The present invention relates to apparatuses for cutting meat into pieces or slices, such as pork chops, steaks and thin minute steaks, and more specifically to a device for such apparatuses, which prevents the cut meat from sticking to the cutting knife.

A problem with known cutting apparatuses is that when cutting in particular thin slices of meat, e.g. thin minute steaks, the meat slices tend to stick to the cutting knife and suffer da¬ mage therefrom. In order to solve the above mentioned problem the meat has been cut in a slightly frozen condition, since the condition of the meat is then more stable. However, the cut meat may then no longer be sold as fresh meat, but has instead to be sold as frozen meat, which is considered a deterioration in quality. Freezing the meat lightly to make it more stable for cutting also means higher costs in the handling of the meat, which could be avoided if the meat could be cut in fresh condition.

The meat has a tendency, at each cutting operation, to stick to the cutting knife and follow it to the next cutting operation. If the meat is not frozen to make it stable but instead fresh or thawed, this problem is particularly pronounced. In some cases the result is that the cut meat is torn into pieces at the following cutting operation, and then it also causes damage to the piece which is cut in this operation. At other times it may be the case that the cut meat sticks to the knife and follows it round for a part of its revolution, and is then thrown from the knife towards some adjacent wall, instead of being fed out in a sequence, the one cut piece of meat after the other, which is what is desired.

The present invention aims at solving the above mentioned problem. This aim is achieved by means of a device as laid out in the claims, which also disclose that, which in particular characterises the invention.

The invention is described in closer detail in the following description with reference to the appended drawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, partly in section, of a meat cutting apparatus, provided with a device according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an end view of the cutting equipment of the meat cutting apparatus in fig. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a view from the side, partly in section, of the device according to the present invention.

Fig. 1 discloses a meat cutting apparatus 1 which comprises a feeding section 2 for the lumps of meat to be cut, and a receiving section 3 for the cut pieces of meat. Between the two sections 2 and 3 is located a housing 4 which contains the equipment 5 for cutting the lumps of meat.

The lumps of meat are fed on a conventional conveyor, which is not shown in detail, in the feeding section 2, to the cutting equipment 5 in the housing 4, where they are cut into smaller pieces, and are then fed to the receiving section 3. From this section the cut pieces of meat may be removed by hand, or by means of any transporting device, which in itself is of no relevance to the invention.

The cutting equipment 5 comprises a rotating knife 6, the cutting edge of which is spiral shaped, its radius increasing from the inside and out in the direction of its rotation. Adjacent to the knife 6 there is an opening 8, through which meat lumps to be cut are fed step by step, or with a velocity which, in relation to the rpm of the knife, corresponds to the desired thickness of the cut pieces. This is known to the person skilled in the art.

In fig. 3 is disclosed the device according to the invention. The rotatable knife 6 is there shown during the cutting operation. The feeding section 2 has a bottom 9, along which meat lumps are fed towards the knife 6 by means of a special feeding arrangement, the bottom 9 adjacent to the knife 6 being comprised by a replaceable contact block 10, said block also supporting the knife during the cutting motion in order to prevent it from being subjected to unnecessary bending movements, which could break the knife. That side of the knife 6 which is facing the meat lump to be cut is substantially plane, while its opposite side is ground to form a cutting edge 7, as can be seen in fig. 3. In the cutting operation, this design causes the knife to be pressed in that direction, from which the meat lumps are fed, the block 10 supporting the knife, as was mentioned above.

On that side of the knife 6 where the cut pieces of meat are collected for transport, there is provided a plate 11 which forms part of the feeder for the cut pieces of meat, and which is biased by means of a spring in a direction towards the knife 6. A stop 12 determines the position of the plate 11 in relation to the knife 6. A spring 13, which is fixed between an in¬ tegral part of the apparatus and a pin 14, which in turn fixed to the underside of the plate 11 , creates the bias of the plate 11 towards the knife 6, which bias is limited by the stop 12. At the end position of the plate 11, which may be regarded as the starting position, there exists a small gap 15 between the block 10 and the plate 11, as can be seen from fig. 3. During the cutting action of the rotating knife 6, for every revolution of the knife, first the outermost part of the cutting edge 7 enters said gap 15, and then the plate 11 is displaced by the cutting edge in the feeding direction of the cut pieces of meat a distance corresponding to the thickness of the knife 6. During this movement the cut meat is swept off from the knife 6 and onto the plate 11, thereby preventing a cut piece of meat from sticking to the knife and following it, as mentioned above.

In order to improve the sweeping action the plate 11 has an upwardly protruding ridge or edge 16 at the location of the knife 6, said edge forming an acute angle in relation to the knife 6 thereby improving the sweeping action.

The plate 11 is fed outwards in a relatively smooth movement, but is brought back by the spring 13 in a distinct and swift movement. This results in the moving of the cut meat on the plate 11 away from the knife during the outward movement of the plate, which meat, however, due to its inertia and the swift return movement of the plate, remains in the remote position. Apart from keeping the knife 6 clear from cut pieces of meat, the plate 11 thus serves to feed out the cut pieces away from the knife.

By means of the present invention, a simple and efficient solution to the initially stated problem is thus achieved. Some alternations and modifications to the described device are obvious to the person skilled in the art, but any such variation or modification are within the scope of the appended claims.