Method and apparatus for separating bone and meat of upper half of poultry carcass

Abstract: A method and apparatus for separating bone and meat of the upper half (10, 260) of a poultry carcass with a variety of the sizes are provided, wherein first cutting is effected in the neighborhood of a shoulder joint (11) to disconnect tissues under influence of a separation force applied between the upper half (10, 260) of a poultry carcass and the head (12a) of a humerus (12b), second cutting is effected along the surface of the front side of a furcula (14), and then breast meat is efficiently separated by a conventional means with a higher recovery rate and an auto-loading system comprising a plurality of buffer conveyors (220) is provided, wherein the upper halves (10, 260) of poultry carcasses are continuously loaded to as many apparatuses (265) for the separating without downtime. In the first cutting of the method and an apparatus for the separating, an inserting position and depth of an obliquely moving cutter blade (116) is properly determined with accuracy by the help of a guide bar (121) with reference pieces (121b, 121b), which is selected according to the size of the upper half of a poultry carcass and put inside the shoulder joints (11) for setting reference planes, vertical (Ya) and horizontal (Xa).

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to a method and apparatus for separating bone and meat of an upper half of a poultry carcass, from which legs have been cut off (hereinafter simply referred to as upper half), wherein tissues such as a tendon, ligament, muscle, envelope and the like around a shoulder joint are cut and breast meat is separated from a bone together with wings in a stable manner and , more particularly, to the method and apparatus, in which the separation can automatically be effected with high flexibility to difference in size of upper halves and with a high recovery rate. Description of the Related Art Recently, breeding, slaughtering, and processing of carcasses of poultry have been grown up to a large scale in a related industry and a variety of automation has largely been carried out in the growth. In the mean time, cutting-off of legs from a carcass of poultry has still been conducted manually. Methods and apparatuses suitable for the use of deboning of the legs have already been proposed by the same inventors. Separation of breast meat in an upper half, whose leg portions are removed in a previous process, has also been carried out by manual operation. In such manual operation, there has been arisen problems that separated breast meat and supreme (white meat), which remains between furcula, are subject to damages and thereby to their devaluation as article of commerce. Moreover, an operator necessarily conducts manual operation while palms and fingers contact with meat directly, which makes a managing cost in an hygienic aspect higher and, besides, a direct production cost higher due to a lower recovery rate. Now, description will given about breast meat 10a. An ideal cut plane 35 exists around shoulder joint 11, as seen from a perspective view in Figs. 8 and 9. Muscle of the supreme 10 b is connected with a humerus, which combines with the glenoid 11b of a shoulder joint 11 combines and on the other hand the breast meat 10a and a wing 12 are connected with the shoulder joint 11 by way of a breast muscle and a brachial muscle respectively. The breast meat 10a is present in an area formed by being surrounded by a scapula 11a, the upper portion of an os coracoideum 13 and a furcula 14. The shoulder joint 11 is integrated with the head (not shown) 12a of a humerus 12b which fits in the glenoid 11 b of the scapula 11a by the help of tissues such as a ligament, tendon, muscle, envelope and the like, said scapula 11a joining with a furcula 14 and os coracoideum 13, as seen from Fig. 9. As can be seen from the above description, separation of breast meat is conducted after cutting the tissues such as a tendon, ligament, muscle, envelope and the like combined with the scapula 11a and the head 12 a of a humerus 12b (hereinafter referred to as shoulder joint cutting). A recovery is affected at a great extent by performance in the shoulder joint cutting, that is, if the position and depth of the shoulder cutting is proper for the size of an upper half, a better recovery is secured. In order to achieve the purpose, it is necessary to properly set the inserting position and cutting depth of a cutter blade in an area for shoulder joint cutting in response to different sizes of the upper half with flexibility of operation. Configuration of tendons in tissues which are an object of the shoulder joint cutting has been investigated in regards to their positional relations with sizes of upper halves. The following conclusion has been obtained, as a result of detailed studies on the basis of figures of a skeletal system. 1. In Figs. 14(A), 14(B) and 14(C), the skeleton of an upper half is shown in a front elevational view as seen from the breast side, side elevational view and rear elevational view and Figs. 15(A) and, 15(B) are enlarged views of encircled portions designated at D and E, each of which include a shoulder joint, in the Figs. 14(B) and 14(C). It can be seen from Figs. 15(A) and 15(B) that: a) the heads 11c, 12a of a scapula and humerus are combined with each other by two pairs of tendons (i) and (ii); and b) a tendon (i) is located outwardly of a tendon (ii), as seen from a rear elevational view of Fig. 15(B), a tendon (ii) is originated at the head 11c of a scapula 11b and extends to the head 12a of a humerus 12b outwardly and obliquely relative thereto, and the tendon (ii) is also originated at the head 11c of a scapula 11b and extends to the head 12 a of a humerus downwardly and almost vertically. 