Abstract: A method of declawing poultry by applying a form of heat to the claws of a one-day old poult. The preferred form of heat is microwave energy, which is applied for one-half second. After such a bloodless and relatively painless treatment, the claws fall off in one to three weeks. Declawing apparatus including a magnetron supplying microwave energy into a waveguide into which a poult's toes are inserted by conveyer which carries the poult in inverted position by shackles from which the poult is suspended in inverted position.

Abstract: Birds are conveyed in an inverted attitude suspended by their legs form shackles as their torsos move between a pair of guide rods (48) and guide rails (58) prior to reaching a pair of rotary cutting blades (41). A ramp (62) is positioned to engage the shoulder portions of the birds and a second pair of guide rods (66) engage the mid-wing sections of the birds. The wind tip joints move toward and through adjacently placed rotary cutting blades (41) and rotary discs (44) wherein the wing tip segments are severed from the mid-wing sections.

Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for separating the back from the legs of a poultry carcass as the carcass is conveyed on overhead shackles along a processing path and after the entrails and breast of the carcass have been removed. The apparatus includes a cutting station for cutting through the tissue and muscle in the region of the thigh joint of the poultry carcass and a separating station having a spiked rotating disk for gripping the carcass back portion and pulling it away from the legs to separate the legs from the back. Disposed between the cutting station and the separating station is means for rotating carcass backs about an axis extending between the thigh joints of the carcass to dislodge the balls of the thigh joints from the sockets thereof. With the tissue cut and the balls and sockets dislodged, the back is separated cleanly from the legs and the oysters of the thigh joints are left always on the end of the leg bones to prevent unsightly discoloration and escape of bone marrow.

Abstract: A method and device for separating the legs from a carcass of slaughtered poultry in which the carcass is positioned on the rear side, legs pointing upwards, relative to the cutters, a groin incision is made between each leg and the carcass at the side of the leg facing the carcass, and each leg is dislocated at the hip joint by pressing out each leg relative to the carcass. After dislocating the hip, a caudal hip incision is made in the remaining tissue connection between each leg and the carcass, after the two parts of each dislocated hip joint are moved a certain distance apart by applying a force acting on the hip joint ball of each hip joint, pushing the hip joint ball away from the hip joint socket prior to making the hip incision, and the legs are pulled off the carcass, essentially in the lengthwise direction of the back bone and away from the tail part.

Abstract: A poultry wing tip processing apparatus (9) wherein the mid-wing segments are severed from the drumette segments of the wings of poultry carcasses, or other similar fowl. The carcasses are conveyed in an inverted attitude suspended by their legs from shackles as their torsos move between a pair of guide rods (44) and guide rails (56) prior to reaching a pair of rotary disc cutters (34). A ramp (66) is positioned to engage the shoulder portions of the carcasses and a second pair of guide rods (71) engage the mid-wing segments of the carcasses. The elbow joints between the drumette segments and the mid-wing segments move toward and through the rotary disc cutters (34) as a pair of elbow joints engaging means (40) engage the elbow joints and guide them through the disc cutters (34), wherein the mid-wing segments are severed from the drumette segments.

Abstract: A method and device for performing an accurate cutting operation near the knee joint of a leg of a slaughtered animal, in particular a bird, the device comprising mechanical means, such as conveying elements and guides, for handling the leg, and cutting means, such as rotary or stationary knives for performing the cutting operation, e.g. for making an incision prior to scraping off meat of a bone or for cutting through the leg. With the device, the desired cutting accuracy is obtained by using mechanical positioning means which operate on the kneecap of the leg, which is preferably bended in the knee joint in its natural bending direction by bending means. The positioning means may comprise one or more supporting elements with a stop edge, which can be moved along the thigh of the leg to against the kneecap.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a method and apparatus for automatically separating the legs and thighs of birds from the backs of birds while the birds are moving along a poultry processing line. The thigh joints between the thighs and lower backs of the birds are engaged between the angular contact edges (43 and 44) of a pair of yieldable cam shoes (37 and 38) and the side surfaces (33 and 34) of a vertical center guide partition (31). As a result, the thigh joints are aligned with the cutting blades (54 and 56) of a cutting means (36), positioned downstream of the yieldable cam shoes (37 and 38), which cuts through the thigh joints to separate the legs and thighs from the back portions of the birds.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to an automated poultry processing system having a novel chicken hind quarter cutting stage that does not require the individual chicken hind quarters to be removed from the moving treadmill before or after halving the chicken hind quarters. Each chicken hind quarter is placed into a moveable shackle including a rotatable shackle assembly. Each rotatable shackle assembly includes a cam plate that, when moved into contact with a stationary cam member, causes the shackle assembly to rotate 90.degree., thereby rotating the chicken hind quarter by 90.degree.. The chicken hind quarter then moves into contact with a guide member that positions the chicken hind quarter for subsequent cutting by a rotary saw. The chicken hind quarter remains in contact with the guide member until the saw has cut the chicken hind quarter into halves, thereby facilitating a precise cut of the chicken hind quarter.

