CA1043237A - Method and apparatus for cutting bait - Google Patents

Method and apparatus for cutting bait

Info

Publication number
CA1043237A
CA1043237A CA266,993A CA266993A CA1043237A CA 1043237 A CA1043237 A CA 1043237A CA 266993 A CA266993 A CA 266993A CA 1043237 A CA1043237 A CA 1043237A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
body portion
blades
bait
carriage
cutters
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA266,993A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Albert B. Grant
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to CA266,993A priority Critical patent/CA1043237A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1043237A publication Critical patent/CA1043237A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A22BUTCHERING; MEAT TREATMENT; PROCESSING POULTRY OR FISH
    • A22CPROCESSING MEAT, POULTRY, OR FISH
    • A22C25/00Processing fish ; Curing of fish; Stunning of fish by electric current; Investigating fish by optical means
    • A22C25/20Shredding; Cutting into cubes; Flaking
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A01AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
    • A01KANIMAL HUSBANDRY; AVICULTURE; APICULTURE; PISCICULTURE; FISHING; REARING OR BREEDING ANIMALS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NEW BREEDS OF ANIMALS
    • A01K97/00Accessories for angling
    • A01K97/04Containers for bait; Preparation of bait
    • A01K97/045Preparation of bait; Ingredients

Landscapes

  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Environmental Sciences (AREA)
  • Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Zoology (AREA)
  • Food Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Animal Husbandry (AREA)
  • Biodiversity & Conservation Biology (AREA)
  • Processing Of Meat And Fish (AREA)

Abstract

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR
CUTTING BAIT
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

Apparatus for cutting herring into bait strips has a frame on which opposing cutters are mounted. The hydrau-lically-operated cutters have corresponding blades which stamp from the herring a body portion with the head, tail as well as back and belly strips removed. Other spaced-apart blades of the apparatus are operated hydraulically to slice through the body portion while it is clamped in a position which will allow the parallel blades to remove side slices suitable for use as bait strips.

Description

~43~;~7 My invention relates to apparatus for preparing fishing bait and particularly the herring strips which are so popular with salmon fishermen.
Herring strips must be very carefully cut from the bait fish if they are to be effective in simulating a , wounded small fish likely to cause a salmon to strike. Manyfishermen lack the skill, or indeed the patience, to follow ; the numerous prescribed steps for cutting side slices from the herring and subsequently dressing the slices as the more particular fishermen do. Commercial suppliers of fishing bait must cut up tons of herring to supply the demands of their customers and this is a time consuming and tedious task to perform by hand as it is usually done.
; I offer a solution to this long-standing problem by providing a machine for reducing herring into bait strips.
The machine is operable by one man who can quickly and easily process the large quantities of bait fish which .
normally are required by a commercial establishment such as a marina or guide service.
. ,:
More specificall~, apparatus for cutting bait strips from bait fish according to the present invention comprises a frame, opposing cutters mounted on the frame for ~i movement between open and closed positions, operating means ;~
for opening and closing the cutters, said cutters having corresponding blades arranged to cut through the bait fish from opposite sides thereof whereby to separate a selected ~ body portion from other unwanted portions of said fish.
!~1 In drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment JI~ of the invention; -Figure 1 is a front elevation of my bait cutting ' '~ :~" :' : ~
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apparatus, Figure 2 is a perspective view of a pair of cutters of the apparatus, Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 and showing the pair of cutters closed upon a bait fish, Figure 4 is a perspective view of a body portion `
.. . .
of a bait fish as produced by the pair of cutters, and Figure 5 is a horizontal section taken on the line -~
5-5 of Figure 1 and showing side-slicing blades and associated parts of the present apparatus.
Referring to the drawings, the numeral 10 indicates ~, generally bait cutting apparatus in accordance with the ;;
~ present invention. Appparatus 10 comprises a frame generally :
? 15 indicated at 11 and including a base 12 on which a plate 14 ~ is mounted. The rectangular plate 14 is fitted on opposite ; ~;
;1 sides with guide posts 15 which are connected at their upper ~ ;
ends by a horizontal bar 16. ;
~` Slidably mounted on the guide posts 15 is another ;
~ 20 plate 18 which is disposed parallel to the stationary or 'I fixed lower plate 14 carried by the base 12. The plates 14 , and 18 are fitted with cutters 20 and 21 respectively.

j As shown best in Figure 2, the cutter 20 has a ~ .
straight side blade 24 twhich may be some five and one half inches long), a relatively short end blade 25 disposed at ~, and acute angle to the former blade, and another side blade ,, 26 which extends from the end blade for a short distance ~arallel to the first side blade and then curves inwardly to join said side blade near one end of the plate 14. The blades 24, 25 and 26 are perpendicular to the face of the ~ ~
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~L~343Z;~7 plate 14 and are removabl'y secure in this position by screws 27 which extend through flanges 28, 29 and 30 provided on the lower edges of the blades. Thus, the three blades of the cutter 20 are removable so that their cutting edges can :~
. 5 readilv be sharpened or the individual blades can be replaced if damaged. ~
Figure 2 also shows that the cutter 21 is of : .
substantially the same construction, viz., it has blades 32, .

