CA1063059A - Device for removing meat hangers from meat - Google Patents

Device for removing meat hangers from meat

Info

Publication number
CA1063059A
CA1063059A CA278,909A CA278909A CA1063059A CA 1063059 A CA1063059 A CA 1063059A CA 278909 A CA278909 A CA 278909A CA 1063059 A CA1063059 A CA 1063059A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
meat
hanger
frame
needles
stripping
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
CA278,909A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Laurence J. Ilines
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.)
CA Pemberton and Co Ltd
Original Assignee
CA Pemberton and Co Ltd
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 CA Pemberton and Co Ltd filed Critical CA Pemberton and Co Ltd
Priority to CA278,909A priority Critical patent/CA1063059A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1063059A publication Critical patent/CA1063059A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A22BUTCHERING; MEAT TREATMENT; PROCESSING POULTRY OR FISH
    • A22CPROCESSING MEAT, POULTRY, OR FISH
    • A22C15/00Apparatus for hanging-up meat or sausages
    • A22C15/003Hooks or the like specially adapted for meat or hams or part of carcasses
    • A22C15/005Hangers with more hooks penetrating the piece of meat

Landscapes

  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Zoology (AREA)
  • Food Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Meat, Egg Or Seafood Products (AREA)

Abstract

A B S T R A C T

A device for removing meat hangers from meat and a hanger storage stand are provided by this invention. The device for removing meat hangers comprises a frame having a stripping station, a first support on one side of the stripping station for supporting a hanger and a second support on the other side of the stripping station supporting a body of meat and a stripper plate mounted for movement with respect to the frame to extend into the stripping station between the first and second support as to engage the meat hanger and drive the needles out of the meat. The support stand includes guide rods for receiving hangers and guiding them to fall onto a base member which is angularly inclined with respect to the guide rods at an angle equal to half the included angle between the main body and the needles so that the hangers nest one within the other to form a compact stack of hangers.

Description

This invention relates to a device for removing meat hangers from meat such as bacon or the like.
In the processing of bacon bellies, bacon sides and jowls and the like, the meat is impaled on the needles of a bacon ilanger or bacon comb which serves to support the meat during subsequent processing operations such as smoking and setting-up. Prior to the curing operation the meat hanger can be secured with respect to the meat without great difficulty because at this stage the meat is soft and readily penetrated.
As a result of curing operations such as smoking and chilling of the meat prior to slicing, the meat becomes firmly secured to the hanger so that great difficulty is experienced in removing the hanger. ~ -To date all attempts to remove bacon hangers or combs from cured and chilled meat employ a manual operation. The manual operation is time consuming and frequently results in damage to the hanger and the meat, and injury to the operator.
In order to reduce the likelihood of such difficulties, some processing operations permit slight warming of the meat to take place, 80 that it becomes more pliable, before attempting the removal of the hanger. If the meat is allowed to become more pliable, difficulties can be experienced in attempting to slice the meat in a subsequent operation. Thus, while chilling of the meat i8 important to maintain the characteristic of the meat which facilitates slicing, the same freezing makes the removal of the hanger more difficult.
, : ' The difficulties of the prior art described above are ~ overcome by the apparatus of the present invention which permits - the mechanical removal of the hangers with minimum damage to the meat.
The device of the present invention is designed to remove the penetrating needles of the hanger in a direction opposite to - ,~ .

