Butchering – Carcass subdivision – Cutting longitudinally through body or body portion
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-21
2001-08-28
Little, Willis (Department: 3643)
Butchering
Carcass subdivision
Cutting longitudinally through body or body portion
C452S170000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06280313
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a device for filleting fish and, specifically, to a machine for filleting fish, such as a catfish, with ribs extending through the belly flesh up to the skin.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a device for filleting fish(es) whose ribs have grown into the flesh of the belly, while penetrating same up to the skin, in particular in the case of catfish (Ictalurus Punctatus), with the aid of tools for cutting the fillets away from the belly- and back spines, resulting in belly and back cuts, with guide elements for the lateral guidance of the fish and their spines at a uniform height, with two pairs of scraping blades, each consisting of a pair of scraper blades with cutting edges arranged next to a cutting support and extending in a divergent manner in relation to the conveyance path. The blades in each pair are separated by a gap for the purpose of scraping the fillets away from the ribs and for scoring the fillets between the back fillet and the belly pieces. A conveyor for transports the fish along these tools.
In DE-PS 14 54 089, a scraping tool is indicated in a sequential arrangement of filleting tools in a fish filleting machine. There, the cutting support elements, described as substrates, are provided with a bulge-like edge and are rigidly connected with guide elements gripping into the belly fillet cuts, while the scraping blades, which are described as cutting tools and have a gap between their cutting edges and the substrates, are mounted in a transversely resilient manner and are assigned to bone guides and saddle guides that enter the back cuts to position the fish.
DE-PS 29 46 042 shows an additional scraping tool whose scraping blades, while in the operating position, are assigned to the guide elements that fit into the previously introduced back fillet cuts. The scraping principle applied in practice with these two concepts for the purpose of separating the fillets from the ribs has proven itself many times; however, their use during the processing of fish whose ribs have grown into the flesh of the belly while penetrating same up to the skin, leads to a situation wherein the flesh located below the ribs remains on the skeleton. It is the task of the present invention to automate the removal of the belly flap, to reduce the number of persons needed to process the fish, and to increase the yield of the processed fish.
The prior art also includes a pelvic fin device that has opposing levers spring loaded together. The pelvic fin entered between the ends of the levers and was moved toward a convergence of the levers in a pinching action that clamped the pelvic fin. The levers were angled away from the path traveled by the fish so the pelvic fin was ripped or torn off. This resulted in incomplete removal of the pelvic fin as sometimes the pelvic bone would remain while a portion of the flesh ripped off, sometimes the adjacent cartilage would remain, and the levers would jam with torn pelvic fins and succeeding pelvic fins would slip out of the cutter. Extensive manual removal of the remnants of the pelvic fins was required, and that was costly and inefficient as it resulted in loss of flesh as well as labor to remove the fins. Further, the pelvic fin removal device does not work well with different sizes of fish. The present invention achieves the efficient, consistent removal of the pelvic fin for different sizes of fish within a specific range. This improves the amount of flesh left on the fish, be it the shank, the belly flap or both, and reduces the manual labor needed to remove the pelvic fin.
The prior art also includes bone guides to guide a fish through back knives that cut the flesh on opposing sides of the spine or radial bone. But some fish, like catfish, have a dorsal fin located above an enlarged dorsal bone. The back knives cut through the dorsal bone but that leaves the severed bone attached to the skin and flesh. Manual removal of the severed dorsal bone is labor intensive, and results in removal of more of the fillet than necessary. One aspect of the present invention is directed toward the efficient removal of the dorsal bone to increase the yield of the fillet.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the invention, a decapitated and evicerated fish is moved tail-first along a conveyance path. The dorsal bone is laterally undercut so that the subsequent use of the back knives sever the dorsal bone tips from the skeleton and largely sever the tips from the fillet. A pelvic fin removal apparatus cuts and tears the pelvic fin off. A pair of scraper blades sever the flesh from the ribs, with an extended lower blade cooperating with a cutting support and a multi-axis positionable tension rod to sever the belly flap up to but not completely through the skin. At this point the fillets are held to the fish skeleton by a small strip adjacent the tail, and a pair of severing knives sever this connection. The severed fillets are carried by a conveyor to a skinner which removes the skin, leaving a skinned shank and a skinned belly portion or nugget for each fillet.
The present invention advantageously allows the automated removal of the dorsal bone. The prior art cutters include back cutting knives that cut along the backbone of the fish on opposing sides of the spine or radial bone toward the vertebral column or center bone. But that leaves portions of the dorsal bone attached to the fillet. Manual removal of the dorsal bone is thus needed, and that results in loss of valuable shank portion of the fillet. Manual removal is also expensive not only because of the labor costs involved, but because machine removal is much faster. The machine of this invention can process 40 or more fish per minute. That is much more than can safely be done by one person, manually.
Thus, a preferred embodiment of this invention has rotating cutters for cutting laterally below a dorsal bone of the catfish. The later cutting by the back knives results in a severed portion of the dorsal bone being attached to a piece of skin and flesh. When the skin is removed the dorsal bone and severed portion of flesh is also removed. This eliminates the need for manual removal, consistently produces a fillet without dorsal bone or dorsal fin, and increases the usable flesh on the shank.
This is achieved by placing cutters mounted to a bracket. The cutters are driven flexible shafts rotated by a motor/gear box which is in turn mounted to a support. The bracket for each cutter rotates about a pivot point offset from the axis of rotation of cutter. The pivot for each cutter is on an opposing side of the conveyance path of the fish and on an opposing side of the dorsal fin of a catfish passing between the cutters. Thus, each cutter swings inward toward the conveyance path and toward the side of the fish moving along that path. The rotational axis for each cutter is thus generally parallel to the conveyance path, but offset from that path.
Pairs of extendible pistons rotatably connect to the bracket so that extension of the pistons cause the rotating cutters to cut just below the dorsal bone of the catfish as it passes between the cutters. Retraction of the pistons causes the cutters to retract out of the way and thus avoid cutting the fish except when the dorsal bone is present. Advantageously, the pistons, bracket and support provide a three-bar linkage that moves the cutters into cutting position by extending one member of the three-bar linkage. As the fish passes between the cutters, the cutters are timed to swing toward the fish and cut below the dorsal bone. A sensor placed upstream detects a portion of the fish to control the timing of the cutter movement.
Advantageously, the pivots from which the cutters rotate are mounted to a bracket that is in turn mounted to pivot about an axis generally perpendicular to a vertical plane through the path traveled by the fish. This allows the cutters to not only swing inward toward the fish, but to also swing parallel to the path the fish is traveling. This produces a c
Berliner Ralph
Braeger Horst
Gransee Frank
Jorgan Holger
Scherch Richard P.
Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP
Little Willis
Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. Baader GmbH + Co. KG
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