Importance

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Abstract

A dough sheeting system having a cutter assembly for pulling and cutting elongated chunks of dough from a hopper containing dough is disclosed. A receiving surface is disposed beneath the cutter assembly. A motor advances the receiving surface in a direction of dough feed. A calendar assembly receives dough output by the receiving surface and outputs a sheet of dough. A level sensor monitors the height of accumulated dough at the input of the calendar assembly and produces a signal when the input exceeds a predetermined level. The motor is responsive to the signal from the level sensor to stop advancing the receiving surface when the level exceeds the predetermined level. A movement sensor monitors the advancement of the receiving surface to actuate the cutter assembly to pull and cut a chunk of dough when the surface has advanced a predetermined distance from the position at which the surface was positioned when a prior chunk of dough was delivered to the surface. Release of a dough chunk is enhanced by using a pneumatic source to introduce air between the dough chunk and the cutter assembly. A pulling assembly is disposed under the cutter assembly and is responsive to the operation of the cutter assembly to pull chunks of dough from the cutter assembly.

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First Claim