BACON SLICING APPARATUS
A system and method for using a self standing slicing apparatus to slice sheets of bacon in half. The slicing apparatus can have two conveyor belts for receiving sheets of bacon to be cut in half, a motor for driving the conveyor belts and moving the sheets of bacon through a cutting mechanism thereby cutting the sheets of bacon into two pieces. A safety enclosure can enclose the cutting mechanism. Markings can be used to indicate where the sheets of bacon should be placed on the conveyor belts to ensure that the product is cut into two approximately even pieces. A control panel can be used to start and stop the conveyor belts as well as adjusting the speed of the motor for driving the conveyor belts.
1 . An apparatus comprising:
a cutting mechanism configured to cut a product;
a moving platform comprising two side by side conveyor belts, the moving platform configured to receive the product on the conveyor belts at a first end of the moving platform, to move the product at about the cutting mechanism thereby cutting the product into two cut products, and to provide the two cut products to a second end of the moving platform; and
a motor coupled to the moving platform and configured to move the moving platform.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cutting mechanism is a cutting wheel.
3 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cutting mechanism is a counterbalanced top cutter wheel.
4 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cutting mechanism is a saw blade.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a safety enclosure substantially surrounding the cutting mechanism and forming a first opening and a second opening between a top surface of the moving platform and a lower end of each side, the first opening and the second opening being on opposite sides of the safety enclosure and allowing the product to pass through the safety enclosure via the moving platform.
6 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the moving platform further comprises a plurality of rollers coupled to the conveyor belts and configured to move the conveyor belts.
7 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein one of the rollers is a driven roller coupled to the motor and is driven by the motor.
8 . The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the driven roller further comprises at least one pulley and the motor further comprises at least one pulley and at least one pulley belt coupling at least two pulleys whereby the motor drives the conveyor belts via the pulleys and at least one pulley belt.
9 . The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising at least one laser emitting visible light onto each of the conveyor belts whereby the emitted visible light provides a visual indication of boundaries for the product.
10 . The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising at least one line on each of the conveyor belts whereby the lines provide a visual indication of boundaries for the product.
11 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the motor is direct current motor.
12 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the motor is a variable speed direct current motor.
13 . The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising a potentiometer configured to control the speed of the motor.
14 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the product is one of a strip of bacon and a sheet of bacon.
15 . The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the bacon is cooked.
16 . A method comprising the steps of:
receiving a product on a moving platform coupled to a motor for causing the moving platform to move, wherein the moving platform moves the product into contact with a cutting mechanism, thereby cutting the product into two pieces, and moving the two pieces away from the cutting mechanism for removal of the two cut pieces from the moving platform.
17 . The method of claim 16 further comprising packaging each cut piece of product into a package.
18 . The method of claim 16 wherein the product is one of a strip of bacon and a sheet of bacon.
19 . The method of claim 18 wherein the bacon is cooked.
20 . The method of claim 16 further comprising receiving an input to adjust the speed of the motor via a potentiometer.