Poultry Vent-Opening Knife Carrier for Viscera-Safe Abdominal Cutting
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing apparatuses for cutting open slaughtered poultry bodies risk damaging the viscera due to the lack of distance between the abdominal skin and viscera, leading to contamination and ejection of the entire poultry body.
Innovation Solution
A knife carrier system with a pivotably mounted separating knife that is initially covered within the knife carrier, allowing safe tensioning and cutting of the abdominal skin from the inside, away from the viscera, ensuring protection of the viscera during the cutting process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the separating knife penetrates from outside through the abdominal skin into the abdominal cavity, then the cutting action is effective, but the viscera located beneath the abdominal skin are damaged by the separating knife
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional cutting direction by making the cut from the inside of the abdominal cavity outward through the abdominal skin, rather than from outside inward. This is achieved by mounting the separating knife on the knife carrier inside the abdominal cavity, allowing the knife to cut the abdominal skin from the interior, thereby avoiding contact with and damage to the viscera while maintaining effective cutting action.
2Reliability
If the abdominal skin is tensioned from the inside by lifting upwards, then the distance from the viscera is created, but the separating knife may still damage viscera due to lack of sufficient distance and different poultry sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the tensioning function and cutting function into a single integrated unit (the knife carrier with the separating knife). The knife carrier serves both to tension the abdominal skin by lifting it upward and to perform the cutting action. This integration ensures that the cutting action always occurs from the tensioned position, maintaining safe distance from the viscera regardless of poultry size variations, and eliminates the risk of viscera contamination.
3Reliability
If the separating knife is completely covered inside the knife carrier in standby position, then safe insertion and tensioning is ensured, but the knife cannot perform cutting until moved to cutting position
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic mechanism where the separating knife can pivot between a standby position (completely covered inside the knife carrier) and a cutting position (protruding from the knife carrier). This dynamic positioning allows the system to maintain safety during insertion and tensioning operations while enabling effective cutting when needed. The pivoting motion is controlled and reversible, allowing the knife to return to the covered position after cutting.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for cutting open a slaughtered poultry body suspended by the legs and already cut free in the region of the cloaca to form a vent opening includes a supporting apparatus for holding/positioning the poultry body during cutting, a tensioning device with a tensioning means for tensioning abdominal skin of the poultry body, and a separating device having at least one separating knife for making a longitudinal cut in the tensioned abdominal skin between the vent opening the sternum tip. The tensioning means is in the form of a knife carrier, with the separating knife pivotably mounted on the carrier to form a unit. The knife is movable relative to the carrier from a standby position, with the knife completely covered inside the carrier, into a cutting position, with the knife protruding from the carrier, and back. A corresponding method is disclosed.