Patent ID: 8113138

Claim:
An apparatus for the automated decoration of a food product, the apparatus comprising: a hopper with an interior cavity configured to hold a supply of a decorating material; a transporter configured to move the food product to a decoration area of the apparatus; a detector configured to detect the food product in the decoration area; a deposition mechanism for applying the decorating material to the food product, the deposition mechanism disposed above the decoration area, the deposition mechanism comprising a sliding plate having a plurality of cavities extending therethrough from an upper to a lower surface of the sliding plate, the sliding plate disposed adjacent to and between a first fixed plate having a plurality of cavities extending therethrough from an upper to a lower surface of the first fixed plate and a second fixed plate having a plurality of cavities extending therethrough from an upper to a lower surface of the second fixed plate; wherein the cavities extending through the first fixed plate open onto the interior cavity of the hoper; and wherein, in a first position of the sliding plate, the cavities extending though the sliding plate are aligned with the cavities extending through the first fixed plate, and in a second position, the cavities extending through the sliding plate are aligned with cavities extending through the second fixed plate.