Abstract: Thin sheets on which a product is held by limited adhesion are transferred from a first conveyor onto a speedup conveyor which slides the sheets, one by one, onto a pair of intermittently rotatable paddles. The paddles comprise a lattice of low-friction material and define receiving surfaces angled toward one another along a direction in which the sheets slide. The paddles rotate 1/2 revolution in response to the leading sheet on the speedup conveyor passing a photocell and form a stack in a compartment on an intermittently moving conveyor below. When a predetermined count of sheets is in the stack, the intermittently moving conveyor is advanced to move an empty compartment under the paddles.

Abstract: An interleaver for providing a sheet of paper for each piece of meat moving along a conveyor includes a trap door conveyor section for removing undersized pieces in response to measurements made by photo optical sensors. A knife crushes paper from a paper roll to sever a web of the paper into the sheets. A conveyor pulls the severed sheets from the knife, and air blower guides the web to the knife and prevents the next leading edge of the web from sticking to the knife. Two paper rolls are provided, one roll operating while the other roll stands by. Photo optical sensors monitor the feed from the rolls and switch the feed to the stand by roll if there is an interruption in the feed from the first roll. In addition, both rolls may operate together. A brake is provided for each paper roll, and each paper roll is fixed to a spindle which provides for adjustment of the position of the paper roll axially on the spindle.

Abstract: A method particularly applicable to the slicing of friable meat products with a rotaty cutting blade comprises feeding the product forwardly when it is not in contact with the cutting blade, and arresting the feeding when the slicing is taking place, and apparatus therefor. Provision is made to make the first slice of a stack somewhat thicker than the remaining slices in order to act as a carrier for the stack.

Abstract: Apparatus for feeding separate pieces of sheet material from a continuous supply thereof to individual articles travelling along a predetermined path and positioning a piece of sheet material under each article. The articles are conveyed sequentially along the predetermined path, and the sheet material is fed from a continuous supply thereof to a cutting station. At the cutting station, pieces of sheet material are cut from the continuous supply, and the pieces of sheet material are fed from the cutting station to an article conveyor for entrainment between the underside of an article and the conveyor at a material positioning station. The articles are sensed as they travel along the predetermined path to the material positioning station. Feeding and cutting control mechanisms are actuated by the article senser to cause the feed of sheet material to the cutting station to be commenced when the senser senses an article passing thereby, and to be stopped when the senser senses that the article has passed.