Abstract: A device for drying pieces of food comprising a series of blowers, an absorbent multi-layered conveyor belt, and a aereation bed. Two blowers providing a blast of air and a suction, respectively, that pulls the water from the outer layers of the food through the absorbent conveyor belt and out of the machine. Another blower being positioned to blow the food pieces off the end of the conveyor belt on to the aereation bed for further processing and packaging. Another nozzle being positioned to blow the food pieces off the end of the conveyor belt on to the aereated (aereation) bed for further processing.

Abstract: Article orientation determining apparatus is exemplified in apparatus for determining if the tip ends of corn cobs are leading or trailing as they advance toward a kernel cutter head. The cobs pass between a column of sequentially pulsed radiation emitters and corresponding detectors which scan successive slices of the article and develop binary data indicative of the number of emitters that are unblocked during each scan. A computer uses the data to determine orientation and provides signals for controlling devices that act on misoriented articles. Means are provided for reversing the machine to clear a jam condition, for setting the number of reversals, for setting minimum acceptable cob length, for testing operation and for performing other functions. The scanner head is constructed to resist hostile environmental conditions.