GB1188379A - Apparatus for Severing the Hocks from Poultry Carcasses - Google Patents

Abstract

1,188,379. Apparatus for severing hocks from poultry carcasses. INTERNATIONAL AGRI-SYSTEMS Inc. 9 Oct., 1967 [17 Oct., 1966], No. 46130/67. Heading A2U. Apparatus for severing hocks from poultry carcasses, which are carried through the apparatus, each suspended by one or both hocks 181 or feet 182 from shackles 23, preferably of the automaticrelease type, attached to a chain 22 depending from an overhead, travelling conveyer 20, comprises: a long, narrow anvil 80 or rail assembly; mechanism for drawing a hock 181 of each carcass 180 laterally across the anvil as said carcass is moved along one side of the anvil, so that the hock-joint 183 is drawn just beyond the anvil, and the carcass is then allowed to settle back to position the hockjoint on the anvil; and means, such as a pivoted knife 120, which can be swung up and down by eccentric mechanism powered by an electric motor 141, to engage, and thus break and sever, the said hock-joint. The anvil 80 is preferably laterally offset from the vertical plane of the conveyer 20. The drawing mechanism preferably comprises a wheel 32 which deflects the suspended carcass 180 to one side of the anvil, Fig. 15, and another wheel 37, Fig. 16, which, assisted by adjustable guide rods 90, 100 and 110 having upturned ends, Figs. 3 and 18, folds the hock over the anvil. The top 81 of the anvil may slope laterally, as shown in Figs. 15 and 16, and also longitudinally upwards from the forward end 85 of the rail assembly or anvil. A drag conveyer 70, e.g. a roller-chain conveyer whose links 76 are provided with projecting fingers 77, may be provided, and may travel at the same speed as the conveyer 20, to help in moving carcasses through the apparatus Specification 1,188,380 is referred to.