Carcass stabilizer

Abstract

A carcass stabilizer for holding a carcass and preventing swinging motion parallel to a carcass rail has a pair of arms that open widely to grasp a swinging carcass as the carcass moves at a point below the suspension point of the carcass. The arms continuously move with the carcass as a carcass processing operation is performed and also preferably move down during the processing operation to exert a downward pull on the carcass and thereby straighten the centerline of the carcass and more accurately hold it in an aligned position.

Description

[0001] priority [0002] This application claims priority to US Provisional Application No. 61 / 695,505, filed August 31, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. technical field [0003] The present invention relates to automated body processing equipment. More particularly, the present invention relates to apparatus and methods for stabilizing a body in motion to present the body at an accurately known position of motion along a body trajectory relative to automated or robotic body manipulation equipment. By reliably stabilizing the position of each moving body, automated body processing equipment (such as a body splitter, etc.) can perform body processing operations accurately and automatically as the body moves continuously along the body track. Background technique [0004] Meat processing facilitates, for example, operations that process pigs and carcasses that move continuously along overhead carcass tracks. Typically, each body is suspended b...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0021] However, if the body is swinging or moving rapidly when it is presented to the machine, the initial grip of the body at the top by the rollers may be out of alignment, and the rollers will continue to be out of alignment as they track the body

Alternatively, the shape of the animal's spine may be such that the rollers slide off the spine

If the rollers are not correctly positioned relative to the spine of the body, subsequent cutting and machining operations on the body will not be performed in the correct position

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