A system 10 for analyzing and trimming pork bellies and other three-dimensional food and non-food products which are to be subsequently portioned or sliced so as to achieve an optimum harvest of slices from the food product bearing in mind achieving a maximum yield together with a desired quality level of the portions/slices. The system 10 includes a conveyor 12 for carrying the workpieces (WP) to be trimmed prior to subsequent slicing of the workpiece past a scanning system 14 for scanning the workpiece WP to ascertain the physical characteristics of the workpiece, including, for example, its three-dimensional shape as well as its position on the conveyor.

A cutting station 16 trims the workpiece WP into a desired two-dimensional shape which represents an optimum shape for the workpiece that seeks to maximize the harvest of slices from the workpiece while maintaining a desired quality level for the slices. A slicing station uses high speed cutters or slicers for portioning/slicing the workpiece into portions/slices which have been simulated by a processing system 18 employing a processor or computer 20.

A cutting apparatus for cutting blank profiles comprises a first cutting device located at a first position in the apparatus, a second cutting device located at a second position, the second position being separated from the first position along a first axis of the apparatus, and a third cutting device located at a third position, the third position being separated from the first position along a second axis and along a third axis of the apparatus. A chariot moves along the third axis while a support adapted to hold a blank profile is mounted to the chariot and moves along the first and second axes of the apparatus. A greater number of cutting devices may be used. Cutting devices may be arranged in rows along the third axis.

A system (400) for cutting and conveying cushioning material includes an infeed conveyor system (402), a cutting mechanism (404), and a discharge conveyor system (406). The infeed conveyor system conveys a supply of cushioning material. The cutting mechanism cuts pieces of the cushioning material from the supply of cushioning material conveyed by the infeed conveyor system. The discharge conveyor system captures and discharges the pieces of the cushioning material. The discharge conveyor system includes a first conveyor (428) in a fixed planar position and a second conveyor (430) that rotates about an upstream roller (440) of the second conveyor. A downstream roller (442) of the second conveyor is biased toward first conveyor. A driving mechanism rotates at least one conveyor belt (438) on one or more of the first conveyor or the second conveyor.

Systems and methods described herein are optimized for cutting sealing elements on packages using optical radiation. Packages can pass through a cutting device that applies the optical radiation to damage, vaporize, or cut the sealing element (e.g., tape) on the package. The systems and methods control several aspects of the cutting process to adjust throughput, improve efficiency, and reduce line stoppages. Systems can include an in-feed conveyor that orients packages and rejects packages that are out of specification, which can lead to issues such as jamming or damage to the equipment. Systems can include a variable-speed cut conveyor controlled by a computing system to dynamically adjust the speed of packages based upon historical cut quality, environmental measurement data, and height data related to a vertical dimension of the package.

Systems and methods described herein are optimized for cutting sealing elements on packages using optical radiation. Packages can pass through a cutting device that applies the optical radiation to damage, vaporize, or cut the sealing element (e.g., tape) on the package. The systems and methods control several aspects of the cutting process to adjust throughput, improve efficiency, and reduce line stoppages. Systems can include an in-feed conveyor that orients packages and rejects packages that are out of specification, which can lead to issues such as jamming or damage to the equipment. Systems can include a variable-speed cut conveyor controlled by a computing system to dynamically adjust the speed of packages based upon historical cut quality, environmental measurement data, and height data related to a vertical dimension of the package.

A cutting device for cutting a food product that is conveyed by a conveyor means. The cutting device includes a first cutting blade and a moving mechanism attached to the first cutting blade for moving the first cutting blade sideways in either direction across the conveyor means, and a control unit. The first cutting blade is adapted to cut at least one incision in the product from one side of the product. The control unit is adapted to control the first cutting blade and the moving mechanism based on image data of the food product, and includes utilizing the image data in instructing the moving mechanism to adjust the position of the first cutting blade across the conveyor means.

Machine for forming spaghetti of vegetable products (19) comprisinga cutting unit (11) rotatable about an operating axis (A) and having a face (12), perpendicular to the operating axis (A), from which blades (13) protrude to form spaghetti from a product (19) that is pushed against the face (12);a supply device (14) comprising a thrust unit (15) having:two mutually opposite tape members (16, 17), which between them define a passage (18) for products (19) and can be spread symmetrically with respect to the operating axis (A);elastic means (20) connected to said tape members (16, 17) and configured to resiliently oppose a mutual divergence of said tape members (16, 17). The tape members (16, 17) are positioned and configured in such a way that the passage (18) extends along the operating axis (A) and has an outlet opening (18a) which faces the face (12) of the cutting unit (11).

A cutting device, knife carrier suitable for use in the cutting device, a cutting system and method for cutting a strand of stacked bands of a food product are disclosed. The cutting device, knife carrier, cutting system and method combine a transverse cutting knife with a diagonal cutting knife disposed at an oblique angle with respect to the transverse cutting knife. The diagonal cutting knife diagonally cuts the stack simultaneously with transverse cutting of the stack by the transverse cutting knife to form substantially triangular prism shaped stacks made of corresponding substantially triangular shaped slices. A food product obtainable by the method is disclosed, wherein (a) the food product comprises at least two stacks of food product, wherein the edges of individual slices forming the hypotenuse of one substantially triangular prism shaped stack are disposed adjacent to the edges of the individual slices forming the hypotenuse of the other substantially triangular prism shaped stack in one-to-one relation to one another and/or (b) the substantially triangular footprint of each stack is in the form of a quadrilateral, wherein at least 80 percent of the surface area of the quadrilateral is triangular.

This invention relates to a cutting apparatus for cutting food items conveyed on a conveyor including at least one conveyor belt. A cutter is arranged above a gap extending across the at least one conveyor belt. The cutter is positioned in relation to the gap such that the cutting path of the cutter extends through the food items and the gap and below the surface level of the at least one conveyor belt. The cutter is adapted to be connected to a control mechanism for operating crosswise movement of the cutter along the gap. The gap is formed between adjacent elongated supporting means such as rollers with a fixed internal arrangement, where the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter is adapted to be connected to a control mechanism for operating back and forth movement of the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter parallel to the conveying direction while maintaining the internal arrangement of the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter fixed.

Size-reduction machines, feed units, and methods capable of producing reduced-size products from a variety of solid and semisolid materials. Such machines have an impeller that rotates on an approximately horizontal axis and an opening at an axial end of the impeller. A feed unit includes a feed hopper for feeding products to an interior of the impeller through the opening of the machine, and a slicing knife is mounted to the impeller and radially protrudes across the opening of the machine to slice products into segments as they enter the interior of the impeller.