Patent ID: 6506042
Filing Date: 2003-01-14
Classification: A21C

Abstract:
A rounder bar assembly with floating foot for use with a conveyor having an endless belt for transporting dough pieces thereon, said rounder bar assembly comprising:an elongated rounder bar body having a shaping surface and a rear face, said shaping surface configured for shaping dough pieces transported along an endless belt of a conveyor; a backing plate having an inner face and opposed end walls; a spacer having a lower face disposed between said rounder bar body and said backing plate such that the rear face of said rounder bar body, the lower face of said spacer, and the inner face and the end walls of said backing plate form therebetween an elongated slot closed at its top, opposed sides and opposed ends and open at its bottom; an elongated flexible foot sized and shaped to be telescopically received in said slot and having an upper face and a lower face, said foot movably mounted within said slot between a compressed and an extended position such that at least a portion of said foot extends downwardly from said slot and beyond said rounder bar body when said foot is in said compressed position; a visco-elastic material disposed within and filling said slot between the lower face of said spacer and the upper face of said foot such that said visco-elastic material is responsive to movement of said foot; and said visco-elastic material comprising an energy absorbing elastomeric material of constant volume that in response to a force that reduces the volume of one portion of the material expands the volume of another portion of the material; so that when a raised segment of an endless conveyor belt passes beneath a first segment of the elongated flexible foot, the first segment of the elongated flexible foot moves upwardly and compresses the volume of the visco-elastic material adjacent the first segment of the elongated flexible foot and the visco-elastic material urges the other portions of the flexible foot downwardly toward engagement with the endless conveyor belt.