US 2006/0068692 A1Published application

Rib lifter

AssigneeAcraloc Corporation

InventorsRichard Bruce, Lawrence Boody, Scott Andre

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

An apparatus for separating ribs, namely the spare ribs, from a pork carcass belly, referred to as a rib lifter. The rib lifter automatically cuts and removes the spare ribs from a pork belly immediately following the process where the loin and baby back ribs have previously been removed. The part that needs to be removed from the pork belly consists of the brisket bone along with the additional ribs. The rib lifter detects the rib height and adjusts the rib blade to cut immediately below the ribs without nicking the rib material or going too deep in creating what is known in the industry as a “snowball,” a large white spot on the belly, thus making it unsalable.

A meat-processing apparatus for removing ribs from a belly, said meat-processing apparatus comprising:

a conveyor for carrying a belly, the belly having a bottom surface, a top surface, and a spare rib portion defining a rib line, said conveyor having a surface adapted to grip the bottom surface of the belly;
a chain drive biased towards said conveyor and adapted to engage the belly, said chain drive cooperating with said conveyor to move the belly, said chain drive including a plurality of guide arms biased towards said conveyor and a plurality of guide wheels, each guide wheel carried by one of said plurality of guide arms, said plurality of guide wheels providing a track for a chain, said chain adapted to grip the top surface of the belly;
a rib blade having a first end, a second end, and a cutting surface, said cutting surface positioned to engage and cut through the belly around the spare rib portion;
a first positioner connected to said rib blade first end, said first positioner moving said rib blade first end in a vertical direction;
a second positioner connected to said rib blade second end, said second positioner moving said rib blade second end in a vertical direction independent of said first positioner;
a shelf-of-lean sensor for sensing the height of the rib line;
a guide arm sensor for sensing the height of the belly based upon a position of said guide arm, said guide arm sensor carried by one of said plurality of guide arms;
and
a controller in communication with said shelf-of-lean sensor, said guide arm sensor, said first positioner, and said second positioner, said controller performing a method comprising the steps of:
reading a first value from said shelf-of-lean sensor;
adding an offset to said first value to produce an initial rib blade position;
reading a second value from said guide arm sensor;
adding an offset to said second value to produce a secondary rib blade position
actuating said first positioner to move said rib blade first end to a position based on said initial rib blade position;
and
actuating said second positioner to move said rib blade second end to said secondary rib blade position.

13 more elements

Abstract

Claims20