The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 23, 2011
Filed:
Aug. 09, 2007
Mark Malenke, Sun Prairie, WI (US);
Scott Adler, Green Bay, WI (US);
David Hess, Green Bay, WI (US);
Tod Heleniak, Green Bay, WI (US);
Brian Tomac, Depere, WI (US);
Mark Malenke, Sun Prairie, WI (US);
Scott Adler, Green Bay, WI (US);
David Hess, Green Bay, WI (US);
Tod Heleniak, Green Bay, WI (US);
Brian Tomac, Depere, WI (US);
Kraft Foods Global Brands LLC, Northfield, IL (US);
Abstract
A conveyor system for assembling and stacking sliced food products is provided. The conveyor system includes an assembly area, wherein groups of a predetermined quantity of sliced food products travel from a slicer on a conveyor and are deposited on discrete carrier sheets on a downstream conveyor. The assembly area is configured to delay advancement of the carrier sheets on the downstream conveyor until a group of the predetermined quantity is formed. The slicer is configured to calculate the number of slices in each group and determine whether a group is complete. A stacking area of the conveyor system includes a nose conveyor that extends and retracts to deposit each carrier sheet onto a pair of initial supports. The initial supports reciprocate away from each other in opposing directions to drop the carrier sheet onto a subsequent level, with the initial supports reciprocating each time a carrier sheet is deposited thereon.