Abstract: A method for processing fish fillets by separating a superficial layer of said fillet comprising the skin and an apparatus for performing this method is described. The apparatus essentially comprises a conveying roller (3) for carrying the fish fillets skin-side down and a pressing shoe (6) which, with its pressing surface (7) forms a conveying gap witht he conveying roller (3). At the input side of the conveying gap, the pressing shoe (6) is formed as a first knife (11), above which a driven second knife (16) is arranged in a knife guide (14). With this arrangement, it is possible to detach a further superficial layer apart from the skin layer and to collect these two layers separately.

Abstract: A material mixture is separated into components of different flowability using a perforated drum mounted in a housing and supported by a detachable mounted portion. The drum is partially wrapped by a presser belt with is pressed against the drum by an adjustable pressure roller. The housing is formed as a parallelepiped-shaped shaft with a dividing wall to separate the drive section from the service section. The presser belt is guided to form an angle of 20.degree. to 30.degree. with respect to the drum and the drum is driven to have a peripheral speed of two to six percent higher than that of the presser roller.

Abstract: An apparatus for severing poultry legs at the knee joint is described. The poultry legs consisting of an thigh and drumstick are suspended from the distal end of the drumstick by a conveyor and are received in recesses in a synchronously revolving supporting disc just above the knee joint. Guide rails above and below the supporting disc push the leg against a projecting edge at the base of the recesses and progressively bend the leg in the natural bending position while simultaneously lifting it until the supporting edge lies in the crook of the knee joint. This position is maintained by means of openings in the disc in which the thigh is blocked and by webs extending downwards from the trailing flank of the recesses which likewise prevent the thigh from twisting out of alignment. A cutting device then severs the joint at an angle which halves the bending angle of the leg.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for deboning fish of the mackerel family such as the Thunnus genus, the scomboid type and the like, and an apparatus for performing this method. Fish of this family have belly spokes extending along the full length of the backbone into the area of the belly cavity, so that conventional cutting free of the back and belly spokes will lead to a separation of the ribs from the remaining bone structure. To allow an accurate filetting of mackerel fish with their specific bone structure in the ventral cavity region, the invention suggests a slice of fish meat including the ribs to be cut free automatically by providing a computer controlled tool including a knife with a cutting edge diverging with respect to the conveying path of the fish, and a supporting element, which in combination with the knife allows the ribs to be cut away progressively while respecting the anatomical characteristics of the fish.

Abstract: The invention concerns an apparatus for separating sausages from a string of sausages linked by connecting portions and comprises a conveyor system including at least two conveyors connected in series and comprising upper and lower belts, between which the sausage string is held. The apparatus further comprises a sensing device and cutting means controlled by the sensing device. In order to ensure reliable operation of the apparatus at high speeds and when sausages are misshapen, the connecting portion detection is improved by driving the downstream conveyor at a higher speed than the upstream conveyor so effecting a stretching of the sausage string as it is transferred from one to the other and by using two photosensing detectors mutually spaced along the conveyor and adapted to signal the detection of a connecting portion when the downstream detector registers a low light value and the upstream detector registers a high light value.

Abstract: A method and apparatus serve to packaging material and its contents, specifically from packaging elements filled with soft material such as food packaging. The method allows a clean separation of the packaging and content materials so that, according to the application, each of these materials can be reused individually with substantially no further preparation. The apparatus comprises a combination of a coarse cutter in the form of a shredder and a soft separator working on the drum and pressing belt principle with a further fine cutter or fragmenter in the form of a blower mill arranged downstream of these. By coarsely cutting the packaging materials prior to compression, cavities in which amounts of contents material may remain trapped cannot be formed, the soft separator can thus operate more effectively to cleanly separate the two materials.

Abstract: The invention concerns a pressing belt for separators which include a hollow drum having a perforated outer surface around which an endless flexible pressing belt is partially wrapped under pressure to form a pull-in or input zone with the drum. Separators of this kind serve to separate the flowable components from the less flowable components of material mixtures and are principally used in the food industry. In order to improve the wear and thus the durability of the belt, it is provided with a multi-layer structure with a high-tenacity intercalation and an upper layer, the material characteristics of the various layers being adaptable to the precise nature of the application and thereby allowing the durability to be optimised.

