of cutting one of them thus in summary meat patties 12 are formed as known in the art and placed on a conveyor 14 as they pass from conveyor 14 to conveyor 16 paper strips 20 are unrolled from rolls 18 to a position underneath the patties 12 photoelectric eye 44 senses the location of the patties causing the cutting arms 26 to quickly descend and then rise between passage of the patties this results in each patty 12 resting on its own cut paper sheet 24 fig2 is an end view of conveyor 16 looking from the direction of conveyor 22 the piston rod 32 is shown in its upper position which is the normal operating position the cross arm 30 cables 28 and cutting blades 26 are also shown in phantom in their down positions controller 52 controls the position of air valve 54 air valve 54 is a two position valve connected to a conventional source of compressed air not shown air valve 54 has two output air lines 56 58 air line 56 is connected to cylinder 34 through a connector 60 air line 58 is connected to the cylinder 34 through a connector 62 as long as pressurized air is supplied to the valve 54 one of the air lines 56 58 is pressurized line 58 is normally pressurized and drives the piston and rod 32 into the upward position when line 56 is pressurized the piston and rod 32 are driven into the downward position shown in phantom when the piston is driven into the downward position the cutting blades 26 are allowed to fall and cut the paper beneath them the blades.