Apparatus and method for harvesting meat from poultry thighs
AssigneeMeyn Food Processing Technology B.V.
InventorsEric Adriaan Van Hillo, Bas Nagel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus and method for harvesting meat from poultry thighs in a processing line provided with carriers for poultry legs. A cutter for cutting into the poultry leg, and a scraper for scraping poultry thigh meat from the thighbone, wherein the scraper of the apparatus is arranged to clamp the poultry leg near to its knee joint and fix the knee joint in position, and the cutter is arranged to provide a first cut into the poultry leg while the scraper clamps the poultry leg, and wherein the cutter is arranged to provide the cut adjacent to the scraper and below the knee joint at the height of a knuckle of the thighbone at the side of the knee joint, so as to cut through ligaments that connect the thigh meat to the thighbone.
Claims15
An apparatus for harvesting meat from poultry thighs in a processing line provided with carriers for poultry legs, wherein each carrier is arranged to convey a poultry leg suspended at its ankle joint, the poultry leg comprising a drumstick, a knee joint and a poultry thigh with a thighbone, the apparatus comprising:
- a cutter for cutting into the poultry leg;
- a scraper for scraping poultry thigh meat from the thighbone, wherein the scraper of the apparatus is arranged to clamp the poultry leg near to its knee joint and to fix the knee joint in position, and the cutter is arranged to provide a first cut into the poultry leg while the scraper clamps the poultry leg;
- wherein the cutter is arranged to provide the first cut adjacent to the scraper and below the knee joint at the height of a knuckle of the thighbone closest to the knee joint, so as to cut through tendons that connect the thigh meat to the thighbone;
- wherein the scraper is provided with at least two scraping modes comprising a first scraping mode and a second scraping mode, wherein the first scraping mode is arranged to execute an initial scraping mode on the thighbone below the knee joint, which initial scraping mode extends over a predetermined section of the poultry thigh below the knee joint that remains distant from a hip joint of the thighbone, and wherein the initial scraping mode is arranged to start at the position of the first cut, the scraper arranged to execute the initial scraping mode after releasing the clamping mode on the poultry leg.
A method for harvesting meat from poultry thighs in a processing line, wherein poultry legs are conveyed while being suspended at their ankle joints, each of the poultry legs comprising a drumstick, a knee joint and a poultry thigh with a thighbone, the method comprising:
- cutting into the poultry leg;
- scraping of poultry thigh meat from the thighbone by a scraper;
- clamping the poultry leg by the scraper near to its knee joint to fix the knee joint in position, and
- providing a first cut into the poultry leg while the poultry leg is thus clamped in position, wherein the cut is provided below the knee joint at the height of a knuckle of the thighbone that is present at a side of the knee joint, so as to cut through tendons that connect the thigh meat to the thighbone, wherein an initial scraping mode is executed on the thighbone below the knee joint, which initial scraping mode extends over a predetermined part of the poultry thigh below the knee joint that remains distant from a hip joint of the thighbone, wherein the initial scraping mode is executed after releasing the clamping mode on the poultry leg.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.