Butchering – Support – Carcass or portion suspended
Patent
1989-10-26
1991-01-22
Little, Willis
Butchering
Support
Carcass or portion suspended
452141, 452177, A22C 1500
Patent
active
049859633
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention concerns a method with devices for separating skeleton parts from a slaughtered animal on an overhead conveyor in a cutting up plant.
With the method and the devices it is possible without structural changes in the cutting up plant to obtain a continuous production line for coarse cutting up. Compared with a traditionally manual method, the present invention increases the productivity, lowers the need of physical strength for the staff and increases the economical yield of the raw product by anatomic cutting out of the animal's muscles along the muscle membranes.
Meat is a proportionally expensive raw product and the margins of profit for the cutting up enterprises are usually very small in proportion to the raw product value. This has left its mark on the cutting up process, which today is one of the most work-intensive and physically demanding works within the industry. The demand for hygiene and for not causing damage on the meat during the cutting up and for simultaneously extracting the greatest possible share of meat from the skeleton parts today requires the use of the human eye and the muscle power and a skill acquired from several years of learning and practicing. Up to now due to the lack of one of the first conditions of automation and mechanization, the cutting up process in all essentials is quite manual.
The cutting up work of today is furthermore one of the most noticed from the labour-medical and work environment viewpoints. Today the industry also finds it more difficult to recruit and maintain available labour in view of the dangerous work environment for the butcher.
Contributions in the form of inter alia technical development for reducing work-demanding of cutting up methods are generally regarded as very urgent.
Above all the cutting up work of today is characterized in repeated work operations which require a relatively great physical strain and are often in inappropriate working positions. Separation of musculature from the skeleton parts or vice versa is one of the most strenuous and physically demanding work operations, since it most often entails lifting and pulling. To lift the whole or parts of a carcass from the overhead conveyor to the cutting up table is another demanding work operation. The most common cutting-up method is to perform the whole work either at/on individual cutting up tables or at/on cutting up plates along a conveyor band after the whole or parts of the carcass have been transmitted to the table from the overhead conveyor.
The method referred to by this patent application is based on the fact that the whole or a part of a carcass, e.g. a front of a hind quarter of cattle or a part thereof, is deskeletised during a team-work between the butcher and mechanical forces while hanging in a meat-hook as it is continuously transported along the overhead conveyor. The result becomes a substantially boneless part of the carcass and a separated part herefrom with skeleton bones, which is also continuously transported along the conveyor, while hanging in the meat-hook. Thereby a butcher obtains hanging pieces of boneless meat, e.g. a boneless hind quarter. It then is coarse-cut and requires relatively small physical strength while hanging. It is simplified to divide the already boneless piece of meat along the muscle membranes into natural muscle components without damaging the meat. Partly this can also take place in such a way that the mass of these parts are employed so that they by means of the gravity are pulled downwards and then fall on the cutting up table, a conveyor band, or similar. To separate carcasses from a hanging position requires great physical strength and the work with possible anatomic cutting up cannot take place with the same ease and precision. Lifts, jerks and drags are almost completely eliminated by the method for which a patent is sought.
The method and device defined by this application has been developed through intensive method works by practical tests at a Swedish cutting up plant.
The background for the application
REFERENCES:
patent: 3533131 (1970-10-01), Ivarsson
patent: 3774265 (1973-11-01), Anderson et al.
patent: 3811152 (1974-05-01), Herubel
patent: 4087886 (1978-05-01), Aubert
patent: 4381582 (1983-05-01), Korhonen
LandOfFree
Method and device for separating skeleton parts from a carcass does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and device for separating skeleton parts from a carcass, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and device for separating skeleton parts from a carcass will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1546446