Patent ID: 7441388

Claim:
An automated device for packaging cooked French fries into an individual portion-sized French fry container comprising: a rotatable French fry dispensing member having in its lower interior region an inlet location to receive a quantity of cooked French fries and in its upper interior region a discharge location to discharge cooked French fries, the rotatable French fry dispensing member having a plurality of French fry-containing compartments disposed about its periphery, the compartments being open in a direction toward the center axis of the rotatable French fry dispensing member; a French fry supply chute positioned to deposit cooked French fries into the opening of each French fry containing compartment at the inlet location of the rotatable French fry dispensing member; a French fry metering and dispensing chute, distinct from the rotatable dispensing member and positioned to receive cooked French fries from each of the compartments at the discharge location of the rotatable French fry dispensing member, said French fry metering and dispensing chute having a chute inlet and a chute discharge, said metering and dispensing chute including a French fry holding area in fixed relation to said dispensing chute for holding a quantity of cooked French fries deposited therein, the holding area being located between said chute inlet and said chute discharge; means for maintaining said French fry metering and dispensing chute in a relatively horizontal position, means for measuring the amount of French fries in the holding area, and means for tilting said French fry metering and dispensing chute from the relatively horizontal position to a relatively inclined position to permit the measured quantity of cooked French fries to be dispensed from the holding area of said French fry metering and dispensing chute when the means for measuring detects that an amount of French fries sufficient to fill the individual portion-sized French fry container is contained within the holding area; and the automated device further comprising an automated French fry container retrieving device for retrieving and grasping an individual portion-sized French fry container and positioning the container adjacent the chute discharge to receive French fries from the French fry dispensing chute.