Close tolerance food slicing apparatus, blade and method

An apparatus for slicing food sticks comprising:

• a slicing assembly for severing large sliceable food sticks into slices and stacking said slices into stacks of slices;
• means for feeding a food stick to the slicing assembly;
• said slicing assembly has a blade member, said blade member engages said food stick and severs said food stick into said slices, said blade member having a non-severing body portion and a severing edge portion having a top portion defining an outermost perimeter edge of said edge portion;
• said flat portion of the edge portion of the blade member engages said food stick and is generally parallel to the cut surface of the food stick being sliced;
• said edge portion further having a bottom primary bevel surface which, together with said top flat surface, defines a primary angle, said primary angle being between about 45° and about 60°;
• and
• said severing edge portion of the blade member has a flatness characteristic such that substantially the entirety of said severing edge portion is spaced along a flat plane such that substantially the entirety of said severing edge portion is spaced apart from said flat plane by a tolerance distance of not greater than about 0.050 inch.

An apparatus for slicing food sticks, comprising:

• a slicing assembly for severing large sliceable food sticks into slices and stacking said slices into stacks of slices;
• means for feeding a food stick to the slicing assembly;
• an orifice assembly for receiving and generally laterally supporting a leading portion of said food stick during slicing, said orifice assembly having an opening through which said food sticks pass;
• said slicing assembly has a blade member, said blade member engages said food stick and severs said food stick into said slices, said blade member having a non-severing body portion and a severing edge portion having a top portion defining an outermost perimeter edge of said edge portion;
• said top portion of the edge portion of the blade member engages said food stick being sliced;
• and
• said severing edge portion further having a bottom primary bevel surface which, together with said top portion, defines a primary angle, said primary angle being between about 45° and about 60°.

A method for slicing a stream of food sticks, comprising the steps of:

• feeding, with the use of a feed assembly, a plurality of large food sticks toward and into a slicing location of a slicing assembly;
• slicing at the slicing location the food sticks fed during the feeding step, said slicing step forming slices and a butt end from the food stick;
• said slicing step including engaging in a portion of the food stick being sliced with a blade having a top flat surface substantially parallel to the food stick cut surface being sliced, the engaging step providing generally longitudinally directed support of each food stick by the top flat surface during slicing of each food stick, said top flat surface having an average width of at least about 0.1 inch;
• said slicing step further including angularly engaging the portion of the food stick being sliced with a bottom primary bevel surface of the blade, the bottom primary bevel surface, together with the top flat surface, defining a primary angle of between about 45° and about 60°, the angularly engaging steps causing each slice to be thrown downwardly at a deposit angle approximating the primary angle, said deposit angle being defined with respect to the food stick cut surface being sliced;
• and
• said feeding, slicing, engaging and angularly engaging steps combine to rapidly slice a flow of food sticks while substantially eliminating jamming of food sticks and their butt ends within the assemblies carrying out said feeding and slicing steps and while significantly reducing the amount of food waste generated during said feeding and slicing steps, irrespective of the temperature of the food sticks within a range of between about 10° F. and about 36° F.

A method for slicing a stream of food sticks, comprising the steps of:

• feeding, with the use of a feed assembly, a plurality of large food sticks toward and into a slicing location of a slicing assembly;
• slicing at the slicing location the food sticks fed during the feeding step, said slicing step forming slices and a butt end from the food stick;
• said slicing step including engaging a portion of the food stick being sliced with a blade having a top surface substantially parallel to the food stick cut surface being sliced;
• said slicing step further including angularly engaging the portion of the food stick being sliced with a bottom primary bevel surface of the blade, the bottom primary bevel surface, together with the top surface, defining a primary angle of between about 45° and about 60°, the angularly engaging step causing each slice to be thrown downwardly at a deposit angle approximating the primary angle, said deposit angle being defined with respect to the food stick cut surface being sliced;
• and
• said feeding, slicing, engaging and angularly engaging steps combine to rapidly slice a flow of food sticks while substantially eliminating jamming of food sticks and their butt ends within the assemblies carrying out said feeding and slicing steps and while significantly reducing the amount of food waste generated during said feeding and slicing steps.