Apparatus for the automatic cutting up or dividing up of fish fillets

An apparatus for the automatic dividing of fish fillets defined by a front end and a tail end and extending along a longitudinal fillet axis, from which fillets preferably at least one of the pinbones and belly gills have been removed, for the purpose of gaining useable pieces defined by substantially parallel cut edges, such as so-called "tails" comprising at least a portion of the tail part, as well as so-called "loins" extending from said front end to said tail part and incorporating the dorsal muscle, the apparatus substantially comprising

• (a) conveying means driven in a revolving manner and defining a conveying surface conveying said fillets in a predetermined conveying direction in a position lying flat and subsfantially perpendicular to said longitudinal axis;
• (b) a cutting mechanism above said conveying surface;
• and
• (c) an electronic camera system for detecting an image of the fillet and for the image-dependent control of the cutting mechanism,
• wherein said cutting mechanism includes cutting members in the form of circular knives each defining a cutting plane and a circumferential cutting edge, with which said knives are aligned essentially parallel to said conveying direction, at least part of said cutting members and thus their respective knives being associated to controlling means for controlling them with respect to their operating and cutting positions in dependency on at least one of the size of said fillets and prominent optical fillet features, and
• wherein said controllable circular knives are designed such that said circumferential cutting edge is provided with an interruption of its circumference by the removal of a portion of said circular circumference, the arc height of which removed portion corresponding at least to the maximum thickness of the largest fillet to be processed.