GB2271267A

GB2271267A - Apparatus for severing fins from fish

Info

Publication number: GB2271267A
Application number: GB9320927A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Thorsten Lorenzen
Original assignee: Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud Baader GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud Baader GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 1992-10-10
Filing date: 1993-10-08
Publication date: 1994-04-13
Anticipated expiration: 2013-10-08
Also published as: SE9303244D0; DE9213725U1; GB2271267B; FR2696619A1; GB9320927D0; SE9303244L

Abstract

Apparatus for severing fins from fish comprises a conveyor (2) for conveying the fish with their head ends foremost, a back guide (10) and fin-cutting equipment with at least one circular blade (12), which is associated with the back guide and driven to rotate. The back guide (10) and the fin-cutting equipment are fixed to a frame of the apparatus. The conveyor (2) functions as a belly guide for the fish and is displaceable against a spring force in the sense of an increase in spacing from the back guide (10), wherein each fish is securely held between the conveyor and the back guide so that the blade or blades can sever the fins at the points of attachment to the fish body. <IMAGE>

Description

APPARATUS FOR SEVERING FINS FROM FISH The present invention relates to apparatus for severing fins from fish, especially dorsal fins.

Apparatus of that kind is described in DE-PS 640 343. This apparatus includes mutually shearing circular blades which are arranged in a plane perpendicular to the plane of symmetry of fish being processed and are contour-controlled by the fish, which is moved past drawn by its tail, so that the fins are cut off closely to the body.

A further such apparatus is described in DE 40 35 903 Al. The fin-cutting tool consists of a pair of driven circular blades, which are set against each other in V shape, with circumferential cutting edges touching at the lowest point. The tool is mounted to be vertically displaceable and provided with a feeler foot which bears on the fish body and effects a tracking guidance according to the outline of the fish body, so that the depth of penetration of the tool into the fish is uniform.

A disadvantage of these known forms of apparatus is the comparatively high degree of complication involved In, in particular, outline-matched tracking guidance of the fin-cutting equipment and in its drive.

There thus remains a need for a fin-cutting equipment which is less complicated and which may be able to be easily integrated into a filleting machine.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for severing fins from fish, comprising a conveyor for conveying fish head end foremost with guidance of the fish at the belly sides thereof, a back guide disposed in a fixed position in the apparatus and arranged to guide the backs of the conveyed fish, and fin cutting means disposed in a fixed position in the apparatus and comprising at least one circular blade rotatable to cut fins from the conveyed fish while guided by the back guide, the conveyor being displaceable against a resilient bias in direction away from the back guide.

Preferably, the conveyor is provided with support members each shaped in part substantially in correspondence with a predetermined cross-sectional outline of a fish belly side.

For preference the fin cutting means comprises two such blades, the blades being co-operable to provide a shearing cut.

Expediently, the or each blade is arranged to so rotate that the circumferential edge thereof moves through a fin cutting zone of the apparatus in a given direction of conveying of the fish by the conveyor and at a speed substantially 1.2 to 3 times a given speed of such conveying. The speed of the cutting edge is preferably 1.5 times the given speed.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of fin severing apparatus embodying the invention; and Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus in the region of overlapping circular blades thereof.

Referring now to the drawings there is shown fin severing apparatus which can be installed as a first treatment tool of a filleting machine directly following a charging region 1. The apparatus comprises an endless chain conveyor 2, which is driven to rotate in suitable manner, with support members 3. The upper run of the conveyor forms the base part of an in feed channel 4 for the reception of the fish, that is to say whole fish or fish rumps. The ability of the support members 3 to grip the fish is enhanced by transverse grooves 5 and prismatic cut-outs 6, which in longitudinal direction result in a channel profile in which the fish are engaged at their belly sides. Side walls 7 and 8 form the lateral boundaries of the channel 4.

