Slot configuration for a separator with slotted walls

Abstract

A separating or deboning machine, for separating soft material such as meat from hard material such as bone, includes a separating chamber through which a flighted auger extends. The separating chamber has a series of perforations in a side wall, through which soft material passes upon rotation of the auger. Pressure is maintained within a flow passage defined by the separating chamber, which forces the soft material through the separations to the exterior of the separating chamber. The separating chamber is preferably formed so as to have a parallel-type wall structure, to provide a high throughput of material. The perforations are in the form of specially configured slots which provide low pressure passages for enabling soft material to pass from the flow passage to the exterior of the separating chamber. The slots are inclined in the direction of auger rotation in an upstream-to-downstream direction. In an inward-outward direction, the slots are oriented at a reverse angle of rotation relative to the direction of auger rotation, and in a reverse angle of orientation relative to the direction of material flow through the flow passage. The slots also have outwardly divergent side walls so as to define an increasing slot area in an inward-outward direction.