Abstract: The head-separating tool is a pair of pivoted blades, each having two sections. The section closest to the pivot comprises a wedge on each blade positioned so that the wedges come together in nearly point-to-point contact to engage in the beef neck's Atlas joint to separate the joint. The portions of the blade farther from the pivot are shears which overlap when closing to cut the soft neck tissue below the Atlas bone. The blades are power-actuated to disjoint at the Atlas joint with substantially no bone chipping.

Abstract: There is disclosed a leg transfer machine for unloading backs of chickens from a shackle conveyor and feeding the back of the chicken carcass into a conventional chicken leg processor. The machine is positioned under a shackle conveyor and includes an air cylinder-actuated rod positioned to strike both legs of the bird carcass just below the hocks and lift the hocks out of the shackle loop. A slotted guide receives the legs in respective slots with the hocks above the slots preventing the half of the chicken from dropping in an uncontrolled manner. A rake actuatable both vertically and horizontally is controlled to drop in front of the hocks and rake the legs back in the slots while generally vertical rail members contact the crotch of the chicken to cause the legs to extend horizontally as they descend onto an upwardly convex saddle element covering the end portion of the leg processing machine chain conveyor.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a method and apparatus for automatically halving and processing the breasts and backs of poultry carcasses while the carcasses are still moving along a poultry processing line. The carcasses are pulled along the length of an internal guide rail (29) for processing. A rotary halving blade (48) positioned initially below the internal guide rail (29) is movable upwardly to engage and cut the breast into halves. After the breast has been split in half by the rotary halving blade (42), a pair of rotary separator blades (48) cut through the back of the carcass between the breast and thighs of the carcass to separate the breast and upper back from the legs, thighs and lower back of the carcass. A pair of back removal blades (61) positioned above the internal guide rail (29), the rotary separator blades (48) removes the upper backbone from the breast.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a method and apparatus for automatically halving and processing the breasts and backs of poultry carcasses while the carcasses are still moving along a poultry processing line. The carcasses are passed along the processing line through a V-shaped separator blade 26 which separates the saddle portion of the carcass from the breast and back of the carcass. The breast and back of the carcass are then pulled along the length of an internal guide rail 32 by a pair of chain conveyors 33 for processing. A large rotary halving blade 43 positioned below the internal guide rail 32 is movable upward to initially cut only the breast of the carcass and further upward to separate the entire carcass in half. A pair of back removal blades 46 positioned above the internal guide rail 32 following the rotary halving blade 43 can be lowered to remove the backbone from the carcass if the halving blade 43 is not fully raised to separate the entire poultry carcass.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a method and apparatus for automatically separating the breast (15), back (17) and saddle (21) of poultry carcasses (10) while the carcasses are moving along a poultry processing line. The carcasses are initially engaged by a disk cutter (26) which cuts along the visceral cavity between the breast and thighs of the carcass to enlarge the opening of the visceral cavity. The carcasses are carried into a first processing station (29) wherein the breast and upper back are separated from the legs, thighs and lower back of the carcass, and the breast is split and the backbone cut away from the upper back. After being separated from the breast and upper back of the carcass, the legs, thighs and lower back are carried into a second processing station (40) where the thighs are engaged by a pair of joint opening guide rods (72 and 73) which press the thighs away from the back to open the connecting joints between the thighs and lower back.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a method and apparatus for automatically stripping the meat from the bones of a poultry part. The deboner (11) carries a plurality of deboning modules (12) along a processing path. Each deboning module (12) includes a rotary bone holder (38) for supporting the poultry part and a stripper assembly (41) for stripping the meat from the bone. The stripper assembly (41) has stripper blades (62) which engage the meat on the bone and strip the meat from the bone as the stripper assembly (41) moves along the length of the bone. As the blades (62) strip the meat from the bone, the rotary bone holder (38) can be rotated to thus rotate the bone with respect to the meat to assist in the meat removal.