Spring cam for shrimp clamp

Abstract

There is disclosed a shrimp processing machine which includes a new and improved cam arrangement for splitting the shrimp shells open to thereby expose the sand vein of the shrimp to facilitate the deveining of the shrimp and ultimate separation of the shrimp meat from the shrimp shells. The machine includes a plurality of processing stations including a cutting station for cutting the shrimp lengthwise through the shrimp shells along the shrimp sand veins and an adjacent deveining station for removing the sand vein of the shrimp. A carrier means transfers the shrimp through the processing stations and includes cam actuated clamp means for gripping the shrimp shells. A cam means disposed between the cutting and deveining stations is arranged to controllably act upon the clamp means of the carrier to cause an increase in the grip pressure on the shrimp by the clamp means after the shrimp have been cut for splitting the shrimp shells open to thereby expose the sand vein of the shrimp to the deveining stations. In the disclosed preferred embodiment, the cam means includes a pair of cam members which are arranged for relative pivotal movement and biased apart by a spring. Each of the cam members includes a cam surface which act upon the clamp means for increasing the pressure on the shrimp shells to split the shrimp shells open. By virtue of the spring biasing between the cam members, a maximum predetermined pressure is exerted upon the shrimp regardless of the size of the shrimp.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.