GB1358851A - Fish gutting machine - Google Patents

Abstract

1358851 Gutting and beheading fish NORDISOHER MASCHINENBAU RUD BAADER 9 Sept 1971 [11 June 1970] 28373/70 Heading A2U Fish are gutted and beheaded in a machine having gripping means by which fish are transported past a number of operating stations, and a tool disposed at each station is arranged to move with a fish whilst performing its operation and thereafter to return to its initial position in readiness for the next fish. A rotary disc 4, Fig. 1, carries gripping means comprising a pair of flank grippers 6 and a back support 7 controlled by a stationary cam 22, the arrangement being such that a fish placed by hand between the grippers 6 at a charging station is engaged by the grippers and located radially with respect to the disc 4 by the support 7 which is interconnected with the grippers to move radially outwardly as the grippers close The grippers may be supplemented by supports (not shown) as described in Specification r.309,359 for supporting the fish behind their pectoral fins. Mounted coaxially with the disc 4 is a tool support 8 on which are carried arms 9, 32 bearing a gullet cutter 10 and a neck cutter 13, respectively, and a further arm (not shown) bearing a combined belly opener and intestine stripper. These three tools, which may be driven by individual motors, as shown, or by a common drive acting through a suitable transmission, are so mounted, as by pivots 14, 16, that they are movable, e.g. by a ram, spring or cam, towards and away from a fish being processed. Thus, as a fish reaches each operative station during rotation of the disc 4, the tools are brought into engagement with the fish, the support 8 is driven in synchronism with the disc so that the tools accompany the fish over a limited arc of movement, the tools are then retracted from the fish, and the support 8 is reversed so that the tools are returned to their initial positions. The combined belly opener and intestine stripper, which executes an upward movement towards the head of the fish during its operative period, consists of a rotary cutting disc 54, Fig. 7, or a pair of such discs mounted with their chamfers 53 facing each other, flanked by discs 61 between which and further discs 63 are spacers 60 carrying stainless steel beater blades 56 which remove the intestines.