Article slicer
Tomatoes are placed on parallel cutter blades ( 20 ) in article openings ( 46 ) of an article positioning plate ( 44 ). Alternate blades are oscillated in arcuate paths in opposite direction as article pushers ( 24 ) move downwardly, pushing the tomatoes through the parallel cutter blades ( 20 ). The end slices of the tomatoes are gathered separately in the collectors ( 96 ) and are later discarded, while the intermediate slices are received in a transfer plate ( 78 ). Gathering plates ( 100 ) urge the intermediate slices of the several tomatoes together in one accumulation of tomato slices, and the transfer plate ( 78 ) is lowered to a position immediately above the shipping containers ( 80 ) and opened to deposit the tomatoes in the shipping containers. A fluid spray nozzle ( 75 ) may be positioned to emit a spray of gas or liquid between the fins of the pushers and/or toward the cutter blades ( 20 ) and toward engagement with the tomatoes for sterilizing, cleaning, or other treatment of the tomatoes and the adjacent surfaces.
1. An article slicing apparatus for simultaneously cutting several articles into multiple parallel slices, comprising:
a plurality of elongated cutter blades extending parallel to and spaced from one another for cutting the articles placed on said cutter blades into slices,
a blade actuator connected to said cutter blades for oscillating said cutter blades,
article pushers each sized and shaped to move from above said cutter blades downwardly into engagement against the articles placed on said cutter blades to push the articles through said cutter blades,
said article pushers including a plurality of fins sized and shaped to pass between said cutter blades,
pusher actuating means operatively connected to said article pushers for moving said article pushers laterally from an article loading position to an aligned position above said cutter blades, downwardly from above said cutter blades to move said fins between said cutter blades and push the articles downwardly through said cutter blades, upwardly to withdraw said article pushers from said cutter blades, and laterally back to the article loading position to withdraw said article pushers from over said cutter blades, and
a pick and placer including an actuator movable in timed relationship with said pusher actuating means to advance the articles toward the aligned positions above the cutter blades and place the articles on the cutter blades as the pusher actuating means withdraws the pushers away from the aligned positions toward the loading position, and to withdraw from the aligned positions as the pusher actuating means moves from the loading positions toward the aligned position, such that the progressive rearward movement of the article pushers to the article loading positions progressively forms a space for said pick and placer to progressively move in the same direction above the cutter blades to load the articles on the cutter blades, and as the article pushers progressively move forwardly to aligned positions above the positions where the articles are placed on the cutter blades, the pick and placer progressively withdraws from the aligned positions above the cutter blades.
2. An article slicing apparatus for simultaneously cutting several articles into multiple parallel slices, comprising:
a plurality of elongated cutter blades extending parallel to and spaced from one another for cutting the articles placed on the cutter blades into slices,
a blade actuator connected to said cutter blades for oscillating the cutter blades,
a plurality of article pushers each sized and shaped to move from above the cutter blades downwardly into engagement against the articles placed on the cutter blades to push the articles through the cutter blades,
pusher actuating means operatively connected to said plurality of article pushers for progressively moving the plurality of article pushers in sequence while maintaining the article pushers in a constant orientation:
from above the cutter blades at article loading positions (a) to positions spaced laterally away from above the positions on the cutter blades where the articles are to be placed on the cutter blades for facilitating the placement of articles on the cutter blades,
forwardly to aligned positions (b) above the cutter blades at the positions where the articles are to be placed on the cutter blades,
downwardly to down positions (c) to push the articles downwardly through the cutter blades,
upwardly to return to the aligned positions (b) above the cutter blades, and
rearwardly to withdraw the article pushers laterally back to the article loading positions (a),
a pick and placer positioned adjacent said cutter blades for picking the articles and placing the articles on said cutter blades,
said pick and placer including an actuator movable in timed relationship with said pusher actuating means to advance the articles toward the aligned positions (b) above the cutter blades and place the articles on the cutter blades as the pusher actuating means withdraws the pushers away from the aligned positions (b) toward the loading position (a), and to withdraw from the aligned positions (b) as the pusher actuating means moves from the loading positions (a) toward the aligned positions (b),
such that the progressive rearward movement of the article pushers to the article loading positions progressively forms a space for said pick and placer to progressively move in the same direction above the cutter blades to load the articles on the cutter blades, and as the article pushers progressively move forwardly to aligned positions above the positions where the articles are placed on the cutter blades, the pick and placer progressively withdraws from the aligned positions above the cutter blades.
3. The article slicing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
said article pushers including a plurality of fins that are sized and shaped to pass between said cutter blades.
4. The article slicing apparatus of claim 2 , and further including:
a transfer plate positioned beneath the cutter blades a distance for receiving the sliced articles from the cutter blades substantially without dropping the articles from the cutter blades,
guides for guiding the slices as they are being received on the transfer plate to avoid the slices of each article from separating when received on the transfer plate and to avoid the slices from tilting, and
gathering members movable with respect to said transfer plate for engaging and gathering the slices on the transfer plate in an edge standing attitude.
5. The article slicing apparatus of claim 4 , and wherein said guides include end collectors for receiving the end slices of the articles.
6. The article slicing apparatus of claim 4 , and further including:
a transfer plate actuator for moving said transfer plate vertically away from said cutter blades for depositing the sliced articles to a lower surface and minimizing the distance from the transfer plate and the surface to which the sliced articles are deposited.
7. The article slicing apparatus of claim 2 , and further including:
an article positioning plate between the cutter blades and the pushers, the article positioning plate defining a series of openings sized to receive the articles without holding the articles off the cutter blades.
8. The article slicing apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the openings are oval.
9. The article slicing apparatus of claim 2 , and further including:
said article pushers each including a plurality of fins sized and shaped for passing between the cutter blades, and
a fluid delivery port mounted to each article pusher configured to apply fluid to the plurality of fins of the article pushers.
10. The article slicing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
said article pushers include a plurality of fins sized and shaped to pass between said cutter blades, and
fluid delivery means mounted on each said article pusher, said fluid delivery means including a fluid delivery port that delivers fluid to said fins of said pushers.
11. The article slicing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
the blade actuator is configured to oscillate the cutter blades with first alternate ones of the blades moving in opposite directions than the second alternate blades, and at least one end of the first alternate blades moving in an upward arc as an end of the other alternate blades are moving in a downward arc.