Patent ID: 8708002

Claim:
A method of transporting and depositing a metered volume of food product into a container, the method comprising: transporting a plurality of food products in a downstream direction at a discharge speed; spreading the plurality of food products during the step of transporting the plurality of food products; transferring the plurality of food products into at least one closed receiving receptacle, while the receptacle is traveling at a receptacle speed from a first, upstream position toward a second, downstream position; aligning one or more containers below the at least one receiving receptacle in the second downstream position; stopping the receptacle once it reaches the second position and maintaining the receptacle in a stopped state during a step of opening the at least one receiving receptacle; and opening the at least one receiving receptacle while the receptacle is in the second, downstream position to transfer the food products from the at least one receiving receptacle to the one or more containers.