In article >,
"James Silverton" > wrote:

> I wonder if packaged sliced bread is not made as by a bread slicer in a
> deli? The bread is held in a comb arrangement and there are vibrating
> blades, one for each slice. If I ask for a rye loaf to be sliced,
> that's how it's done.

A band saw is a saw whose blade is a continuous loop of metal. This
loop keeps moving in a continuous motion without reversing, and at the
area where the item is being cut, it moves downward. In the mass
slicing machines a bread mass manufacturer like Wonder has, I believe
(now that I think about that article I read) that it is one long loop
and at the point of cut, it is zig-zagging up and down with guides to
keep it aligned. The pulleys are positioned such that the band blade
rides wide circles, and this makes the band loop very long, along the
order of 40-50 feet. But the speed of the band combined with the speed
of the bread conveyor has these machines slicing bread continuously at a
rate of dozens of loaves per minute.

jt