GB681879A - Improvements in and relating to the beheading of fish - Google Patents

Abstract

681,879. Fish, beheading and gutting. FEDERATIONA NARODNA REPUBLIKA JUGOSLAVIJA - GENERALNA DIREKCIJA ZA MASINOGRADNJU VLADE FNRJ. Feb. 9, 1951 [Feb. 18, 1960], No. 3241/51. Class 28 (ii). Fish are cut at the back of the neck and the head and attached guts are then pulled away from the body by hand placing each fish in one of the troughs or transverse channels 1 of a conveyer whereby fish are conveyed broadside or against a fixed knife 7 accommodated longitudinally in slots or recesses 3 in each trough. At the same time each head in turn meets the point of a long fixed spike 8 and so becomes impaled thereon, the spike being so bent away from the knife that the heads are partially drawn away from the body. The body is similarly drawn away from the head by a ramp-like blade 7a, Fig. 11, fixed on one side of the knife. Finally the body drops away by gravity from its channel 1 to fall into a delivery shoot. The heads which become impaled on the spike 8 slide along it to contact another fixed knife 9 which cuts them free of the spike so that they drop, still with their guts attached, into another receptacle. The forward end of each trough is cut away on the skew as in Fig. 4 (Plan) to facilitate the falling away of the severed heads. Fig. 8 shows the knife 7 at the beginning of a cut which begins above the back bone but not into the belly cavity. Quick positioning of the fish in each channel is facilitated by an abutment 6a, Fig. 6, against which the operator presses the fish nose just before dropping it in the trough. A regulator 6 accommodated in the slots 4 is also provided for a similar positioning in the trough itself both 6a and 6 being adjusted as required to suit the average length of fish head being operated on. 6 and 6a may also be inclined to assist in feeding the fish into the individual troughs. In a modification the long spike 8 may be bent laterally and downwardly from the knife to pull the heads in these directions. In this case the slot 4 opens downwardly as in Fig. 5 (not shown) where the slot 3 also opens downwardly so that the back of the knife abuts against the upper closure of the slot 3, and the knife cuts downwardly the fish being placed back upwards in the troughs. After discharge of the fish heads and body, another beheading knife may be arranged further along the run of the conveyer. Several such beheading stations may be arranged along an endless conveyer.