Abstract: A knife blade for cutting food products includes a cutting edge having a concave circular curved central portion and opposed linear end portions tangentially intersecting and extending away from opposite sides of the circular curved central portion. The shape of the cutting edge results in enhanced stability of the knife blade when slicing food products driven into the cutting edge and across the blade width.

Abstract: A knife blade for cutting food products includes a cutting edge having a concave circular curved central portion and opposed linear end portions tangentially intersecting and extending away from opposite sides of the circular curved central portion. The shape of the cutting edge results in enhanced stability of the knife blade when slicing food products driven into the cutting edge and across the blade width.

Abstract: A low friction shielded bearing assembly for supporting a machine shaft, for example a spindle shaft of a food cutting machine, includes a rolling element radial and thrust bearing subassembly containing ball or roller elements supported between inner and outer relatively rotatable bearing races with seal elements for retaining lubricant within the bearing subassembly. A flanged, fretting and corrosion resistant sleeve is fixed within the inner race of the bearing subassembly with the flange of the sleeve shielding an adjacent bearing seal against direct impingement by sprayed cleaning fluids. The sleeve also transmits radial and thrust loads to the inner race. The bearing subassembly is retained within an annular retainer that is adjustably attached to a machine frame to permit adjustment of the location of the rotational axis of a shaft supported by the bearing and to permit adjustment of the bearing location axially along the shaft and relative to the machine frame.

Abstract: A conveying apparatus is disclosed for conveying a food product having a wide variety of sizes and propelling the food product through a stationary knife assembly to cut the food product into discrete pieces. During the conveying of the food product, and elongated food product will be oriented such that its longer dimension is generally parallel to the conveyers before it encounters the cutting apparatus. The conveying apparatus utilizes a pair of endless belt conveyers oriented such that a run of one conveyer is located adjacent to a run of the other conveyer in order to grip a food product between the facing runs of the endless belt conveyers. A drive mechanism drives both of the endless belt conveyers at substantially the same speed so as to propel the food product through the stationary knife assembly. The conveying apparatus automatically adjusts to accommodate a wide variety of food product sizes by way of a spring-biased system acting on one or both of the facing conveyer runs.

Abstract: An improved cutting head for slicing a food product is disclosed wherein the cutting head includes a lower mounting ring attached to the bottom of the cutter support segments to position the cutter support segments and which lower mounting ring rests on and is supported by the cutting head support ring. The cutting head also includes an adjustment mechanism to adjust the width of the slicing opening, the mechanism having an adjustment member which is configured to engage a pin attached to a cutter support segment and to contact an adjusting surface on the upper mounting ring so as to space the pin a predetermined distance from the adjusting surface. The cutting head also includes a system for removably attaching the cutting blade to the cutter support segment such that the blade may be readily removed and replaced without completely removing the clamping member from the cutter support segment.

Abstract: A knife blade and knife blade assembly are disclosed for cutting food products into sticks or slices without causing surface cracking. The knife blade has a cutting portion defining a cutting edge and is mounted in the knife assembly such that a tension force is exerted on the knife blade in the plane of the cutting edge. The cutting edge of the knife blade is not sharp, but is generally flat and extends between parallel sides of the knife blade. The individual knife blades are formed of stainless steel and are electro-polished to remove any surface defects or sharp edges which may produce stress concentrations. This enables a significant tension force to be applied to the knife blade without diminishing its useful life. The electro-polishing process may also round off the corners of the juncture between the flat cutting edge and the parallel knife blade sides.

Abstract: A rotary slicing machine including a cylindrical-shaped cutter assembly having at least one knife element and mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis is provided with an elongate feed chute within which the individual products to be sliced are supported in a linear array and consecutively fed under gravity into the path of the rotating knife element. The feed chute is provided with an elongate slot for permitting the manual positioning of the products within the chute.

Abstract: A knife assembly for a water gun wherein each slot in the blade portion of each knife element for engagement within a corresponding slot in the base portion of an adjacent knife is configured to diverge outwardly towards the cutting edge so that bending of the cutting edge corner portions of the slot due to twisting of the adjacent knife during the cutting operation is prevented.