US3303526A - Fish filleting machine - Google Patents
Fish filleting machine Download PDFInfo
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- US3303526A US3303526A US341295A US34129564A US3303526A US 3303526 A US3303526 A US 3303526A US 341295 A US341295 A US 341295A US 34129564 A US34129564 A US 34129564A US 3303526 A US3303526 A US 3303526A
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- fish
- guide
- belly
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- ventral
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A22—BUTCHERING; MEAT TREATMENT; PROCESSING POULTRY OR FISH
- A22C—PROCESSING MEAT, POULTRY, OR FISH
- A22C25/00—Processing fish ; Curing of fish; Stunning of fish by electric current; Investigating fish by optical means
- A22C25/14—Beheading, eviscerating, or cleaning fish
-
- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A22—BUTCHERING; MEAT TREATMENT; PROCESSING POULTRY OR FISH
- A22C—PROCESSING MEAT, POULTRY, OR FISH
- A22C25/00—Processing fish ; Curing of fish; Stunning of fish by electric current; Investigating fish by optical means
- A22C25/16—Removing fish-bones; Filleting fish
Definitions
- FISH FILLETING MACHINE Filed Jan. 30, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent Ofifice 3,3il3,526 Patented Feb. 14, 1967 3,303,526 FISH FHJLETHNG MACHINE Robert L. La Pine, Wells, and Melvin J. Crepearr and Richard J. Pardon, Escanaba, Mich, assignors, by
- This invention relates to an apparatus for dressing fish.
- An important object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for dressing fish which efficiently removes the bones from a fish with a minimum of waste of the edible parts of the fish.
- Another object of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus for dressing fish in which the belly cavity of the fish is opened and eviscerated, and the backbone and fins and belly ribs are removed to provide boneless fillets, all in a continuous and relatively high speed operation.
- Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for dressing fish in which the backbone with the attached back and belly spikes together with the dorsal and tail fins are removed as a unit fnom the side portions of the fish and the rib cages thereafter removed from the severed side portions with a minimum of waste.
- a further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for dressing fish which efficiently cleans and debones fish of different size and without requiring adjustment of the machine to accommodate the different size fish.
- Yet another object of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus for guiding the fish between the several cutting and cleaning stations to achieve accurate location and positioning of the fish relative to the several cutters and cleaning implements.
- Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus for removing the belly ribs from a fish half-section to sever the ribs from the fish half-sections with a minimum of connecting tissue therebetween.
- FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through one embodiment of the machine of this invention, taken on the plane 11 of FIG. 2;
- FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the fish cleaning machine of FIG. 1;
- FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the embodiment of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and with the conveyor belts removed to facilitate illustration of the construction;
- FIG. 4 is a transverse section taken on the plane 4-4 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating a fish positioned on the inlet fish guide;
- FIG. 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 5-5 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating the ventral cutters;
- FIG. 6 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 66 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating the first intermediate guide for guidingly engaging the fish in the ventral slits and for spreading the sides of the fish belly;
- FIG. 7 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 77 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating the fish positioned on the first intermediate guide and the roller arrangement for centering and locating the fish;
- FIG. 8 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 8--8 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, through the rotary cleaning member;
- FIG. 9 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 99 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating a fish positioned on the second intermediate guide;
- FIG. 10 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 10-10 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, through the dorsal cutters;
- FIG. 11 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 1111 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating the outlet fish guide for spreading the severed fish half-sections apart;
- FIG. 12 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 12-12 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2;
- FIG. 13 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 13-13 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating the rib cutters;
- FIG. 14 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the plane 1414 of FIG. 1, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 1, and illustrating the conveyor biasing and equalizing mechanism of this invention
- FIG. 15 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the successive cutting, guiding and cleaning steps performed by the apparatus of the present invention.
- FIG. 16 is an enlarged view illustrating the rib cutter as it removes the rib bones from the side positions of the fish.
- FIG. 17 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the plane 1717 of FIG. 1, on an enlarged scale wit-h respect to FIG. 1, and illustrating the rib cutter as it removes the rib bones from the side portions of the fish.
- the fish F are advanced along a path by a conveyor mechanism and are ventrally cut at a ventral cutting station 20, eviscerated at a cleaning station 21, dorsally cut at a station 22 to form two half sections with the rib cages attached and are thereafter moved past a ribbing station 23 where the rib bones are removed from the fish half sections.
- the ventral cutters at the ventral cutting station 20 are advantageously in the form of a pair of spaced rotary blades that form spaced slits in the belly on opposite sides of the anus, anal fin A, belly spikes S1 and tail fin T (see FIG.
- a first intermediate fish guide 25 is positioned at the outlet of the ventral cutters and is configured to pass the belly spikes, anal fin and tail fin and to spread the sides of the fish as it is advanced to the cleaning station 21.
- the cleaning wheel removes the viscera from the fish and the fish is then guided to a second intermediate guide 26 which is also advantageously constructed to guide the fish by engagement in the ventral slits and the sides of the backbone that protrude into the belly cavity as the fish advances to the dorsal slitting station 22.
- the dorsal cutters also preferably include spaced cutting disks which form dorsal cuts on opposite sides of the backbone B, back spikes S2, dorsal fins D and tail fin T and which intersect the ventral cuts to separate the fish into half-sections.
- the half-sections are then conveyed by the conveyor means past a spreading guide 27 to the ribbing cutters at the ribbing station 23.
- the ribbing cutters are preferably in the form of a reciprocable cutter which is mounted for movement at an angle to the direction of movementof the fish and to extend oblique to the ribs R (FIGS. 15 and 16) on the fish half-sections to thereby progressively sever the ribs from the half-sections as they move thereby.
- the base includes a generally open frame top 35 having support legs 36 and a lower bracing and supporting shelf 37.
- a generally U-shaped mounting rail 4%) is supported on the top of the base to support the various instrumentalities in proper alignment with each other and includes spaced upstanding sidewalls 41, a top wall 42 and laterally projecting fianges 43 at its lower edge for attachment to the top 35 of the base.
- the fish are beheaded either manually or by a suitable machine prior to being fed to the cleaning and deboning apparatus, and a conveyor mechanism is provided for advancing the beheaded fish in the direction of their length along the top of the mounting rail 40 past the several instrumentalities.
- the fish conveying mechanism is preferably in the form of a pair of endless belts designated 45 and 45' which are entrained over drive pulleys 46, 46 at one end of the machine and over spaced idler pulleys 47,
- the pulleys 47, 47' are mounted on supporting blocks 48, 48 attached to the rails at one end of the machine and adjustable idler rolls 49, 49 are also conveniently mounted on the aforementioned blocks for limited adjustment relative thereto in a direction lengthwise of the machine to enable tightening of the belts.
- the inlet ends of the belts are preferably arranged to converge relative to each other in the direction of movement of the belts. As shown in FIG.
- a further pair of idler rollers 50, 50 are provided and spaced apart a distance greater than the rolls 47, 47, so that the adjacent runs of the belts are spaced relatively wider at the inlet end of the machine to enable positioning of the fish with their bellies resting on the inlet guide 24.
- the drive and idler pulleys are preferably grooved as shown in FIG. 2 to center the belt on the pulleys and the drive pulleys 46, 46' are driven at the same speed, but in relatively opposite directions to advance the adjacent runs of the belts 45, 45' in unison.
- the drive pulleys 46, 46' are mounted on a gear case 51 attached to the end of the machine and a cross shaft 52 is drivingly connected through a belt 53 to a conveyor drive motor 54, also mounted on the base.
- the cross shaft 52 is drivingly connected to the drive pulleys 46, 46' in any suitable manner and may, for example, have right and left and worm gears on the shaft 52 which mesh with worm wheels on the drive pulleys to drive the same in relatively opposite directions, but at the same speed.
- the fish are fed belly side down to the inlet end of the machine either by hand or by a suitable auxiliary feeding apparatus (not shown).
- the fish are placed with their bellies resting on the inlet guide 24, which guide has a length somewhat greater than the length of the fish to be cleaned and a width which substantially spans the space between the adjacent runs of the belt 45, 45'.
- the inlet guide member is mounted on the rail 44 and, in order to facilitate alignment of the several guide members of the rail, the top 42 of the rail is preferably formed with a longitudinally extending groove 42' which receives a downwardly projecting rib 24 on the inlet guide member (see FIG. 4).
- Fasteners 56 are provided for detachably se curing the inlet guide member to the rail.
- the belly of the fish rests on the inlet guide member 24 and the latter is formed with a groove 58 in the upper surface which tapers inwardly in the direction of movement of the fish along the guide as shown in FIG. 2 to aid in centering the belly, and the anal fin A and tail T of the fish as it is advanced along the guide.
- Forward projections 59 are provided on the inlet guide and extend on relatively opposite sides of the cutters at the ventral cutting station 20 to support the underside of the fish as it passes the ventral cutters.
- the ventral cutters at the ventral cutting station 20 are preferably in the form of spaced disks 61 which are disposed at the outlet end of the inlet guide member 24 and form spaced ventral cuts in the fish as they pass thereover, which cuts extend through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the anus, anal fin, belly spikes and tail fin of the fish.
- the blades 61 are mounted on a shaft 62 supported in a bearing 62' attached to the mounting rail 40.
- the axis of the shaft 62 is disposed below the upper edge of the inlet guide 24 and the peripheral cutting edges on the dual blades 61 project to a level somewhat above the top of the inlet guide 24.
- the spacing between the top of the ventral cutters 61 and the top of the inlet guide 24 determines the depth of cut into the ventral side of the fish and is selected so that the cuts extend to a point somwhat adjacent the backbone B of the fish as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5.
- the ventral cutters can be rotated in either direction and, in the embodiment illustrated, are rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1 so that the top of the blade moves in a direction opposite the direction of movement of the fish.
- the periphery of the blades are preferably formed with notches 61' shaped to form teeth with a hook angle on the leading edge thereof to aid in cutting the thin belly skin.
- the blades 61 are spaced apart a distance so that the anus and anal fin together with the belly spikes and tail fin can pass between the blades to enable removal of these parts as a unit with the backbone and dorsal fin when the fish reaches the subsequent dorsal cutting station 22.
- the ventral cutters 61 remove some of the viscera and the top portion :2 of the mounting rail 40 is cut away as indicated at 60 to allow the viscera to pass downwardly.
- Shield and guide plates 60' are preferably provided between the sides of the mounting rail to confine and guide the viscera.
- An intermediate or spreader guide 25 is mounted on the rail 46) at the outlet of the ventral cutting blades 21.
- the spreader guide 25 is also preferably formed with a rib or key 25' (FIGS. 6 and 7) which seats in the groove 42 on the support rail to laterally center the guide thereon.
- the guide 25 has an inlet end 25a which is relatively narrow and approximates the spacing of the ventral cutters 61, and an outlet end 2517 which is relatively wider to open the belly cavity of the fish as it advances pastthe spreader guide.
- the spreader guide has a longitudinal groove 63 (FIGS. 6 and 7) in its top face which defines laterally spaced guide rails having upper guide edges 63'.
- the guide rails are spaced apart to receive the belly spikes, anal fin and tail of the fish as it is advanced by the conveyor means and the upper guide edges are preferably disposed at a level adjacent the top of the ventral cutters 61 to engage in the ventral slits and guide the fish.
- the outer side faces 64 of the spreader guide preferably taper upwardly as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 and substantially merge with the upper guide edges 63'.
- the belly spreader guides 25 also aid in maintaining the adjacent runs of the belts 45, 45' spread apart when there is no fish therebetween so as to prevent cutting of the belts by the ventral cutters 61.
