The present invention relates to a gripper for gripping a product, in particular a food product, having a suction device which has a contact surface which can be brought into contact with a section, in particular with an end section, of the product, wherein the suction device comprises at least one first suction section which is bounded in the radial direction by a sealing device and which is in communication with a pumping device generating a vacuum; and at least one sealing section which is arranged outside the first suction section viewed in the radial direction of the contact region and at least sectionally, in particular completely, surrounds it in the radial direction. The present invention relates to a cutting apparatus having a corresponding gripper and to a method for cutting a product.

A food article slicing machine includes a food article loading apparatus with a lift tray assembly for moving food articles from a staging position to an elevated position at a beginning of a food article feed path, a food article feed apparatus disposed over the food article loading apparatus having an upper conveyor assembly with an independently driven endless conveyor belt used in cooperation with a food article gripper for moving the food articles along the food article feed path, a food article stop gate that forms part of the food article feed path and opens to drop food article end portions, and a slicing station at an end of the food article feed path with a knife for slicing the food articles.

A food processing machine (10) and a method of cutting slices or portions from a food product (60) in a food processing machine are described. The food processing machine comprises an end gripper (40) for gripping a trailing end (62) of a food product travelling along a food product flow path towards the cutter. A gripper drive assembly (41) is arranged to move the end gripper from stowed position below the food product flow path to a raised position in the food product flow path after a food product has passed over the end gripper and then bring the end gripper into engagement with the trailing end of the food product.

In order to be able to implement a plurality of gripper functions acting independently of one another in a slicing machine without requiring a separate drive unit for each gripper function, a switching unit displaceable along an axial shifting distance is provided. Upon displacement of the switching unit along a first partial distance of a plurality of partial distances of the shifting distance, a caliber contact element is actuated in such a way that a caliber is pushed away from a caliber gripper, and upon shifting of the switching unit along a second partial distance, gripper claws of the caliber gripper are actuated in such a way that they are moved into an engagement position, in which they engage with the caliber, or into a release position, in which they release the caliber.

A slicing apparatus for slicing food articles includes a food article loading apparatus with a lift tray assembly for moving food articles from a staging position to an elevated position at a beginning of a food article feed path, a food article feed apparatus disposed over the food article loading apparatus having an upper conveyor assembly with an independently driven endless conveyor belt used in cooperation with a food article gripper for moving the food articles along the food article feed path, a food article stop gate that forms part of the food article feed path and opens to drop food article end portions, and a slicing station at an end of the food article feed path with a knife for slicing the food articles.

A food product slicing apparatus includes a frame, a tray mounted on the frame and configured to support food product blocks, a product gate assembly mounted on the frame and configured to support front ends of the food product blocks, and a gripper assembly mounted on the frame and configured to grip rear ends of the food product blocks. The product gate assembly is moved from an up position to a down position using a camming action.

A food product slicing apparatus is configured to slice food products into slices. A load assembly pivotally is mounted on a frame and a food product is positioned thereon. A drive assembly on the frame receives the food product from the load assembly and moves the food product relative to the frame. The load assembly can be positioned in at a first, lowered position relative to the drive assembly, a second, partially raised position relative to the drive assembly and a third, fully raised position relative to the drive assembly. The drive assembly engages the food product when the load assembly is in the third, fully raised position.

A food slicing system includes a hub fixedly secured to a drive shaft and configured to rotate with the drive shaft. The hub has a central pilot projection coaxial with the drive shaft, and flat, blade contacting surface surrounding the pilot projection. A counterweight is eccentrically mounted to the hub and rotatable between a first position and an second position relative to the hub. Wherein when the counterweight is in a first position, the counterweight is in axial alignment with pilot projection, and permits the blade to be attached to or removed from the hub via movement of the blade in the axial direction. When the counterweight is in the second position, the counterweight is eccentric to the pilot projection and is offset from the axis of rotation, to provide a predetermined amount of weight offset from the axis of rotation to counterbalance the weight of the blade.

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.