Patent ID: 6200209
Filing Date: 2001-03-13
Classification: A22C

Abstract:
A shrimp processing apparatus useful in removing the sand vein from a desirable shrimp meat portion and peeling the shell therefrom, the apparatus comprising:a housing;a plurality of radially opposing conveyor roller pairs carried by the housing in a spaced relation and rotatably driven for contacting a headless shrimp and conveying the shrimp from an upstream pair of conveyor roller pair receiving the shrimp at an entrance end of the housing to a downstream pair therein;a first cutting blade carried by the housing and positioned downstream the entrance end between adjacent conveyor roller pairs for cutting a strip into a shrimp dorsal side along the longitudinal axis of the shrimp being conveyed therepast for providing an access to a sand vein;a second cutting blade carried by the housing and positioned downstream the entrance end between adjacent conveyor roller pairs for cutting through a shrimp ventral side along the longitudinal axis of the shrimp being conveyed therepast, the first and second cutting blades in combination causing the shell of the shrimp to be severed into opposing left and right shell sections;a brush carried by the housing and positioned downstream the first cutting blade between adjacent roller pairs for brushing into the access of the shrimp top wall portion and sweeping the vein therefrom as the shrimp is conveyed therepast through the conveyor roller pairs; andan opposing peeler roller pair carried by the housing, rotatably driven in a spaced relation for receiving the shrimp therebetween, and positioned downstream the plurality of conveyor roller pairs for receiving the shrimp therefrom, wherein each roller of the peeler roller pair includes a plurality of teeth elements radially extending therefrom for penetrating the left and right shell sections, conveying the shrimp downstream, and peeling the left and right shell sections from a desirable meat portion of the shrimp for ejecting the deveined and peeled shrimp from the housing.