. 33 and 34 secured to the base of the upper plate 18 by . 10 screws 35 which extend through flanges 36, 37 and 38.

The opposing cutters 20 and 21 are adapted to cut through a fish in a prescribed manner and, for this purpose, are moved between the open position shown on Figure 1 to the ~-closed position shown in Figure 3. The several blades of 15 the cutter 21 move parallel to corresponding blades of the -:: :
cutter 20 during the opening and closing movements of the cutters and the several cutting edges of the blades do not :
quite touch when the cutters are fully closed as shown in , :....
Figure 3. .: .
In order to open and close the cutters, apparatus . 10 is provided with operating means generally indicated at ~.
45. Figure 1 shows best that a preferred means 45 comprises a hydraulic cylinder 46 which has one end secured by a pin :~ 47 to a brac]cet 48 depending rom the underside of the top `~ -bar 16. The vertically depending cylinder 46 has a piston rod 50 and the lower end of this rod is secured by a pin 51 to a bracket 52 carried by the upper face of the movable . ~ :~
plate 18. Opposite ends of the cylinder 46 are connected by hoses 54 and 55 into a suitable hydraulic circuit (not .. j 30 otherwise shown) which includes a valve controlled by the :

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operator of the apparatus.
The bait cutting apparatus so far described is , operated to cut up herring to provide a portion which is later sliced into strips suitable for use as bait while trolling for salmon and the like. In Figure 4, such a body portion of a bait fish is indicated at 60 and I find that ; ;
the apparatus works best when the fish are frozen hard before being initially reduced so that they can easily be `
handled and cut through by the stamping action of the -10 cutters. ~;
A frozen herring is placed on its side suitably positioned on top of the fixed cutter 20. The operator carefully arranges the fish to position the head so that it projects just beyond the end blades 25 and 33 as shown in 15 Figure 3. The tail of the fish projects beyond the meeting ends of the several side blades and the amount of this projection, of course, will depend on the length of the ;
herring. The back of the fish projects a short distance laterally beyond the vertically aligned side blades 24 and 20 32. Similarly, a strip extending along the belly of the ~ish projects laterally beyond the vertically aligned blades 26 and 34.
, When the operator trips the control valve, the ` cylinder 46 is pressurized to close and open the cutters ;~
7~ 25 with a stamping action. This results in the head and tail being cut off as well as strips being cut from the back and belly of the fish leaving the body portion 60 of the fish as shown in Figure 4. In Figure 4, the body portion 60 will be I seen to have a top flat 61, a front flat 62, and a bottom 3 30 flat 63 which curves upwardly towards what was formerly the ~ -4- ~

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tail of the fish. The spine 64 of the fish is left intact and the frozen viscera 65 usually remains in the stomach ~-cavity. In other words; the blades 25 and 33 cut off the head of the fish, the side blades 24 and 32 co-operate to form the top flat 61 and the side blades 26 and 34 oppose ; one another to cut off the tail and form the bottom flat 63. -Referring again to Figure 2, the three blades making up the cutter 20 will be seen to provide a cavity 70 above the face of the plate 14. A similar cavity 72 is provided by the blades of the cutter 21 below the face of ` the plate 18. Normally the body portion 60 would tend to -~
~ .
stick within either the cavity 70 or the cavity 72 when the `
two cutters are moved apart or to the open position by the operating means 45 but I overcome this tendency by providing the present apparatus with ejection means 75. ~--Figure 2 shows the means 75 as comprising a ;i resilient pad 76, preferably foam rubber, which partially ; , ~. . :
' fills the cavity 70. A similar pad 77 is bonded within the `l 20 cavity 72.
~ Thus, when the cutters 20 and 21 are moved apart, ;~ the body portion 60 is ejected from the cavity by the pads which were previously compressed by the body portion 60 when the cutters were closed. Portion 60 can then be lifted free of the pad 76 upon which it rests when the cutters are ~, apart.
, A suitable number of herring are cut up in this manner to provide a supply of the body portion 60 which are ` ~ ;-~ then sliced through by another part of the present apparatus ;`i 30 which will now be described. In Figures 1 and 5, the plate . 1 ., .

