Automatic draft length compensation for slicing machine system

A method of controlling the length of an elongated combined draft of food slices cut by a plurality of slicing machines, comprising the steps of:

• providing a first slicing machine having a rotating slicing blade operable in an effective first cutting plane, and a loaf feed introducing a first loaf into said first cutting plane to form a succession of first slices;
• providing a first output conveyor beneath said first slicing machine for receiving said first slices collected in a succession of shingled first drafts of first slices, each said first draft being spaced in a longitudinal direction from a preceding first draft and a subsequent first draft;
• providing a second slicing machine having a rotating slicing blade operable in an effective second cutting plane, and a loaf feed introducing a second loaf into said second cutting plane to form a succession of second slices;
• providing a second output conveyor beneath said second slicing machine for receiving said second slices collected in a succession of shingled second drafts of second slices, each said second draft being spaced in a longitudinal direction from a preceding second draft and a subsequent second draft;
• providing a pass-through conveyor receiving each said first draft from said first output conveyor and transferring each said first draft to said second output conveyor, wherein each said second draft is added to one first draft to form a succession of first combined drafts;
• providing that one of said first and second slicing machines comprises a third loaf feed for introducing a third loaf into one of said first and second cutting planes to form a succession of third slices collected on one of said first or second output conveyors in a succession of shingled third drafts of third slices, each said third draft being spaced in a longitudinal direction from a preceding third draft and a subsequent third draft;
• providing an overlap conveyor arranged downstream of said second output conveyor, said overlap conveyor having merging paths, wherein each said first combined draft is transferred onto said overlap conveyor and merged with one third draft on said overlap conveyor to form a succession of elongated combined drafts;
• sensing a length of at least one first draft from said first slicing machine;
• sensing a length of at least one second draft from said second slicing machine;
• sensing a length of at least one third draft;
• and
• automatically adjusting the speed of at least one of the output conveyors to adjust the length of one of the first, second or third drafts to adjust the length of subsequent first, second and third drafts.

A slicing and conveying system for arranging slices from a slicing machine, comprising:

• a slicing machine having a rotating slicing blade operable in an effective cutting plane, and a loaf feed introducing a loaf into said cutting plane to form a succession of slices;
• an output conveyor beneath said slicing machine for receiving said slices, said output conveyor movable to create a succession of longitudinally spaced-apart, shingled drafts of said slices;
• a length sensor for determining a length of at least one said draft;
• a control receiving input from said length sensor and outputting a control signal to said output conveyor to control the length of a subsequent draft.

A slicing and conveying system for arranging slices from two separate slicing machines, comprising:

• a slicing system having at least one rotating slicing blade operable to slice a first loaf into a succession of first slices and a second loaf into a succession of second slices;
• a first output conveyor arranged beneath said slicing system for receiving said first slices in a succession of longitudinally spaced-apart, shingled first drafts;
• a second output conveyor arranged beneath said slicing system for receiving said second slices in a succession of longitudinally spaced-apart, shingled second drafts;
• an overlap conveyor arranged downstream of said first and second output conveyors, wherein each said first draft is transferred onto said overlap conveyor and combined with one said second draft on said overlap conveyor to form a succession of elongated combined drafts;
• a combined draft length sensor for sensing a length of at least one the elongated combined draft;
• and
• a control, wherein said combined draft length sensor is signal-connected to said control, and said control receives input from said combined draft length sensor and outputs a control signal to the overlap conveyor to control the length of a subsequent elongated combined draft.