Apparatus and method for continuously cutting shredded grain product

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention is a rotary cutter assembly for cutting and scoring a continuous web of shredded grain product including, in combination, a slitting means which receives said continuous web, cuts said continuous web in the linear direction, and transfers said web further along in the machine direction.
The rotary cutter assembly also includes a driven cutter wheel arranged separately from the slitting means which receives the continuous web, cuts, crimps, and scores the web in the transverse direction at selected intervals, and which includes an endless transfer belt mounted on the cutter wheel and is driven by the wheel so that the web is transferred in the machine direction.
In one embodiment, the slitting means includes a driven roll having at least one circumferential knife edge, and can have as many as about six such knife edges, over which the continuous web passes whereby it is continuously slit and crimped in the linear direction.
Preferably, the knife edge is not less than about 1/64" and not more than about 1/8" wide, and most preferably, the knife edge is not less than about 1/32" and not more than about 1/16" wide.
In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the circumferential knife edges can be removable discs mounted on a drive shaft.
This configuration provides the user with the capability of maintaining a narrow knife edge, as well as being able to vary the width of the linear cut by the use of spacing elements.
Product retention in the slitting means can be prevented by providing stationary fingers above the product and between the slitting discs whereby the slit web is kept from lifting up into the slitter.
A preferred method for preventing product retention in the slitter includes an endless belt mounted on spacing elements and around an idler wheel adjacent the slitting means.
The belt, which can be driven by the slitter, allows uninterrupted slitting in the absence of product retention.
The embodiment described above also includes a smooth roll adjacent the driven roll fixed at a distance from the driven roll whereby the knife edge bears against the circumferential surface of the smooth roll during operation of the assembly, so that the continuous web is cut and crimped between the bearing surfaces of the two rolls