- the rotary lcleaning member at the eviscerating station 21 is advantageously in the form of a wheel having spaced disk portions 68 which define a peripheral groove 69 therebetween to receive the belly spikes and anal and tailfins of the fish.
- the cleaning member is preferably driven in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1 so that the top surface moves in a direction opposite the direction of movement of the fish and is supported on a shaft 70 mounted in a bearing 71.
- the upper periphery of the cleaning wheel 68 is disposed at a'level above the upper guide edges 63 on the belly spreader guide 25.
- the cleaning member 6% is preferably formed of a solid material such as plastic or the like, which can be molded or machined to the proper shape, and is advantageously formed with ribs such as 68 on its outer surface (see FIG. 3) which aid in scrubbing the sides of the belly cavity.
- the ribs taper inwardly toward the periphery of the cleaning wheel so that the latter has a generally V-shaped cross-section which conforms generally to the belly cavity of the fish.
- the top wall 42 of the mounting rail is cut away in the area below the cleaning wheel as indicated at 73 to provide clearance for the cleaning wheel and to allow the viscera to pass therethrough.
- shield plates 74 and 75 are mounted between the sides 41 of the rail, at the front and rear of the cleaning wheel to confine and guide the viscera as it is directed downwardly.
- the second intermediate guide 26 extends from the eviscerating station to the dorsal cutting station and includes an elongated guide member 78 which is detachably secured as by fasteners 79 on the top of the main support rail 40 and which preferably has a rib or key 78' (FIG. 9) to laterally position and center the guide member on the support rail.
- the inlet end 81 of the guide member is preferably contoured complementary to the adjacent side of the cleaning wheel 68 so as to overlie the rear portion of the cleaning wheel, as best shown in FIG. 1.
- the sides of the fish as it leaves the cleaning wheel 68 are spread apart and the guide 78 has a lateral width which corresponds generally to the width of the cleaning wheel so as to maintain the sides spread apart.
- the guide member has laterally spaced rail portions 82 at its upper side, which rail portions converge upwardly as shown in cross-section in FIG. 9 and define upper guide edges 82' at their top which are spaced apart a distance sufficient to receive the belly spikes and anal and tail fin of the fish.
- the guide edges 32 of the guide member 26 are disposed at least as high as the top of the rotary cleaning Wheel 68 and preferably slightly higher as shown in FIG. 1 to engage and support the underside of the fish along the opposite sides of the backbone.
- the inlet end of the upper guide edges curve downwardly as shown in FIG. 1 to aid in guiding the backbone of the fish into position so that the guide rails straddle the backbone. As best shown in FIGS.
- the outlet ends 83 of the rail portions 82 of the intermediate guide member extend alongside opposite sides of the dorsal cutters at one dorsal cutting station 22 to support the opposite sides of the fish during the dorsal cutting operation.
- the bottom of the intermediate guide 78 and the top portion of the mounting rail 40 are cut away as indicated at 84 and 85 to provide a downwardly facing discharge opening between the space rail sections 82, a shown in FIGS. 1 and 10.
- Shield plates 86 and 87 are attached to the inside of the main support rail 40 to form a chute which confines and guides the backbone removed at the dorsal cutting station.
- the dorsal cutters at the dorsal cutting station 22 are also preferably in the form of a pair of laterally spaced disks designated 91 arranged to form spaced dorsal cuts in the back of the fish as it is guided along the guide edges 82'.
- the dorsal cutters 91 are mounted on a shaft 92 disposed suificiently above the guide edges so as to not interfere with the passage of the fish therebelow and the shaft is rotatably mounted in a bearing 93 mounted on the main support rail.
- the cutting disks 91 are spaced approximately the same as the cutting disks 61 so as to cut closely adjacent opposite sides of the dorsal fin and back spikes on the fish.
- the cutting members 91 are preferably in the form of thin resilient disks which can spread laterally as required to pass over the backbone of the fish. As will be seen, the cutters extend downwardly between the upper guide edges 82' of the intermediate guide member to a level below the upper guide edges so as to intersect the ventral cuts made by the cutters 61' and to completely sever the backbone with the attached back and belly spikes, dorsal fin and anal fin from the opposite sides of the fish.
- the rib cages are severed from the backbone by the dorsal cutters 91 and the rib cages pass with the opposite side portions of the fish to the subsequent ribbing station 23.
- the dorsal cutters are preferably rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG.
- the backbone B is shown in phantom in FIG. 10 as it is ejected downwardly through the discharge opening between the rail sections 82.
- a stripper guide 95 is advantageously provided to extend between the cutter disks 91 and, as shown, is in the form of a stationary arcuate finger that extends from a point adjacent the hub of the cutter disks downwardly to the discharge opening 85.
- a shield 96 is preferably provided to overlie the top of the dorsal cutter and to inhibit slinging of the viscera or water.
- the outlet guide 27 includes an upstanding guide member 99 having vertical height substantially greater than the width of the fish and which member is mounted as by fasteners 101 on the upper edge of the main support rail 40.
- the outlet guide member 99 has opposite guide faces 102 which taper upwardly and inwardly at the end thereof adjacent the dorsal cutters 91, and which are generally parallel at their outlet ends.
- the opposite side faces of the outlet guide member 99 diverage relative to each other as viewed in plan (see FIGS. 2 and 3), in the direction of movement of the fish, to laterally spread the fish half-sections.
- the ribbing cutter located at the ribbing station 23 is preferably in the form of a reciprocable cutter which is operated at a relatively high speed and which is movable in a path crosswise of the direction of movement of the fish and which extends oblique to the ribs on the fish halfsections so as to cut the ribs from the fish half-sections in a progressive manner beginning at the ends of the ribs which were cut from the backbone.
- the ribbing station includes spaced guide plates 105 which are disposed substantially parallel to each other and coplanar with the outlet end of the guide faces 102 on the outlet guide 99.
- the plates 105 define generally planar or generally flat outer faces and a means including the belts are provided for pressing the fish half-sections against the outer faces of the guide plates to deform the rib cages on the fish halfsections to substantially planar configuration.
- the terms generally fiat and generally planar refer to the overall surface configuration of the guide plates and not to a specific surface finish, and it is intended that these terms apply not only to smooth fiat surfaces or true plane surfaces, but also to surfaces which may deviate therefrom so long as the fish sections, when pressed against the surfaces of the guide plates, have the rib bones deformed from their normal arched configuration to a somewhat straightened configuration.
- the guide plates 105 have a trailing edge 106 which is disposed at an acute angle to the direction of movement of the fish and is preferably inclined downwardly and forwardly with respect to the path of movement of the fish as shown in FIG. 1, at an angle of about 45
- the top 42 of the main support rail has an opening 108 formed therein and the guide plates 105 extend downwardly through that opening.
- the guide plates are conveniently attached to the rail as by fasteners 109 which extend through vertically elongated slots 110 to permit limited vertical adjustment of the guide plates and, preferably, shims designated 111 (FIG. 13) are interposed between the guide plates and the walls of the opening to enable control of the spacing between the guide plates.
- the upper edges of the guide plates 105 are conveniently supported by a pin 113' that extends through a slot in bracket 113 attached to the outlet end of the outlet guide member 99.
- the fasteners 109 can be tightened to clamp the plates 105 in adjusted position.
- a fillet guide and cutter support member 115 is mounted on the top of the main support rail 40 as by fasteners 116.
- the member 115 has preferably parallel opposed side faces which guide the bone free fillets as they are advanced by the conveyor means to the'discharge end of the machine.
- a guideway 118 is formed at the forward end of the member 115 and is positioned at an acute angle to the path of movement of the cutters to extend downwardly and forwardly in a direction generally parallel to the edges 106 of the guide plates 105.
- a cutter 120 is mounted for lengthwise reciprocation in the guideway and along a path paralleling the guide edges and has a pin 120 (FIG. 1) that extends into a slot (not shown) in the guideway to retain the cutter in the guideway. As shown in FIG.
- the cutter 120 has spaced cutting edges 121 and 122 which are laterally spaced apart a distance preferably slightly greater than the spacing between the outer faces of the guide plates 105 so that the cutting edges overlap the planes of the guide plates a small amount, for example about .004 inch for a perch.
- the cutting edges are spaced from the edges 106 of the guide plates in the direction of movement of the fish a distance which is controllable by the aforementioned adjustment of the guide plates 105 and sufficient to allow the severed ribs to enter the space between the edge 106 and the cutting edges 121 and 122.
- a spacing of about .140 inch between the edges 106 on the plate 105 and the respective cutting edges 121, 122 on the cutter has been found suitable for cutting the ribs off perch. Since the ribs R on the fish are somewhat thicker at the top than the bottom, the space between the edges 106 and the cutter edges can be made somewhat less at the bottom, for example about .090
- the cuttter is inclined downwardly and forwardly, the upper ends of the ribs which were severed from the backbone initially project into the opening between the guide edges 106 and the cutter, and the ribs are then cut progressively from the side portions of the fish as the side portions move past the reciprocating cutter.
- the cutter is advantageously formed with a concave face 120' as shown in FIG. 13 to deflect the ribs laterally of the plane of the guide plates, and thereby aid in stripping the ribs off the side portions of the fish.
- the cutters operate at a relatively high speed as compared to the speed of movement of the fish and, for example, the cutter may be reciprocated at a speed of the order of 2400 cycles per minute and have a stroke of about one-half inch while the conveyor belts have a speed of around 720 inches per minute.
- Any suitable mechanism may be provided for reciprocating the cutter and, as shown, a cutter drive motor 125 is mounted on a bracket 126 attached to the main frame and is coupled to a mechanism 127 which converts the rotary motion of the motor to reciprocating motion.
- the mechanism 127 has a reciprocating output shaft 128 which is connected as by a link 129 to the cutter to reciprocate the same.
- any suitable Since mechanism may be provided for driving the ventral cutters, the belly cleaner and the dorsal cutters.
- a separate drive motor designated 131 is mounted on the base and has pulleys 132 and 133.
- the pulley 132 is connected through a belt 134 to pulleys 135 and 136 on the belly cleaner shaft and ventral cutter shaft respectively.
- the other pulley 133 is connected through a belt 138 to a pulley 139 on the dorsal cutter shaft.
- the ventral cutter, belly cleaner and dorsal cutter are all rotated at a similar speed and may, for example, be driven at a speed of about 1725 revolutions per minute.
- the belts 45, 45' are preferably formed with roughened surfaces to grip the fish therebetween and a plurality of pressure applying members are provided at spaced points along the adjacent runs of the belt to maintain the belt in firm engagement with the fish and to aid in centering and positioning the fish as it passes the successive stations.
- a plurality of pairs of rollers designated 141a-141f are provided. The construction and mounting of the several pairs of rollers are similar and like numerals designate corresponding parts. shown in FIG. 4, the rollers are each supported on pairs of generally upright shafts 143 which are journalled in the main support rail 40.
- An arm 144 is attached to the upper end of each of the shafts and extends laterally thereof and rollers 145 are mounted on stub shaft 146 adjacent the outer ends of the arms. Provision is made for equalizing movement of the rollers of each pair so as to maintain the fish properly centered therebetween and, for this purpose, intermeshing sector gears 148 are attached to the shafts 143 of each pair to assure equal and opposite movement of the rollers.
- a spring means herein shown in the form of coil springs 149 are operatively connected to theshafts 143 to urge the rollers in a direction to press the belts inwardly.
- one set of opposed pairs of rollers 141a is provided in advance of the ventral cutting station and the rollers of this pair are mounted for turning movement about generally upright axes so as to maintain the belts generally upright at this point.
- a second pair of rollers 141b are mounted at the belly spreading guide 25 and, as shown in FIG. 7, these rollers are canted or inclined inwardly so as to generally parallel the side of the belly spreader guide 25 to press the fish downwardly onto the upper guide edges 63 of that guide.
