449,584. Bread slicing and buttering machines; meat sandwiches. ALLOO, W., c/o Otago Daily Times Office, Lower High Street, Dunedin, New Zealand. May 1, 1935, Nos. 12974 and 12975. Convention dates, May 12, 1934 and Feb. 1, 1935. [Classes 28 (i) and 28 (ii)] A slicing - machine comprises a rotary cutter, a vertically reciprocating holder for the food to be sliced, pivoted fingers adapted to grip the slice as it is cut, and means actuated from the holder to cause the fingers to travel downwardly with the holder during the cutting and to return the fingers to their starting position at the end of the cutting operation. A number of holders, e.g. three, two for bread and one for meat, may be arranged to travel in succession past the knife, and a buttering appliance may apply butter to the end of the meat before it is cut, and to the upper loaf, whereby, the slices, because of the adhesive effect of the butter, hold together in the form of a sandwich. As shown, the loaves are held in the lower and upper holders 3 and the meat in the middle holder 3, the holders being mounted on and between front and rear plates 4 to reciprocate vertically bodily. The slice cut from the bottom loaf is impaled, as it is cut by the rotary knife 8 on prongs 40<a> on spring fingers 40 which are kept against the loaf by a weighted linkage, and move downwards with the slice. When the slice is cut, the fingers 40 move upwards to apply the first bread slice to the meat slice being cut, which slice is thus laid on the top of the first bread slice. The fingers then rise again to apply the second bread slice to the top of the meat slice. A butter container 81 has a fluted roller 82 at its discharge opening to apply butter to the meat and upper loaf surfaces before the cutting operation. When the complete sandwich is on the fingers 40, the fingers are swung downwards to lie on a support 56, swinging discharge fingers 57 removing the sandwich from the fingers 40. The holders 3 each have one side which is hinged to the bottom and spring clipped to the top, the bottom being suspended at one side on a tension spring for the purpose of closing the holder on and gripping the food. The feed, in each holder, is effected by a pusher 28 carried by a slide member at the side of the holder, engaging, by a releasable split nut, with a feed screw 29 which is rotated intermittently by toothed gearing 35 and a ratchet mechanism operated by a pawl lever contacting with adjustable stops on vertical rods. The spring fingers 40 consist of double flat spring material carried by a bar 41, and are kept up to the work by a weight 45<a>, lever 45 and connecting rod 46. The bar 41 is pivoted to members 42 which are slidable on rods 43 and is entrained by spring catches 47 on the front plate 4 engaging with lugs 42<a>, the catches 47 being projected during the downward movements of the fingers 40 by cam rails 44 having recesses 44<a> to release the catches when the fingers 40 are to be raised. The raising is effected by the catches 47 engaging sliding members 50 connected by linkage to the members 42. During the upward movement the member 42, which has a bore of elongated section, is pressed back by a roller 49 engaging a cam rail 48. The fingers 40 are swung downwards on to the support 56, for the discharge of the sandwich, by a pivoted slotted lever 58 which is swung by a raised strip 59 on the front plate 4, as the holder assembly rises. The slot allows lost motion so that the lever 58 does not operate the fingers on the descent of the holders. When the sandwich is discharged, a bracket 71 on the front plate 4 engages a stop 72 on the rod 73 which is connected to the bar 41 so that the fingers 40 are returned to their initial position. The fingers are held vertical by a spring catch 74 attached to one of the members 42. The rails 44 are mounted on links to be displaceable towards and away from the catches 47, so that, when the holders 3 are in the lowermost position, linkage is operated to move the rails away from the catches 47 which are thus rendered inoperative during the ascent of the holders. The rails are returned to the working position by counterweights 5 of the holders operating through links. The butter container 81 is pivotally attached to the machine frame and is moved away from the operative position, when necessary in the working of the machine, by a roller 83 which runs on a double cam rail, one part of the cam rail being slidable relatively to the other to vary the effective shape of the rail and thus to keep the container away from the holders as the latter ascend.