Abstract: In a method for automatically gutting fish of the catfish species, the belly cavity is opened around the anal orifice either before or after opening the gills by severing the gullet and opening the blood stream, and the contents of the belly cavity are removed by pushing these from one of the openings of the cavity out of the other. In a machine for carrying out this method, the fish are conveyed sideways by a recessed conveyor. The belly cavity is opened in the vicinity of the anus by separating away the cartilaginous plate carrying the ventral fins. The contents of the ventral cavity are removed by a rotary body rotating synchronously with the conveyor and having tools successively arranged in a cantilevered helix around its circumference which comprise a clearing tool with scraping segments, a brush tool, a high-pressure spray device and a cutting tool for slitting open the belly cavity along its length.

Abstract: An apparatus for automatically positioning fish with respect to their plane of symmetry and for the periodic transfer of the fish to a fish processing machine is proposed. The apparatus comprises a supply conveyor in the form of a trough conveyor and a feed conveyor arranged below and essentially perpendicular to the supply conveyor for feeding the fish into the processing machine. The feed conveyor includes a support conveyor equipped with support elements onto which each fish is placed with the support elements protruding into the belly cavity. This is achieved by a holding element which is arranged between the supply conveyor and the feed conveyor and is controlled by a signal to open and release the temporarily held fish. The generation of the signal is varied according to a measurement value representing the size of the fish being positioned so that each fish is released to land exactly positioned with its belly cavity on a support element irrespective of its size.

Abstract: A device for cutting up the wings of poultry bodies into their component parts is described. The device comprises a saddle conveyor for receiving the poultry bodies in the form of front halves with wings. The wings are engaged and synchronously accompanied by auxiliary conveyors and guided into a guide system where they are cut up by means of "anatomic" cuts, i.e. cuts running through the joints. The device is adapted to by integrated into a processing line for filleting breast meat or the like.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing flat fish is disclosed. The fish (5) are placed on a conveyor (1) and transported on a conveying surface (1.1) over an array of photosensing elements (3.4) which generate light absorbtion signals as the fish is advanced. These signals are sent to a computer, which determines the contour of the fish using information regarding the conveyor speed and computes cutting control signals using pre-programmed proportionality factors relating to the fish species. The cutting line control signals are sent to a cutting apparatus (4). As the advanced fish arrives at the cutting apparatus, two rotary knives (4.1) cut into the dorsal and ventral sides of the fish in response to the control signals to remove the dorsal fin together with a strip of fatty tissue (5.12) from one edge of the fish and the internal organs, the anal fin and the ventral strip of fatty tissue (5.11) from the other edge of the fish.

Abstract: An apparatus is described for processing the bodies of slaughtered poultry and thereby removing meat from the skeleton, specifically in the region of the clavicle (clavicula). The apparatus has a conveyor with saddles for carrying and conveying the poultry body with the breastbone directed upwards and the clavicle leading. In order to remove the meat from the branches of the clavicle, a block having groove-shaped recesses is inserted between the clavicle branches such that the branches slip into the recesses and lie flush with the flank surfaces. Scraping knives are then guided over the flank surfaces to separate the meat from the clavicle. In order to avoid the scraping knives from catching broken or stretched clavicles and thus push bone splinters into the meat, pressing elements are provided which operate directly upstream of the scraping knives and ensure that any broken bone pieces are pushed together with the rest of the clavicle branches into the recesses.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method and apparatus for preparing for detaching meat from the extremities of a slaughtered animal, particularly the legs of poultry. In this method, the meat is initially at least partially detached from the bone structure at the rear side of the extremity from its proximal end to its distal end to form a cavity and then the meat layer surrounding the bone structure is cut open with an incision made from the outside of the extremity towards the cavity. The partial detachment of meat is performed by a curved spike-shaped element, which is inserted between the muscle meat and bone in the region of the proximal end of the extremity and advanced through the extremity along the rear side of the bone structure up to the distal end. The spike-shaped element subsequently serves as a counter support for a knife, which is guided from outside to cut open the meat layer surrounding the bone structure.