- a plurality of pairs of rollers 141c-141d and 1412 are provided along the second intermediate guide 26 and these rollers are similarly mounted so that their axes are canted or inclined upwardly and inwardly to generally parallel the inclined rails 82' and press the fish downwardly against the upper guide edges 82', while centering the fish on the rails.
- Rollers 141i are mounted at opposite sides of the outlet guide and for rotation aboutupright axes to press the sides of the fish against opposite side faces of the outlet guide. Since the fish is split into half sections at the time it passes the rollers 141 it is not necessary to provide means such as the sector gears 148 for equalizing lateral movement of these rollers.
- the pressure applying means includes generally fiat pressure applying plates 151 which engage the outer sides of the belts.
- the pressure applying plates are swivelly sup ported so as to uniformly apply pressure over the lower portion of the belts opposite the rib cages and, as shown, are supported for tilting movement about generally upright axes 152 in yokes 153.
- the yokes 153 are, in turn, supported on brackets 154 for'swinging movement about axes 155 toward and away from the belts.
- the pressure applying members areyieldably urged into engagement with the lower portions of the belts by springs 156 attached to arms 157 on the yokes and to adjustable anchors As best 9 153 on the main support rail.
- the lower portions of the adjacent runs of the belts are yieldably urged inwardly at the filleting station by a controlled pressure and the belts press the rib cages on the adjacent side faces of the fish half-sections against the plates 105 to deform the rib cages into substantially planar configuration.
- the upper portion of the belts which are not engaged by the pressure applying members apply a relatively lighter pressure to the boneless top portions of the fillet thereby preventing the blade from slicing off meat when there are no bones.
- Water is supplied to the apparatus at various points along the machine to aid in cleaning and flushing the machine and the fish as it passes therethrough.
- the water is supplied from a common manifold 161 which conveniently overlies the top of the machine. Flow through the manifold is controlled by a valve 162 conveniently mounted on the base of the machine.
- a plurality of nozzles designated 16311463 are provided at spaced points along the manifold to direct water to the several instrumentalities.
- nozzles 163a are arranged to direct water in the area adjacent the belly cutters 21 to aid in flushing the viscera removed at this station and the nozzles 163 are provided adjacent the eviscerating station to also assist in removing the viscera.
- the nozzles are conveniently in the form of flexible tubes which can be bent to extend in any suitable direction and may, for example, be directed downwardly against the fish as well as upwardly into the belly cavity.
- Further nozzles 163a and 163d are provided at the ventral cutting station and nozzles 163:2 and 163 are provided adjacent the ribbing station for flushing the rib bones and waste material down throu h the discharge openings at those stations.
- a trough 165 is mounted on the base below the several discharge openings to collect the viscera and waste and to convey it to one end of the machine.
- the viscera including the backbone with the attached back and belly spikes and dorsal and ventral fins and rib cages are all conveyed by the trough 165 to a common Waste station.
- the bone free fillets are carried with the conveyor belts 45, 45' to the other end of the machine where they can be collected on a platform or conveyor (not shown).
- the fish which are first beheaded and preferably scaled are placed between the conveyor belts 45, 45' with the bellies of the fish resting on the inlet guide 24 as diagrammatically shown in FIG. 15.
- the rollers 141a press the belt into engagement with the opposite sides of the fish and the belt feeds the fish past the ventral cutters 61.
- the upper periphery of the ventral cutters is spaced above the upper guide edges of the inlet guide 24 a distance to form spaced ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the belly spikes to the tail of the fish, which cuts extend to a depth which is sufiiciently deep so that the dorsal cutting operation will thereafter completely sever the side portions of the fish.
- the relatively converging sides of the groove 58 in the inlet guide aid in centering the belly, anus and tail fin of the fish as it is advanced to the ventral cutters.
- the rollers 14111 adjacent the belly spreader guide press the belts and the fish against opposite sides of that guide.
- the belly spikes S1, anal A and tail T on the fish pass through the groove in the spreader guide so that in the guide 25 in conjunction with the rollers 141b, functions to center the fish as it enters the cleaning wheel 68.
- the cleaning wheel scrubs the inside of the belly cavity and has a groove 69 which allows the belly spikes and ventral fin to pass therethrough.
- the top of the cleaning wheel is disposed at a level above the top of the ventral cutters and, if a small fish is fed through the machine, the cleaning wheel will force the fish upwardly as it passes thereover and will efi'iciently scrub the inside of the belly cavity.
- the cleaning wheel will still project upwardly to a level sufficient to adequately remove the viscera from the belly cavity of the fish.
- the guides 26 are disposed at a level at least as high as the top of the cleaning wheel and preferably slightly higher and the rollers 141c-141e are canted as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 to press the belts and the fish downwardly. This assures that even the relatively large fish will be firmly guided along the edges 82' to vertically locate the fish.
- the inclined side walls of the rails 82 in conjunction with the canted rollers and the guiding of the belly spikes of the fish between the rails, assures proper lateral positioning and centering of the fish as it enters the dorsal cutting station 22.
- the dorsal cutters form spaced cuts in the back of the fish and extend downwardly between the guide edges 82 to intersect the ventral cuts and completely sever the side portions of the fish from the backbone.
- the backbone, with the attached back and belly spikes, dorsal fin, ventral fin and tail are discharged at the dorsal cutting station through the opening 85 and the stripper guide is provided to aid in forcing the backbone out from between the dorsal cutters.
- the fish half-sections with the rib cages attached are advanced to the ribbing station. As they reach the ribbing station, the rib cages are pressed against the generally flat plates to deform the ribs into a substantially planar configuration.
- the opposed cutting edges of the reciprocable cutter are spaced outwardly of the plane of the side faces 105 a slight distance so as to engage the ribs and sever the ribs from the side portions of the fish.
- the cutter extends downwardly and forwardly at an angle to the path of movement of the fish and extends oblique to the ribs so as to progressively sever the ribs from the fish half-sections, beginning at the ends of the ribs that were severed from the backbone.
- the ribs as they are severed from the side portions of the fish are deflected inwardly by the concave face of the cutter which thus aids in stripping the ribs from the side portions.
- the bone free fillets are then carried by the conveyors to the discharge end of the machine.
- An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means for advancing fish along a path with the belly facing downwardly, an inlet guide for engaging the underside of the belly of the fish to support the same, a pair of laterally spaced rotary ventral cutters mounted on an axis disposed below the level of the inlet guide and adjacent one end thereof and having cutting edges extending above the level of the inlet guide to form spaced ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes to a depth adjacent the backbone of the fish, means disposed in the path of movement of the fish for eviscerating the fish, an intermediate guide including a pair of laterally spaced rail sections spaced apart to receive the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and defining spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish to support and center the 'fish, and a pair of spaced rotary dorsal cutters mounted on an axis disposed above the level of the intermediate guide and having cutting edges extending downwardly between the upper guide edges on the intermediate
- An apparatus for dcessing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means for advancing fish along a path with the belly facing downwardly, an inlet guide for engaging the underside of the belly of the fish to support the same, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters mounted on an axis disposed below the level of the inlet guide and adjacent one end thereof and having cutting edges extending above the level of the inlet guide to form space ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes to a depth adjacent the backbone of the fish, means disposed in the path of movement of the fish for eviscerating the fish, and intermediate guide including a pair of laterally spaced rail sections spaced apart to receive the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and defining spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish to support and center the fish, a pair of spaced rotary dorsal cutters mounted on an axis disposed above the level of the intermediate guide and having cutting edges extending downwardly between the upper guide edges on the intermediate guide to
- An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means for advancing fish along a path with the belly facing downwardly, an inlet guide for engaging the underside of the belly of the fish to support the same, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters mounted on an axis disposed below the level of the inlet guide and adjacent one end thereof and having cutting edges extending above the level of the inlet guide to form spaced ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides the the anus and belly spikes to a depth adjacent the backbone of the fish, means disposed in the path or movement of the fish for eviscerating the fish, an intermediate guide including a pair of laterally spaced rail sections spaced apart to received the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and defining spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish to support and center the fish, a pair of spaced rotary dorsal cutters mounted on an axis diposed above the level of the intermediate guide and having cutting edges extending downwardly between the upper guide edges on the intermediate guide to sever
- An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means for advancing fish along a path with the belly facing downwardly, an inlet guide for engaging the underside of the belly of the fish to support the same, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters mounted on an axis disposed below the level of the inlet guide and adjacent one end thereof and having cutting edges extending above the level of the inlet guide to form spaced ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes to a depth adjacent the backbone of the fish, a rotary cleaning member disposed in the path of movement of the fish and having a peripheral groove for passing the belly spikes on the fish, an intermediate guide including a pair of laterally spaced rail sections spaced apart to receive the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and defining spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish to center the fish, a pair of spaced dorsal cutters having cutting edges extending from a point above the intermediate guide downwardly between the upper guide edges on the intermediate guide to sever
- An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish for advancing the same along a path with the belly facing downwardly, an inlet guide for engaging the underside of the belly of the fish to support the same, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters mounted on an axis disposed below the level of the inlet guide and adjacent the outlet end thereof and having cutting edges extending above the level of the inlet guide to form spaced ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes, a first intermediate guide extending from the ventral cutters and in the direction of movement of the fish, said first intermediate guide having spaced guide rails to receive the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and upper guide edges disposed at a level adjacent the top of the ventral cutters, a rotary cleaning member disposed at the outlet end of the first intermediate guide and having a peripheral groove for receiving the belly spikes on the fish, a second intermediate guide extending from the cleaning member in the direction of'movement of the fish and having spaced guide
- An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish for advancing the same along a path with the belly facing downwardly, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters for forming a pair of ventral slits on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes of the fish as it is advanced along said path, a first intermediate guide extending from the ventral cutters and in the direction of movement of the fish, said first intermediate guide having spaced guide rails to receive the belly spikes therebetween and being shaped to spread the belly cavity, a rotary cleaning member disposed at the outlet end of the first intermediate guide and having a peripheral groove for receiving the belly spikes of the fish, a second intermediate guide extending from the cleaning member in the direction of movement of the fish and having spaced guide rails for receiving the belly spikes of the fish therebetween, said second intermediate guide having spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish and in the ventral slits to guide and support the fish, and a pair of spaced rotary dors
- An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish for advancing the same along a path with the belly facing downwardly, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters for forming a pair of ventral slits on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes of the fish as its is advanced along said path, a first intermediate guide extending from the ventral cutters and in the direction of movement of the fish, said first intermediate guide having spaced guide rails to receive the belly spikes therebetween and being shaped to spread the belly cavity, a rotary cleaning member disposed at the outlet end of the first intermediate guide and having a peripheral groove for receiving the belly spikes of the fish, a second intermediate guide extending from the cleaning member in the direction of movement of the fish and having spaced guide rails for receiving the belly spikes of the fish therebtween, said second intermediate guide having spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish and in the ventral slits to guide and support the fish, and a pair of spaced rotary
- an apparatus for removing the ribs from fish sections comprising, a guide having a generally flat face, means for moving a fish section across said face with the ribs pressed thereagainst, a reciprocable cutter having a cutting edge generally paralleling said flat face of the guide, and extending at an angle to the path of movement of the fish along the guide such that the cutting edge first engages the ends of the ribs that are severed from the backbone and extends oblique to the ribs, and means for reciprocating said cutter in a direction generally parallel to its cutting edge to progressively sever the ribs from the fish sections as they move past the cutter.
