Patent ID: 7178456

Claim:
A roll-forming apparatus for association with a conveyor for forming a design in a raw dough roll transported by the conveyor, comprising: a stop gate movable into and out of an interfering position in a path of the raw dough roll for temporarily stopping the roll while the roll maintains sliding contact with the conveyor; an imprinter mounted proximate the conveyor and repeatedly movable between a registered position in preparation for imprinting a design on the roll before it leaves the stop gate and an imprinting position for imprinting a design on the roll after it has left the stop gate and is conveyed to the imprinter by the conveyor; a first motor for moving the stop gate out of the interfering position to permit the roll to be conveyed to the imprinter by the conveyor; first sensor apparatus for non-contact sensing the arrival of the raw dough roll at the stop gate; second sensor apparatus for non-contact sensing the positioning of the imprinter in the registered position; the second sensor apparatus activated after a predetermined time delay in response to the non-contact sensing of the raw dough roll at the stop gate by the first sensor apparatus; the first motor moving the stop gate out the interfering position in synchronism with the imprinter in response to the second sensor apparatus non-contact sensing the positioning of the imprinter in the registered position after the predetermined time delay, whereby the raw dough roll is conveyed to the imprinter by the conveyer and imprinted with a design in the imprinting position of the imprinter.