Device for cutting and stacking of products packed in a foil tube

A cutting and stacking apparatus for cutting a foil tube of individual product slices separated by transverse sealing seams along the seams to form separate product slices and stacking the slices vertically, comprising:

• a cutting device comprising means for cutting the tube in a cutting direction through the sealing seams to form individual slices;
• feed means for feeding the tube in a horizontal feeding direction into the cutting device;
• a vertical stacking unit for stacking the cut slices, the stacking unit having an open upper end adjacent an outlet of said cutting device, and a pair of spaced vertical side walls, each side wall comprising an endless conveyor belt having a series of spaced, outwardly projecting fins with a take-up space between each adjacent pair of fins, the fins on one belt opposing the fins on the opposite belt, and each pair of adjacent fins on each belt comprising means for retaining one side edge of a product slice in the take-up space between the fins while the opposite side edge is taken up in the opposing space between an opposing pair of fins on the other belt, each belt having a downward run opposing the downward run of the other belt for conveying slices downwardly from the upper end of the stacking unit, each downward run having an upper end and a lower end;
• guide means at the open upper end of the stacking unit for laterally guiding a slice in a horizontal orientation into the stacking unit;
• an intermediate support located between the conveyor belts at a location intermediate the upper and lower ends of the downward run of belts, the intermediate support comprising means for releasably supporting an intermediate stack of slices;
• and
• a hold down device above the open upper end of said stacking unit, the hold down device being movable in a direction parallel to said cutting direction into said open upper end and comprising means for moving a cut product slice into the stacking unit for take up in the take-up spaces of opposed pairs of fins on the conveyor belts.