A slicing machine for cutting agricultural produce items includes a conveyor plenum with a plenum top plate formed with many vacuum ports arranged in a longitudinal direction below the gap between conveyor belts in a dual-belt conveyor, a water jet knife positioned to emit a stream of high-pressure water between the individual belts in the dual belt conveyor with enough force to cut a produce item into separate pieces, and a belt shaker configured to strike the dual-belt conveyor at cyclical intervals.

An adsorption positioning device suitable for installation on a cutting machine, which is suitable for cutting a material unit, includes a platform and two platen units. The platform includes a table for supporting the material unit, and a plurality of air holes extending through the table. The platen units are disposed on the table. The table and each platen unit are configured for cooperating with a lateral side of the material unit to define a channel that communicates with corresponding ones of air holes. The channel and the air holes are suitable for causing the material unit to be adsorbed on the table under a negative pressure state.

A method of processing a food item that includes moving a food item along a direction towards an automated slicer, wherein prior to the food item being sliced by the automated slicer the food item that is being moved has a length, L, as measured along the direction. The method further includes determining a thickness, T, of a slice of the food item to be generated by the automated slicer and slicing the food item that has the length, L, by the automated slicer so that a maximum possible number, N.sub.max, of slices of the food item are generated that have the thickness, T.

A cutting guide having a seam allowance recess and methods of cutting a piece of material with such cutting guide.

A web cutting system is provided for use with a single transfer insert placement mechanism having at least one puck for transferring a discrete web and a continuous web feeding mechanism for feeding a continuous web wherein first and second rollers having substantially parallel axes and being aligned with one another form a nip at their juncture, an anvil is attached to one roller, a die is attached to the other roller, a vacuum source is coupled to one of the rollers, a plurality of vacuum apertures is formed in the same roller. One of the rollers is positioned adjacent to the single transfer insert placement mechanism and to the continuous web feeding mechanism. The continuous web is applied to one roller and at least one discrete web is transferred from the puck to the same roller after which a die cutting process of the webs occurs at the nip.

A positioning device (38) for holding a flat flexible part, especially a sheet, on a positioning surface is described. It comprises a body (44) with a fluid inlet port (52) for supplying a driver fluid to the body (44), a fluid outlet port (58) for draining the driver fluid from the body (44), and a suction opening for aspiring the flat flexible part. A circulation channel (60) connects the fluid inlet port (52) and the fluid outlet port (58) and a suction channel (70) connects the suction opening to the circulation channel (60). The suction channel (70) is connected to the circulation channel (60) adjacent to a section (64) of reduced cross section area such that a jet pump (71) is formed. Every cross section (S.sub.c) of the circulation channel (60) and/or every cross section (S.sub.s) of the suction channel (70) along its entire respective length have/has a smooth rim. Additionally, a positioning assembly comprising at least one such positioning device (38) is presented. Moreover, a sheet material processing machine is introduced which comprises at least one positioning assembly.

An automated sheet material cutting and handling system for producing sheet material articles having a planar shape comprises a cutting surface with a suction hold-down, a suction lifting apparatus, a robotic actuation system for moving the suction lifting apparatus, and a control system for controlling the operation of the cutting device and the suction lifting apparatus. The suction lifting apparatus comprises a suction lifting head including a suction lifting portion comprising a suction lifting plate for applying suction through a plurality of holes in the plate. The control system is configured to operate the cutting device to make at least one cut through the planiform blanks. A resiliently compressible template is adhered to the suction lifting plate. Also, methods.

A cutdown machine for a roller blind comprising: a cutting station between a feed station and an output station, wherein the cutting station comprises stationary clamps adjacently upstream and downstream of a cutter to hold and support the roller blind during and after cutting; a feed vacuum chuck and an output vacuum chuck to vacuum swarf during cutting of the roller blind, wherein the feed vacuum chuck is arranged upstream of the cutting station at the feed station, and the output vacuum chuck is arranged downstream of the cutting station at the output station; a heat blade adjacently downstream of the cutter to heat seal cut kerf edges of the roller blind after cutting; and wherein at least the cutter, stationary clamps, and feed vacuum chuck are servo actuated and controlled to automatically sequentially cut the roller blind into a plurality of roller blinds having custom widths.

Systems and methods for cutting and cooking a substance are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may: convey, via a primary conveying subsystem, a layer of food substance along a conveyance path along which the layer of food substance is conveyed; cut, via a cutter, the layer of food substance into food pieces; apply, via a primary pressurized fluid outlet, primary pressurized fluid such that the food pieces are released from the cutter; heat, via the heating mechanism, a chamber; apply, via a secondary pressurized fluid outlet, secondary pressurized fluid so that the food pieces are held flat to the primary conveying substrate, and hold, via a secondary conveying subsystem, the layer of food substance flat between the primary conveying substrate and a secondary conveying substrate for at least a portion of the chamber.

Disclosed is a cutting machine knife designed for kiss-cut cutting of a sticker. A sticker backing includes a backing layer and an adhesion-reducing layer. The sticker includes a cover layer and an adhesive layer releasably adhered to the adhesion-reducing layer. The cutting machine knife includes a holding section for inserting the cutting machine knife into a knife holder of the cutting tool, a longitudinal axis disposed at a right angle to a cutting direction, a blade having a cutting edge and a back. The cutting edge, when viewed in a plane defined by the cutting direction and the longitudinal axis, forms with the cutting direction a first angle which is less than 90 and an intermediate zone between the cutting edge and the back which, again when viewed in said plane, encloses with the cutting direction a second angle which is between 130 and 170.