Patent ID: 6869353

Claim:
An apparatus for suspending a sausage from a stick, comprising: an endless circulating body which circulatingly moves; a plurality of hooks provided on said endless circulating body and having hook portions for hooking twisted portions of the sausage to suspend loops of the sausage therefrom; stick supporting means for supporting the stick having a front portion and a rear portion in such a manner as to dispose the stick at a position below said hook portions of said hooks, said stick supporting means being disposed below said hook portions of said hooks and including a plurality of stick supporting members for supporting the stick as moving along a longitudinal axis of the stick from the rear portion to the front portion of the stick, a stick stopping means for stopping a movement of the stick on the stick supporting members along the longitudinal axis of the stick, and stick-supporting-member actuating means for causing each of said stick supporting members to move away from the stick to release support of the stick when said stick supporting member arrives at a first predetermined position of the longitudinal axis and to approach the stick to support the stick again when said stick supporting member arrives at a second predetermined position of the longitudinal axis, wherein each of said hooks has said hook portion, an arm extending downwardly from said endless circulating body, and a rotating shaft provided on said arm and disposed at a position below said hook portion and apart from said hook portion toward an endless circulating body side, and each of said stick supporting members has a stick placing surface rotating about said rotating shaft in back-and-forth directions between a stick supporting position below said hook portion and a lowered end position apart downwardly from said supported stick, said stick supporting member being rotatably attached to said arm of said hook through said rotating shaft.