Secondary halving apparatus for poultry

An apparatus for cutting poultry carcasses as they are continuously conveyed by a shackle conveyor having a plurality of shackles, wherein said poultry carcasses have been previously processed such that each of said poultry carcasses includes a back half comprising two legs retained in said shackles and a front half which has been partially cut away from said back half, said back half further comprises two thighs and a back portion of a spine of said poultry carcass, said front half comprises a front portion of said spine, and said front half hangs from said back half by at least a segment of skin extending between said back and said front portions of said spine, said apparatus comprising:

• a nonrotating back rail and;
• a nonrotating front rail positioned adjacent to said back rail such that a gap is provided between said front rail and said back rail, said gap being positioned such that said poultry carcasses will travel into said gap as said poultry carcasses are conveyed by said shackle conveyor and said back rail and said front rail will each be positioned adjacent to but on opposites of said spine;
• wherein, as each said poultry carcass travels into said gap, the exterior thereof adjacent said spine will contact and slide along said back rail and wherein said front rail converges in a horizontal direction toward said back rail and has a downward slope such that said downward slope will act to pull said front half downward with respect to said back half and the convergence of said front rail toward said back rail in said horizontal direction will operate to pivot said front half backward with respect to said back half, against said back rail, to thus place said segment of skin in a peeling position with respect to said front portion of said spine;
• and
• said apparatus further comprising a circular cutting means positioned for cutting said segment of skin from said front portion of said spine while said segment of skin is in said peeling position such that said front half is separated from said back half and at least most of said segment of skin remains attached to said back half.