US 6,280,313 B1 · Catfish fillet machine

Abstract

A catfish fillet machine for filleting fish, such as a catfish, with ribs extending through the belly flesh up to the skin. The catfish fillet machine includes a pair of scraping tools for dividing the flesh of each fish half into at least two independent segments up to the skin. Advantageously, the belly flesh is stripped from the ribs on both sides, thereby resulting in a minimum wastage of fillet flesh. In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the catfish fillet machine includes a pelvic fin and bone cutter/remover. A mechanism advantageously stretches the nuggets (belly flaps) of the fish tightly against the scraper knives and cutting support of the scraper tools. A fish saddle which engages and moves the fish along the conveyance path has top rail removably fastened to a base and made of a polymer material softer than the cutting blades.

Claims30

Dependent claims

A device for use in filleting fish that have been decapitated, slit down the middle of the belly and eviscerated, the fish having a back spine and having ribs forming belly nuggets on opposing sides of the slit, the device having a sickle knife to place a slit in a filet before the ribs begin, comprising:

a conveyor having a gripping element configured to engage and convey fish along a conveyance path, tail first;
a pair of cutting blades positioned to cut the fish just below the dorsal plate, the blades movable between an engaged position in which the blade is proximal to the back spine of the fish when the device is in use, and a disengaged position in which the blade does not contact the fish when the device is in use;
a pair of back knives and a pair of belly knives disposed along the conveyance path and positioned to cut along and on opposing sides of the back spine a distance sufficient to separate the back fillets from the spine when the device is in use, the knives positioned so the cut they make intersects the cut made by the cutting blades;
and
a pelvic fin cutter having a pair of guide levers and a cutting edge, the pelvic fin cutter being located along the conveyance path so that a pelvic fin of a fish positioned on the saddle passes between the levers and engages the cutting blade.

2 more elements

A device for use in filleting catfish that have been decapitated, slit down the middle of the belly, eviscerated, slit down opposing sides of a back spine so the flesh is held to a skeleton of the fish by ribs that extend through the flesh, the fish having a sickle cut on opposing sides of the back spine just before the ribs begin, the fish being moved tail-first along a conveyance path, comprising:

at least one pair of scraper blades which during use of the machine separate the flesh from the ribs, each pair of blades including a upper and lower generally parallel blades spaced vertically apart a distance sufficient to allow the ribs to pass between the blades during use, each of the blades having a cutting edge such that when mounted for use in the device the blades have an upstream end adjacent the conveyance path and a downstream end further away from the path than the upstream end, the cutting edge of the lower blade being about 25% or more longer than the cutting edge of the upper cutting blade.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Catfish fillet machine

Life of this patent

Catfish fillet machine

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims30