A method for operating a slicing machine for cutting slices of product from a strand-shaped product to be cut, preferably food, having a cutting device comprising a circular blade that rotates on a cutting plane about an axis of rotation and is driven by an electric circular blade motor, having a carriage that carries a support plate for placing the product to be sliced and can be displaced at a carriage speed v.sub.s parallel to the cutting plane, and having a chain of a chain frame that is driven by an electric chain frame motor for transporting away cut slices of product at a transport speed v.sub.T and for depositing them on a receiving table or a conveyor belt, with a number n2 of strands of product to be sliced being placed parallel to one another on the support plate with their strand axes aligned.

A facer facing the ends of polyolefin pipes for butt fusion is modular in the sense that it employs three types of modules, a drive unit, two blade holders and a motor assembly, that are separable from one another and each independently light enough to be hand-lifted along walls and up to ceilings. The drive unit module is adjustable to accommodate different guide rail spacings. The blade holder modules are interchangeable to accommodate different diameters of pipe. The motor assembly module has multispeed capability to accommodate the total area of material to be faced. Each module can be exchanged or modified without use of tools to change the geometry of the assembled facer to accommodate different fusion machines and/or diameters of pipe within working spaces dictated by the diameter of the pipe and not by a fixed geometry of a facer.

Slicers for cutting food such as sausage, cheese or meat, for example, into slices. Such slicers, and processes related thereto, may simultaneously slice at least two stick-shaped pieces of food by a cutting blade. The feeding of the food that is sliced may be further improved thereby. An exemplary feed unit (9) for feeding food (10) to a cutting blade (7) includes at least one gripper carriage (20) including a gripper receiving beam (22) and at least one movable gripper (21). This gripper (21) may be operated by a stationary drive, and the mechanical work for seizing can be transferred to the grippers (21) via guides or further drive structure.

A retraction device includes: a spindle, a support plate and a plurality of spring washers. The spindle is movable along an axis direction thereof and has a first end; a support plate has a fixed position, the first end of the spindle penetrates the support plate; and the plurality of spring washers are fitted over the first end of the spindle and stacked together in an identical direction. The plurality of spring washers are compressed between the spindle and the support plate with a predetermined pre-load. The spindle is configured to be switchable between a first position and a second position, and capable of moving a predetermined distance relative to the support plate in the axis direction of the spindle during switching. When in the first position, the spindle is farthest from the support plate, when in the second position, the spindle is closest to the support plate.

A retraction device includes a spindle movable along the axis thereof and an operating unit including a pull rod and a movable member. The movable member defines a step-shaped groove, the pull rod has a first end connected to the spindle, and a second end received in the groove; the groove includes a first step and a second step and an inclined face connecting the first step and the second step arranged along a first direction, and a height of the second step is greater than that of the first step along the axis direction of the spindle; the movable member is slidable along the first direction relative to the pull rod, to allow the spindle to switch between a retraction position in which the pull rod is received in the second step, and a release position in which the pull rod is received in the first step.

A slicing machine may include a carriage that can be swiveled out with a supporting plate for supporting product to be sliced, wherein a locking device locks the supporting plate releasably in the slicing position. In order to make simple operation of the slicing machine possible accompanied by a high level of operating safety, the locking device has an electrically or electromagnetically operable actuator for releasing the carriage pivot bearing.

An electrically operated slice cutting machine separates slices from strand-shaped products, such as food products. The machine includes a machine housing, which holds a drive motor and a rotating cutting blade driven by the drive motor. The machine housing has a storage region near the cutting blade. A tray for receiving slices is removably coupled to the machine housing or to an attachment part of the machine housing. The tray is coupled in a horizontal operating position during a cutting operation, and is movable in at least one removal position, in which the tray is configured to be released and removed from the coupling device, when outside of the cutting operation. The coupling device has an upper and a lower coupling arm. Both coupling arms form a coupling recess, which is open on one side.

A food preparation system is provided. The food preparation system includes a slicing apparatus configured to host a plurality of different food items simultaneously and govern which of the ingredients are to be sliced.

A method produces a frame for a transport device for receiving slices of material separated by a cutting blade of a cutting machine. The method includes: providing a single integral workpiece, the single integral workpiece having a base plate region, a first longitudinal side region on a first side of the base plate region, and a second longitudinal side region on a second side of the base plate region, bending the first longitudinal side region along a first longitudinal side bending edge until the first longitudinal side region is perpendicular to the base plate region, and bending the second longitudinal side region along a second longitudinal side bending edge until the second longitudinal side region is perpendicular to the base plate region. The first longitudinal side region and second longitudinal side region each extend away from the base plate region in a first direction, and are parallel to each other.

There is disclosed a food slicing device for slicing food products which has a pre-cooling device for cooling the food product before the slicing and a cutting device with a cutting blade. A temperature registration device for measuring the temperature of the food product and a control unit are provided, wherein the control unit is designed to calculate, based on the temperature measured by the temperature registration device, an instruction for the operation of the pre-cooling device, wherein the pre-cooling device is controllable depending on this instruction. The disclosure furthermore relates to a method for slicing a food product in which the food product is pre-cooled in a pre-cooling device, the temperature of the food product is measured after the pre-cooling and before or after the slicing of the food product, and the operation of the pre-cooling device is adjusted depending on the measured temperature level of the food product.