Butchering – Conveyer – Orienting
Utility Patent
1999-06-21
2001-01-02
Little, Willis (Department: 3643)
Butchering
Conveyer
Orienting
C452S002000, C452S180000
Utility Patent
active
06168512
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to apparatuses for conveying and positioning crustaceans, and more particularly to apparatuses for conveying and positioning shrimp on an automated basis.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Once shrimp are caught and removed from water they must be deheaded within a relatively short period of time or frozen whole to delay the decaying action of bacteria within the head. Heretofore, shrimp have been deheaded by manually pulling the head from the body of the shrimp. This process however is labor intensive and time consuming.
Automated apparatuses have been designed for deheading shrimp as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,692,965. These apparatuses dehead shrimp by bending the shrimp quickly around an edge as they move from a vertical flow of slow moving fluid to a horizontal flow of fast moving fluid. However, because the orientation of the shrimp is not consistent, as well as other variables involving the force required to dehead shrimp, these apparatuses do not consistently dehead the shrimp. Furthermore, the separated heads and bodies of the shrimp are conveyed within one stream of fluid, thus requiring further separation of these portions.
Shrimp deheading apparatuses have also been designed which have a blade which severs the head from the body, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,625. However, due to differences in the size of shrimp these apparatuses sometimes sever within the head thus causing portions of the head to remain attached to the body. Conversely, the shrimp are sometimes severed within the body thus causing a portion of the body meat of the shrimp to remain attached to the head and therefore wasted. Also, even when a shrimp is severed between the head plate and the first thoracic plate, a portion of the body meat which extends beneath the head plate is severed from the body and discarded with the head, thereby causing inefficiencies and increases in the overall cost of processed shrimp.
Another problem associated with existing types of deheading apparatuses is that the shrimp must be oriented with the head in a particular position prior to the blade contacting the shrimp. This problem has proved to be difficult to solve on an automated basis and thus has been accomplished by manual aid.
Shrimp deheading apparatuses have also been designed which remove the head by “pinching” it from the body, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,233. A problem however occurs with the proper positioning of the shrimp immediately prior to the pinching action. Oftentimes, differences in the natural curvature of shrimp causes shrimp to be oriented at different angles as they are pinched between a deheading finger and a deheading block. It has been found that a consistent positioning of the shrimp is an important factor in properly removing the head.
Yet another problem associated with the processing of shrimp has been the efficiency of movement. As shown in the previously referenced prior art, shrimp have been moved in mass by simply entraining the shrimp within a stream of water. This method however does not enable the shrimp to be processed until they are separated.
Heretofore, Applicant devised an apparatus for moving shrimp along a trough, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,547. This apparatus moves shrimp by reciprocating the trough horizontally at a very rapid cyclical rate, approximately 1,700 cycles per minute, so as to cause the shrimp to vibrate downwardly along the trough. It has been found however that this rapid motion may cause segments to separate. For example, the head may separate from the body thereby causing the shrimp to fall through the trough prior to reaching the deheading station. This premature deheading of the shrimp reduces the efficiency of the process as the shrimp bodies are either lost with the waste material or must be manually separated from the waste material.
Accordingly, it is seen that a need has long existed for apparatuses for conveying and positioning shrimp in a commercially efficient and effective manner. It is to the provision of such apparatuses therefore that the present invention is primarily directed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In a preferred form of the invention an apparatus for conveying shrimp for in line processing comprises a trough oriented along a slope that is inclined in one direction. Means are provided for reciprocating the trough along a slope that is inclined in a direction opposite the inclined direction of the trough. With this construction shrimp may be conveyed down the trough at a relatively slow trough cycling rate.
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Kennedy, Davis & Hodge LLP
Little Willis
Ocean Tech International, Inc.
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