Foodcraft Equipment Co., Inc.

Foodcraft Holdings, Inc.

Other

Gordex Corporation

Foodcraft Equipment, Inc.

Eugene E Martin

Scott A Cook

Sheldon Lynn Horst

Michael E Lease

Edward H Covell, Iii

Harold C Martin

William Hamer

Ken Hackman

An apparatus for cutting wings from boned whole poultry breasts includes a pair of spaced chain loops supporting laterally aligned pairs of fixtures which hold the wings to support the breasts and serve as anvils for annular knife blades which are driven outward from a central position to cut the breasts from the wings. Thereafter, the wings remain secured in the fixtures, while first the tips are removed by a guillotine-type cutter, and then the flat wing segment is folded against the drumette before the elbow joint is cut.

Apparatus for cutting wings from poultry

A chicken tender cutting machine includes two relatively moveable carriages supported on the frame above a processing line. The first device includes a knife for making an incision in the tenderloin between the wishbone and the rib cage of the bird to free the upper end of the tenderloin; the second device is supported on the frame downstream of the first device, and has a blunt-tipped instrument which is moved downward between the tenderloin and the rib cage, so that the blunt tip sweeps along the keel to sever the tenderloin's connection to the keel.

Chicken tender cutting machine

Breast meat is stripped from a poultry carcass, after the shoulder joints have been separated and preliminary cuts have been made in the shoulder area with a cutter designed to leave the wings attached to the breast meat, by pulling the wings and breast meat attached thereto downward on the carcass. The breast fillets and wings remain attached to the carcass, facilitating visual inspection of the product. An apparatus for performing this method comprises special devices operating at four successive stations of an inline machine; the inspection is done at a fifth station.

Removing breast meat from poultry

A chicken breast processor has an endless conveyor on which are mounted a series of special fixtures for supporting a bird carcass during automatic butchering. Each fixture has a pair of spaced bars bearing respective upper and lower arms. Each of the arms has abeveled upper surface, so that an open 'V' is formed for supporting both the backbone from within the carcass, and the breasts from below, to better locate the carcass for precise cutting. Carcasses are transferred from a tined disk onto the fixtures as the fixtures are rotated toward the disk to compensate for speed differential between it and the conveyor. A variety of cuts can be obtained from the device.

Breast processor

A chicken leg processor includes a transfer device for removing the lower portion of halved birds from a shackle conveyor, and delivering them to a line along which the hip joints are partially cut through. While the legs remain suspended from the line, the back is then inverted, and is moved at a speed different from the legs, to remove the legs from the back. Thereafter, the legs are separated into thighs and drumsticks.

Poultry leg processor

A poultry scalding tank has one wall with a lateral pocket that receives the breast of the bird suspended by the feet from a shackle conveyor running above the tank. The top of the pocket produces a force normal to the breast upon contact, which force has a downward component sufficient to overcome buoyancy forces that tend to raise portions of the bird out of the water. Air injector heads disposed below the path of the bird, and offset away from the breast side thereof, agitate the scalding water to penetrate the feathers. A more thorough and even scalding results.

Poultry scalder

A poultry scalding tank has one wall with a lateral pocket that receives the breast of the bird suspended by the feet from a shackle conveyor running above the tank. The top of the pocket produces a force normal to the breast upon contact, which force has a downward component sufficient to overcome buoyancy forces that tend to raise portions of the bird out of the water. A more thorough and even scalding results.

An apparatus for deboning a chicken leg includes a conveyor for holding the leg by the hock, a plunge knife device for severing the knee joint and pulling the femur from the thigh meat, a cutting device for severing the tendons at the hock of the leg, and a scraper for pulling the drumstick meat along the tibia and fibia toward the knee. The scraping mechanism includes a laterally movable carriage supporting at least one pair of jaws having notches along their edges to clear the leg bones, a first air cylinder for closing and opening the jaws, and a second air cylinder for moving the carriage away from the hock-restraining conveyor.

Dark meat deboner with leg scraper

The tibula, fibia and femur of a whole poultry leg are removed by making a lengthwise cut along the inside of the leg, along the rear of the tibula and femur, then making a lateral cut part way through the knee joint, then supporting the thigh and bending the knee joint to expose the end of the femur, then plunging a cup-type knife over the exposed end of the femur and through the knee joint, to sever the ligaments in the joint and separate the exposed end of the femur from the thigh flesh, then moving the knife laterally of the femur axis to withdraw the femur through the lengthwise cut in the thigh, and then removing the tibula and fibia through the lengthwise cut in the drumstick. An apparatus for automatically performing a portion of the method is also disclosed.

Dark meat deboner

An apparatus for producing boneless turkey breasts comprises a conveyor for supporting an upper half of a turkey along a first path, and a separate conveyor for securing the wings of the turkey and pulling them away from the first path as the upper half is pivoted away from the wings, to pull the breast meat from the carcass. The wings are subsequently cut from the breast fillets by a rotary cup knife which is directed over and around the shoulder joint.

Turkey breast deboner

A poultry skinner comprises a stationary frame having a pair of chain guides attached thereto, and a pair of parallel endless chains mounted for movement upon the chain guides. The chains, driven by a motor through a Geneva drive transmission, which produces intermittent motion, carry a series of birds over a first peeling roll for removing skin from the breasts, and, after the bird is inverted, over a second peeling roll which removes the skin from the back. The bird is then automatically engaged by a fixture which supports it for further processing. Also disclosed is an improved stripper roll arrangement for cleaning peeling rolls, and a skin nicking device for cutting tendons critical to the skinning operation.

Poultry breast and back skinner

An apparatus for cutting breast-attached wings into segments includes a conveyor chain for carrying the wings, attached to whole breasts, along respective gaps between panels on either side of the breasts and over a rotating knife for removing the wing tips, thence over a stationary knife for removing the flat segments, and finally past rotating knives for removing the drumettes from the breasts. Fully automatic and particularly accurate cuts are obtained.

Growing community of inventors

Denver, PA, United States of America

Eugene E Martin