JPH0138456B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing fish, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for processing fish in the production of canned fish such as sardines.

Conventionally, this type of fish processing method involves transporting one fish into each tray of a slat conveyor, transferring the fish in each tray to another conveyor that intersects at right angles to the slat conveyor, and transporting the fish in each tray. Each fish oriented in the flow direction on a conveyor is turned across the conveyor, with its heads aligned, and transferred to two synchronously operating belt conveyors placed adjacent to each other with a slit-like spacing between them. The fish's head was cut off using a rotating blade placed between the slits, and the fish's tail was then hooked onto a fishhook to remove the internal organs.

As described above, the conventional fish processing method is very time-consuming as it requires transferring the fish to a conveyor each time it performs various operations such as maintaining the distance between the fish, setting a predetermined direction and position, and cutting off the fish's head. Furthermore, when cutting off the fish's head, the direction and positioning of the fish is not accurate, resulting in various drawbacks, such as the cut being oblique to the length of the fish. Moreover, the conventional apparatus for carrying out this method requires a number of belt conveyors, which has the disadvantage of making the apparatus very large.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to process fish bodies, such as sardines, in the production of canned fish, by continuously performing the process from cutting off the head of the fish to cutting off the tail without much human intervention; To provide a fish body processing method and device which eliminates diagonal cutting of the fish body trunk by suspending the fish, has a good degustation rate, makes it easy to adjust the meat height, and does not increase the size of the device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The fish processing method and apparatus of the present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

1 and 2 show a fish processing device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This fish processing device 10 includes a planet conveyor 11 that primarily transports fish, and a pair of endless chains 1 arranged above and below to hold fish.
2a and 12b. This lower endless chain 12a has a sprocket 13 disposed approximately in the middle of the planet conveyor 11 in the conveying direction;
A sprocket 14 arranged at a predetermined position on an extension line beyond the outlet of the planet conveyor 11.
and the sprocket 13,1
4 is installed so that the tension side of the upper part of the chain is very adjacent to the side edge of the belt of the planet conveyor 11, and the upper surface of the tension side is located on substantially the same horizontal plane as the conveying surface of the planet conveyor 11.

Further, the upper endless chain 12b is connected to a sprocket 15 disposed on the conveyor side near the outlet of the planet conveyor 11, and a sprocket 16 disposed almost directly above the sprocket 14 for the lower endless chain 12a. These sprockets 15 and 16 are arranged so that the lower chain portion, which is the tension side of the upper endless chain 12b, faces the tension side of the lower endless chain 12a. . The inner sides of the opposing tension sides of these upper and lower endless chains are designed to ensure that when a fish is caught between the chains, the fish will not be separated from each other, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. Regulating guides 17a, 17b are arranged so that they can be held and moved, and in particular, these regulating guides 17a, 17b are arranged over a predetermined transport length of the endless chain in which fish are processed.

A pair of rotary blades 18a, 18b for cutting the heads of fish are arranged horizontally near the entrance side of the fish processing range extending over the length of these regulation guides 17a, 17b, on both sides of the moving path of the fish to be transported. has been done. Each of these rotating blades 18a, 18b is attached to a vertical rotating shaft 19, and each rotating shaft 19 is supported by a bearing provided on the machine frame, and motors 20a, 20b installed at appropriate positions on the machine frame. It is connected to the.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 3, the rotary blades 18a and 18b are shifted vertically by about 1 mm to give a clearance M, and in the lateral direction, the two rotary blades 18a and 18b overlap by about 5 mm (a third (indicated by N in the figure). As a result, the head of the fish is completely severed, but the internal organs connected to the head are not completely severed, and due to the weight of the head, the fish is transported with the internal organs about half sticking out below the cut.

The rotary blades 18a, 18b are connected to the body part by internal organs pulled out from the body part on the side in the moving direction of the fish (the left side in FIGS. 1 and 2) with respect to the set positions of the rotary blades 18a and 18b. A holder (knobbing plate) 34 is provided for pulling out and removing the head together with its internal organs. This holder 3
4 consists of a V-shaped plate member whose tip is oriented in the direction of transport of fish when viewed from above, and the opening angle of the V portion is approximately 90 degrees.

A vacuum suction table 21 is installed further toward the fish movement direction with respect to the installation position of the holder 34.
That is, as shown in FIG. 1, this vacuum suction table 21 is located almost directly below the regulation guide 17a and is elongated along the movement path of the fish, and its upper surface is located in approximately the same plane as the position of the rotary blades 18a and 18b. It is set up to be located at. This vacuum suction table 2
1 has four openings 2 along its length.
2a to 22d are formed, and each of these openings 22a
~22d are connected to a vacuum suction source (not shown) via pipes 23a~23d, respectively. This vacuum suction stand 21 is designed so that when a fish F suspended by a pair of endless chains 12a and 12b passes through a holder 34, its head is separated from its body along with its internal organs, and the cut end is vacuumed. When passing in contact with the upper surface of the suction table 21, each opening 22a~
Starting from 22d, the internal organs remaining in the body of the fish are removed by suction.

