Rational Automation designs, manufactures and installs equipment for the cutting, positioning, layering and rolling of bakery produce, although most Rational equipment easily lends itself to other food processes. The Rational 'cup cake' depositors or muffin case denesters for aluminium foil cases and crimped paper muffin liners remain second to none in the bakery industry.

The Rational Automation "Roll-Nife" or "Flying Knife" cutter was developed to cut bakery products, manufactured from a continuous mix, which are constantly moving along conveyors or on the oven band. Sponge cake, biscuit, marshmallow, toffee, nougat, pet foods and almost all food produce can be cut very accurately with a straight line at 90° to the band even whilst moving at a variable baking or packing speed.

Longitudinal slitting, positioning, layering and rolling machines are perfect supplements to the "Roll-Nife" ensuring an exacting repeatability throughout the longest of production runs.

The Cup Case Depositor or Muffin Case Denester was originally designed by Rational Automation. Although imitated by many, it is still the best available.

All Denesters are custom built to suit any baking plant or packing line using crimped foil or crimped paper muffin cases.

The basic design allows for considerable latitude in the positioning of the unit to suit a wide variety of conveyor and oven band designs.

Nests of cases are stacked in at the required pitches in magazines above the machine. They are withdrawn from below by vacuum suction heads and pass through the first separation stage as they leave their magazines. The motion is arrested whilst a second separation stage takes place which effectively frees the cases on the suction heads from any others should they still be joined. Once separated the suction heads pass further down and through air jets where - and if any cases remain lingering, they are sent back to the magazine by carefully timed jets of air. After the second stage the suction heads and cases continue the downward motion to clear the air jets.

When clear of the air jets and with one case securely held on each suction head the complete suction head assembly rotates 180°. The moment of ejecting the cases from the heads is synchronised with the movement of the tray or baking band by the machines own PLC or by responding to a remote signal.

The PLC controls all the movements and functions of the Rational Cup Case Depositor. This repeatable mechanical reliability when coupled with the unique Rational separating system offers an unrivalled ability to cleanly separate and deposit crimped aluminium foil cases and paper muffin cases. Production time is not lost on cleaning up after "missed" cases and production speeds can be maintained (and in some instances increased) with greatly reduced labour costs.

Rational's patented Suction Heads and Vacuum Manifold system achieves an outstanding rate of single deposits of aluminium foils with minimal case distortion, which in most instances could not be matched even by manual methods.