- an apparatus for removing rib bones from fish sections comprising, a guide having a generally fiat face, means for moving fish sections along a path across said face with the ribs pressed thereagainst, said guide having an outlet edge inclined at an angle to the path of movement of the fish and extending oblique to the ribs on the fish as they move therepast, a reciprocable cutter having a cutting edge generally paralleling said flat face of the guide and extending at an angle to the path of movement of the fish in spaced relation to said outlet edge of the guide, means for reciprocating said cutter along a path generally parallel to its cutting edge to sever the ribs from the fish sections as they move past the cutter.
- an apparatus for removing the rib bones from fish sections comprising, a guide having a generally flat face, means for moving fish sections along a path across said face with the ribs pressed thereagainst, said guide having an outlet edge inclined at an angle to the path of movement of the fish and extending oblique to the ribs on the fish as they move therepast, a reciprocable cutter having a cutting edge generally paralleling said flat face of the guide and extending at an angle to the path of movement of the fish in spaced relation to said outlet edge of the guide, means for reciprocating said cutter along a path generally parallel to its cutting edge to sever the ribs from the fish sections as they move past the cutter, and means at the front side of said cutter for deflecting the rib bones laterally of said face of the guide as the ribs are severed from the sections.
- a device for filleting fish comprising, a pair of deformable flexible conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish to advance the same along a path, means including a pair of spaced cutters disposed between said conveyor means for cutting the fish into two half-sections as the fish is advanced by the conveyor means, a guide disposed between said conveyor means having spaced generally flat outer side faces, means including said conveyor means for pressing the adjacent faces of the fish half-sections against said side faces of the guide, reciprocable cutting means having spaced cutting edges adjacent to and generally paralleling a respective one of said side faces of the guide, and means for reciprocating said cutting means in a direction parallel to its cutting edges to sever the ribs from the fish sections.
- a device for filleting fish comprising, a pair of deformable flexible conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish to advance the same along a path, means including a pair of spaced cutters disposed between said conveyor means for cutting the fish into two halfsections as the fish is advanced by the conveyor means, a guide disposed between said conveyor means having spaced generally flat outer side faces, means including said conveyor means for pressing the adjacent faces of the fish half-sections against said side faces of the guide, reciprocable cutting means having spaced cutting edges adjacent to and generally paralleling a respective one of said side faces of the guide, and extending at an angle to the path of movement of the fish by the conveyor means to lie oblique of the ribs on the fish, and means for reciprocating said cutting means in a direction lengthwise of its cutting edge to sever the ribs from the fish sections.
- a device for filleting fish comprising, a pair of deformable flexible conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish to advance the same along a path, means including a pair of spaced cutters disposed between said conveyor means for cutting the fish into two halfsections as the fish is advanced by the conveyor means, a guide disposed between said conveyor means having spaced generally flat outer side faces, means including said conveyor means for pressing the adjacent faces of the fish half-sections against said side faces of the guide, reciprocable cutting means having spaced cutting edges adjacent to and generally paralleling a respective one of said side faces of the guide, and extending at an angle to the path of movement of the fish by the conveyor means to lie oblique of the ribs on the fish, and means for reciprocating said cutting means in a direction lengthwise of its cutting edge to sever the ribs from the fish sections, said cutting means having a transversely curved face extending between said cutting edges for deflecting the ribs laterally of the respective half-section of the fish as the ribs are severed
- An apparatus for dressing fish comprising conveyor means for advancing fish along a path with the belly facing downwardly, a pair of spaced ventral cutters having cutting edges to form spaced ventral cuts on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes of the fish to a depth adjacent the backbone of the fish, fish guide and centering means aligned with said cutters and including a pair of laterally spaced rail sections being spaced apart to receive the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and defining spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of a fish to support and center the fish, and fish dressing means aligned with said gide and centering means.
- an apparatus for removing the rib bones from fish sections comprising, conveyor means engageable with a fish section for advancing the same in the direction of the length of the fish, fish guide apparatus defining a guide face for engaging the rib bones on the fish sections as they are advanced by the conveyor means, means for pressing the ribbed side of the fish sections against said guide face, and a cutter means for removing rib bones from the fish sections, characterized in that the cutter means includes a cutter having at least one cutting edge, means supporting the cutter for oscillation in a direction generally lengthwise of the cutting edge and with the cutting edge extending adjacent said guide face 'at an angle to the direction of movement of the fish sections by the conveyor means such that the cutting edge is disposed oblique to the rib bones to progressively sever the rib bones from the fish sections, and drive means for oscillating the cutter.
- an apparatus for removing rib bones from 'fish sections comprising, fish moving means engageable with a fish section for advancing the same longitudinally in the direction of the length of the fish, fish guide apparatus defining a guide face for engaging the rib bones on the fish sections, said guide face having an outlet edge extending transverse to the direction of advance of the fish, means for pressing the ribbed side of the fish section laterally against said guide face as it is advanced therepast, and cutter means for removing the rib bones from the fish sections, characterized in that the cutter means has at least one cutting edge in close adjacency to said outlet edge of said guide face and spaced therefrom a minimum distance sufficient to allow the rib bones to pass therebetween, means supporting said cutter means for oscillation in a direction lengthwise of said one cutting edge to sever the rib bones from the fish'sections, and drive means for oscillating said cutter means.
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Description
Feb. 14,1957 R. 1.. LA PINE Em 3,3
FISH FILLETING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 30, 1964 Feb. 14, 1967 R. L. LA PINE ETAL FISH FILLETING MACHINE Filed Jan. 30, 1964 OI-g.
5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb 1967 R. L. LA PINE ETAL I 3,303,526
FISH FILLETING MACHINE Filed Jan 30, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Feb. 14, 1967 R, L LA p ETAL v 3,303,526
FISH FILLETING MACHINE Filed Jan. 30, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 M f 2 W 1967 R. LA PINE ETAL 3,303,526
FISH FILLETING MACHINE Filed Jan. 30, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent Ofifice 3,3il3,526 Patented Feb. 14, 1967 3,303,526 FISH FHJLETHNG MACHINE Robert L. La Pine, Wells, and Melvin J. Crepearr and Richard J. Pardon, Escanaba, Mich, assignors, by
mesne assignments, to First National Bank of Escanaba,
Escanaba, Mich, a national banking association Filed Jan. 30, 1964, Ser. No. 341,295 19 Claims. (Ci. 174) This invention relates to an apparatus for dressing fish.
An important object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for dressing fish which efficiently removes the bones from a fish with a minimum of waste of the edible parts of the fish.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus for dressing fish in which the belly cavity of the fish is opened and eviscerated, and the backbone and fins and belly ribs are removed to provide boneless fillets, all in a continuous and relatively high speed operation.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for dressing fish in which the backbone with the attached back and belly spikes together with the dorsal and tail fins are removed as a unit fnom the side portions of the fish and the rib cages thereafter removed from the severed side portions with a minimum of waste.
A further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for dressing fish which efficiently cleans and debones fish of different size and without requiring adjustment of the machine to accommodate the different size fish.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus for guiding the fish between the several cutting and cleaning stations to achieve accurate location and positioning of the fish relative to the several cutters and cleaning implements.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus for removing the belly ribs from a fish half-section to sever the ribs from the fish half-sections with a minimum of connecting tissue therebetween.
These, together with other obiects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the description which follows and the drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through one embodiment of the machine of this invention, taken on the plane 11 of FIG. 2;
FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the fish cleaning machine of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the embodiment of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and with the conveyor belts removed to facilitate illustration of the construction;
FIG. 4 is a transverse section taken on the plane 4-4 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating a fish positioned on the inlet fish guide;
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 5-5 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating the ventral cutters;
FIG. 6 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 66 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating the first intermediate guide for guidingly engaging the fish in the ventral slits and for spreading the sides of the fish belly;
FIG. 7 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 77 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating the fish positioned on the first intermediate guide and the roller arrangement for centering and locating the fish;
FIG. 8 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 8--8 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, through the rotary cleaning member;
FIG. 9 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 99 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating a fish positioned on the second intermediate guide;
FIG. 10 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 10-10 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, through the dorsal cutters;
FIG. 11 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 1111 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating the outlet fish guide for spreading the severed fish half-sections apart;
FIG. 12 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 12-12 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2;
FIG. 13 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the plane 13-13 of FIG. 2, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 2, and illustrating the rib cutters;
FIG. 14 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the plane 1414 of FIG. 1, on an enlarged scale with respect to FIG. 1, and illustrating the conveyor biasing and equalizing mechanism of this invention;
FIG. 15 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the successive cutting, guiding and cleaning steps performed by the apparatus of the present invention;
FIG. 16 is an enlarged view illustrating the rib cutter as it removes the rib bones from the side positions of the fish; and
FIG. 17 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the plane 1717 of FIG. 1, on an enlarged scale wit-h respect to FIG. 1, and illustrating the rib cutter as it removes the rib bones from the side portions of the fish.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the fish F are advanced along a path by a conveyor mechanism and are ventrally cut at a ventral cutting station 20, eviscerated at a cleaning station 21, dorsally cut at a station 22 to form two half sections with the rib cages attached and are thereafter moved past a ribbing station 23 where the rib bones are removed from the fish half sections. The ventral cutters at the ventral cutting station 20 are advantageously in the form of a pair of spaced rotary blades that form spaced slits in the belly on opposite sides of the anus, anal fin A, belly spikes S1 and tail fin T (see FIG. 15) of the fish and the ventral cutters are positioned with respect to an inlet fish guide 24 so as to control the depth of the cut formed by the ventral cutters. A first intermediate fish guide 25 is positioned at the outlet of the ventral cutters and is configured to pass the belly spikes, anal fin and tail fin and to spread the sides of the fish as it is advanced to the cleaning station 21. The cleaning wheel removes the viscera from the fish and the fish is then guided to a second intermediate guide 26 which is also advantageously constructed to guide the fish by engagement in the ventral slits and the sides of the backbone that protrude into the belly cavity as the fish advances to the dorsal slitting station 22. The dorsal cutters also preferably include spaced cutting disks which form dorsal cuts on opposite sides of the backbone B, back spikes S2, dorsal fins D and tail fin T and which intersect the ventral cuts to separate the fish into half-sections. The half-sections are then conveyed by the conveyor means past a spreading guide 27 to the ribbing cutters at the ribbing station 23. The ribbing cutters are preferably in the form of a reciprocable cutter which is mounted for movement at an angle to the direction of movementof the fish and to extend oblique to the ribs R (FIGS. 15 and 16) on the fish half-sections to thereby progressively sever the ribs from the half-sections as they move thereby.
Reference is now made more specifically to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The cutting and cleaning instrumentalities can be mounted on any suitable base and, in the form shown,
the base includes a generally open frame top 35 having support legs 36 and a lower bracing and supporting shelf 37. A generally U-shaped mounting rail 4%) is supported on the top of the base to support the various instrumentalities in proper alignment with each other and includes spaced upstanding sidewalls 41, a top wall 42 and laterally projecting fianges 43 at its lower edge for attachment to the top 35 of the base.