-~
~063059 the direction in -hich they extend ~nto the meat so that the ~eat is not dama~ed by the removal of the needles.
According to one aspect Or the present invention, there is provided a device for removing meat hangers ~rom r.eat such as bacon or the 1- ~e . The mea~ hangers lihich are re~!oved consist of a body portion having a suspension hook at one end thereof and a plurality of meat penetrating needles at the ot]~er end thereof, the meat penetrating nee~les being inclined with respect to the body portion in a penetrating direction towards said suspension hook. The device ror removing the hanger comprises, a frame having a stripping station located therein, rirst support means at a first side of said stripping station for supporting a hanger, second support means at a second side Or said station opposlte said first side rOr supporting said body of meat with said hanger extending across said stripping station with its needles oriented in a first directinn with respect to said stripping station, stripper means mounted for movement with respect to said ~rame to extend into said stripping station between sald first and second supports to engage said meat hanger and drive said needles in a second direction opposite said rirst direction to remove said needles from said meat in said second direction, arid drlve means for driving said stripper member with respect to said rrame.
According to a rurther aspect of the present invention, the frarne Or the devlce has a hanger discharge passage opening rearwardly from said stripper statlon and a hanger s$and com-prising a base member, gulde rod means pro~ecting upwardly from ¦
said base member arld having rree ends disposed rearwardly rrom said discharge passage Or said stripper station and aligned with passages in said hanger to be threaded through said passages when ~3 said hangers may be stacked one on top o~ the other on saidhanger stand.
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, ' ' 1063059 l The invention w~ll be more clearly understood with re~erence to the followin~ detailed specification read in con-~unction with the drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a pictorial view of a meat hanger Or a t~pe which may be removed by the apparatus of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a pictorial front view of the device rOr re-moving meat hangers according to an embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 3 is a detailed view of the device Or Fig. 1 showing the stripper plate in the lowered position.
With reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings, rererence numeral 10 refers generally to a meat hanger or meat comb as it -is commonly known of a type commonly used to support meat such as bacon bellies, bacon sides, jowls and cured meats of various types during curing and setting-up stages of a meat processing oper- -ation. -The hanger 10 is in the form of a sta~nless steel wire frame having a main body portion 12, suspension hook 14 and a plurality of penetrating needles 16. The needles are generally lncllned at an angle of about 65 to the main body portion 12 so that the welght of the meat supported on the needles provides a load component whlch urges the meat towards the plane of the main body portion 12. ~ -Wlth re~erence to Fig. 2 o~ the drawings, the reference numeral 20 refers generally to a device ror removing meat hangers 10 ~rom a body of meat 22.
The devlce 20 comprlses a frame, generally identl~ied by the numeral 24, whlch supports a plat~ Q rm 26 in an angularly lnclined plane. The platform 26 is preferably made from a block o~ plastics materlal whlch may be removed from time to tlme ~or
-3-.: . . , . . . :, ..
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: ., ........... : . , 1063059 , I

cleaning and sterilizatlon. The platform 26 is retained on the i ~rame by a plurality of stop brackets 28. The platform 26 is preferably inclined with respect to the horizontal plane at an angle of about 25 so that when a body of meat is supported on the platform, as ~.~ill be described hereinafter, the needles 16 extend L~
in a substantially vertical plane.
The device 20 has a stripper station 30 located outwardly from the upper edge of the platform 26. A mounting fin~er 32 is secured to a support bar 34 whlch is in turn secured to an arm 36 which is mounted on the frame 24. The mounting finger 32 is located at one side of the stripping station 30 and provides a first support for supporting a hanger and the platform 26 is supported at the opposite side of the stripping station and supports a body of meat which is secured to the hanger. The strlpper plate 40, which has a rounded nose portion 42 at the lower end thereof, is mounted on the shaft 44 of the double-acting cylinder 46. A guide rall 48 extends longitudinally of the frame and a pair of arms 50 pro~ect outwardly from the stripper plate 40 and are arranged one on either side Or the guide ~
rall 48. The arms 50 move along the guide rail 48 as the stripper ;
plate is reciprocally driven by the cylinder 46 to maintain the stripper plate in a position extending parallel to the upper edge of the platform 26. The supply of air to the cylinder 46 to reciprocally drive the shaft 44 is controlled by a control valve having a control lever arm 52.
A stop plate 54 is mounted on the frame 28 in the strlpping station directly below the stripper plate 40. The stop plate 54 is made from sheet metal and has a receiving channel 56 extending longitudlnally thereor- I -A hanger stand, generally ldentifled by the reference . ~

