Field of invention

The present invention relates to a carcass processing machine suitable for processing meat products including ovine, bovine or porcine meat products. Chine boning machines are used for cutting meat from the vertebra in the region of the rib cage. The carcass processing machine of the present invention is particularly suited to the processing of lamb carcases to separate the vertebra from the ribs and meat on a 'rack saddle' but may also find application in the processing of mutton, goat, pork and bovine animals.

Background to the Invention

In "chine boning" meat is removed from the spinous process and the transverse processes and ribs are cut from the vertebrae. It is important to minimise yield loss by leaving as little meat as possible on each vertebra as the vertebra is a low value waste product and the rack meat is a high value premium product. This is difficult as every rack has a unique geometry requiring adjustment of the blades to optimise the cut for each carcass.

Racks of meat may be processed manually using knives and/or saws. Such processing may be slow, inaccurate and dangerous.

NZ Patent 235820 discloses an automated chine boning machine having vertical meat removing blades and angled bone cutting blades. This machine requires the operator to adjust it for varying sizes of animal and to locate pins through the spine to locate the carcass on a guide - which is time consuming and laborious and requires diligence of operators to make the required adjusments. The machine only allows a limited number of adjustment steps and requires the machine to be set for some average setting for a number of carcasses rather than an optimum setting for each. This results in reduced yield. This machine uses chisel blades which create sawdust which degrade the meat due to the degraded visual appearance and potential for contamination. This machine also has a heavy construction making it expensive as well as being difficult to maintain.

It is an object of the invention to provide a carcass processing machine overcoming these disadvantages or to at least provide the public with a useful choice.

Summary of the invention

According to the invention there is provided a carcass processing machine including: i. one or more bone cutting blade for cutting portions of bone from vertebra of a rack of a carcass;

ii. one or more meat cutting blade for removing meat from a rack of a carcass; iii. a guide for supporting a rack of meat and guiding it along a feed path into the cutting blades wherein the guide is moveable relative to the blades in a direction transverse to the feed path to position the carcass relative to the bone cutting blades.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The accompanying drawings which are incorporated in and constitute part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the general description of the invention given above, and the detailed description of embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention. shows a vertebra of an animal;

shows an end view of a carcass processing machine according to one embodiment as viewed from the outlet end of the feed path; shows a side view of the carcass processing machine as shown in figure

2;

shows a perspective view of a carcass processing machine according to another embodiment;

shows a side view of the machine shown in figure 4; Figure 6 shows an end view of the machine shown in figure 4; and

Figure 7 shows a detailed view of the blades and guide of the machine shown in figure 4.

Detailed Description

Referring to figure 1 a vertebra 1 of an animal is shown. Projecting upwardly is the spinous process 2 or "feather bone" and projecting laterally are the transverse processes 3 and 4. Between the spinous process and transverse processes are shoulders 5 and 6. The anterior surface 7 of the vertebra provides a useful reference point. In conventional machines a rack of a carcass may be placed on a guide and advanced into cutting blades to remove the transverse processes. Due to variation between carcasses, and along the length of a rack, the cutting position is not optimized in all cases. Referring now to figures 2 and 3 a carcass processing machine according to one embodiment will be described. In this embodiment a pair of meat cutting blades 9 and 10 and a pair of bone cutting blades 11 and 12 are rotatably mounted to frame 8. Meat cutting blades 9 and 10 rotate with the direction of feed F so as to assist with advancing the rack 15. Bone cutting blades 11 and 12 rotate against the direction of feed F to facilitate cutting. Guide 13 includes a pair of spaced apart rails 16 and 17 and is mounted to frame 8 by way of a biased support 14 that biases the support towards meat cutting blades 9 and 10. The biasing may be by way of a spring, pneumatic cylinder or the like. Whilst in this embodiment the blades are fixed and the guide moves it will be appreciated that the guide could be fixed and the blades could move relative to the guide.

In use the anterior surfaces of vertebrae of a rack of meat are located within the gap between rails 16 and 17 to locate the rack on the guide. As the rack 15 is pushed along the rails it first engages with meat cutting blades 9 and 10. Blades 9 and 10 remove meat from the feather bone and then ride along the shoulders of the vertebrae (as these are meat cutting blades rather than bone cutting blades they ride the vertebrae rather than cutting them). When the meat cutting blades 9 and 10 contact the shoulders of the vertebrae the guide rail 13 moves away from the meat cutting blades 9 and 10 against the bias of support 1 . This serves to position the vertebrae in a known position with respect to the shoulders of each vertebra. Bone cutting blades 11 and 12 are positioned with respect to the meat cutting blades 9 and 10 so as to cut off the transverse processes and ribs at a desired position whilst the guide rail is positioned by the meat cutting blades riding the vertebrae shoulders.

