Patent ID: 7685916

Claim:
A product clamping apparatus for a slicing machine having at least one holder with at least first and second opposing sidewalls defining an elongated product-receiving barrel, wherein said first and second sidewalls are fixed relative to one another, said least one holder being cyclically driven by a rotatable driveshaft to displace a product in the holder through a slicing blade during a portion of a holder stroke, the clamping apparatus comprising: (a) a drive rod having a driveshaft end and a plate end, the driveshaft end drivingly linked to the driveshaft at a position radially offset from the driveshaft's axis of rotation for reciprocatingly driving the drive rod; (b) a plate pivotably mounted to the holder at a hinge and pivotably mounted to the plate end of the drive rod at a position radially offset from the hinge for being driven by the drive rod about the hinge; (c) a first plunger disposed at least partially between the plate and the first sidewall and moveable relative to the sidewalls, the first plunger having a product end that extends through an aperture formed in the first sidewall for seating against the product, and thereby clamping the product against the opposing, second sidewall during a portion of the holder stroke in which the plate pivots toward, and simultaneously exerts a force on the plunger in a direction of, the second sidewall; and a spring mounted between the plate and the first plunger.