Stress-free dough sheeter with pneumatically assisted release

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The invention, as claimed, is intended to provide a remedy.
It solves the problem of how to provide a reliable and consistent way of dropping a chuck or strip of dough onto a conveyer, at a predetermined position with respect to advancement of the conveyer and centered on the conveyer without the operation being compromised by being slowed down and without unevenness.
The inventive dough sheeting system comprises a cutter assembly for pulling and cutting elongated chunks of dough from a hopper containing dough.
A receiving surface is disposed beneath the cutter assembly.
A motor advances the receiving surface in the direction of dough feed.
A calendar assembly receives dough output by the receiving surface and outputs a sheet of dough.
A level sensor monitors the height of accumulated dough at the input of the calendar assembly and produces a signal when the input exceeds a predetermined level.
The motor is responsive to the signal from the level sensor to stop advancing the receiving surface when the level exceeds the predetermined level and is responsive to the signal when the height is reduced.
A movement sensor monitors the advancement of the receiving surface to actuate the cutter assembly to pull and cut a chunk of dough when the surface has advanced a predetermined distance from the position at which the surface was positioned when a prior chunk of dough was delivered to the surface.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention a cutter assembly pulls and cuts elongated chunks of dough from the hopper containing dough.
The cutter assembly is comprised of a plurality of flat members of substantially rectangular shape.
The flat members are positioned to form a cutting assembly with a cross-sectional Y-shaped configuration, the plurality of radially extending planar members are positioned for rotation about an axis or, in an alternative configuration, are positioned to form a tubular pipe-like member.
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, release of the dough chunk from the cutter assembly is facilitated by the introduction of air under pressure at the interface between the dough chunk and the cutter assembly