outwardly through an aperture in said outer surface, said drum being rotatably mounted on said frame mans for rotation about a horizontal axis wherein the outer surface thereof rotates in closely spaced, adjacent relation to said front end of said dough chamber,
• a pusher member in said dough chamber for pushing said dough outwardly of said dough chamber into said cavity in said drum when said cavity is positioned at the front end of said dough chamber;
• stripper means on the exterior surface of said side wall adjacent the front end of said dough chamber, said stripper means cooperating with the outer surface of said drum to strip away excess dough from the aperture of said cavity when said cavity is rotated away from the front end of said dough chamber;
• means for adjusting the volume of said cavity;
• at least two capacitive sensors mounted in vertically spaced relation on the interior surface of said side wall, said sensors being responsive to the approach of a moist mass of dough;
• switch means associated with said capacitive sensors and said adjusting means for selective operation of one of said sensors in dependence on the volume selected for the cavity;
• and
• drive means for intermittently driving said preportioning means in dependence upon the amount of dough sensed by the operative capacitive sensor.