Butchering – Carcass subdivision
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-16
2003-08-19
Poon, Peter M (Department: 3643)
Butchering
Carcass subdivision
C452S160000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06607431
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the general field of slaughtering meat animals, and it relates more particularly to the operation of cutting up a carcass after it has been eviscerated.
More specifically, the invention relates to cutting up carcasses of animals such as swine, ovines, or bovines.
The operation of cutting up an animal carcass typically takes place by suspending the carcass vertically by its hind legs, and by performing the cutting up operation along the backbone by means of a cutting tool such as knives or a circular saw, using an automatic cutting-up method making it possible to achieve working throughputs compatible with the requirements of industrial slaughterhouses.
Such a method consists in causing the carcasses to advance as suspended from a transporter or conveyor past a station comprising an automatic machine including a cutting tool that can be inserted between the hind legs of the suspended carcass so as to act on a vertical cutting plane by cutting up the carcass into two half-carcasses.
Cutting-up installations are already known in which the cutting-up operation can take place on a fixed processing station, or “on the fly”, i.e. by combining the vertical movement of the cutting member with the lateral displacement of the carcass when the transporter or conveyor advances continuously. This operation makes it possible to cut up the carcass of a meat animal into two half-carcasses that are separated so as to be directed subsequently to other processing stations.
Depending on the needs arising from the carcass processing subsequent to cutting-up, or depending on the means implemented to suspend the carcass on the transporter, it may be desirable to cut up the carcass while allowing a link to remain between the two half-carcasses. The cutting-up is then intentionally limited to most of the carcass, without however being performed over the entire carcass, so as to avoid obtaining two half-carcasses that are fully separated. Such cutting-up may be referred to as “American cut”.
Such is the case, for example, when the carcass is suspended from the transporter by means of a support of the hanger or gambrel type that has a single hinge only for a single suspension yoke to the ends of whose arms the hind legs of the carcass are fixed. If the cutting-up is performed fully, it produces two half-carcasses which then move with an uncontrolled swinging motion that adversely affects their stability and their subsequent removal. It is thus desirable to cut up the carcass only over most of it, while leaving a remaining link, typically facing the bottom end in the vicinity of the head, or as from the middle of the back with a zone of dorsal rind that is not cut through. The bottom end is typically the end portion of the rachis if the head has been removed. In any event, the cutting-up must make it possible to cut through all of the bones in the backbone, the two half-carcasses being connected together after cutting-up via a non-bony zone: the desired link is to be obtained without any bones and at the rachis.
Industrial slaughterhouses thus need means for performing such limited automatic cutting-up, with a high working throughput, and regardless of the lengths of the carcasses arriving at the processing station.
In the prior art, the machine described in Document FR-2 535 944 is known, for example. That machine comprises two fixed assemblies, which does not make it possible to obtain a desired very high throughput of about 500 animals per hour to 600 animals per hour, such a throughput being obtained by the present invention.
That machine describes a first column including the cutting member, and, facing it, a second column including an external dorsal guide member for guiding the outside dorsal face of the carcass while it is being cut up. A mechanical link is formed between the cutting member and the external guide member during cutting-up. The vertical guide carriage is constrained to move with the dorsal guide carriage. It is not therefore possible to control those two members independently.
A dynamic machine is also known from Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,960, making it possible to achieve high throughputs. Unfortunately, when it reaches the bottom end portion of the carcass, the support arm for supporting the cutting member can come into abutment and damage said bottom end portion. In addition, at the end of cutting-up, the external guide wheels do not follow the outside dorsal face of the animal, and thus they no longer guide it from then until the end of cutting-up.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the installation of the invention is to enable the external guide member, the cutting member, and the internal guide member to be controlled independently. In addition, an object of the installation is to guarantee that the external guide member is positioned strictly face-to-face with the cutting blade and with the internal guide member. An object of the invention is thus to achieve accurate control over both the horizontal positioning and the vertical positioning between the cutting member and the external guide member, and to do so for high throughputs of up to in the range 500 animals per hour to 600 animals per hour.
In addition, an object of the invention is to provide optimum external guiding during cutting-up, the external guide member being suitable for matching the shape of the outside face until the end of cutting-up.
In a first aspect, the invention provides an installation having a moving station for cutting up carcasses of meat animals, in particular pigs, suspended from a transporter by their hind legs, said installation comprising two columns facing each other and defining between them a space through which the animals to be cut up advance continuously, said two columns being mounted to move over a certain stroke in the direction in which the carcasses move, and in the opposite direction, an “abutment” one of the columns carrying an abutment device including means for coming into abutment against the outside dorsal face of the carcass along the backbone, following the cutting-up, the “cutting-up” other column carrying a cutting-up device comprising firstly cutting-up means inserted via the ventral face under the tail, and mounted to move vertically, and secondly an internal guide device comprising guide means situated under the cutting-up means inserted via the ventral side of the carcass and acting against the abutment means, said installation further comprising a control and servo-control device for controlling and servo-controlling the movement of the internal guide device, of the abutment device, and of the cutting-up device, the control and servo-control device being suitable for enabling the abutment means to be moved independently from the cutting-up means.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the installation further comprises uniting means for uniting the cutting-up column and the abutment column, the cutting-up column and the abutment column forming a single unit so as to guarantee the desired face-to-face position of the external abutment means, of the cutting-up means, and the internal guide means during cutting-up.
The cutting-up column comprises a lift column mounted to be moved in translation parallel to the horizontal direction of advance of the carcasses by first drive means of the motor type, a lift carriage mounted to be moved in translation vertically relative to the moving column by means of second drive means of the motor type, and a carrier beam for carrying the cutting-up device, which beam is mounted to be moved relative to the lift carriage and to be brought from a retracted position to a cutting-up position by third drive means of the hydraulic actuator type, the first drive means, the second drive means and the third drive means being distinct and connected to a programmable logic controller of the control and servo-control device which also controls actuating of the cutting-up means.
The abutment column comprises a moving lift frame that is mounted to be moved parallel to the horizo
Blank Rome LLP
Durand International
Olszewski Joan M.
Poon Peter M
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