The conveyor 2 is pivotable in a substantially vertical plane about a drive axis 9 of a rearward deflection sprocket and is held in an upper setting by a spring (not shown). A back guide 10, which is fixed to a frame of the apparatus, extends in the running direction of the conveyor 2 and at its underside facing this has the form of a channel 11 narrowing in conveying direction. The guide 10 is arranged above the upper run of the conveyor and in the pivotal plane thereof.

The back guide 10 ends above a pair of circular blades 12, which are arranged to provide a shearing cut in a plane parallel to the conveying direction and perpendicular to the pivot plane of the conveyor 2. The overlapping region of the blades 12 is covered by the end part 13 of the back guide 10. The circular blades 12 are driven in opposite sense and so rotate that their circumferential cutting edges 14 travel, in the active or cutting zone, in the conveying direction of the fish. The edges 14 are interrupted by indentations 15.

Guide wheels 17 are arranged on axles 16 of the circular blades 12 and underneath the blades and are driven to rotate with these. They carry a flank conveyor 18 consisting of two conveyor belts 19, which are so guided by suitable tensioning rollers 20, which are resilient and arranged in mirror image, that their mutually facing runs for a gap 21 laterally bounding the path of the fish. The conveyor belts 19 are equipped with entraining members 22, which grip effectively in conveying direction, and are driven at a speed corresponding to the conveying speed of the conveyor 2.

In use, a fish rump, which for example is thrown belly down into the channel 4 from a beheading machine, is fed, oriented longitudinally in the apparatus, to the fin cutting blades by the advancing drive of the chain conveyor 2. The fish runs by its back portion initially below the back-guide 10, in which it is centred and urged against the conveyor 2 by virtue of the rigid arrangement of the back guide. The conveyor 2 deviates against the force of the spring and thereby holds the fish clamped between the upper run of the conveyor and the back guide 10 under a defined contact pressure.

Due to the narrowing of the back guide in conveying direction, the fish is, in the further course of conveying, deflected downwardly to such an extent that its back is ultimately guided in the plane of the circular blades 12. In this position, the overlapping region of the blades is reached and these now start to sever the dorsal fins at the region of their points of attachment to the fish body. In that case, the peripheral speed of the blades, which is higher by comparison with that of the conveyor 2, and the entraining effect caused by the indentations 15 which increase cutting resistance, have the consequence that the back portion of the fish endeavours to precede the belly portion of the fish conveyed at the speed imparted by the conveyor 2. The tail portion of the fish erects due to this effect, so that its back portion remains in contact with the back guide 10 even in the thinner tail region, i.e. the cutting plane of the circular blades 12 always runs through the points of attachment of the fins to the fish body.

The fish rump freed of the fins then passes between the conveyor belts 19 of the flank conveyor 18, which transfers the fish into the filleting machine and contributes to the bringing about of the difference speed, which acts as described above.

Claims

1. Apparatus for severing fins from fish, comprising a conveyor for conveying fish head end foremost with guidance of the fish at the belly sides thereof, a back guide disposed in a fixed position in the apparatus and arranged to guide the backs of the conveyed fish, and fin cutting means disposed in a fixed position in the apparatus and comprising at least one circular blade rotatable to cut fins from the conveyed fish while guided by the back guide, the conveying being displaceable against a resilient bias in direction away from the back guide.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conveyor is provided with support members each shaped in part substantially in correspondence with a predetermined cross-sectional outline of a fish belly side.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the fin cutting means comprises two such blades, the blades being cooperable to provide a shearing cut.

4. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the or each blade is arranged to so rotate that the circumferential edge thereof moves through a fin cutting zone of the apparatus in a given direction of conveying of the fish by the conveyor and at a speed substantially 1.2 to 3 times a given speed of such conveying.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said speed of the cutting edge is substantially 1.5 times the given speed.

6. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the or each blade is provided in the circumferential edge thereof with indentations.

7. Apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

8. Fish processing equipment comprising a filleting machine and apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims arranged at an entry of the machine.