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:
Apr. 17, 2012
Filed:
Aug. 03, 2010
John C. Julian, Richland, WA (US);
Gary R. Brockman, Kennewick, WA (US);
Trent R. Wetherbee, Kennewick, WA (US);
John C. Julian, Richland, WA (US);
Gary R. Brockman, Kennewick, WA (US);
Trent R. Wetherbee, Kennewick, WA (US);
ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston, Inc., Kennewick, WA (US);
Abstract
This invention includes a system for cutting food products, such as potatoes, into proportional length pieces. In a one embodiment, the system includes a cutting assembly, sensors upstream of the cutting assembly and a programmable logic controller. The cutting assembly preferably includes a housing defining a passageway, at least two separately actuatable stops extendable into the passageway to provide an abutment to hold the food product in place, and at least two separately actuatable blades for slicing the food product into pieces. The controller cooperates with the sensors to determine the length of each food product and, based on a length determinative algorithm, selectively actuate one of the stops and at least one of the blades to determine how many times the food product will be sliced and location of the cut(s) relative to the leading end of the food product.