A food product slicer includes a base, a knife mounted for rotation about an axis relative to the base via a knife drive shaft, and a knife cover plate overlying regions of the knife. A monolithic mount part is provided that defines a first mount portion to which the knife drive shaft for the knife is mounted and a second mount portion to which the knife cover plate mounts, so as to establish a relative axial position between the knife and the knife cover plate.

A cutting method and apparatus for closures of the tethered type are disclosed, in which a spindle that carries a closure is moved to a cutting device with one or more horizontal blades and at least one vertical or oblique blade. During cutting, the spindle rotates and the closure rolls on the cutting device. The spindle, which is fed several times to the cutting device carrying each time a different closure, comprises a portion made of a softer material than the blades so that during cutting the blades penetrate the material of the closure and then sink into the softer portion of the spindle. Feeding the spindle that carries the closure to the cutting device is coordinated with rotation of the spindle so that the vertical or oblique blade, each time that the spindle is fed to the cutting device, always meets the same zone of the softer portion of the spindle.

An electrically operated slicing machine cuts slices from material to be cut. The slicing machine has a slicing device, which includes an electric blade motor; a circular blade rotatably driven by the electric blade motor; and a carriage that is moved parallel to the circular blade to receive and move the material to be cut. A blade monitor monitors a condition of the circular blade. The blade monitor has a current measuring device that measures a blade motor current of the electric blade motor. A grinding monitor monitors a grinding process executed by a blade grinder.

A food product slicer includes a base, a knife mounted for rotation relative to the base, a carriage mounted to the base for reciprocal movement back and forth past a cutting edge of the knife and a drive linked to move the carriage. A distance sensing system is arranged to detect a distance of a movable part from a defined location, wherein the movable part is part of the drive or part of the carriage, in order to detect and track a position of the carriage.

A method monitors a slicing machine, which has a circular knife driven by an electric knife motor. The method includes: sensing a knife motor current or a temporal profile of the knife motor current from the electric knife motor; determining measurement data based on the knife motor current or the temporal profile of the knife motor current; and determining a current cutting characteristic value based on the measurement data. The measurement data includes a load-dependent or load-independent current component. The cutting characteristic value includes a soiling, wear, or knife sharpness characteristic value, the soiling and wear characteristic values being derived from the load-independent current component, and the knife sharpness characteristic value being derived from the load-dependent current component.

A whetting device is for a slicer. The whetting device has: a whetstone that sharpens a circular blade of the slicer; a hone that deburrs the circular blade; a handle that moves the whetstone or the hone toward the circular blade; and a mount for fastening to a stop plate of the slicer. The mount has an insertion apparatus for being form-fittingly inserted into the stop plate. The mount having a U-shaped plate receptacle, which has a gap for introducing the stop plate into the gap in when the whetting device is pushed onto the stop plate. The insertion apparatus has a lug for engaging in an recess in the stop plate, or the stop plate has the lug for engaging in the recess in the insertion apparatus.

A food product slicer includes a base, a knife mounted for rotation relative to the base and a carriage assembly mounted to the base for reciprocal movement back and forth past a cutting edge of the knife. The carriage includes a tray atop a tray arm, and the tray arm is pivotably connected to a mount part of a carriage transport. A releasable locking assembly holds the tray arm in an operating position on the mount part and release of the locking assembly enables the tray arm to pivot to a cleaning position. The locking assembly is configured such that, when the tray arm is moved from the cleaning position to the operating position, the tray arm locking assembly automatically locks the tray arm to prevent the tray arm from pivoting from the operating position to the cleaning position.

The disclosure relates to a slicing machine for slicing foods, comprising: a feed unit adapted to feed at least one product caliber in a feed direction, a cutting unit, and a control unit adapted to control at least the feed unit and the cutting unit. The control unit is adapted to be in signal connection with a processing apparatus separate from the slicing machine. The processing apparatus is adapted to process the product caliber before it is sliced by the slicing machine. The control unit is further adapted to receive at least one dimension and/or a weight and/or a density of the at least one product caliber or data representative thereof from the processing apparatus and to control the feed unit and/or the cutting unit based on the at least one dimension and/or the weight and/or the density. The disclosure relates further to a system and to a method.

A food product slicer includes a base, a knife mounted for rotation relative to the base, a carriage assembly mounted to the base for reciprocal movement back and forth past a cutting edge of the knife, wherein the carriage includes a tray for holding food product during slicing, and a movable gauge plate for varying a thickness of food product slices. A slide rod is releasably connected to the carriage assembly, and a meat grip assembly is mounted on the slide rod so as to be movable along at least a portion of a length of the slide rod. The slide rod is releasably retained to the carriage assembly by a magnetic retention force to allow for removal of the slide rod for cleaning.

A food product slicer includes a base, a knife mounted for rotation, and a carriage assembly mounted to the base for movement back and forth past a cutting edge of the knife, with a tray is removably connected to a tray mount of a tray arm. A movable gauge plate is provided for varying slice thickness, and a gauge plate indexing assembly is provided for moving the gauge plate between a closed position and multiple open positions. An interlock assembly is provided between the tray mount and the gauge plate indexing assembly, wherein the interlock assembly comprises a tension only cable system that is configured to (i) prevent removal of the tray from the tray mount unless the gauge plate is in the closed position and (ii) prevent movement of the gauge plate out of the closed position when the tray is removed from the tray mount.