Abstract: A machine for producing configurated products including a rotary die roll having die cavities therein and a pair of feed rollers for feeding viscous product into the die cavities. The feed rollers may be easily moved away from the die roll and the die roll may be rolled out of the machine to allow replacement thereof. Relief members extend from a backing knife between adjacent die cavities of each row as the die roll rotates. These pressure relief pads reduce the amount of product contained in the pressure chamber and thereby reduce the amount of working of the material as it is forced into the die cavities. The machine includes a front shearing knife having removable and replaceable shearing inserts. The feed rolls of the machine include longitudinally extending tapered recesses with opposed recesses of the respective feed rolls being staggered at the inlet of the pressure chamber to cause particulates within the feed product to be more easily fed into the pressure chamber with less resulting damage.

Abstract: An improved machine for producing a configurated and specified weight product in die cavities of a rotary die roll, each of the die cavities being defined by a configurated sidewall and a porous bottom wall. During each revolution of the die roll, a batch of the product is forced into each cavity if the cavities pass a feed hopper. Upon continued rotation of the die roll, the bottom walls of the cavities are moved outwardly to force the configurated products from the die cavities, while simutaneously, air at a pressure greater than atmospheric pressure is directed through the porous bottom walls so that the configurated product is forced off of the bottom wall and onto a conveyor located beneath the die roll.

Abstract: A machine for receiving multiple columns of bakery products such as cookies from an oven and for forming those products into sandwiches having a middle ply or layer of topping material such as jelly or icing. The machine comprises a row of magazines and a feeder mechanism operable to sequentially feed rows of cookies from the row of magazines onto a main conveyor. While transported on the main conveyor, topping is applied to alternate rows of cookies. The alternate untopped rows of cookies are inverted, and then layered onto the topped rows. The machine is characterized by a waste topping transfer belt located beneath the main conveyor, a synchronizing conveyor operable to synchronize movement of topped rows of cookies with untopped and inverted rows while the inverted and untopped cookies are placed atop the topped rows, a reciprocating platen to size the final product, and a two stage cooling systems to cool and rigidify the cookies before they are fed into the magazines.

Abstract: A method and machine for producing a configurated and specified weight food product in die cavities of a rotary die roll, each of the die cavities being defined by a configurated side wall and a porous bottom wall. During each revolution of the roll a batch of the product is forced into each cavity as the cavities pass beneath a hopper. Upon continued rotation of the roll, the bottom walls of the cavities are moved outwardly so as to force the configurated products from the die cavities. Tempered air at a controlled temperature and at a pressure above that of the atmosphere is directed through the porous bottom walls while the bottom wall is extended so that the configurated product is forced off of the wall and onto a conveyor located beneath the die roll. To facilitate cleaning of the porous dies, the die roll is so constructed that hot water may be directed through the air flow passage during cleaning and the porous bottom wall dies of the drum may be easily removed from the drum without drum disassembly.

Abstract: A dough mixer having a chopper section and a mixer section. The chopper section is at the inlet end of the mixer and includes a series of blades spaced longitudinally on a mixer shaft. The chopper blades are disposed in a plurality of planes normal to the shaft's axis, and extend outwardly from that shaft through a grilled floor in an inlet hopper, thereby insuring a complete and thorough break up of recycled dough. The mixer section is downstream of the chopper section and also includes a series of blades fixed to the mixer shaft. The mixer blades are also disposed in a plurality of planes normal to the shaft's axis but the mixer blades within each plane are angulated or pitched relative to that plane. Further, the mixer blades increase in pitch between succeeding planes from the inlet end to the outlet end of the mixer section, thereby insuring a homogeneous dough. The dough is exhausted from the dough mixer by gravity through an outlet port.

Abstract: Apparatus for use in the automatic stacking and packaging of potato chips made by mixing potato chip flakes and water to create a dough, which dough is then rolled into a sheet and cut into dough chips. After frying, the dough chips are all of substantially the same size and shape such that the apparatus of the application may automatically stack those chips into stacks of identical quantities and wrap those stacks within individual flexible, impermeable wrappers.