Patent ID: 8001746

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a cylinder having a plurality of channels etched in an exterior surface of the cylinder, the channels being oriented in a direction substantially defining a circumference of a cylindrical cross section of the cylinder, the plurality of channels having a first spacing arrangement at a first location on the exterior surface of the cylinder and having a second spacing arrangement at a second location on the exterior surface of the cylinder; a plurality of rods, subsets of the plurality of rods being separated by an angular spacing around the circumference of the exterior surface of the cylinder and configured to rotate around the exterior surface of the cylinder; a plurality of channel following blocks, a subset of the plurality of channel following blocks slideably mounted on each of the subsets of the plurality of rods; each of the plurality of channel following blocks configured to receive at least one food portion; wherein when the plurality of rods are rotated around the exterior surface of the cylinder, a center spacing of food portions received at the first location is changed to a different center spacing at the second location as a function of the difference between the first spacing arrangement and the second spacing arrangement.