~; 5 :il~ ''.'. ' ., , .~ . -: 7 ~ 43z3~7 12 of the frame will be seen to support a pair of rails 90 and slidably mounted on these rails is a carriage 91. A
~; handle 92 on the carriage allows the operator of the apparatus ^~ to run the carriage back and forth on the rails between a loading position which is shown by dotted lines in Figure 5 ;.
, and a cutting position which is shown by solid lines in . .. .. -~igure 5. The cutting position is determined by stop 94 ;

'~ which is fitted to the plate 12 to be engaged by a side of ; . , , the carriage opposite the handle 92.
Near the handle 92, a carriage is fitted with a ~
, 10 fixed fence 97 which is spaced a suitable distance from a ~-, movable fence 98. Fence 98 is secured to the ends of rods 99 which slidably project through openings 100 formed in a vertical flange 101 mounted on the carriage.
; On either side of the rails 90, channel-like 15 guides 104 are mounted on the base plate 12. These guides carry slides 105 which inwardly projecting arms 106 are :''1 ~: ' '~ mounted. Adjusting screws 107 are threadably secured to the j inner ends of the arms 106 in alignment with the rods 99.
~ . I . .
The plate 12 is provided with spaced brackets 110 and a pivot pin 11 extends through these brackets. One end of a blade 114 is pivotally secured to the pin 111, the blade extending across the rails 90 so that the free end of ~
~ the blade can slide up and down between arcuate guide posts `~-;~I 115 fixebly mounted on the plate 12.
Another blade 118 is pivotally mounted on the ~` PiVot pin 111 to extend parallel to the blade 114. The pin 111 slidably projects through a hole 119 formed in one end ~¦ of the blade 118 so that said blade can be moved towards and away from the fixed blade 97. An opposite end of the blade 6- ~-~43237 118 is received between guide posts 120 which project upwardly from the slide 105 to slidably support the free end of the blade 118. ~:
It will be appreciated that the several parts of -` 5 the present invention which are shown in Figure 5 provide the apparatus 10 with means generally indicated at 120 for clamping a body portion 60 as it is sliced through by the ` blades 114 and 118. Means 120, of course, comprises the . fences 97 and 98 mounted on the carriage 91. Slides 105 and 10 associated parts provide the apparatus 10 with means generally :
.. indicated at 122 for supporting the blade 118 so that it can . be moved towards and away from the blade 114. The screws ~`i 107 which serve as abutments for the rods 99 provide the :. apparatus 10 with adjusting means generally indicated at 124 15 enabling the blade 118 to be spaced a suitable distance from ~ .
`, the blade 114, a distance determined by the thickness of a ~-.
particular body portion 60. .` :
~` The slide means 122 urged towards the handle end of the carraige 91 by spring means generally indicated at : ~ ~
126 in Figure 5. Preferably, the means 126 comprises a pair :: :
` o~ tension springs 127 which secure the arms 106 to vertical flanges o~ the channel-like guides 104. This arrangement : : .
`, normally maintains the bl.ade 118 at a minimum spacing from ~
.` the blade 114. : : .
`i 25 The blades 114 and 118 are adapted to be moved ,~

` scissor-fashion with respect to the carriage 90 by operating .! . :::! means generally indicated at 130, see particularly Figure ~:
., "
:~ 1. The means 130 is shown in Figure 1 to comprise another ~;
hydraulic cylinder 132 which may also depend from the under- ~

side of the top bar 16. A pin 133 is shown connecting this "~
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: ~LID43;i:37 cylinder to a bracket 134 on the underside of the bar 16.
The vertically disposed cylinder 132 has a piston rod 137 and the lower end of this rod is attached by a pin 138 interconnecting the blades 114 and 118. It will be noted in Figure 5 that pin 138 slidably extends through an opening - -139 in the blade 118 so that said blade can move towards and away from the blade 114. Opposite ends of the cylinder 132 are connected into the same hydraulic circuit by hoses 140 , and 141 and a separate control valve (not shown) is provided in the circuit for swinging the blade up and down.
- To operate this part of the apparatus 10; the person cutting bait takes a body portion 60, which by this time may be slightly thawed, and places the portion bottom flat 63 down on th~ carriage 91 which has been withdrawn to the loading position. The portion 60 is placed against the fixed fence 97 as shown in Figure 5 whereupon the carriage is pushed in until it abuts the stop 94. Just before the ~-~
`~ carriage is brought to a halt by the stop 94, the rods 99 engage the screws 107 so that the slides 105 are moved a ,~
.J~ 20 short distance along the side channels 104. Thus, the blade ~`
118 i shifted away from the blade 114 a distance determined ~1 by the thickness of the body portion 60 of the fish and that '! portion is then correctly positioned directly beneath the two parallel blades 114 and 118 which are then in the raised or upwardly inclined positions shown in Figure 1. The I operator then pressurizes the cylinder 132 to swing the ,~1 blades down and execute the cuts indicated by the chain `! dotted lines 145 in Figure 4. This removes side slices 146 from the body portion 60 and it is these side slices which are used for bait. The slices 146, of course, still have ' ', `", '~