Active systems may also be employed in which the guide is moved relative to the cutting blade by actuators in response to sensed information. In one embodiment a force sensor such as a load cell may measure the force imparted on the guide 13 by the meat cutting blades 9 and 10 acting on the shoulders of vertebrae and driving an actuator in response to the sensed load to raise and lower the guide 13 in response thereto. Alternatively a vision system may be employed to monitor the position of the vertebrae with respect to the cutting blades and raise and lower guide 3 in response to image information. An X-ray imaging system could view the rack of meat from the side or end whereas an optical imaging system may best locate the position of the vertebrae from an end view.

Referring now to figures 4 to 7 a machine 20 according to a second embodiment is shown. Meat cutting blades 21 and 22 are driven by geared motors 26 and 27 mounted to frame 25. Bone cutting blades 23 and 24 are driven by geared motors 28 and 29 mounted to frame 25. Meat cutting blades 21 and 22 are circular knives driven in the direction of feed into the machine. The meat cutting blades will typically be driven so as to have a surface speed of between 100 and 5000 mm per second. Bone cutting blades 23 and 24 are serrated knives that rotate in a direction opposite to the feed direction. The use of serrated knives provides a high cut quality without the production of sawdust. The bone cutting blades will typically be driven so as to have a surface speed of between 1000 and 30,000 mm per second. The meat cutting blades 21 and 22 are disposed at an angle either side of a central axis x-x. Typically each blade will be angled between about 1 to 20 degrees to the central axis x-x. The meat cutting blades also diverge along the feed path from the inlet side to the outlet side, typically between about 1 to 15 degrees to the feed path. This effectively separates the meat from the vertebrae. This arrangement allows the blades to efficiently remove meat from the vertebrae and assist in orienting the vertebrae during processing.

The bone cutting blades 23 and 24 are disposed at an angle either side of a central axis x-x. This is to remove the transverse processes in the desired way. Typically each blade will be angled between about 10 to 40 to the central axis x-x. The bone cutting blades also diverge along the feed path from the inlet side to the outlet side, typically between about 1 to 15 degrees to the feed path. This effectively separates the transverse processes from the vertebrae.

In this embodiment the guide 30 includes a continuous belt 31 with a plurality of wedge shaped supports 32. Product is initially fed into the machine along rails 34 and 33 (as in the previous embodiment) and is advanced by supports 32. Just prior to being fed into the cutting blades a roller 35 above a rack of meat engages the top of the rack of meat so that the meat is held firmly between supports 32 and roller 35. Rails 34 and 33 diverge around the cutting blades (see figure 7) and once the meat cutting blades 21 and 22 engage the rack of meat they run along the shoulders of the vertebrae to provide downward force and the feather bones locate between the blades to provide lateral stability. A locking device may be included that locks the blades in position part way through processing of a rack of meat so that as the meat cutting blades reach the end of the rack of meat (when the bone cutting blades haven't) the height setting is maintained until the bone cutting blades have completed their cuts.

In this embodiment the entire guide 30 pivots about journal 36 and is biased on either side by pneumatic cylinders 37 and 38. As the meat cutting blades 21 and 22 provide downward force onto the shoulders of the vertebrae the entire guide pivots against the biasing force of pneumatic cylinders 37 and 38. This causes the vertebrae to be desirably positioned for the bone cutting blades 23 and 24 to remove the transverse processes (or ribs in an alternate configuration). It will be appreciated that a rack of meat may be fed directly onto rails 33 and 24 from a pair of rails of another processing machine such as the carrousel shown in PCT/NZ2010/000062. This enables the machine of the present invention to be incorporated into a fully or partially automated processing system. The system may also include a bypass path by which a rack of meat may selectively be transferred from the input side to the output side without passing through the cutting blades. Alternatively all blades could be retractable so that supports 32 may guide the rack of meat along the guide with all cutting blades 21 to 24 retracted. There is thus provided a carcass processing machine that is simple, robust, inexpensive and does not require manual adjustment or operation. The machine may be integrated into a fully or partially automated system and provides high yield and high cut quality. While the present invention has been illustrated by the description of the embodiments thereof, and while the embodiments have been described in detail, it is not the intention of the Applicant to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus and methods, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departure from the spirit or scope of the Applicant's general inventive concept.