Meat dressing/boning method and system

Abstract

A meat dressing and boning method and a system thereof can dress and bone meat and carcass in short work-hours, while avoiding bacterial contamination. The system includes a clamp mechanism for holding a meat block with bones, a hanger connected to clamp mechanism and movably suspended from a support rail, and a guide rail or rails having a tubular or rod-like configuration for supporting the meat block positioned along and below the support rail. The hanger has at least two pivots to allow the meat block held by the clamp mechanism to rotate about at least first and second axes, which are perpendicular to each other. The meat and carcass can be broken up and boned while being moved along the support rail, with the swinging directions of hanger regulated by the guide rail or rails.

Description

[0001] This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 11 / 363,529 filed on 27 Feb. 2007, which is a continuation of International Application PCT / JP2004 / 012596 having an international filing date of 25 Aug. 2004, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Japanese Application No. JP 2003-303712, filed on 27 Aug. 2003. The disclosure of the PCT and priority applications, in their entirety, including the drawings, claims, and the specification thereof, are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND [0002] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-83575 (hereafter Reference 1) and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-125752 (hereafter Reference 2) disclose a boning / dressing apparatus for processing a carcass of pig, chicken, cattle, etc., to obtain a meat block. Reference 1 discloses an apparatus for securing a pig carcass, with a dissection line rail from which the pig carcass can be hung with a hanger so that the carcass can be transferred along the rail by transfer...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014] Another aspect of the present invention is a method of dressing / boning a meat block with bones. The method can include providing the support rail extending along a processing line, securing the meat block with bones to the clamp mechanism, suspending the clamp mechanism with the meat block with bones to the support rail with the meat-block support, and permitting the meat block with bones to pivot about the first and second pivots to allow the meat block attached to the clamp mechanism to rotate about at least first and second axes, and supporting the suspended meat block with bones with the guide. The meat block can be dissected / boned / dressed while the meat block is in contact with the guide. The guide can restrict the movement of the meat block with bones about at least the first and second axes.

[0019] Further, as the guide or guide means is made of pipe or bar material, the guide or guide means supports the meat block with bones with a line contact, and the contamination of the meat block with bones with bacteria can be suppressed compared to that disclosed in Reference 1 in which the meat block with bones (pig carcass) is supported with a plane contact. Thus the operation of dissecting / boning / dressing can be performed very sanitarily.

[0020] The meat block with bones, which is held by the clamp mechanism and hung by way of the first joint for allowing a swing in a plane containing a straight line perpendicular to the support rail and the axis of the supporting bar, and the second joint for allowing a swing in a plane containing a straight line parallel to the support rail and the axis of the connecting bar, can be laid on the inclined section of the two fixed guide members or rails extending parallel to the support rail when performing initial processing with its lower side surface stably contacting onto the guide members or rails. The meat block with bones can be kept in a nearly upright attitude leaning on the inclined section by virtue of the second joint provided just above the clamping mechanism for allowing the swing in a plane containing a straight line parallel to the support rail and the axis of the connecting bar. Therefore, initial processing becomes easy in the nearly upright attitude of the meat block with bones. Then, the meat block with bones is transferred to the horizontal portion of the guide or guide means by transferring it along the support rail, and the main processing of the meat block with bones can be carried out with the meat block with bones kept stably in a horizontal attitude.

[0023] Further, by connecting the clamp mechanism to the connecting bar connecting the clamp mechanism to the second joint to be rotatable around the center axis of the connecting bar, the meat block with bones can be rotated around the connecting bar in the state where the meat block with bones is leaning against the guide or guide means, so that knife operation in the vertical direction including removing fat and dressing meat can be done more easily, resulting in easier processing of the meat block with bones on both front and back face thereof, which is particularly effective for boning in a hung attitude of the meat block with bones.

[0025] The meat block with bones clamped by the clamping mechanism and hung from the support rail can be flexibly changed in its inclination and distance from the worker by virtue of the first joint, which allows a swing in the plane containing a straight line perpendicular to the support rail and the center axis of the supporting bar, and the second joint, which allows a swing in the plane containing a strait line parallel to the support rail and the center axis of the connecting bar, only by moving a single guide member or rail back and forth to and from the worker by driving means, such as a hydraulic cylinder, allowing dissection / boning / dressing of the meat block with bones to be performed more efficiently.

[0027] Further, as the operation is carried out while the meat block with bones is transferred along the guide or guide means with the lower part of the meat block with bones being brought into contact with the surface of the guide member made of pipe or bar material, the meat block with bones contacts in line contact with the guide or guide means, so that the contamination of the meat block with bones with bacteria, etc., is suppressed, and the operation of dissection / boning / dressing can be performed highly sanitarily.

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, the worker must perform the dissection and boning while pushing the carcass against the plate with one of his / her hand not holding a knife, making the work complicated and resulting in an increased operation time.

Further, in a conventional art like above, as the dissection and boning process is carried out while the back of the pig carcass is received in a groove formed on the upper surface of the flat plate to secure the pig carcass therein, the carcass comes into plane contact with the surface of the groove, resulting in an increased contact area, which tends to induce contamination of the pig carcass with various kind of bacteria from the plate side.

In the apparatus for taking out meat from the head of a carcass of cattle, etc., of Reference 2, as the head of the carcass is hung by a hanger while pulling the upper jaw and cheeks by means of the upper jaw removing means and cheek pulling means driven by driving means, while dissection and boning is carried out, the dissection and boning work is done with the head hung in an unstable condition, and work efficiency becomes low, resulting in an increased operation time.

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