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the scales thereon which attract the game fish. The remainder of the fish containing the spine 64 and viscera 65 is considered waste and is discarded.
~ From the foregoing, it will be apparent I have - 5 provided a mechanism which will greatly decrease the time and effort required to prepare a large number of bait strips by hand. The resulting strips taper slightly from one end to the other and have scales on one side and flesh on the other as is desirable for bait. Some fishermen prefer to trim or finish each stip using a sharp hand knife but this is not absolutely essential and the herring strips may be : .-: :~ .
~ used in the condition they are discharged from the apparatus.

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Claims (7)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:-
1. Apparatus for cutting bait strips from bait fish comprising a frame, opposing cutters mounted on the frame for movement between open and close positions, operating means for opening and closing the cutters, said cutters having corresponding blades arranged to cut through the bait fish from opposite sides thereof whereby to separate a selected body portion from other unwanted portions of said fish.
2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and including first and second parallel blades mounted on the frame, clamping means for supporting the body portion near the parallel blades, and operating means for moving the parallel blades relative to the clamping means whereby to slice bait strips from opposite sides of the body portion.
3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which said blades of each opposing cutter form a continuous border for a cavity, said cavities when the opposing cutters are closed receiving and containing a body portion, and ejection means within the cavities for ejecting the body portion when the opposing cutters are open.
4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, in which said.
ejection means comprises a resilient pad lodged in each cavity.
5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4, in which said clamping means comprises a carriage mounted on the frame for movement beneath the parallel blades between a loading position and a cutting position, said carriage having a fixed fence engaged by a body portion resting on the carriage, a movable fence mounted on the carriage for movement towards and away from the fixed fence, said fixed fence being spaced a predetermined distance from said first parallel blade when the carriage is in the cutting position, slide means supporting the second parallel blade for movement towards and away from the first parallel blade, and adjusting means operatively connecting the slide means to the movable fence whereby the second parallel blade is spaced from the first parallel blade a distance determined by the width of the body portion when the carriage is in the cutting position.
6. Apparatus for cutting bait strips from bait fish comprising a frame, opposing cutters mounted on the frame for movement between open and closed positions, operating means for opening and closing the cutters, said cutters having corresponding blades arranged to cut through the bait fish from opposite sides thereof whereby to separate a selected body portion from other unwanted portions of said fish, said blades of each opposing cutter forming a con-tinuous border for a cavity, said cavities when the opposing cutters are closed receiving and containing a body portion, ejection means within the cavities for ejecting the body portion when the opposing cutters are open, clamping means mounted on the frame for movement beneath the parallel blades between a loading position and a cutting position, said carriage having a fixed fence engaged by a body portion resting on the carriage, a movable fence mounted on the carriage for movement towards and away from the fixed fence, said fixed fence being spaced a predetermined distance from said first parallel blade when the carriage is in the cutting position, slide means supporting the second blade for movement towards and away from the first parallel blade, adjusting means operatively connecting the slide means to the movable fence whereby the second parallel blade is spaced from the first parallel blade a distance determined by the width of the body portion when the carriage is in the cutting position, and operating means for moving the parallel blades relative to the clamping means whereby to slice bait strips from opposite sides of the body portion.
7. A method of cutting fish into bait comprising the steps of:
(a) placing a whole bait fish between a pair of opposing blades, (b) operating the opposing knives to simultaneously stamp from the whole bait fish the head and tail as well as back and belly strips leaving a body portion, (c) removing the body portion from between the opposing blades, (d) clamping the body portion adjacent to and properly positioned with respect to other parallel blades, and (e) moving the other parallel blades across the body portion to slice therefrom side strips usable as bait.
CA266,993A 1976-12-02 1976-12-02 Method and apparatus for cutting bait Expired CA1043237A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA266,993A CA1043237A (en) 1976-12-02 1976-12-02 Method and apparatus for cutting bait

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA266,993A CA1043237A (en) 1976-12-02 1976-12-02 Method and apparatus for cutting bait

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1043237A true CA1043237A (en) 1978-11-28

Family

ID=4107408

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA266,993A Expired CA1043237A (en) 1976-12-02 1976-12-02 Method and apparatus for cutting bait

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1043237A (en)

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