Cleaning nozzle parts 35a and 35b are arranged on both sides of the vacuum suction table 21 in the transport direction, facing upward so as to face the cut end of the fish facing directly below. These cleaning nozzle parts 35a, 3
5b is connected to a water supply source (not shown) by a pipe, and the cut end of the fish body is cleaned by a stream of water jetted from each nozzle. Especially the vacuum suction table 2
The cleaning nozzle part 35a placed in front of the head part 1 cleans the cut part of the torso after the internal organs have been pulled out together with the head, and the other cleaning nozzle part 35b passes through the vacuum suction table 21 and cleans the remaining internal organs. Clean the cut end of the torso after it has been removed by suction.

In addition, these cleaning nozzle parts 35a, 35b
Sprinkle prevention caps 36a and 36b are installed at appropriate positions on the machine frame above, so that the water jets vigorously sprayed from the nozzle parts 35a and 35b do not spray in all directions while the fish are not being transported. .

Further to the movement direction of the fish with respect to the installation position of the vacuum suction table 21, there is a fish F whose internal organs have been completely removed.
Two pairs of rotary blades 24a, 2 for cutting the
4b and 25a, 25b are installed. That is, the rotary blades 24a, 25a are located on one side of the moving fish F and are arranged in two stages, upper and lower, and the other rotary blades 24b, 25b are located on the other side of the fish F, and the rotary blades 24a, Corresponding to 25a, it is installed so that the peripheral edges, which are the cutting edges, are in contact with each other. The upper and lower two stages of rotary blades on each side are mounted at intervals on a common rotary shaft 26, and the rotary shaft 26 is supported by a bearing installed in the machine frame and is placed at an appropriate position on the machine frame. The motors 27a and 27b are connected to the motors 27a and 27b.

These two pairs of rotary blades 24a, 24b and 25
a and 25b are provided to initially cut the fish F into three pieces, but the number of these rotary blades in the vertical direction can be changed as appropriate depending on the desired number of fish F to be cut. In this case, it is only necessary to attach and detach a desired number of rotary blades to and from the common rotating shaft 26.

As described above, in cutting off the head and most of the internal organs of Fish F, and removing the remaining internal organs by suction,
A pair of support belts 28a, 28b are arranged to stably support the fish F during the processing process in order to prevent the fish F from moving sideways or rebounding when entering the pair of rotating blades 18a, 18b. has been done.

That is, each of the support belts 28a and 28b is arranged on the left and right sides of the moving path of the fish F, respectively.
One of the support belts 28a is basically disposed in front of the rotating blade 18a for head cutting in the moving direction and on the moving direction side of the rotating blades 24a and 25a on one side for cutting to size, respectively, close to the moving path of the fish. The other support belt 28b is made up of an endless V-belt that is placed around rollers 29a and 30a, and the other support belt 28b is also made of an endless V-belt that is placed on rollers 29b and 30b that are arranged symmetrically with respect to the movement path of the rollers 29a and 30a. Consists of a belt. These rollers 29a, 30a and 29a, 30b are
Two endless support belts 28a and 28b are placed so as to be able to sandwich the body of the fish, facing each other in the movement path of the fish. Note that reference numerals 31a and 31b indicate guide rollers for expanding the loose side of each support belt to avoid contact with other attached equipment and for applying a predetermined tension to the belt.

By the way, when the fish F suspended by a pair of endless chains and held between support belts 28a and 28b passes over the upper surface of the vacuum suction table 21 from which the remaining internal organs are removed, the cut end of the fish F is placed exactly above the opening. The accuracy of the movement route must be increased so that it passes through the Therefore, directly above the vacuum suction table 21, guide plates 32a and 32b are provided along the movement path so as to sandwich the tension side of each of the support belts 28a and 28b (inside the loops of each support belt). It is located. This results in
The fish F held between the support belts 28a and 28b passes through the vacuum suction table 21 accurately.

Further, near the end of the clamping section of the endless chains 12a, 12b in the moving direction from the end position of the arrangement section of the support belts 28a, 28b, a rotary blade 33 is arranged to finally cut off the tail of the fish suspended by the chain. There is. As clearly shown in FIG. 7, only one rotary blade 33 is disposed on the side where the fish is hung, and the peripheral edge of the rotary blade is an endless chain 12a, 12b.
The chain is installed close to and obliquely to the chain in order to cut the part of the fish clamped by the chain.

The operation of the fish body processing apparatus 10 of the above embodiment configured as described above will be explained next.