Abstract: An apparatus forming part of a filletting machine for removing meat from the skeleton of fish in the region of the ribs is described, through which the fish are conveyed with their tails leading and guided by guides which penetrate into cuts already performed for cutting free the belly and back spokes. The removal of meat from the ribs is performed by means of a tool, which comprises a scraping knife arranged on each side of the belly-cut guides and exending in a plane which forms an angle of between 10.degree. and 50.degree. with the guidance plane defined by the belly-cut and back-cut guides.

Abstract: A method for gaining the remaining meat from the bones of cutlet strings or racks and a separating apparatus for carrying out this method are described. The separating apparatus essentially comprises a hollow drum (1) having a perforated outer surface (7), on which a compression belt (2) partially wrapped around said drum (1) is held under pressure. The hollow drum (1) includes a groove (8) in its central region which extends radially and around said drum and comprises perforated limiting faces. The cross-section of the groove (8) essentially corresponds to that of the bone string to be processed.

Abstract: An apparatus for removing skin from the bodies of body parts of slaughtered poultry is described. The apparatus comprises a skin entraining means (2) having a non-skid or "gripping" outer surface (13) and a pressing means (4) with a knife (3), which is arranged spaced from the outer surface (13) by a gap. An auxiliary conveying means is located above the knife (3) which consists of at least one rotary member (19, 20) driven in the opposite sense to the skin entraining means (2) and has a protruding helical web (21, 22) around its circumference.

Abstract: An auxiliary feeding apparatus (3) for a fish processing machine is described which comprises a conveyor equipped with saddle-like supporting members (1) for supporting the trunks of decapitated fish whose abdominal cavities are open on the ventral side. The auxiliary feeding apparatus (3) comprises an auxiliary saddle (9) for initially supporting each fish to be processed. The auxiliary saddle (9) can be controlled to move into and out of the path of the supporting members (1). The fish to be processed is placed on the auxiliary saddle (9) with its tail leading and, on lowering the auxiliary saddle, is transferred to the supporting member (1). The lowering movement is controlled in such a way, that each fish is taken over by the supporting member without the projecting end (8) of the supporting member coming into contact with the end of the abdominal cavity.

Abstract: An apparatus for detaching wings from a poultry body is described in which the detachment is effected by means of three pairs of separating tools with varying arrangements and forms of knife blades. The poultry bodies are prepared as front halves and pass through the processing areas of the separating tools fixed on supporting saddles which are moved forward by conveying means and convey the poultry body with the neck portion leading and the breast portion uppermost. This "three-cut" separation procedure allows an extremely economical detachment of the wing and greatly increases the yield of breast fillet meat while avoiding bone splinters in the region of attachment of the wings.

Abstract: The invention relates to a separating apparatus for separating a mixture of materials of different flowability for preparing foodstuffs. The apparatus includes a hollow drum having a perforated circumferential surface around a portion of which is wrapped an endless presser belt forming a compression zone for the material to be processed. The belt is pressed against the drum by a presser roller having a hub body around which a tubular cylindrical body forms the roller surface. The cylindrical body is supported in its middle portion by spherical supporting element mounted on the hub body. Thus when the belt is subjected to non-uniform stresses due to the uneven consistency of fed material which in turn causes the deformation and unparallel rotation of the drum and the presser roller, the cylindrical body automatically adjusts its position on said spherical supporting element to restore parallel motion.

Abstract: In a method for mechanically gaining flesh from poultry bodies and an apparatus for carrying out this method, a series of tools are employed that are arranged along a conveyor (1) which has supporting elements (4) for supporting poultry bodies (58). These tools are formed with the aim of achieving a high quality end product at a high yield that is appealing to the eye. The processing of the poultry bodies (58), which are conveyed and securely held by the supporting elements (4), is performed sequentially using controllable scraping elements, stop elements, scraping blades, knives and strippers which loosen the connection between the skeleton (69) and the fillet flesh in a specific order.