Butchering – Deboning
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-18
2001-06-19
Little, Willis (Department: 3643)
Butchering
Deboning
C452S171000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06248012
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a method for mechanical releasing of the ribs and the meat positioned therebetween from the adjacent meat in a part carcass with spine and split along the central longitudinal plane.
The invention thus relates in particular, but not exclusively, to releasing of the riblet, i.e. the ribs with the adherent meat and possible sternum, in a fore-end of a splitted carcass, in particular pig carcass, divided in two or three, but may also be used in connection with a middle or a loin.
DK-B-172 327 (Slagteriernes Forskningsinstitut) discloses a method for deboning a fore-end of a pig carcass. It is said that the riblet may be cut from the fore-end by means of a knife (not shown or described in detail) which is mounted on a tool which is moreover used for freeing the neck bone. The knife is to be moved along and guided by the underside of the ribs, and the movement has to be oblique relative to the longitudinal direction of the neck bone and is to take place in a direction away from the neck joint and the neck bone. It is further said that the cut has to be made in a direction away from the neck joint towards the distal end of the neck bone, i.e. from in front.
EP-A-0 502 581 discloses a method for mechanial releasing of ribs in a part carcass, in which the spine is cut free first by means of a circular saw, whereafter the ribs are cut free one by one by means of a special loop-like knife which is passed along each single rib, the meat positioned between the ribs being left connected with the part carcass.
WO-A-99/08538 (Slagteriernes Forskningsinstitut) discloses an apparatus for mechanical removal of the spine from a part of a carcass, in particular a fore-end of a splitted pig carcass. The apparatus comprises a conveyor with a band supporting and advancing the fore-end, and a guide rail towards which the spine of the fore-end is pressed such that the spine is kept substantially rectilinearly extended. The spine is cut free from the fore-end by means of knives which are positioned stationarily along the guide rail.
The object of the invention is to provide a method, an apparatus and a knife for mechanical releasing of the ribs and the meat positioned therebetween from the adjacent meat of a part carcass of a splitted carcass with spine, said method, apparatus and knife being tolerant towards the varying anatomic conditions of the part carcasses, such that the release may take place without the part carcasses having to be measured and such that the release may be equally satisfactorily performed irrespective of whether it is a question of a big or a small part carcass. The method is preferably to be used in connection with said apparatus.
This object is met according to the invention by means of a method which is characteristic in that the part of the spine carrying the ribs is brought into engagement with a holder, that the thus secured part carcass and a knife with a substantially rectilinear cutting edge ending in a point is moved towards each other so that the point of the knife is inserted from behind at the exterior side of the rib head of the rearmost rib and the cutting edge is brought to abut on a rib surface, and that the secured part carcass and the knife is moved further towards each other in the direction of the spine while the knife is kept, seen along the cutting edge in the direction of the point, in a predetermined angular position obliquely inwards and upwards relative to the carcass, its central plane and a second plane which is perpendicular to the central plane and in parallel with the spine and the knife is moved along the ribs away from the spine.
It has surprisingly turned out that this method makes it possible to use a knife with a rectilinear cutting edge which by a suitable choice of angular position will follow all the ribs in the part carcass rather closely such that a comparatively simple, but effective method is obtained for mechanical releasing of ribs, which method is independent of anatomic differences from carcass to carcass and the variations in the position of division at the cutting.
The method has proved particularly suitable for removal of riblets, as it utilizes the fact that there is no big variation from carcass to carcass at the spine, whereas there may be a big variation in respect of the positioning of the sternum. The method is not very sensitive to said variation.
When introduced from behind, the knife may be positioned between the stationary knives in said apparatus, ahead of a knife or a saw cutting off the ribs. By thus using said apparatus, it becomes possible to establish the positioning of the rib head of the rearmost rib and thus the insertion position sufficiently well so that the cutting may be started without any detailed knowledge of the size etc. of the part carcass.
Preferably the point of the knife is at least during the first phase of the releasing moved substantially rectilinearly forwards relative to the part carcass.
The position of the foremost rib in the part carcass relative to the knife is preferably detected, and the movement of the knife along the ribs away from the spine and the possible rotation of the knife around an axis parallel with the edge, depending on the movement of the knife and the part carcass towards one another in the direction of the spine, is controlled on basis of said detection.
If the part carcass comprises a sternum, which is the case with a fore-end, the method preferably comprises the steps that the knife, when the knife has been advanced a distance along the ribs away from the spine, is rotated about an axis which is substantially parallel to the cutting edge into a smaller angle of attack with the the ribs, that the knife during continued movement towards the part carcass in the direction of the spine is moved further away from the spine obliquely towards the central plane of the carcass, and that the breast side, when the knife has thus been advanced yet another predetermined distance is pressed downwards and towards the carcass, following which the knife under a continuous movement relative to the part carcass in the direction of the spine is taken sideways out from the part carcass. In this manner the knife may advance along and be guided by the ribs, until it is supposed to meet the gristle positioned in continuation of the ribs in case of a relatively small animal, whereafter the breast side is lifted by rotating the knife into a smaller angle of attack to prevent the knife from cutting into the gristle and then later into the sternum. When the knife is advanced so far that it is expected to reached a position below the sternum at the foremost rib, even in case of a relatively big animal, the breast side is pressed downwards and towards the carcass to ensure that the further incision is made so close to the sternum as possible.
The angle of the cutting edge relative to the centre plane is 15°-30°, preferably 20°-26°, and further preferably approx. 23° at least at the insertion of the knife and when the knife passes a possible sternum, and that the angle relative to the second plane is 5°-20°, preferably 7°-17° and further preferably approx. 11° at least at the insertion of the knife. Within these limits it is possible depending on the actual race of the slaughtered animals, to find angles, at which it is possible to hold the cutting edge in a constant angle relative to the centre plane and the second plane. This entails that a relative simple apparatus may be used for holding and guiding the knife.
The knife is preferably pressed sideways towards the ribs while moved along them and is held in a cutting angle adjusted such that the flank of the knife abuts the ribs. Hereby is obtained that the rib, which protrudes relative to a cylinder or conus surface which the cutting edge describes during its movement, is pressed into such a surface in such a manner that the cutting edge slides across all the ribs and frees as much as possible of the adjacent meat. The rearmost rib in a part carcass has normally a substantially bigger curvature than the foremost ri
Little Willis
Slagteriernes Forskningsinstitut
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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