Patent ID: 7356980

Claim:
An automated method of packaging French fries in an individual portion-sized French fry container comprising: delivering a quantity of French fries to a holding of a French fry dispensing chute having a chute inlet and a chute discharge, the holding area being located between said chute inlet and said chute discharge; selecting and holding with an automated device an individual portion-sized container of a desired size from a plurality of different sizes of individual portion-sized containers that can be selected and held by said automated device; moving the selected individual portion-sized container by the automated device to a location for receiving French fries discharged from the dispensing chute; maintaining the chute and the holding area in a relatively horizontal position; and tilting the holding area from the relatively horizontal position to permit the quantity of French fries to be discharged through the chute discharge and dispensed from the holding area when said holding area contains a quantity of French fries sufficient to substantially fill the selected individual portion-sized container.