As shown in FIG. 1, fish F are first placed on the planet conveyor 11 one after another. At this time, the tail of the fish F is directed toward the side where the endless chain 12a is arranged, and is made to protrude from the planet conveyor.
As the fish F placed on the planet conveyor 11 is transported by the conveyor, its tail rides on the endless chain 12a that moves at the same speed as the conveyor, and comes down from above near the end of the conveyor. Another endless chain 12b (operating at the same speed as the other chain 12a) traps the tail of the fish F as shown in FIG. 3, and suspends it as it passes the exit end of the planet conveyor 11. And this endless chain 12a, 1
Regulating guides 17a, 17 arranged along 2b
Once in the arrangement section b, the tail of the fish is held more firmly, and then the body of the fish F, slightly above the head, is placed between a pair of support belts 28a, 28b moving at the same speed as the chain. It is clamped and held stably. The fish F moved in this state passes between the head cutting rotary blades 18a and 18b, and its head is cut off leaving its internal organs intact. At this time, as described above, the rotary blades 18a and 18b completely cut off the head of the fish, but the internal organs connected to the head are not completely cut off, so the weight of the head causes the internal organs to fall halfway below the cut. It is transported in a stretched state. This head is a V-shaped holder 34.
The head and most of the internal organs connected to it are pulled out and removed by the relative separation with the moving torso.

The fish F, whose head has been cut off and most of its internal organs have been pulled out, approaches the vacuum suction table 21 and is exposed to the water jet ejected from the cleaning nozzle part 35a installed in front of the suction table 21. The cut end of the body portion is then cleaned. Thereafter, the fish F passes directly above the vacuum suction table 21 in a precisely defined path according to the regulations of the guide plates 32a and 32b, and at this time, the cut end of the fish F is almost in contact with the top surface of the vacuum suction table 21, so that each opening The remaining internal organs of fish F are completely removed by suction from 22a to 22d. The reason why these four openings were arranged in a row is to ensure completeness, as fish are continuously moving and may not be able to be completely suctioned with just one suction. It doesn't have to be four.

Then, the cut end of the torso from which the internal organs have been completely removed is cleaned again by the cleaning nozzle part 35b, and then
The fish F has two pairs of upper and lower dimension cutting rotary blades 24a, 2.
4b and between 25a and 25b, the body portion is first cut into three pieces as shown by cutting lines 37 and 38 in FIG. The body part that is held between the two is separated from the tail. The tails clamped by the endless chains 12a, 12b are released from their clamps and dropped downward when the endless chains 12a, 12b separate into upper and lower sections at the end outlet of the endless chain device and are removed.
Note that a chute is provided below each rotary blade for collecting the cut off head or body part of the fish.

As explained above, according to the fish body processing method and apparatus of the present invention, in the processing of fish bodies in the production of canned fish such as sardines, most of the processes from cutting off the fish head to cutting the tail can be done manually. It can be carried out automatically and continuously, and
In particular, the internal organs can be almost completely removed, and the device can be manufactured at low cost without increasing its size. As a result, the ability to process fish can be dramatically improved and productivity can be increased.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a fish processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the fish processing device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. A partial cross-sectional view showing the arrangement position of the rotary blade for cutting the head together with the endless chain and adjustment guide that suspends the head. Figure 4 shows the holder that simultaneously separates the head and most of the internal organs from the body. FIG. 5 is a side view partially showing a vacuum suction table and devices in its vicinity in the fish processing apparatus, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the vacuum suction table and a guide plate disposed above it. , FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along the - line of FIG. 10...Fish processing device, 11...Planet conveyor, 12a, 12b...Endless chain, 17a, 17b...Regulation guide, 18a, 1
8b... Rotary blade for cutting off the head, 21... Vacuum suction stand, 22a to 22d... Suction opening, 24a, 2
4b, 25a, 25b...Rotary blade for dimension cutting, 2
8a, 28b...Support belt, 32a, 32b...
...Guide plate, 33... Rotary blade for tail cutting, 34...
Holder, 35a, 35b...Cleaning nozzle part, F
……fish.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Cutting off the head of the fish at a first position leaving the central part connected to the internal organs while transporting the fish along a predetermined route while holding the fish by its tail and suspending the fish; hooking the head of the fish on a holder at a position, and removing the head and most of the internal organs connected to the head by simultaneously pulling out and removing the head from the body part by relative separation with the moving body part; . A method for processing a fish body, comprising: suctioning and removing residual viscera from a cut end of the body portion at a third location; and then cutting the body portion to a predetermined size during subsequent hanging conveyance. 2. A pair of endless chains for clamping, which clamps only the tail of a fish carried on a conveyor and transports the fish in a suspended state after passing the exit end of the conveyor; A first cutting device that cuts off the head of the fish suspended by the pair of endless chains with the tail held between the two while leaving the central part connected to the internal organs; a holder for hanging and holding the head and removing the head from the body along with most of the internal organs connected thereto by relative separation with the moving body; and a cut section of the body from which the head is separated; A vacuum suction table having a plurality of vacuum suction openings disposed on a passage surface and communicating with a vacuum suction source, and a fish body portion having residual internal organs removed by suction with the vacuum suction table and subsequently transported by the pair of endless chains. Furthermore, a second cutting device that cuts into a predetermined size, and a third cutting device that is provided near the outlet ends of the pair of endless chains and cuts the tail and the remaining portion of the body of the fish that are sandwiched by the pair of endless chains. a support device that further supports the body portion of the fish to hold the fish stably while passing through the device, the first cutting device, and the vacuum suction table while being suspended and conveyed by the pair of endless chains; A fish processing device including.