Dough cutting and packing apparatus

Abstract

A dough cutting and packing apparatus for cutting a sheet of dough into dough pieces and transferring the dough pieces to containers. A cutting unit is defined by a plurality of cutting plates having dough retaining openings. The sheet of dough is partially sheeted into the dough retaining openings by an initial compressor roll which is spaced from an upper surface of the cutting plates. A terminal compressor roll contacts the upper surface of the cutting plates, and acts to sheet a remaining portion of the dough sheet into the dough retaining openings to divide the dough sheet into a plurality of dough pieces retained in the openings. The initial compressor roll is driven at a peripheral rate of speed that exceeds an instantaneous liner rate of speed of the cutting unit. The terminal compressor roll is frictionally driven via contact with the cutting plates such that a peripheral rate of speed of the terminal compressor matches the linear rate of speed of the cutting unit. A packing mechanism transfers the dough pieces from the cutting unit to the containers as the containers are moved relative to the packing mechanism by a plurality of flighted augers.