Patent ID: 8002513

Claim:
An apparatus for stacking food products, the apparatus comprising: a pair of initial supports for directly supporting lateral edges of the food product thereon each initial support including upwardly inclined segments on an end portion thereof, the pair of initial supports linearly reciprocating in opposing directions transverse to a downstream feed direction to form a gap through which the food product can fall; a nose conveyor directing the food product in a downstream direction toward the pair of initial supports, the nose conveyor configured to extend and retract to deposit the food product on the pair of initial supports; a pair of accumulating supports positioned below the initial supports to collect the food product after falling through the gap, the accumulating supports linearly reciprocating in opposing directions transverse to the downstream direction at predetermined intervals to form a second gap through which the food product can fall; and a receiving platform positioned below the accumulating supports to collect the food product directly thereon after falling through the second gap, the distance between the accumulating supports and the receiving platform increasing with the amount of food product on the receiving platform.