US 4,300,263 A · Process and apparatus for the preparation of flat-fish for the bleeding

Abstract

The invention concerns a process for the mechanical opening of the bloodstream of flat-fish, the application of which has the aim of the bleeding of the fish. The apparatus proposed for this is equipped with a rotatably driven knife sleeve, which is sharpened at its end side and which is constructed to be lowered onto an aligned flat-fish lying flat therebeneath, and at its circumference carries tearing elements extending radially in the proximity of the cutting edge. The tool, penetrating into the abdominal cavity during lowering while separating circular area portions out of the oppositely disposed abdominal walls, tears open the bloodstream disposed at the underside of the spinal column by means of the radial tearing elements. Through a radially deviatable arrangement of the latter, there results an adaptation of the tool to the geometric conditions of the abdominal cavity as well as an enlarged radius of action through the rotation in consequence of centrifugal forces, which effects the tearing loose and comminution of the intestines. The feeding of rinsing liquid through the center of the tool into the abdominal cavity makes the flushing-out of belly contents possible.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A process for mechanically opening the bloodstream of unbeheaded flat-fish in the region of their abdominal cavities for the purpose of bleeding comprising the steps of:

separating from said fish an area portion substantially tangential to the side line of the fish by means of a cutting stroke in a first plane through the abdominal wall enclosing the abdominal cavity, and
performing a circular tearing stroke in a second plane substantially perpendicular to said first plane in alignment with the belly spokes and back spokes of the fish, for opening the bloodstream, comminuting the intestines and detaching the latter from their anchorings in the abdominal cavity.

Apparatus for opening the bloodstream of unbeheaded flat-fish in the region of their belly cavities for the purpose of bleeding comprising:

a rotary cutting tool,
a support member mounted beneath said cutting tool for receiving a flat-fish and supporting the latter in a flat condition thereon,
positioning means for aligning said fish immovably upon said support member with the belly cavity of said fish in registry with said cutting tool,
said cutting tool comprising a rotatably-driven knife sleeve having a sharpened end face facing said support, and at least one tearing element extending radially from said knife sleeve in the vicinity of said sharpened end face,
said tearing element having at its free end a terminal tearing portion extending perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of said knife sleeve,
said knife sleeve being movable between an elevated position in which its sharpened end face and said tearing element are spaced above the fish on said support member, and a lowered position in which the sharpened end face of said rotatably-driven knife sleeve has cut through said fish and said tearing element is located within the fish belly cavity in alignment with said bloodstream therein in a transverse plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of said knife sleeve, whereby upon continued rotation of said knife sleeve, said tearing element moves in a circular path along said transverse plane with said terminal tearing portion performing a circular tearing action on said bloodstream to open the latter.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Process and apparatus for the preparation of flat-fish for the bleeding

Life of this patent

Process and apparatus for the preparation of flat-fish for the bleeding

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims12