Butchering – Slaughtering – Sticking
Patent
1991-05-31
1993-08-31
Little, Willis
Butchering
Slaughtering
Sticking
452 63, 452 67, A22B 300
Patent
active
052404536
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to animal sticking carried out during the slaughtering of animals for meat production.
In the past, the operation of sticking an animal has been carried out manually by a slaughterman. The operation involves plunging a knife into the animal after stunning so as to sever blood vessels, causing rapid bleeding and resulting in death by exsanguination. The animal is stunned (electrically or mechanically) and then after removal in an unconscious state from the "knocking box" is hung by the rear legs. The slaughterman plunges a knife into the thoracic inlet of the animal's chest cavity and severs the main arteries adjacent to the heart causing rapid bleeding upon removal of the knife. Manual operations, including sticking, add substantially to the cost of processing animals for meat.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,625 in the name of Nijhuis there is shown a mechanical sticking implement which comprises a hollow knife which is pivoted into an operative position in which it penetrates a pig's neck and severs the carotid arteries. This mechanical sticking arrangement may be ineffective if it does not accurately locate and cut the carotid arteries. Also the bleeding may be relatively slow.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for animal sticking which is effective and susceptible to automation.
According to the present invention there is provided an animal sticking apparatus for sticking an animal to be slaughtered which is positioned in a generally known position, the apparatus comprising a sticking tool and support means mounting the sticking tool for insertion and withdrawal movements, the sticking tool being movable so as to be brought into contact with and to be advanced so as to be inserted into the animal in the known position, the sticking tool having a forward cutting means for performing a cutting operation upon insertion and advancement of the sticking tool into the animal, the sticking tool cutting tissues as it is advanced and enabling the stick wound to remain open upon withdrawal of the sticking tool to promote rapid exsanguination.
Preferably the cutting means may comprise a cutting blade having a cutting edge which is moved transverse to the general line of insertion of the sticking tool to perform the cutting action on the tissues. The cutting means may comprise two cutting blades which are movable relative to each other upon advancing movement of the sticking tool so as to thereby create a shearing action as the cutting means is inserted and advanced into the animal. In this embodiment, the cutting blades preferably comprise two facing cutting blades having adjacent cutting edges, the two blades being relatively rotated or oscillated in opposite directions so as to create a shearing action between the blade edges. The cutting blades may be arcuate in side view with the outer edges of the arcuate blades having serrations defining the cutting edges.
The apparatus preferably further includes drive means for moving the cutting means, the support means including a longitudinal support for the cutting means, the longitudinal support being movable longitudinally to advance and retract the cutting means, the apparatus further including water supply means for supplying water under pressure through the longitudinal support so that the water emerges at the cutting means so as to continuously carry blood away from the cutting means.
Preferably transverse movement means is provided for moving the sticking tool after insertion into the animal in a direction transverse to the general line of insertion of the sticking tool so as to thereby increase the effectiveness of the cutting action and particularly increase the chances of severing blood vessels near to the heart ensuring massive and rapid blood flow. The transverse movement means preferably comprises means for moving the sticking tool in a pivoting movement about an axis remote from the cutting means at the forward end of the sticking tool, the movement compr
REFERENCES:
patent: 1118635 (1914-11-01), Cassard
patent: 2001232 (1935-05-01), Wilson
patent: 4215451 (1980-08-01), Wikoff
patent: 4368650 (1983-01-01), Wetzel et al.
Boyce Phillip R.
Buhot John W.
de Chastel, deceased David J.
Kerr David T.
Rankin Russel J.
Australian Meat & Live-Stock Research Development
Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation
Little Willis
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