US2017370A - Oyster-opener - Google Patents

Description

Patented Oct. 15, 1935 FATENT OFFICE OYSTER-OPENER Friedrich W. Mittel, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application June 9, 1932, Serial No. 616,171

7 Claims.

This invention concerns an opener for bivalves, such as clams, oysters, etc.

The valves of bivalve are held together by ligaments and the opening of such mollusks requires skill and force, particularly when they are to be opened in quantities.

One object of this invention is to facilitate the opening of the bivalve by the use of a mechanism and levers in the opening operation.

A second object of this invention is to provide a platform, on which the bivalve is firmly and alignedly held in opposition to the force applied to a knife for the purpose of separating the valves.

I further provide means on a platform for readily adjusting the level of the bivalvedeposited and held on said p1atform,with the opening knife, in accordance with the size of said bivalve.

Another object of this invention is to provide means in connection with such a platform which facilitates the removal and proper disposal of the juice.

Still another object of this invention is mechanically to actuate clam or oyster opening knives in such a manner that they are not only inserted between the shells but are simultaneously or subsequently rotated, whereby the shells are pried apart.

A further object of this invention is to permit tilting of the bivalve to be opened at such an angle during the opening operation, that the opening knife does not contact with the mollusk contained between the shells.

These and other objects of this invention will be more clearly understood from the following description and appended drawing, in which Fig. l is a partly sectioned top view showing the device of my invention.

Fig. 2 shows a corresponding side elevation.

Fig. 3 shows a partly sectioned detail view of the reciprocating knife of my invention.

Figs. 4: and 5 show side and end views of a modified oyster opening knife.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the various views:

My device comprises a frame l l, which is suitably fastened against a wall or upon a table 92, as indicated in the drawing by means of screws iii; the frame it comprises a bifurcated bracket with arms and is, which are provided with a longitudinal bore accommodating the reciprocating arbor if.

t the front, frame H has an extension 58 of 55 the form of a closed loop. Upon opposite sides of the extension l8 lugs i9 protrude upwardly therefrom. These lugs are transversely bored in coaxial alignment, and they rotatably accommodate the pins 2!], which extend from opposite sides of the platform 2i. The platform 2| is 5 suitably shaped at its bottom 22 so as to permit bivalves to be placed thereinto; at the same time there is a wall 23 at the back of the platform which serves as a back rest. The back rest takes up the force applied to the oyster by means 10 of the knife 2t, which is integral with the sleeve 29 fitting over the front end of arbor IT. The back of the platform 2! rests upon the transverse bar or back stop 25 of extension 18, and it may be lifted from said bar, together with the oyster 15 contained therein, sothat the oyster is tilted at the end which faces the knife, and may thus be brought into alignment therewith.

When the platform 2| is tilted to a greater extent from a position on which it rests on the 20 bar 25, the juice of the open bivalve, which rests in said platform, flows out from the bivalve through the opening in the extension l8 into a container 26, which is suitably placed underneath, upon the table [2. The arbor I1 comprises 25 a rod 2i, the diameter of which is reduced at one end 28, where it slidably fits into a sleeve 29. The sleeve 29 is closed at one end, from which the knife 24 protrudes.

The receded part 28 of arbor I1 is retained 30 in the sleeve 29, against the pressure of the compression spring 3!] in said sleeve, by means of a pin or shoulder screw 3! which extends from the receded part 28 through a guide slot 32 which is helically disposed in sleeve 29. The arbor I1 is 35 normally in the extended position shown in Fig. 3. But when the rod 21 is pushed into the sleeve 29, against the pressure of spring 30, the pin 3| slides along the helical slot 32 of the sleeve, so that the rod and the sleeve are angularly displaced about their common axis in respect to each other.

The pin or shoulder screw 3| extends to such a distance from rod 21 through sleeve 29 that its free end is slidably accommodated in a longitudinal slot 33 extending through the wall of the bore in arm l5. The arbor I! is therefore nonrotatable, but it is longitudinally reciprocatably supported in the bifurcations l5 and I6 of the frame ll. If the sleeve 29 is prevented from participating in such longitudinal motion of arbor ll, the pin 3| sliding along slot 32 causes rotation of said sleeve. The reciprocations are brought about by means of the hand lever 35 which is fulcrumed at 35 upon the arm l6 and which is operatively connected to the rod part 21 by means 55 of a link 36 (shoulder screws 31 and 38). A flat 39 on the side of the rod 27 accommodates th one end of said link 36 in abutment.

The machine is operated as follows: The bivalve is deposited on the platform 2| which is tilted so that the knife 24,-when lever 34 is brought to the front-wedges between the two valves of the bivalve. When the knife 24 has been inserted to such an extent between the valves that it strikes the front end of sleeve 29, which serves as a stop, the movement of said sleeve to the fore is intercepted; further movement of knife feeding rod 2! in a frontward direction causes the spring to be compressed, the sleeve 29 starting to rotate, because the pin or shoulder screw 3| moves along the helical slot 32.

Rotation of sleeve 29 brings about rotation of the knife 24 which is inserted between the valves of the bivalve so that the said valves are pried apart. The tiltable suspension of platform 2] permits the lower valve to be depressed while resting on the platform.

The knife at the front end of sleeve 29 may run more to a point as indicated in connection with the knife 60 of Figs. 4 and 5.

This makes it easier to insert the knife between the valves of the bivalve. The knife 68 may be made accentuatedly blunt at its base M because that part thereof is not used for cutting but for prying open the bivalve, during which operation that part of the knife slides along the edges of the valves.

After the bivalve has been opened, its support is tilted so that the juice drains from the lower valve into container 26.

What I claim is:

1. An opener for bivalves, comprising a reciprocatable knife, a back stop, and a platform for bivalves normally supported by said back stop in a position of operative alignment with said knife and tiltable relative to the back stop around an axis substantially normal to the direction of reciprocation of said knife, so that a bivalve deposited on said platform may be aligned with said knife by tilting said platform.

2. In an opener for bivalves, a back stop, a platform supporting the bivalve and tiltable from a position substantially against said stop in which the bivalve is opened into a position in which the juice flows out of said bivalve.

3. In an opener for bivalves, a platform supporting the bivalve in a position in which the juice flows out of said bivalve when it has been opened, said platform being rotatable in said opener around an axis extending through the bivalve supported by said platform.

4. An opener for bivalves, comprising means supporting a bivalve, a knife movable towards and away from a bivalve supported by said means, a stop on said knife preventing the insertion thereof between the valves of a bivalve beyond a predetermined depth, and means actuated by contact of the valves with said stop and rotating said knife after it has been inserted between said valves up to said stop.

5. An opener for bivalves, comprising means supporting a bivalve, a knife and stop, means for pressing said knife between the valves of said bivalve up to said stop, and means rotating said knife when said stop is pressed with predetermined pressure onto said bivalve.

6. An opener for bivalves, comprising a tiltable platform, a knife movable towards and away from said platform, and a back stop upon which said platform normally rests in a substantially horizontal position and from which it may be tilted toward said knife, the edge of a bivalve deposited on said platform being aligned with said knife by tilting said platform.

'7. In an opener for bivalves, a frame, a movable knife mounted in said frame, and a tiltable support for a bivalve mounted in said frame at the level of said knife, so that it faces said knife at various angles between a horizontal and a vertical position.

FRIEDRICH W. MI'ITEL.

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