Abstract: A walking beam conveyor 28 feeds potatoes in a direction F to a cutting station where they are cut along planes 41 and 42 into four pieces. The conveyor 28 is pocketed and the pockets are configurated so that they cause each potato on the one hand to become oriented with its larger dimension generally at right-angles to the feeding direction F, and on the other hand to move to a central position transversely of the conveyor 28. Thus, each potato is in a predetermined position when it arrives at the cutting station, so that the four pieces into which it is cut are roughly of equal size.

Abstract: Potatoes which are to be graded according to their size prior to further processing, for example in the manufacture of a snack food product, are deposited in a hopper 16 at the lower end of an upwardly inclined walking beam conveyor 18. Pockets 35, 37 formed in the conveyor 18 pick up potatoes from the hopper 16 and convey them along the conveyor by transferring each potato from pocket to pocket. Any potatoes whose dimensions are greater than those of the pockets 35, 37 are either not picked up or fall out of the pockets under gravity as the conveyor 18 is operated and drop back into the hopper 16. Periodically, a base wall 17 of the hopper 16 is opened to discharge the accumulated large-size potatoes therefrom.