Importance

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Abstract

A food slicing method and apparatus includes blades mounted on a shaft for rotation therewith, the blades successively converging and diverging to slice the food pieces as the shaft rotates. An inlet flume conveys the food pieces to and through the rotating blades. A flighted conveyor within the flume submerges the food pieces at the flume inlet and releases them at the bottom of the flume to float upward, oriented according to their buoyancy before entering the blades. In one embodiment, the blades are mounted on a curved shaft which rotates about a longitudinal axis of symmetry to cause the blades to converge on the inward side of the shaft and diverge on the outward side. The blades engage a synchronously counterrotating drum to slice the food pieces as they enter on the inward side of the shaft. As the blades diverge, the majority of the slices fall free of the blades. Those that adhere are discharged from between the blades by jets of water sprayed from a water cleaning comb on the outward side of the shaft. In a second embodiment, the blades are mounted on a straight rotating shaft. Guide plates on the ends of the shaft angle toward each other to press the blades inward on one side of the shaft. The blades slidably adjust on the shaft as it rotates to converge on the one side and diverge on the other side.

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First Claim