The fish are beheaded either manually or by a suitable machine prior to being fed to the cleaning and deboning apparatus, and a conveyor mechanism is provided for advancing the beheaded fish in the direction of their length along the top of the mounting rail 40 past the several instrumentalities. The fish conveying mechanism is preferably in the form of a pair of endless belts designated 45 and 45' which are entrained over drive pulleys 46, 46 at one end of the machine and over spaced idler pulleys 47,
47 at the other end to provide two laterally spaced runs for engaging the outer sides of a fish. The pulleys 47, 47' are mounted on supporting blocks 48, 48 attached to the rails at one end of the machine and adjustable idler rolls 49, 49 are also conveniently mounted on the aforementioned blocks for limited adjustment relative thereto in a direction lengthwise of the machine to enable tightening of the belts. In order to facilitate feeding and positioning of the fish in the space between the adjacent runs of the belts, the inlet ends of the belts are preferably arranged to converge relative to each other in the direction of movement of the belts. As shown in FIG. 2, a further pair of idler rollers 50, 50 are provided and spaced apart a distance greater than the rolls 47, 47, so that the adjacent runs of the belts are spaced relatively wider at the inlet end of the machine to enable positioning of the fish with their bellies resting on the inlet guide 24. The drive and idler pulleys are preferably grooved as shown in FIG. 2 to center the belt on the pulleys and the drive pulleys 46, 46' are driven at the same speed, but in relatively opposite directions to advance the adjacent runs of the belts 45, 45' in unison. In the embodiment shown, the drive pulleys 46, 46' are mounted on a gear case 51 attached to the end of the machine and a cross shaft 52 is drivingly connected through a belt 53 to a conveyor drive motor 54, also mounted on the base. The cross shaft 52 is drivingly connected to the drive pulleys 46, 46' in any suitable manner and may, for example, have right and left and worm gears on the shaft 52 which mesh with worm wheels on the drive pulleys to drive the same in relatively opposite directions, but at the same speed.
The fish are fed belly side down to the inlet end of the machine either by hand or by a suitable auxiliary feeding apparatus (not shown). The fish are placed with their bellies resting on the inlet guide 24, which guide has a length somewhat greater than the length of the fish to be cleaned and a width which substantially spans the space between the adjacent runs of the belt 45, 45'. The inlet guide member is mounted on the rail 44 and, in order to facilitate alignment of the several guide members of the rail, the top 42 of the rail is preferably formed with a longitudinally extending groove 42' which receives a downwardly projecting rib 24 on the inlet guide member (see FIG. 4). Fasteners 56 are provided for detachably se curing the inlet guide member to the rail. The belly of the fish rests on the inlet guide member 24 and the latter is formed with a groove 58 in the upper surface which tapers inwardly in the direction of movement of the fish along the guide as shown in FIG. 2 to aid in centering the belly, and the anal fin A and tail T of the fish as it is advanced along the guide. Forward projections 59 are provided on the inlet guide and extend on relatively opposite sides of the cutters at the ventral cutting station 20 to support the underside of the fish as it passes the ventral cutters.
The ventral cutters at the ventral cutting station 20 are preferably in the form of spaced disks 61 which are disposed at the outlet end of the inlet guide member 24 and form spaced ventral cuts in the fish as they pass thereover, which cuts extend through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the anus, anal fin, belly spikes and tail fin of the fish. The blades 61 are mounted on a shaft 62 supported in a bearing 62' attached to the mounting rail 40. The axis of the shaft 62 is disposed below the upper edge of the inlet guide 24 and the peripheral cutting edges on the dual blades 61 project to a level somewhat above the top of the inlet guide 24. The spacing between the top of the ventral cutters 61 and the top of the inlet guide 24 determines the depth of cut into the ventral side of the fish and is selected so that the cuts extend to a point somwhat adjacent the backbone B of the fish as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5. The ventral cutters can be rotated in either direction and, in the embodiment illustrated, are rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1 so that the top of the blade moves in a direction opposite the direction of movement of the fish. The periphery of the blades are preferably formed with notches 61' shaped to form teeth with a hook angle on the leading edge thereof to aid in cutting the thin belly skin. The blades 61 are spaced apart a distance so that the anus and anal fin together with the belly spikes and tail fin can pass between the blades to enable removal of these parts as a unit with the backbone and dorsal fin when the fish reaches the subsequent dorsal cutting station 22. The ventral cutters 61 remove some of the viscera and the top portion :2 of the mounting rail 40 is cut away as indicated at 60 to allow the viscera to pass downwardly. Shield and guide plates 60' are preferably provided between the sides of the mounting rail to confine and guide the viscera.
An intermediate or spreader guide 25 is mounted on the rail 46) at the outlet of the ventral cutting blades 21. The spreader guide 25 is also preferably formed with a rib or key 25' (FIGS. 6 and 7) which seats in the groove 42 on the support rail to laterally center the guide thereon. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the guide 25 has an inlet end 25a which is relatively narrow and approximates the spacing of the ventral cutters 61, and an outlet end 2517 which is relatively wider to open the belly cavity of the fish as it advances pastthe spreader guide. The spreader guide has a longitudinal groove 63 (FIGS. 6 and 7) in its top face which defines laterally spaced guide rails having upper guide edges 63'. The guide rails are spaced apart to receive the belly spikes, anal fin and tail of the fish as it is advanced by the conveyor means and the upper guide edges are preferably disposed at a level adjacent the top of the ventral cutters 61 to engage in the ventral slits and guide the fish. In addition, the outer side faces 64 of the spreader guide preferably taper upwardly as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 and substantially merge with the upper guide edges 63'. Thus, as the fish passes over the guide 25, the sides of the fish are spread laterally apart and are open relatively wider at the bottom of the fish to facilitate cleaning at the eviscerating station. In addition, the belly spreader guides 25 also aid in maintaining the adjacent runs of the belts 45, 45' spread apart when there is no fish therebetween so as to prevent cutting of the belts by the ventral cutters 61.
The rotary lcleaning member at the eviscerating station 21 is advantageously in the form of a wheel having spaced disk portions 68 which define a peripheral groove 69 therebetween to receive the belly spikes and anal and tailfins of the fish. The cleaning member is preferably driven in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1 so that the top surface moves in a direction opposite the direction of movement of the fish and is supported on a shaft 70 mounted in a bearing 71. In order to assure cleaning of the belly cavity of the larger size fish which are fed through the machine, the upper periphery of the cleaning wheel 68 is disposed at a'level above the upper guide edges 63 on the belly spreader guide 25. If a relatively small fish is passed through the cleaning machine, it will be cammed upwardly by engagement with the rotary cleaning Wheel 68. However, if a relatively large fish is passed through which has its backbone spaced above the upper level of the intermediate guide 63', then the cleaning wheel will still project upwardly a sufiicient distance to remove the viscera from the sides of the belly cavity of the fish. The cleaning member 6% is preferably formed of a solid material such as plastic or the like, which can be molded or machined to the proper shape, and is advantageously formed with ribs such as 68 on its outer surface (see FIG. 3) which aid in scrubbing the sides of the belly cavity. The ribs taper inwardly toward the periphery of the cleaning wheel so that the latter has a generally V-shaped cross-section which conforms generally to the belly cavity of the fish. As will be seen from FIGS. 1 and 8, the top wall 42 of the mounting rail is cut away in the area below the cleaning wheel as indicated at 73 to provide clearance for the cleaning wheel and to allow the viscera to pass therethrough. As shown in FIG. 1, shield plates 74 and 75 are mounted between the sides 41 of the rail, at the front and rear of the cleaning wheel to confine and guide the viscera as it is directed downwardly.
The second intermediate guide 26 extends from the eviscerating station to the dorsal cutting station and includes an elongated guide member 78 which is detachably secured as by fasteners 79 on the top of the main support rail 40 and which preferably has a rib or key 78' (FIG. 9) to laterally position and center the guide member on the support rail. The inlet end 81 of the guide member is preferably contoured complementary to the adjacent side of the cleaning wheel 68 so as to overlie the rear portion of the cleaning wheel, as best shown in FIG. 1. The sides of the fish as it leaves the cleaning wheel 68 are spread apart and the guide 78 has a lateral width which corresponds generally to the width of the cleaning wheel so as to maintain the sides spread apart. The guide member has laterally spaced rail portions 82 at its upper side, which rail portions converge upwardly as shown in cross-section in FIG. 9 and define upper guide edges 82' at their top which are spaced apart a distance sufficient to receive the belly spikes and anal and tail fin of the fish. The guide edges 32 of the guide member 26 are disposed at least as high as the top of the rotary cleaning Wheel 68 and preferably slightly higher as shown in FIG. 1 to engage and support the underside of the fish along the opposite sides of the backbone. The inlet end of the upper guide edges curve downwardly as shown in FIG. 1 to aid in guiding the backbone of the fish into position so that the guide rails straddle the backbone. As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the outlet ends 83 of the rail portions 82 of the intermediate guide member extend alongside opposite sides of the dorsal cutters at one dorsal cutting station 22 to support the opposite sides of the fish during the dorsal cutting operation. The bottom of the intermediate guide 78 and the top portion of the mounting rail 40 are cut away as indicated at 84 and 85 to provide a downwardly facing discharge opening between the space rail sections 82, a shown in FIGS. 1 and 10. Shield plates 86 and 87 are attached to the inside of the main support rail 40 to form a chute which confines and guides the backbone removed at the dorsal cutting station. The dorsal cutters at the dorsal cutting station 22 are also preferably in the form of a pair of laterally spaced disks designated 91 arranged to form spaced dorsal cuts in the back of the fish as it is guided along the guide edges 82'. The dorsal cutters 91 are mounted on a shaft 92 disposed suificiently above the guide edges so as to not interfere with the passage of the fish therebelow and the shaft is rotatably mounted in a bearing 93 mounted on the main support rail. In order to minimize waste of the edible portion of the fish along the backbone, the cutting disks 91 are spaced approximately the same as the cutting disks 61 so as to cut closely adjacent opposite sides of the dorsal fin and back spikes on the fish. The cutting members 91 are preferably in the form of thin resilient disks which can spread laterally as required to pass over the backbone of the fish. As will be seen, the cutters extend downwardly between the upper guide edges 82' of the intermediate guide member to a level below the upper guide edges so as to intersect the ventral cuts made by the cutters 61' and to completely sever the backbone with the attached back and belly spikes, dorsal fin and anal fin from the opposite sides of the fish. The rib cages are severed from the backbone by the dorsal cutters 91 and the rib cages pass with the opposite side portions of the fish to the subsequent ribbing station 23. The dorsal cutters are preferably rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1 so that the leading edge of the cutters move downwardly through the fish halves and aid in ejecting the backbone and attached back and belly spikes through the discharge opening. The backbone B is shown in phantom in FIG. 10 as it is ejected downwardly through the discharge opening between the rail sections 82. A stripper guide 95 is advantageously provided to extend between the cutter disks 91 and, as shown, is in the form of a stationary arcuate finger that extends from a point adjacent the hub of the cutter disks downwardly to the discharge opening 85. A shield 96 is preferably provided to overlie the top of the dorsal cutter and to inhibit slinging of the viscera or water.
The fish half sections with the attached belly spikes are advanced by the conveyor means past the outlet guide 27. The upper edges of the fish half sections are spaced relatively close together as they leave the dorsal cutters 91 and the lower portions are spread apart as previously described. Accordingly, the outlet guide 27 includes an upstanding guide member 99 having vertical height substantially greater than the width of the fish and which member is mounted as by fasteners 101 on the upper edge of the main support rail 40. The outlet guide member 99 has opposite guide faces 102 which taper upwardly and inwardly at the end thereof adjacent the dorsal cutters 91, and which are generally parallel at their outlet ends. Thus, the opposite side faces of the outlet guide member 99 diverage relative to each other as viewed in plan (see FIGS. 2 and 3), in the direction of movement of the fish, to laterally spread the fish half-sections.
