Lattice pie-topping apparatus

Claim 1

Apparatus for making lattice topping for pies adapted for mounting on the frame of a pie-making machine as a separable auxiliary thereof comprising means for transporting a doughsheet along a predetermined path; slitting means for forming parallel rows of longitudinally-spaced slits in the dough-sheet with the slits of alternate rows being offset longitudinallly so as to be adjacent the spaces between the slits of the next adjacent rows, said slitting means comprising a plurality of generally circular, axially spaced cutting blades mounted on a rotary shaft turning on an axis parallel with the plane of the doughsheet and normal to the said predetermined path, each of said cutting blades having at least one lobe having a cutting edge of the length of the desired slit, and alternate cutting blades having their cutting edge lobes advanced angularly relative to the lobes of the next adjacent blades; means for driving said rotary shaft so that the peripheral speed of the cutting edges of said lobes is substantially the same as the lineal speed of said doughsheet as it travels along said path; means for engaging the slitted doughsheet transverse to said slits to progressively pull the sheet in this transverse direction and expand it laterally to open the said slits to a diamond-shaped configuration as the doughsheet travels said predetermined path, the last named means comprising first and second rollers spaced apart lengthwise of the machine and journalled on parallel axes in a supporting frame structure and having a plurality of axially-spaced support belts running between them, said belts diverging from each other as they run from the first roller to the second roller, and doughsheet overhang means for use in connection with said support belts for lateral engagement of the slitted doughsheet thereon.