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US 5,346,143 AGranted
Fish mincer pump
AssigneeCrisafulli Pump Company, Inc.
InventorRonald C. Askin
Life of this patent
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AssigneeCrisafulli Pump Company, Inc.
InventorRonald C. Askin
Estimating the term…
A fish mincer pump which includes a conventional chopper plate and cutter knife associated with the inlet of a centrifugal pump and a novel and unique mincer plate and a cutter knife or cutter knives associated with the mincer plate in the inlet of the pump and in inwardly spaced relation from the chopper or shear plate and cutter knife in order to chop fish parts such as fish heads and internal components that are to be discharged into the ocean into a 1/2 inch maximum solid size in order to comply with regulations which require that fish waste to be discharged into the ocean must not include components exceeding a maximum dimension of 1/2 inch. The mincer plate has a plurality of openings extending therethrough and oriented substantially throughout the entire area of the plate with each of the holes being not greater than 1/2 inch in diameter with the cutting knives associated with the mincer plate being on both sides of the mincer plate and having sharpened edge components in the form of bevelled edges to provide a cutting edge which moves along the surfaces of the mincer plate to assure that all fish waste passing through the mincer plate will not exceed 1/2 inch in maximum dimension.
A fish mincer pump comprising a centrifugal pump including a casing having a suction inlet opening in one wall thereof and a tangential discharge, an impeller in said casing connected to and driven by a pump shaft, said casing including a generally cylindrical inlet extension extending laterally from said suction inlet opening, said pump shaft extending coaxially through said extension, a chopper plate mounted on an end of said extension remote from the pump, said chopper plate including a plurality of large arcuate openings defined by radial spokes, a chopper knife mounted on an end of said pump shaft with the chopper knife including sharpened edge portions associated with a surface of the chopper plate remote from said extension, the improvement comprising a mincer plate mounted on said extension between the chopper plate and pump inlet opening, said mincer plate being spaced axially from the chopper plate and including a plurality of small holes extending therethrough, a cutter knife drivingly connected to said pump shaft, said cutter knife being disposed in spaced relation to the chopper plate and including sharpened edge portions closely associated with one surface of said mincer plate to chop fish waste passing through the holes in the mincer plate whereby all fish waste passing into the inlet opening of the centrifugal pump will have a maximum size determined by the size of the holes in the mincer plate and the shearing action between the rotatable cutter knife and mincer plate.
In combination, a centrifugal pump having a generally cylindrical inlet extension provided with a shear plate and rotatable shear knife associated therewith in which the chopper shear plate includes relatively large openings, a mincer plate and cutter knife mounted in the extension inwardly of and spaced from the shear plate, said mincer plate including a plurality of relatively small holes extending therethrough with the cutter knife associated with the mincer plate mincing all material passing through the mincer plate to discharge such material into the pump with such material having a maximum dimension equal to the maximum dimension of the holes in the mincer plate.
A fish mincer assembly comprising a centrifugal pump including a casing having a suction inlet in one wall thereof and a tangential discharge, an impeller in said casing connected to and driven by pump shaft means, said casing including an inlet extension extending outwardly from said suction inlet, said pump shaft means extending through said inlet extension, a shear plate mounted on an end of said inlet extension remote from said suction inlet, said shear plate including a plurality of large openings, a shear knife mounted on said pump shaft means with the shear knife including sharpened edge portions associated with a surface of said shear plate remote from said suction inlet, a mincer plate mounted in said inlet extension between the shear plate and suction inlet, said mincer plate being spaced axially from the shear plate and including a plurality of small holes extending therethrough, a cutter blade drivingly connected to said pump shaft means, said cutter blade being disposed in spaced relation to the shear plate and including sharpened edge portions closely associated with a surface of said mincer plate to chop, shear and mince fish waste passing through the holes in the mincer plate whereby all fish waste passing into the suction inlet of the centrifugal pump will have a maximum size determined by the size of the holes in the mincer plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.