The ribbing cutter located at the ribbing station 23 is preferably in the form of a reciprocable cutter which is operated at a relatively high speed and which is movable in a path crosswise of the direction of movement of the fish and which extends oblique to the ribs on the fish halfsections so as to cut the ribs from the fish half-sections in a progressive manner beginning at the ends of the ribs which were cut from the backbone. The ribbing station includes spaced guide plates 105 which are disposed substantially parallel to each other and coplanar with the outlet end of the guide faces 102 on the outlet guide 99. The plates 105 define generally planar or generally flat outer faces and a means including the belts are provided for pressing the fish half-sections against the outer faces of the guide plates to deform the rib cages on the fish halfsections to substantially planar configuration. As used herein, the terms generally fiat and generally planar refer to the overall surface configuration of the guide plates and not to a specific surface finish, and it is intended that these terms apply not only to smooth fiat surfaces or true plane surfaces, but also to surfaces which may deviate therefrom so long as the fish sections, when pressed against the surfaces of the guide plates, have the rib bones deformed from their normal arched configuration to a somewhat straightened configuration. The guide plates 105 have a trailing edge 106 which is disposed at an acute angle to the direction of movement of the fish and is preferably inclined downwardly and forwardly with respect to the path of movement of the fish as shown in FIG. 1, at an angle of about 45 As shown in FIG. 13, the top 42 of the main support rail has an opening 108 formed therein and the guide plates 105 extend downwardly through that opening. The
lower edges of the guide plates are conveniently attached to the rail as by fasteners 109 which extend through vertically elongated slots 110 to permit limited vertical adjustment of the guide plates and, preferably, shims designated 111 (FIG. 13) are interposed between the guide plates and the walls of the opening to enable control of the spacing between the guide plates. The upper edges of the guide plates 105 are conveniently supported by a pin 113' that extends through a slot in bracket 113 attached to the outlet end of the outlet guide member 99. As will be seen, the fasteners 109 can be tightened to clamp the plates 105 in adjusted position.
A fillet guide and cutter support member 115 is mounted on the top of the main support rail 40 as by fasteners 116. The member 115 has preferably parallel opposed side faces which guide the bone free fillets as they are advanced by the conveyor means to the'discharge end of the machine. A guideway 118 is formed at the forward end of the member 115 and is positioned at an acute angle to the path of movement of the cutters to extend downwardly and forwardly in a direction generally parallel to the edges 106 of the guide plates 105. A cutter 120 is mounted for lengthwise reciprocation in the guideway and along a path paralleling the guide edges and has a pin 120 (FIG. 1) that extends into a slot (not shown) in the guideway to retain the cutter in the guideway. As shown in FIG. 13, the cutter 120 has spaced cutting edges 121 and 122 which are laterally spaced apart a distance preferably slightly greater than the spacing between the outer faces of the guide plates 105 so that the cutting edges overlap the planes of the guide plates a small amount, for example about .004 inch for a perch. The cutting edges are spaced from the edges 106 of the guide plates in the direction of movement of the fish a distance which is controllable by the aforementioned adjustment of the guide plates 105 and sufficient to allow the severed ribs to enter the space between the edge 106 and the cutting edges 121 and 122. For example, a spacing of about .140 inch between the edges 106 on the plate 105 and the respective cutting edges 121, 122 on the cutter has been found suitable for cutting the ribs off perch. Since the ribs R on the fish are somewhat thicker at the top than the bottom, the space between the edges 106 and the cutter edges can be made somewhat less at the bottom, for example about .090
the space between the edge 106 of the guide plates and the cutting edges 121 and 122, they will tend to resume their curved configuration and the ends will project into the space between the cutter and the guide plates. the cuttter is inclined downwardly and forwardly, the upper ends of the ribs which were severed from the backbone initially project into the opening between the guide edges 106 and the cutter, and the ribs are then cut progressively from the side portions of the fish as the side portions move past the reciprocating cutter. The cutter is advantageously formed with a concave face 120' as shown in FIG. 13 to deflect the ribs laterally of the plane of the guide plates, and thereby aid in stripping the ribs off the side portions of the fish. The cutters operate at a relatively high speed as compared to the speed of movement of the fish and, for example, the cutter may be reciprocated at a speed of the order of 2400 cycles per minute and have a stroke of about one-half inch while the conveyor belts have a speed of around 720 inches per minute. Any suitable mechanism may be provided for reciprocating the cutter and, as shown, a cutter drive motor 125 is mounted on a bracket 126 attached to the main frame and is coupled to a mechanism 127 which converts the rotary motion of the motor to reciprocating motion. The mechanism 127 has a reciprocating output shaft 128 which is connected as by a link 129 to the cutter to reciprocate the same. Similarly, any suitable Since mechanism may be provided for driving the ventral cutters, the belly cleaner and the dorsal cutters. In the form shown, a separate drive motor designated 131 is mounted on the base and has pulleys 132 and 133. The pulley 132 is connected through a belt 134 to pulleys 135 and 136 on the belly cleaner shaft and ventral cutter shaft respectively. The other pulley 133 is connected through a belt 138 to a pulley 139 on the dorsal cutter shaft. In this manner, the ventral cutter, belly cleaner and dorsal cutter are all rotated at a similar speed and may, for example, be driven at a speed of about 1725 revolutions per minute.
The belts 45, 45' are preferably formed with roughened surfaces to grip the fish therebetween and a plurality of pressure applying members are provided at spaced points along the adjacent runs of the belt to maintain the belt in firm engagement with the fish and to aid in centering and positioning the fish as it passes the successive stations. In the embodiment shown, a plurality of pairs of rollers designated 141a-141f are provided. The construction and mounting of the several pairs of rollers are similar and like numerals designate corresponding parts. shown in FIG. 4, the rollers are each supported on pairs of generally upright shafts 143 which are journalled in the main support rail 40. An arm 144 is attached to the upper end of each of the shafts and extends laterally thereof and rollers 145 are mounted on stub shaft 146 adjacent the outer ends of the arms. Provision is made for equalizing movement of the rollers of each pair so as to maintain the fish properly centered therebetween and, for this purpose, intermeshing sector gears 148 are attached to the shafts 143 of each pair to assure equal and opposite movement of the rollers. A spring means, herein shown in the form of coil springs 149 are operatively connected to theshafts 143 to urge the rollers in a direction to press the belts inwardly.
In the embodiment illustrated, one set of opposed pairs of rollers 141a is provided in advance of the ventral cutting station and the rollers of this pair are mounted for turning movement about generally upright axes so as to maintain the belts generally upright at this point. A second pair of rollers 141b are mounted at the belly spreading guide 25 and, as shown in FIG. 7, these rollers are canted or inclined inwardly so as to generally parallel the side of the belly spreader guide 25 to press the fish downwardly onto the upper guide edges 63 of that guide. A plurality of pairs of rollers 141c-141d and 1412 are provided along the second intermediate guide 26 and these rollers are similarly mounted so that their axes are canted or inclined upwardly and inwardly to generally parallel the inclined rails 82' and press the fish downwardly against the upper guide edges 82', while centering the fish on the rails. Rollers 141i are mounted at opposite sides of the outlet guide and for rotation aboutupright axes to press the sides of the fish against opposite side faces of the outlet guide. Since the fish is split into half sections at the time it passes the rollers 141 it is not necessary to provide means such as the sector gears 148 for equalizing lateral movement of these rollers.
As previously mentioned, the fish half-sections are pressed against the generally flat sides of the guide plates 105 to deform the rib cages into substantially planar configuration. In the preferred embodiment illustrated, the pressure applying means includes generally fiat pressure applying plates 151 which engage the outer sides of the belts. The pressure applying plates are swivelly sup ported so as to uniformly apply pressure over the lower portion of the belts opposite the rib cages and, as shown, are supported for tilting movement about generally upright axes 152 in yokes 153. The yokes 153 are, in turn, supported on brackets 154 for'swinging movement about axes 155 toward and away from the belts. The pressure applying members areyieldably urged into engagement with the lower portions of the belts by springs 156 attached to arms 157 on the yokes and to adjustable anchors As best 9 153 on the main support rail. In this manner, the lower portions of the adjacent runs of the belts are yieldably urged inwardly at the filleting station by a controlled pressure and the belts press the rib cages on the adjacent side faces of the fish half-sections against the plates 105 to deform the rib cages into substantially planar configuration. The upper portion of the belts which are not engaged by the pressure applying members, apply a relatively lighter pressure to the boneless top portions of the fillet thereby preventing the blade from slicing off meat when there are no bones.
Water is supplied to the apparatus at various points along the machine to aid in cleaning and flushing the machine and the fish as it passes therethrough. As best shown in FIG. 1, the water is supplied from a common manifold 161 which conveniently overlies the top of the machine. Flow through the manifold is controlled by a valve 162 conveniently mounted on the base of the machine. A plurality of nozzles designated 16311463 are provided at spaced points along the manifold to direct water to the several instrumentalities. As shown, nozzles 163a are arranged to direct water in the area adjacent the belly cutters 21 to aid in flushing the viscera removed at this station and the nozzles 163 are provided adjacent the eviscerating station to also assist in removing the viscera. The nozzles are conveniently in the form of flexible tubes which can be bent to extend in any suitable direction and may, for example, be directed downwardly against the fish as well as upwardly into the belly cavity. Further nozzles 163a and 163d are provided at the ventral cutting station and nozzles 163:2 and 163 are provided adjacent the ribbing station for flushing the rib bones and waste material down throu h the discharge openings at those stations. A trough 165 is mounted on the base below the several discharge openings to collect the viscera and waste and to convey it to one end of the machine. Thus, the viscera including the backbone with the attached back and belly spikes and dorsal and ventral fins and rib cages are all conveyed by the trough 165 to a common Waste station. The bone free fillets are carried with the conveyor belts 45, 45' to the other end of the machine where they can be collected on a platform or conveyor (not shown).
From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction of the apparatus and the manner in which it performs the method of the present invention will be readily understood. The fish which are first beheaded and preferably scaled are placed between the conveyor belts 45, 45' with the bellies of the fish resting on the inlet guide 24 as diagrammatically shown in FIG. 15. The rollers 141a press the belt into engagement with the opposite sides of the fish and the belt feeds the fish past the ventral cutters 61. The upper periphery of the ventral cutters is spaced above the upper guide edges of the inlet guide 24 a distance to form spaced ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the belly spikes to the tail of the fish, which cuts extend to a depth which is sufiiciently deep so that the dorsal cutting operation will thereafter completely sever the side portions of the fish. The relatively converging sides of the groove 58 in the inlet guide aid in centering the belly, anus and tail fin of the fish as it is advanced to the ventral cutters. The rollers 14111 adjacent the belly spreader guide press the belts and the fish against opposite sides of that guide. The belly spikes S1, anal A and tail T on the fish pass through the groove in the spreader guide so that in the guide 25 in conjunction with the rollers 141b, functions to center the fish as it enters the cleaning wheel 68. The cleaning wheel scrubs the inside of the belly cavity and has a groove 69 which allows the belly spikes and ventral fin to pass therethrough. The top of the cleaning wheel is disposed at a level above the top of the ventral cutters and, if a small fish is fed through the machine, the cleaning wheel will force the fish upwardly as it passes thereover and will efi'iciently scrub the inside of the belly cavity.
However, if the fish is relatively larger so that the ventral cutters do not extend all the way to the backbone of the fish, the cleaning wheel will still project upwardly to a level sufficient to adequately remove the viscera from the belly cavity of the fish. The guides 26 are disposed at a level at least as high as the top of the cleaning wheel and preferably slightly higher and the rollers 141c-141e are canted as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 to press the belts and the fish downwardly. This assures that even the relatively large fish will be firmly guided along the edges 82' to vertically locate the fish. In addition, the inclined side walls of the rails 82 in conjunction with the canted rollers and the guiding of the belly spikes of the fish between the rails, assures proper lateral positioning and centering of the fish as it enters the dorsal cutting station 22.
