Butchering – Deboning – Plow type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-10
2001-09-04
Little, Willis (Department: 3643)
Butchering
Deboning
Plow type
C452S165000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283847
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to poultry processing and more particularly to the processing of a poultry carcass skeleton to recover the cartilage from the breast bone.
The cartilage from the breasts of poultry is used by the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries as one of the ingredients for certain products. Heretofore, the cartilage has been manually recovered from the carcass skeleton after the meat has been removed in deboning operations. Not only is this manually operation tedious and highly repetitive, it is also sufficiently expensive to carry out that processors have been unable to recover their costs bases on the selling price of the cartilage harvested from the poultry carcass skeleton. Moreover, such manual operations have had difficulty in removing most of the meat and membranes still connected to the cartilage after the deboning operation so that significant further processing by the entities using the cartilage was required before the cartilage was ready for use as a pharmaceutical or cosmetic ingredient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These and other problems and disadvantages associated with the prior art are overcome by the invention disclosed herein by providing a means for mechanically removing the cartilage from the breast bone of poultry at a minimum of manual intervention and cost so as to make the harvesting of cartilage from poultry breasts economical feasible for sale to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Moreover, the invention harvests the cartilage with a minimum of meat and membrane still attached to the cartilage thereby further reducing the processing by the pharmaceutical or cosmetic industry to prepare the cartilages for use in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
The apparatus of the invention includes positioning means for positioning the breastbone of the skeletal portion of a poultry carcass from which the meat has been removed in a deboning operation for movement along a prescribed processing path with a prescribed orientation; and separating means operatively associated with the prescribed processing path for engaging the cartilage connected to the breastbone as the poultry carcass moves along the prescribed processing path with the prescribed orientation and mechanically separating the cartilage from the breastbone as the poultry carcass is moved along the prescribed processing path. The separating means may further be constructed and arranged to separate any membranes and meat fragments connecting the cartilage to the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass from the cartilage. The separating means may further include a first edge portion thereon for cutting partly through the cartilage adjacent the juncture between the breastbone and the cartilage along a prescribed separation plane as the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass is moved along the prescribed processing path; and a second edge portion thereon for forcing the cartilage to completely separate from the breastbone along said separation plane coaxial with the cut formed by said first edge portion. The positioning means of the invention may further include shoulder guide means for engaging the separated shoulder joints of the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass and orienting the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass so that the common line joining the separated shoulder joints is generally parallel to the prescribed processing path along which the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass is moved. The apparatus of the invention may be operatively associated with a cone deboning conveyor mounting each poultry carcass on a support mandrel and sequentially moving the support mandrels along the prescribed processing path so that the positioning means orients each poultry carcass on the support mandrels in order that the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass is moved along the prescribed processing path with the breastbone in the prescribed orientation; and so that the separation means engages the cartilage connected to the breastbone as the skeletal portion of each poultry carcass supported on the support mandrel is moved along the prescribed processing path with the prescribed orientation to mechanically separate the cartilage from the breastbone as the poultry carcass is moved along the prescribed processing path. The positioning means may include cone guide means operatively associated with the cone deboning conveyor for maintaining the support mandrels in alignment with the prescribed processing path as the cone deboning conveyor moves the support mandrels, and carcass guide means operatively associated with the cone deboning conveyor for engaging the skeletal portion of each poultry carcass supported on the support mandrels to maintain the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass in the prescribed orientation as the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass is moved along the processing path on the support mandrel. separation means may include first means operatively associated with the cone deboning conveyor for cutting partly through the cartilage adjacent the juncture between the breastbone and the cartilage as the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass is moved along the prescribed processing path on the support mandrel in the prescribed orientation and second means operatively associated with the cone deboning conveyor for forcing the cartilage away from the breastbone to completely separate the cartilage from the breastbone along a separation plane coaxial with the cut formed by the first means. The separation means may further include membrane separation means operatively associated with the cone deboning conveyor for separating the membranes and meat fragments connecting the cartilage to the rest of the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass from the cartilage after the cartilage has been separated from the breastbone. The separation means may further include cartilage support means for supporting the cartilage in opposition to the first means for cutting partly through the cartilage. The invention may comprise the improvement in apparatus for use in deboning poultry carcasses comprising a plurality of base support members interconnected so as to form an endless conveyor, a plurality of upstanding mandrel supports mounted on the support members, a vertically oriented support mandrel adapted to fit inside a poultry carcass to support same mounted on the upper end of each of the mandrel supports so that the support mandrels are moved along a prescribed linear processing path, and guides for stabilizing the base support members in vertical and transverse directions, of cartilage harvesting means operatively associated with the support mandrels for separating the cartilage from the breastbone of the poultry carcass after the deboning operation and while the skeletal portion of the poultry carcasses are still supported on the support mandrels and moving along the prescribed linear processing path. The invention further includes the method of harvesting the cartilage from the breastbone of the skeletal portion of a poultry carcass after removal of the meat therefrom comprising the step of mechanically separating the cartilage from the breastbone along a separation plane located within the cartilage adjacent the juncture between the breastbone and the cartilage. The method of the invention may further comprise the step of mechanically orienting the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass while the cartilage is being mechanically separated from the breastbone. The method of the invention may further comprise the step of mechanically separating membranes and meat fragments connecting the cartilage to the skeletal portion of the poultry carcass from the cartilage. The step of mechanically separating the cartilage from the breastbone may further comprise cutting partly through the cartilage adjacent the juncture between the breastbone and the cartilage and then forcing the cartilage to completely separate from the breastbone along a separation plane generally coaxial with the cut formed in the cartilage. The method of the invention may furthe
Berry Allan Todd
Pearson Charles Thomas
Little Willis
Powell B. J.
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