Townsend Engineering Company

Douglas N McCloskey

David S Hamblin

Vincent L Basile, Ii

Stephen H Cate

Brent M Veldkamp

Donald D Holms

William J Wonderlich

A mechanism for ejecting a cutting blade from a knife assembly in a meat skinning machine includes a shoe with a supporting surface for the blade and a releasable clamping assembly for clamping the cutting blade to the supporting surface. The clamping assembly includes a clamp and releasable fasteners. Together the shoe and clamp form an elongated open slot adjacent to the blade when clamped together by the fasteners. A pair of ejectors extend into the slot and are slidably mounted with respect to the shoe and the clamp so as to engage the blade. The ejectors can be pushed into the blade to eject the blade when the clamp is released. The ejectors are rigid elongated rods longitudinally spaced along the edge of the blade opposite the cutting edge. The ejector rods include a guide bulb thereon, with cam surfaces thereon to engage and lift the clamp when moved rearwardly to lift the loosened clamp from the blade.

Means for remotely ejecting the blade of a meat skinning machine

A conventional meat skinning machine has a frame, a horizontal auger on the frame having a forward end, a tooth gripping roll rearwardly mounted on the frame and extending across the forward end of the conveyor, and an elongated cutting blade mounted on the frame adjacent the gripping roll to remove material from the outer surface of a meat product coming in contact therewith. An elongated flipper plate is mounted on the frame adjacent the cutting edge of the cutting blade. A pair of parallel arms are pivotally secured to the frame adjacent the sides of the conveyor and extend upwardly and forwardly from their pivotal connections. A resilient hold down roll is rotatably mounted between the forward ends of the arms. A lifting mechanism is provided on the frame and connected to the arms for raising and lowering the arms at selected intervals. A link extends from at least one of the arms and is connected to the flipper plate so that when the arms are raised, the flipper plate is partially erect so as to block the movement of a meat product moving forwardly over the plate and to allow the meat product to be rotated by the gripper roll and the conveyor across the cutting edge of the blade. A method is provided for automatically removing material from the outer surface of a meat product, as described above, including the further steps of simultaneously lowering the hold down roll and the flipper plate so that the hold down roll contacts the meat product.

Machine and method for automatic muscle fat and membrane removal

A method of trimming cuts of meat by imposing on an electronic controller the trim parameters for a meat portion. The meat portion is then scanned with an electronic ultrasonic sensor to locate and identify the natural physical makeup of the meat portion. After determining the natural conditions that exist in the meat portion, the sensor transmits signals to the controller to advise the controller of the nature and location of the sensed condition. That data is compared to the trim parameters imposed on the controller which then determines the trim requirements for that meat portion in that sensed condition. The controller then controls a meat trimming mechanism to trim the meat portion consistent with the parameters of the foregoing evaluation.

Method of trimming a meat portion by ultrasonic and electronic analysis

The machine for skinning meat has a frame, an input conveyor, a gripper roll, a skinning blade assembly comprising a shoe with a skinning blade thereon, a hold down roll to apply downward pressure on a meat product to be skinned, and an outlet conveyor. The skinning blade assembly is supported on a pair of control arms that can be selectively positioned by cam elements to place the blade assembly in a desired position with respect to the gripping roll. A pair of sensor controlled air cylinders are secured to the control arms to move the blade skinning assembly with respect to the gripping roll. A cam controls the attitude of the blade gripping assembly as it is moved with respect to the gripping roll. The hold down roll is mounted on a pair of arms which are also controlled by a pair of sensor controlled air cylinders. The arms of the held down roll are linked to the control arms so that the hold down roll and the blade skinning assembly can be moved together wherein the hold down roll will not ever engage or encounter the gripping roll or the skinning blade assembly.

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Altoona, IA, United States of America

Douglas N McCloskey