The dorsal cutters form spaced cuts in the back of the fish and extend downwardly between the guide edges 82 to intersect the ventral cuts and completely sever the side portions of the fish from the backbone. The backbone, with the attached back and belly spikes, dorsal fin, ventral fin and tail are discharged at the dorsal cutting station through the opening 85 and the stripper guide is provided to aid in forcing the backbone out from between the dorsal cutters. The fish half-sections with the rib cages attached are advanced to the ribbing station. As they reach the ribbing station, the rib cages are pressed against the generally flat plates to deform the ribs into a substantially planar configuration. As the ends of the ribs R that are severed from the backbone reach the edge 106, they tend to curve inwardly. In addition, the opposed cutting edges of the reciprocable cutter are spaced outwardly of the plane of the side faces 105 a slight distance so as to engage the ribs and sever the ribs from the side portions of the fish. The cutter extends downwardly and forwardly at an angle to the path of movement of the fish and extends oblique to the ribs so as to progressively sever the ribs from the fish half-sections, beginning at the ends of the ribs that were severed from the backbone. The ribs as they are severed from the side portions of the fish are deflected inwardly by the concave face of the cutter which thus aids in stripping the ribs from the side portions. The bone free fillets are then carried by the conveyors to the discharge end of the machine.
While the particular fish cleaning and boning machine herein shown and disclosed in detail is fully capable of attaining the objects and providing the advantages hereinbefore stated, it is to be understood that it is merely illustrative of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention and that no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design shown other than as defined in the appended claims.
We claim:
1. An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means for advancing fish along a path with the belly facing downwardly, an inlet guide for engaging the underside of the belly of the fish to support the same, a pair of laterally spaced rotary ventral cutters mounted on an axis disposed below the level of the inlet guide and adjacent one end thereof and having cutting edges extending above the level of the inlet guide to form spaced ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes to a depth adjacent the backbone of the fish, means disposed in the path of movement of the fish for eviscerating the fish, an intermediate guide including a pair of laterally spaced rail sections spaced apart to receive the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and defining spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish to support and center the 'fish, and a pair of spaced rotary dorsal cutters mounted on an axis disposed above the level of the intermediate guide and having cutting edges extending downwardly between the upper guide edges on the intermediate guide to 1 l sever the backbone with the back and belly spikes attached from the side portions of the fish.
2. An apparatus for dcessing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means for advancing fish along a path with the belly facing downwardly, an inlet guide for engaging the underside of the belly of the fish to support the same, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters mounted on an axis disposed below the level of the inlet guide and adjacent one end thereof and having cutting edges extending above the level of the inlet guide to form space ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes to a depth adjacent the backbone of the fish, means disposed in the path of movement of the fish for eviscerating the fish, and intermediate guide including a pair of laterally spaced rail sections spaced apart to receive the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and defining spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish to support and center the fish, a pair of spaced rotary dorsal cutters mounted on an axis disposed above the level of the intermediate guide and having cutting edges extending downwardly between the upper guide edges on the intermediate guide to sever the backbone with the back and belly spikes attached from the side portions of the fish, and deflector means extending between the dorsal cutters for guiding the backbone out from between the cutters, said inlet guide being substantially wider than the spacing of said ventral cutters and having a groove in the upper surface which is substantially wider than the spacing of the ventral cutters at the inlet side of the guide, said groove decreasing in width in a direction toward said ventral cutters to aid in centering the belly of the fish and to center the anal and tail portion of the fish as it is advanced to the ventral cutters.
3. An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means for advancing fish along a path with the belly facing downwardly, an inlet guide for engaging the underside of the belly of the fish to support the same, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters mounted on an axis disposed below the level of the inlet guide and adjacent one end thereof and having cutting edges extending above the level of the inlet guide to form spaced ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides the the anus and belly spikes to a depth adjacent the backbone of the fish, means disposed in the path or movement of the fish for eviscerating the fish, an intermediate guide including a pair of laterally spaced rail sections spaced apart to received the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and defining spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish to support and center the fish, a pair of spaced rotary dorsal cutters mounted on an axis diposed above the level of the intermediate guide and having cutting edges extending downwardly between the upper guide edges on the intermediate guide to sever the backbone with the back and belly spikes attached from the side portions of the fish, and deflector means extending between the dorsal cutters for guiding the backbone out from between the cutters, said spaced rail sections of said intermediate guide having upwardly convergent outer side faces to aid in centering the fish on the guide.
4. An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means for advancing fish along a path with the belly facing downwardly, an inlet guide for engaging the underside of the belly of the fish to support the same, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters mounted on an axis disposed below the level of the inlet guide and adjacent one end thereof and having cutting edges extending above the level of the inlet guide to form spaced ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes to a depth adjacent the backbone of the fish, a rotary cleaning member disposed in the path of movement of the fish and having a peripheral groove for passing the belly spikes on the fish, an intermediate guide including a pair of laterally spaced rail sections spaced apart to receive the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and defining spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish to center the fish, a pair of spaced dorsal cutters having cutting edges extending from a point above the intermediate guide downwardly between the upper guide edges on the intermediate guide to sever the backbone and back and belly spikes from the side portions of the fish.
5. An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish for advancing the same along a path with the belly facing downwardly, an inlet guide for engaging the underside of the belly of the fish to support the same, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters mounted on an axis disposed below the level of the inlet guide and adjacent the outlet end thereof and having cutting edges extending above the level of the inlet guide to form spaced ventral cuts through the belly of the fish and on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes, a first intermediate guide extending from the ventral cutters and in the direction of movement of the fish, said first intermediate guide having spaced guide rails to receive the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and upper guide edges disposed at a level adjacent the top of the ventral cutters, a rotary cleaning member disposed at the outlet end of the first intermediate guide and having a peripheral groove for receiving the belly spikes on the fish, a second intermediate guide extending from the cleaning member in the direction of'movement of the fish and having spaced guide rails for receiving the belly spikes of the fish, said second intermediate guide having spaced upper guide edges straddling the backbone of the fish and in the ventral slits to guide and support the fish, and a pair of spaced rotary dorsal cutters mounted on an axis disposed above the second intermediate guide and extending downwardly between the upper guide edges on the second intermediate guide to sever the backbone with the back and belly spikes attached from the side portions of the fish.
6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said upper guide edges of said second intermediate guide are disposed at a level above the upper guide edges of said first intermediate guide.
7. The combination of claim 5 wherein the outer periphery of the rotary cleaning member extends to a level above the upper guide edges of said first intermediate guide and the upper guide edges of said second intermediate guide are disposed at a level at least as high as the top of the rotary cleaning member.
8. An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish for advancing the same along a path with the belly facing downwardly, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters for forming a pair of ventral slits on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes of the fish as it is advanced along said path, a first intermediate guide extending from the ventral cutters and in the direction of movement of the fish, said first intermediate guide having spaced guide rails to receive the belly spikes therebetween and being shaped to spread the belly cavity, a rotary cleaning member disposed at the outlet end of the first intermediate guide and having a peripheral groove for receiving the belly spikes of the fish, a second intermediate guide extending from the cleaning member in the direction of movement of the fish and having spaced guide rails for receiving the belly spikes of the fish therebetween, said second intermediate guide having spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish and in the ventral slits to guide and support the fish, and a pair of spaced rotary dorsal cutters mounted on an axis disposed above the second intermediate guide and extending downwardly between the upper guide edges on the second intermediate guide to sever the backbone with the back and belly spikes attached from the side portion of the fish, an outlet guide extending from the dorsal cutter and to a rib cage removing station, said outlet guide having a generally flat side face, means for pressing a side portion of the fish against said face of the outlet guide as the side portion moves past the rib cage removing station, and a ribbing cutter having a cutting edge extending crosswise of the direction of movement of the fish along said path and generally paralleling said side face of the outlet guide, and means for oscillating said ribbing cutter in a direction crosswise of the direction of movement of the fish along said path to sever the ribs from the side portion of the fish.
9. An apparatus for dressing beheaded fish comprising, conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish for advancing the same along a path with the belly facing downwardly, a pair of spaced rotary ventral cutters for forming a pair of ventral slits on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes of the fish as its is advanced along said path, a first intermediate guide extending from the ventral cutters and in the direction of movement of the fish, said first intermediate guide having spaced guide rails to receive the belly spikes therebetween and being shaped to spread the belly cavity, a rotary cleaning member disposed at the outlet end of the first intermediate guide and having a peripheral groove for receiving the belly spikes of the fish, a second intermediate guide extending from the cleaning member in the direction of movement of the fish and having spaced guide rails for receiving the belly spikes of the fish therebtween, said second intermediate guide having spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of the fish and in the ventral slits to guide and support the fish, and a pair of spaced rotary dorsal cutters mounted on an axis disposed above the second intermediate guide and extending downwardly between the upper guide edges on the second intermediate guide to sever the backbone with the back and belly spikes attached from the side portion of the fish, an outlet guide extending from the dorsal cutter and to a rib cage removing station, said outlet guide having generally flat side faces, means for pressing the side portions of the fish against said side faces of the outlet guide as the side portions move past the rib cage removing station, and a ribbing cutter having spaced cutting edges generally paralleling said side faces of the outlet guide and disposed at an angle to the direction of movement of the fish along said path such that the cutting edges extend oblique to the belly ribs, and means for reciprocating said ribbing cutter in a direction generally lengthwise of its cutting edges to sever the ribs from theside portions of the fish.
10. The combination of claim 9 wherein said ribbing cutter has a transversely concave face extending between said cutting edges to deflect the ribs laterally of the respective side portion of the fish.
11. In an apparatus for removing the ribs from fish sections comprising, a guide having a generally flat face, means for moving a fish section across said face with the ribs pressed thereagainst, a reciprocable cutter having a cutting edge generally paralleling said flat face of the guide, and extending at an angle to the path of movement of the fish along the guide such that the cutting edge first engages the ends of the ribs that are severed from the backbone and extends oblique to the ribs, and means for reciprocating said cutter in a direction generally parallel to its cutting edge to progressively sever the ribs from the fish sections as they move past the cutter.
12. In an apparatus for removing rib bones from fish sections comprising, a guide having a generally fiat face, means for moving fish sections along a path across said face with the ribs pressed thereagainst, said guide having an outlet edge inclined at an angle to the path of movement of the fish and extending oblique to the ribs on the fish as they move therepast, a reciprocable cutter having a cutting edge generally paralleling said flat face of the guide and extending at an angle to the path of movement of the fish in spaced relation to said outlet edge of the guide, means for reciprocating said cutter along a path generally parallel to its cutting edge to sever the ribs from the fish sections as they move past the cutter.
13. In an apparatus for removing the rib bones from fish sections comprising, a guide having a generally flat face, means for moving fish sections along a path across said face with the ribs pressed thereagainst, said guide having an outlet edge inclined at an angle to the path of movement of the fish and extending oblique to the ribs on the fish as they move therepast, a reciprocable cutter having a cutting edge generally paralleling said flat face of the guide and extending at an angle to the path of movement of the fish in spaced relation to said outlet edge of the guide, means for reciprocating said cutter along a path generally parallel to its cutting edge to sever the ribs from the fish sections as they move past the cutter, and means at the front side of said cutter for deflecting the rib bones laterally of said face of the guide as the ribs are severed from the sections.
14. In a device for filleting fish comprising, a pair of deformable flexible conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish to advance the same along a path, means including a pair of spaced cutters disposed between said conveyor means for cutting the fish into two half-sections as the fish is advanced by the conveyor means, a guide disposed between said conveyor means having spaced generally flat outer side faces, means including said conveyor means for pressing the adjacent faces of the fish half-sections against said side faces of the guide, reciprocable cutting means having spaced cutting edges adjacent to and generally paralleling a respective one of said side faces of the guide, and means for reciprocating said cutting means in a direction parallel to its cutting edges to sever the ribs from the fish sections.
