Method and means for re-spacing chip steaks on a conveyor

Claim 1

Means for conveying chip steaks in a friable, slippery, state in continual transit from a stationary source to processing facilities remote from said source, comprising a conveyor for transporting chip steaks from said source to a transfer station for transfer to said processing facilities, said conveyor incorporating a plurality of operating sections; an input stage constituting one of said sections disposable to receive chip steaks from said source in relatively closely spaced consecutive order and to transport them from said source towards said transfer station; a shuttle constituting another of said conveyor sections reaching to said transfer station and travelling faster than the input stage; an accelerator section between the input stage and the shuttle; at least two, relatively independent subdivisions of said processing facilities converging on said transfer station within reach of said shuttle; mechanism for operating said shuttle to communicate said conveyor alternately with each said subdivision and to transfer alternate chip steaks thereto, and a carrier forming part of each said subdivision onto which the chip steaks are transferred by said shuttle; the speed of said carrier being timed in relation to the said processing facilities; the input stage, accelerator section and shuttle being serially disposed enabling chip steaks to be transferred in succession from the input stage to the accelerator section and from there to the shuttle; said source including a cutter for slicing successive chip steaks from a meat loaf for sequential deposit on the input stage; the input stage being operable in timed relation to the cutter to receive the successive chip steaks in relatively closely spaced order and to impart a slow initial momentum thereto towards said transfer station; said accelerator section being operable at a faster rate than the input stage increasing the momentum of the chip steaks and introducing significant spacing therebetween, and the shuttle being operable to advance chip steaks at a rate commensurate with that of the accelerator section.