Patent ID: 6306028
Filing Date: 2001-10-23
Classification: A22B

Abstract:
Apparatus for recovering meat from the head of a slaughtered animal, the apparatus including: a jaw support for supporting the head of a slaughtered animal, a mouth opening projection which passes through the jaw from the underside of the jaw towards the skull so as to contact the surface of the palate of the skull when the jaw is held by the jaw support whereby the skull will be pushed away from the jaw by the projection and held so that mouth remains open, cheek pullers located and mounted in association with the jaw support and operable for engaging with and holding the cheeks of the animal head in the vicinity of the mouth when the head is supported by the jaw support, and a drive arrangement operatively coupled to the cheek pullers for moving the cheek pullers outward relatively away from each other and also relative to the animal head held by the jaw support in the posterior direction so as to pull tissues from both the jaw and the skull.