15. In a device for filleting fish comprising, a pair of deformable flexible conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish to advance the same along a path, means including a pair of spaced cutters disposed between said conveyor means for cutting the fish into two halfsections as the fish is advanced by the conveyor means, a guide disposed between said conveyor means having spaced generally flat outer side faces, means including said conveyor means for pressing the adjacent faces of the fish half-sections against said side faces of the guide, reciprocable cutting means having spaced cutting edges adjacent to and generally paralleling a respective one of said side faces of the guide, and extending at an angle to the path of movement of the fish by the conveyor means to lie oblique of the ribs on the fish, and means for reciprocating said cutting means in a direction lengthwise of its cutting edge to sever the ribs from the fish sections.
16. In a device for filleting fish comprising, a pair of deformable flexible conveyor means engageable with opposite sides of a fish to advance the same along a path, means including a pair of spaced cutters disposed between said conveyor means for cutting the fish into two halfsections as the fish is advanced by the conveyor means, a guide disposed between said conveyor means having spaced generally flat outer side faces, means including said conveyor means for pressing the adjacent faces of the fish half-sections against said side faces of the guide, reciprocable cutting means having spaced cutting edges adjacent to and generally paralleling a respective one of said side faces of the guide, and extending at an angle to the path of movement of the fish by the conveyor means to lie oblique of the ribs on the fish, and means for reciprocating said cutting means in a direction lengthwise of its cutting edge to sever the ribs from the fish sections, said cutting means having a transversely curved face extending between said cutting edges for deflecting the ribs laterally of the respective half-section of the fish as the ribs are severed from the fish half-sections.
17. An apparatus for dressing fish comprising conveyor means for advancing fish along a path with the belly facing downwardly, a pair of spaced ventral cutters having cutting edges to form spaced ventral cuts on opposite sides of the anus and belly spikes of the fish to a depth adjacent the backbone of the fish, fish guide and centering means aligned with said cutters and including a pair of laterally spaced rail sections being spaced apart to receive the belly spikes of the fish therebetween and defining spaced upper guide edges for straddling the backbone of a fish to support and center the fish, and fish dressing means aligned with said gide and centering means.
18. In an apparatus for removing the rib bones from fish sections comprising, conveyor means engageable with a fish section for advancing the same in the direction of the length of the fish, fish guide apparatus defining a guide face for engaging the rib bones on the fish sections as they are advanced by the conveyor means, means for pressing the ribbed side of the fish sections against said guide face, and a cutter means for removing rib bones from the fish sections, characterized in that the cutter means includes a cutter having at least one cutting edge, means supporting the cutter for oscillation in a direction generally lengthwise of the cutting edge and with the cutting edge extending adjacent said guide face 'at an angle to the direction of movement of the fish sections by the conveyor means such that the cutting edge is disposed oblique to the rib bones to progressively sever the rib bones from the fish sections, and drive means for oscillating the cutter.
19. In an apparatus for removing rib bones from 'fish sections comprising, fish moving means engageable with a fish section for advancing the same longitudinally in the direction of the length of the fish, fish guide apparatus defining a guide face for engaging the rib bones on the fish sections, said guide face having an outlet edge extending transverse to the direction of advance of the fish, means for pressing the ribbed side of the fish section laterally against said guide face as it is advanced therepast, and cutter means for removing the rib bones from the fish sections, characterized in that the cutter means has at least one cutting edge in close adjacency to said outlet edge of said guide face and spaced therefrom a minimum distance sufficient to allow the rib bones to pass therebetween, means supporting said cutter means for oscillation in a direction lengthwise of said one cutting edge to sever the rib bones from the fish'sections, and drive means for oscillating said cutter means.
References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,466,614 4/1949 Rivers Q. 17-3 2,697,849 12/1954 Hunt 174 2,704,378 3/1955 Schlichting 17-4 2,771,633 11/1956 Bartels et al. 17-45 2,911,668 11/1959 Johnson 1745 3,003,186 10/1961 Eriksen 17-'3 SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner.
H. P. DEELEY, 111., Assistant Examiner.
Claims (1)
1. AN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING BEHEADED FISH COMPRISING, CONVEYOR MEANS FOR ADVANCING FISH ALONG A PATH WITH THE BELLY FACING DOWNWARDLY, AN INLET GUIDE FOR ENGAGING THE UNDERSIDE OF THE BELLY OF THE FISH TO SUPPORT THE SAME, A PAIR OF LATERALLY SPACED ROTARY VENTRAL CUTTERS MOUNTED ON AN AXIS DISPOSED BELOW THE LEVEL OF THE INLET GUIDE AND ADJACENT ONE END THEREOF AND HAVING CUTTING EDGES EXTENDING ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE INLET GUIDE TO FORM SPACED VENTRAL CUTS THROUGH THE BELLY OF THE FISH AND ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE ANUS AND BELLY SPIKES TO A DEPTH ADJACENT THE BACKBONE OF THE FISH, MEANS DISPOSED IN THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF THE FISH FOR EVISCERATING THE FISH, AN INTERMEDIATE GUIDE INCLUDING A PAIR OF LATERALLY SPACED RAIL SECTIONS SPACED APART TO RECEIVE THE BELLY SPIKES OF THE FISH THEREBETWEEN AND DEFINING SPACED UPPER GUIDE EDGES FOR STRADDLING THE BACKBONE OF THE FISH TO SUPPORT AND CENTER THE FISH, AND A PAIR OF SPACED ROTARY DORSAL CUTTERS MOUNTED ON AN AXIS DISPOSED ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE INTERMEDIATE GUIDE AND HAVING CUTTING EDGES EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY BETWEEN THE UPPER GUIDE EDGES ON THE INTERMEDIATE GUIDE TO SEVER THE BACKBONE WITH THE BACK AND BELLY SPIKES ATTACHED FROM THE SIDE PORTIONS OF THE FISH.
Priority Applications (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US341295A US3303526A (en) | 1964-01-30 | 1964-01-30 | Fish filleting machine |
FR3356A FR1426456A (en) | 1964-01-30 | 1965-01-26 | Fish fillet preparation machine |
BE658814D BE658814A (en) | 1964-01-30 | 1965-01-26 | |
GB4147/65A GB1090321A (en) | 1964-01-30 | 1965-01-29 | Dressing fish |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US341295A US3303526A (en) | 1964-01-30 | 1964-01-30 | Fish filleting machine |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US3303526A true US3303526A (en) | 1967-02-14 |
Family
ID=23336985
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US341295A Expired - Lifetime US3303526A (en) | 1964-01-30 | 1964-01-30 | Fish filleting machine |
Country Status (4)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (1) | US3303526A (en) |
BE (1) | BE658814A (en) |
FR (1) | FR1426456A (en) |
GB (1) | GB1090321A (en) |
Cited By (8)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3890674A (en) * | 1972-12-01 | 1975-06-24 | Anvar | Apparatus for removing the bones from poultry |
US4084294A (en) * | 1976-08-13 | 1978-04-18 | Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. Baader | Fish processing machine |
US4104764A (en) * | 1976-11-26 | 1978-08-08 | Coast John B | Crustacean claw-processing machine |
US4112547A (en) * | 1976-12-21 | 1978-09-12 | Alexandr Ivanovich Glushkov | Automatically adjustable cutting apparatus for purposes such as filleting fish |
US4134181A (en) * | 1976-04-06 | 1979-01-16 | Schneider Palmer W Jr | Apparatus for trimming meat |
US4214345A (en) * | 1978-08-23 | 1980-07-29 | Duncan Creations, Inc. | Machine for severing poultry into predetermined portions |
US4542559A (en) * | 1981-07-10 | 1985-09-24 | A. W. Manufacturing Inc. | Method for filleting fish |
US4630335A (en) * | 1983-06-24 | 1986-12-23 | Claudon Brian J | Fish processor |
Families Citing this family (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
ES407945A1 (en) * | 1972-10-25 | 1975-10-16 | Ruiz Polo | Preparing and fish cleaning machine destined to conserve. (Machine-translation by Google Translate, not legally binding) |
FR2599944B1 (en) * | 1986-06-17 | 1990-02-23 | Parpillon Rene | FISHING MACHINE. |
US5520576A (en) * | 1994-11-09 | 1996-05-28 | Pisces Industries, Ltd. | Fish filleting machine |
ES2148403T3 (en) * | 1995-11-06 | 2000-10-16 | Nordischer Maschinenbau | DEVICE TO REMOVE THE FISH SCRAP. |
CN113142287B (en) * | 2021-03-30 | 2022-09-13 | 南安市丽图科技有限公司 | Fish slice making device for instant-boiling hot pot |
Citations (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US2466614A (en) * | 1946-12-09 | 1949-04-05 | Rivers Emil | Fish slicing and cleaning machine |
US2697849A (en) * | 1946-09-20 | 1954-12-28 | Fish Machinery Corp | Apparatus for filleting fish |
US2704378A (en) * | 1950-05-19 | 1955-03-22 | Nordischer Maschinenbau | Apparatus for filleting fish |
US2771633A (en) * | 1953-01-20 | 1956-11-27 | Nordischer Maschinenbau | Method of preparing finless fish fillets |
US2911668A (en) * | 1956-11-19 | 1959-11-10 | Camp Sea Food Company Inc Van | Method for cleaning fish |
US3003186A (en) * | 1959-10-12 | 1961-10-10 | Northland Distributing Co Inc | Fish cleaning machine |
-
1964
- 1964-01-30 US US341295A patent/US3303526A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1965
- 1965-01-26 FR FR3356A patent/FR1426456A/en not_active Expired
- 1965-01-26 BE BE658814D patent/BE658814A/xx unknown
- 1965-01-29 GB GB4147/65A patent/GB1090321A/en not_active Expired
Patent Citations (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US2697849A (en) * | 1946-09-20 | 1954-12-28 | Fish Machinery Corp | Apparatus for filleting fish |
US2466614A (en) * | 1946-12-09 | 1949-04-05 | Rivers Emil | Fish slicing and cleaning machine |
US2704378A (en) * | 1950-05-19 | 1955-03-22 | Nordischer Maschinenbau | Apparatus for filleting fish |
US2771633A (en) * | 1953-01-20 | 1956-11-27 | Nordischer Maschinenbau | Method of preparing finless fish fillets |
US2911668A (en) * | 1956-11-19 | 1959-11-10 | Camp Sea Food Company Inc Van | Method for cleaning fish |
US3003186A (en) * | 1959-10-12 | 1961-10-10 | Northland Distributing Co Inc | Fish cleaning machine |
Cited By (8)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3890674A (en) * | 1972-12-01 | 1975-06-24 | Anvar | Apparatus for removing the bones from poultry |
US4134181A (en) * | 1976-04-06 | 1979-01-16 | Schneider Palmer W Jr | Apparatus for trimming meat |
US4084294A (en) * | 1976-08-13 | 1978-04-18 | Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. Baader | Fish processing machine |
US4104764A (en) * | 1976-11-26 | 1978-08-08 | Coast John B | Crustacean claw-processing machine |
US4112547A (en) * | 1976-12-21 | 1978-09-12 | Alexandr Ivanovich Glushkov | Automatically adjustable cutting apparatus for purposes such as filleting fish |
US4214345A (en) * | 1978-08-23 | 1980-07-29 | Duncan Creations, Inc. | Machine for severing poultry into predetermined portions |
US4542559A (en) * | 1981-07-10 | 1985-09-24 | A. W. Manufacturing Inc. | Method for filleting fish |
US4630335A (en) * | 1983-06-24 | 1986-12-23 | Claudon Brian J | Fish processor |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
FR1426456A (en) | 1966-01-28 |
GB1090321A (en) | 1967-11-08 |
BE658814A (en) | 1965-05-17 |
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