numeral 60 is located below the stripper station. The hanger stand 60 consi~s of a frame which includes a pair of elongated arms 62 which extend upwardly from a base 64 and have their upper ends 66 located at the lower end of the stripper station 30. The base 64 is angularly inclined with respect to ~le vertical plane at an angle equal to half the inclUded angle between the main body portion 12 and the needles 16 so that the hangers 10 may nest one within another when stacked as shown in Fig. 2. me nesting of the hangers which is achieved by the angularly inclination of the base 64 greatly increases the capacity of the support and makes the removal of hangers a simple operation.
In use, a body of meat with the hanger 10 attached thereto is positioned, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, with the hook portion 14 of the hanger extending around the finger 32 and the body of meat 22 resting on the platform 26 80 that the body portion of the hanger and the needles of the hanger are located in the stripper station 30. As previously indicated, the angle of inclination of the platform 26 is preferably such that when the hanger is located in the opposite position in the stripper station illustrated in Fig. 1, the needles 16 are substantially vertically oriented. The stripper plate 40 is also substantially vertically oriented and is positioned with the rounded nose portion 42 thereof aligned with the recessed channel 56 in the stop plate 54.
; When the control lever 52 is moved to the position shown in E~ig. 3 of the drawings, air is supplied to the cylinder 46 to drive the stripper plate 40 downwardly through the str~pping statiQn. As the stripper plate 40 moves down-wardly, the Do~e portion 42 engages the main body portion 12 of --, the hanger and forces it dow~rdly to withdraw the needles 16 from the body of meat 22. The stripper plate 40 continues to move downwardly until the hanger is seatsd in the stop plate 54. During the stripping operation, the hook portion 14 of ~le hanger remains in co~tact with the finger 32. When the stripper plate is raised, the hook portion 14 of the hanger will be freed with respect to the finger 32 and the weight of the body of the hanger will cause the hanger to fall freely from the stop plate 54. The upper ends 66 of the arms 62 of the stand 60 are positioned to underlie passages in the frame 10 so that when the frame 10 falls under its own weight, the arms 62 are threaded through passages inthe frame so that after the hangers have been removed they may be accumulated automatic-ally upon the hanger stand.
From the foregoing it will be apparent that the apparatus of the present invention provides a simple and ;
efficient device for removing meat hangers from a body of meat.
The device of the preferred embodiment has various features which contribute to its success and although all of these features are not necessarily essential to the invention, they do contribute significantly to the successful operation of the device.
For example, it will be apparent that the apparatus could operate with the support platform extending in a sub- ;

~ tantially horizontal plane. Nevertheless, the angular inclin-.~ ~ . .
~ ation of the support platform provides several distinct .. ~
advantages. In particular, the angle of inclination of the platform 26 serve~ to present the needles 16 toward the ~: .
stripper plate in a substantially vertical plane so that when 30 the ~tripper plate move~ dow~w~rdly and engages the hangor, -~ .
the needles are withdrawn in a plane which is subst ntially .... ~
., ., : . ,, :

