A food product slicing apparatus is provided for slicing food products into slices. A frame mounts a drive assembly, a lower feed roller, a shear bar and a slicing blade. The drive assembly moves the food products onto the lower feed roller. The food product passes over the lower feed roller and through the shear bar for slicing by the slicing blade. At least one upper feed roller is mounted on the shear bar and is adjustable in position relative to the lower feed roller.

A food slicing system having a main frame includes a blade reciprocating assembly, which further includes a support frame, a rotating cutting blade mounted to the support frame, a motor mounted on the support frame, and a support shaft operatively coupled to the main frame at opposite ends thereof. The support shaft is coupled to an upper portion of the support frame and is configured to support the support frame and permit pivotal movement of the support frame. A drive shaft is operatively coupled to the main frame and is rotationally driven by an actuator. A plurality of linkage elements are configured to operatively couple the drive shaft to a lower portion of the support frame, where the linkage elements reciprocally move the blade reciprocating assembly between a slicing position and a clearance position, and where the support frame pivots about the support shaft during the reciprocal movement.

A food product slicing apparatus for slicing food products into slices is provided. A frame mounts a drive assembly which is configured to move the food products relative to the frame, a side strapping assembly which side straps a side of the food product, and a slicing blade configured to slice the food products into slices. The side strapping assembly is mounted to the frame proximate to the drive assembly. The side strapping assembly includes a releasable clamp which couples a blade of the side strapping assembly to the frame. The clamp can be released without the use of tools.

A food slicing includes a forward conveyor assembly located proximal to the blade assembly and a rearward conveyor assembly configured to transport the food product to the forward conveyor assembly. The rearward conveyor assembly is located immediately upstream from the forward conveyor assembly and gap is formed laterally between the forward conveyor assembly and the rearward conveyor assembly, in the longitudinal direction. An upper scanner unit proximal the gap scans an upper surface of the food product while a lower scanner unit located below the forward and rearward conveyor assemblies scans a lower surface of the food product as the food product passes across the gap, to obtain contour information of the lower surface of the food product.

A drive assembly for a food product slicing apparatus is provided which slices food products into slices. The drive assembly is mounted on a frame of the food product slicing apparatus and includes lower and upper conveyor assemblies coupled to the frame which move food products relative to the frame. The upper conveyor assembly is configured to move upward and downward relative to an upper plane defined by the lower conveyor assembly, and is further configured to pivot relative to the lower conveyor assembly to firmly grip the food products as they pass therebetween.

A post-processing device (1) for simultaneously performing both square folding and trimming of a booklet (3), wherein the device (1) comprises a square folding assembly (8) and a cutting assembly (5) at least one of which is movably attached to the post-processing device (1), and a clamping assembly (17) for holding the booklet (3) static during operation of the square folding assembly (8) and the cutting assembly (5). Also, a method of operating such a device (1).

A post-processing device (1) for simultaneously performing both square folding and trimming of a booklet (3), wherein the device (1) comprises a square folding assembly (8) and a cutting assembly (5) at least one of which is movably attached to the post-processing device (1), and a clamping assembly (17) for holding the booklet (3) static during operation of the square folding assembly (8) and the cutting assembly (5). Also, a method of operating such a device (1).

In order to reliably detect, without supplying electric current or any other type of energy to a gripper, whether a rear end of a product caliber is in a grippable position close to a gripper base body and/or gripper claws are extended into the product caliber, i.e., are activated, a signal transmitter may be moved into an activated position via a purely mechanical operative connection between a sensing element, which detects the approach of the product caliber to the gripper base body in a contacting manner, which position can be detected by a sensor arranged far behind the gripper at a base frame of the machine.

In order to reliably detect, without supplying electric current or any other type of energy to a gripper, whether a rear end of a product caliber is in a grippable position close to a gripper base body and/or gripper claws are extended into the product caliber, i.e., are activated, a signal transmitter may be moved into an activated position via a purely mechanical operative connection between a sensing element, which detects the approach of the product caliber to the gripper base body in a contacting manner, which position can be detected by a sensor arranged far behind the gripper at a base frame of the machine.

A front end feeding device 23 between a cutter 10 and a fixed-length feeding hand 30 that feeds a strip member 5 on an upstream side of the cutter 10 feeds a front end of the strip member 5 a short distance to a downstream side of the cutter 10, a front end grasping hand 60 on the downstream of the cutter 10 holds the front end of the strip member 5 fed the short distance, the fixed-length feeding hand 30 holds a part of the strip member 5 fed the short distance on the upstream side of the cutter 10, the front end grasping hand 60 and the fixed-length feeding hand 30 synchronously feed the strip member 5 a long distance to the downstream side, and the cutter 10 cuts the strip member 5 having been fed the long distance.