BISCUIT CUTTING AND PACKING APPARATUS

1,141,339. Cutting and packing dough pieces. PILLSBURY CO. 26 Sept., 1967 [27 Sept., 1966], No. 43873/67. Heading B8C. Pieces of dough pressed into passages in a cutting grid 106 are expressed from the grid into cans 26 by members 47 which first exert suction to hold the pieces, and are then subsequently connected to a source of pressure. The pieces are compressed in the passages, for example by the convergence of the walls of the passages. In the form illustrated several grids are carried by plates 98 joined by chains 104 driven intermittently. A sheet of dough is fed under a pressing roller (138), (Fig. 2, not shown), which presses the dough into the grids at a point where these are supported by a backing roller (140). The members 47 are connected to a vertically reciprocating manifold 45 controlled by a valve 50 so that pressure is automatically applied within the manifold towards the end of the downward stroke. The cans 26 are fed by two pairs of screws 142, 144 driven so that the cans dwell for periods which may be varied to alter the number of pieces fed to each can.