vertical so that the needles are not torn through the body of the meat. In addition, the angle of inclination of the plat-form serves to locate the hanger in the required operative position by reason of the fact that the weight of the meat resting on ~he table llas a component extending away from the support finger 32 so that the hanger hook 14 is drawn against the finger 32 by the weight of the assembly.
The finger 32 has an arcuate curvature extending rearwardly and downwardly from the stripper station. This curvature assists the removal of the needles in a substantially vertical plane as it permits the hook portion 14 to ve -freely along the finger 32. In addition, the finger 32 has a rounded outer end so that when the hanger is located in the position shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, it will fall freely from the finger 32 when the stripper plate 40 is raised. -If the hanger stand 60 is not used, the finger 32 may be elongated in a direction away from the stripper station 80 that one or more hangers may be located on the finger 32.
While the stop plate 54 is not essential to the 20 successful operation of the stripper mechanism, it does serve ~ -to control the motion of the hanger immediately following the removal of the needles. Without this stop plate, the hanger might be violently expelled from the apparatus after the finger~ have been withdrawn from the meat.
These and other advantages of the apparatus of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
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Claims (9)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows :
1. A device for removing meat hangers from meat such as bacon or the like, said meat hangers consisting of a body portion having a suspension hook at one end thereof and a plurality of meat penetrating needles at the other end thereof, the meat penetrating needles being inclined with respect to the body portion in a penetrating direction towards said suspension hook, said device comprising :
(a) a frame having a stripping station located therein, (b) first support means at a first side of said stripping station for supporting a hanger, (c) second support means at a second side of said station opposite said first side for supporting said body of meat with said hanger extending across said stripping station with its needles oriented in a first direction with respect to said stripping station, (d) stripper means mounted for movement with respect to said frame to extend into said stripping station between said first and second supports to engage said meat hanger and drive said needles in a second direction opposite said first direction to remove said needles from said meat in said second direction, (e) drive means for driving said stripper member with respect to said frame.
2. A device as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said second support means comprises a support platform having a support surface which is inclined downwardly away from said first support means whereby the meat is supported in an inclined plane and applies a load component along said inclined plane which serves to operatively locate its associated hanger in said stripping station.
3. A device as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said stripper means is mounted to reciprocate into and out of said stripping station in a plane parallel to said first direction.
4. A device as claimed in Claim 1 wherein said stripper means is mounted above said first and second support means and a stop member is located below said first and second support means, said stripper means being adapted to reciprocate into and out of said stripping station to drive said hanger downwardly towards said stop means, said stop means supporting said other end of said hanger after said needles have been stripped from the meat.
5. A device for removing meat hangers from meat such as bacon or the like, said meat hangers consisting of a body portion having a suspension hook at one end thereof and a plurality of meat penetrating needles at the other end thereof, the meat penetrating needles being inclined with respect to the body portion in a penetrating direction towards said suspension hook, said device comprising :
(a) a frame having a stripping station located therein, a stripping path extending through said stripping station, (b) a platform mounted on said frame and having a front edge in said stripping station adjacent and at one side of said stripping path, (c) mounting means on said frame and spaced outwardly from said front edge of said platform on the opposite side of said stripping path, said mounting means being adapted to support a suspension hook of a hanger to locate a hanger in a first position in said station with its needles located in said stripping path and its associated meat resting on said platform, (d) a stripper member mounted for movement with respect to said frame to extend into said stripper station to engage a meat hanger and drive its associated needles along said stripper path and out of said meat, (e) drive means for driving said stripper member with respect to said frame.
6. A device as claimed in Claim 5 wherein said support platform has a support surface which is inclined down-wardly away from said first edge and said first support means such that the meat supported on said support surface applies a load component along said support surface which serves to operatively locate its associated hanger in said stripping station.
7. A device for removing meat hangers from meat such as bacon or the like, said meat hangers comprising a body portion having a suspension hook at one end thereof and a plurality of meat penetrating needles at the other end thereof, the meat penetrating needles being inclined with respect to the body portion in a penetrating direction towards said suspension hook, said device comprising :
(a) a frame having a stripping station located thereon, a stripping path extending through said stripping station, (b) a platform mounted on said frame and having a front edge located at one side of said stripping path, said platform having a support surface which is inclined downwardly away from said front edge thereof, (c) a mounting finger on said frame and disposed outwardly from said front edge of said platform at the opposite side of said stripping path and above said platform, said mounting finger extending downwardly and rearwardly from said frame in an arcuate path and having a free end directed away from said stripping station over which suspension hooks of meat hangers may be removed to withdraw the meat hangers from the stripping station, (d) said platform and mounting finger cooperating with one another to support a hanger and its associated meat in the plane of said platform with the needles of the hanger directed upwardly in a second plane which extends through said stripping station, (e) a stripper member mounted above said stripping station to reciprocate with respect to said frame into and out of said stripping station in a third plane which extends parallel to said second plane to engage said hanger and push the needles out of the meat as it moves into said stripping station in said third plane, (f) stop means mounted on said frame and disposed below said first plane to receive said other end of said hanger and limit its downward movement, (g) drive means mounted on said frame for reciprocally driving said stripper member with respect to said frame.
8. A device as claimed in Claim 7 wherein said frame has a hanger discharge passage opening rearwardly from said stripper station and a hanger stand comprising a base member, guide rod means projecting upwardly from said base member and having free ends disposed rearwardly from said discharge passage of said stripper station and aligned with passages in said hanger to be threaded through said passages when said hangers are discharged through said discharge passage whereby hangers may be stacked one on top of the other on said hanger stand.
9. A device as claimed in Claim 8 wherein said base member is angularly inclined with respect to the vertical plane at an angle equal to half the included angle between the main body of the hanger and the needles.
CA278,909A 1977-05-20 1977-05-20 Device for removing meat hangers from meat Expired CA1063059A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA278,909A CA1063059A (en) 1977-05-20 1977-05-20 Device for removing meat hangers from meat

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA278,909A CA1063059A (en) 1977-05-20 1977-05-20 Device for removing meat hangers from meat

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1063059A true CA1063059A (en) 1979-09-25

Family

ID=4108706

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA278,909A Expired CA1063059A (en) 1977-05-20 1977-05-20 Device for removing meat hangers from meat

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1063059A (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0461860A1 (en) * 1990-06-14 1991-12-18 Oscar Mayer Foods Corporation Automatic combing

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0461860A1 (en) * 1990-06-14 1991-12-18 Oscar Mayer Foods Corporation Automatic combing

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