Automatic card dispenser and pick-off assembly

Abstract

A cardboard sheet dispenser is incorporated in a bacon or pork product slicing machine line that is operable to group slices in shingled fashion into segregated batches of predetermined weight. The dispenser directs a cardboard sheet in synchronized fashion with the movement of the batches so that individual batches are placed on a sheet and thereafter transferred to subsequent packaging stations. The dispenser includes a hopper for receiving vertically stacked cardboard sheets and is provided with a plurality of restrainers that cooperate in supporting the stack of sheets and at the same time fan the sheets to minimize sticking of the sheets one to the other. The base of the hopper includes a plurality of strippers also serving to support the stack of sheets and assures that only one sheet is removed from the base of the hopper at a time. A pick-off assembly including a pivotal piston-cylinder assembly operates to remove the lowermost sheet from the hopper and transfer the lowered sheet into the nip of a roller assembly. A second piston-cylinder assembly coupled with the first piston-cylinder assembly actuates the first assembly between a vertical upright position and an inclined position at which the sheet is picked up by the roller assembly. The roller assembly directs the cardboard sheet to a location at which it is adapted to be moved by a pusher assembly to a location where the sheet receives a batch of slices thereon. The cardboard sheet feeding cycle is commenced upon the retraction of this pusher assembly.