2. Next, an inserting position of a cutter blade in a shoulder joint cutting is discussed. As can be seen from Fig. 12, a vertical reference plane Ya is set on the inside of the head 11c of a scapula 11b and a horizontal reference plane Xa is set on the head 12a of a humerus 12b. An inserting position of an obliquely moving cutter blade 116 is at distances of Sa from the vertical reference plane Ya and of Ha from the horizontal plane Xa, wherein these values of Sa and Ha fluctuate only in a span of 2 to 3 mm for all the variations in size of upper halves, which is small enough to be neglected. In consideration of the above situation, it has been found that the position of the obliquely moving cutter blade 116 can be set at an almost proper position, if location of the vertical reference plane is adjusted according to the size of an upper half as work, while a inserting position of the obliquely moving cutter blade 116 is selected at a constant distance from the vertical reference plane Ya, but a problem is how to adjustably determine a location of the vertical reference plane according to a size of the upper half.As a further finding, it is required in cutting of tissues around a shoulder joint that the two pairs of tendons (i) and (ii) are cut, as described in 1 a), that cutting of tendons (i) is conducted obliquely from an external position in the air, as described in 2 b), and on the other hand, that cutting of tendons (ii) is conducted horizontally. 3. As to a depth of inserting of a cutter blade in cutting the tendons (ii), as can be seen in Fig. 15(B), it has been found that meat is not damaged, even if the edge of the cutting blade is sent till it contacts with the lower portion of the head 11c of a scapula on condition that a direction of the cutter blade is adjusted to be horizontal especially in the last instant of the cutting operation. That is, it has been understood together with the other descriptions of 1 a) and 1 b) that it is only required that two directions of insertion are adopted for a cutting blade and a direction of the cutting blade is required to be horizontal only in the last instant of operation. Leg portions of a poultry carcass are separated by dividing the carcass at a hip joint and removing spurs and toes and even a skilled worker have been able to debone the legs portions to recover thigh meat at an average rate of 720 leg portions or 360 poultry carcasses per day. A solution for the above problems has been proposed and tried to automate and rationalize a deboning operation, which is disclosed, for example, in the specification of Japanese Patent Application No. H 4-203528 already filed. According to the specification, a deboning method of poultry suitable for automation and an automated deboning apparatus are disclosed. The deboning apparatus has, as shown in Fig. 17, a construction that a rotary octagonal table 300 is equipped, processing stations S1 to S8 are located in respective positions of the sides. At the station S1, the tibia 306 of a leg as a work that is shown in Fig. 16, and which has been transported by a conveyor 301, is manually inserted in a chuck (not shown) to fix for deboning. After the chucking, the leg is subjected to various processing, such as extraction by a tool and separating meat by scraping, in given sections F, F, G in the order, from bones, while effecting a first and second cuttings by rotary cutter blades, as shown in Fig. 16, in each of the processing stations S1 to S8 in an automatic fashion with an intermittent feed. The above mentioned deboning apparatus is also applicable to any form of a cut-up part of poultry, that is to an upper half. EP-A-0 695 506 discloses an apparatus and a method for separating breast meat together with wings from the upper half of a poultry carcass in accordance with the first part of claim 1 and that of claim 16, respectively. The cutting mechanism of that apparatus uses a single horizontally moving blade. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus and a method by which the breast meat and supreme of poultry can be separated more accurately without damaging the meat. This object is met by the invention as defined in claims 1 and 16. The provision of an additional, obliquely moving cutter blade permits proper separation in the neighborhood of the shoulder joint which is complicated by a plurality of a tendon, ligament, muscle, envelope and the like, in such a manner that cutting is effected with a better recovery of meat. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The novel features of the invention and additional objects and advantages thereof will best be understood from the following description and the accompanying drawings, of which Figs. 1 to 10 and 14 to 17 do not directly relate to the invention but are useful for explaining its background. In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of a skeleton of the upper half of a poultry carcass, as seen from the breast side; Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line A-A of Fig. 1; Fig. 3(A) to (D) are illustrations of respective progressive steps in separation of breast meat and wings on an upper half of a poultry carcass by a separation method; Fig. 4(A and (B) are illustrations of application of cuttings to a furcula portion in the separation depicted in Fig. 1, wherein, in detail, Fig. 4(A) is a perspective front view, as seen from the breast side and Fig. 4(B) is a perspective side view, as seen from the breast side; Fig. 5 is a block diagram, as an example, illustrating principal elements of an apparatus for separation of bone and meat; Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating principal elements of a positioning/pressing mechanism; Fig. 7(A and (B) are detailed views of a structure of a meat separator of Fig. 6 and illustration of an pressing operation thereof, wherein Fig. 7(A) illustrates the structure and a situation when the meat separator is placed on a joint of a scapula from above to after determining an engaging location and Fig. 7(B) illustrates a situation of pressing down the head of humerus; Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the upper half of a poultry carcass; Fig. 9 is a skeleton of the upper half after the breast meat and wings are separated; Fig. 10 is an schematic illustration of principal parts of an apparatus for separating bone and meat which automatically adapt itself to a size of the upper half of a poultry carcass according to a method of this invention; Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a guide bar of Fig. 10; Fig. 12 is an illustration of positional relations of a cutter blade of Fig. 10 ready for insertion; Fig. 13(A), (B) are illustrations of cutting operation of two pairs of tendons in one of the apparatuses of Fig. 10, which connect the head of scapula and the head of humerus, wherein Fig. 13(A) is a view of cutting of a tendon (i) and Fig. 13(B) is a view of cutting a tendon (ii); Fig. 14(A), (B), (C) are a front view, side view and rear view of a skeleton, as seen from the breast side; Fig. 15(A), (B) are enlarged side views respectively of a portion in a circle D around a shoulder joint shown in Fig. 14(B) and a portion in a circle E around the shoulder joint shown in Fig. 14(C); Fig. 16 is a schematic illustration of details of a leg of a poultry carcass; and Fig. 17 is a schematic illustration of a conventional apparatus for separating bone and meat. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of a skeleton of the upper half of a poultry carcass, as seen from the breast side, Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line A - A of Fig. 1, Fig. 3(A) to (D) are illustrations of respective progressive steps in separation of breast meat and wings on an upper half of a poultry carcass after muscles have been cut by a method for separating bone and meat shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 4(A), (B) are illustrations of application of cuttings to a furcula portion in the separation, wherein, in detail, Fig. 4(A) is a perspective front view, as seen from the breast side and Fig. 4(B) is a perspective side view as seen from the breast side, Fig. 5 is a block diagram, as an example, illustrating principal elements of an apparatus for separation of bone and meat according to this invention, Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating principal elements of a positioning/pressing mechanism of Fig. 5, Fig. 7(A), (B) are detailed views of a structure of a meat separator of Fig. 6 and illustration of an pressing operation thereof, wherein Fig. 7(A) illustrates the structure and a situation when the meat separator is placed on a joint of a scapula from above to after determining an engaging location and Fig. 7(B) illustrates a step of pressing down the head of humerus. A method for separating bone and meat of an upper half of a poultry carcass, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, comprises the following steps of: (1) inserting a truncated cone 20 for holding fast in an upper half 10 of a poultry carcass into a cavity 10c thereof; adjusting a position of a shoulder joint 11, which comprises a glenoid 11b of a scapula 11a, on the top of which a furcula 14 and an os coracoideum 13 are present, and the head 12a of a humerus 12 b engaged in the glenoid 11b; and (2) pulling down an ulna 12c and the humerus 12b to separate the head 12a of the humerus 12b from the glenoid 11b of the scapula 11a, which is located in the upper portion of the shoulder joint 11. The above-mentioned separating force works so as to widen a gap between a glenoid 11b of a scapula 11a and the head 12a of a humerus 12b and thereby facilitate cuttings of ligaments and envelops, which connect the glenoid 11b of the scapula 11a and the head 12a of the humerus 12b, and breast muscles, tendons and the like, which connect to the joint portion of the scapula 11a. The center of action of the force resides at a point between the scapula 11a and glenoid 11b. A direction, along which the force acts, is not necessarily restricted to a single direction, but is properly changeable according to types of tissues, which are objects to cut, and procedures adopted.Besides, the separating force may directly acts on the head 12a of the humerus 12b and indirectly on the head 12b through the humerus 12b or the ulna 12c.The method for separating bone and meat further comprises the steps of: (3) following the step (2), shifting downward a meat separator 15 from an original position a toward another position b, a little lower the original position, by the separating force; directly pressing down the head 12a of the humerus 12 b in contact therewith to relatively raise the joint 11c of the scapula 11a upward, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, wherein a caution should be taken not to break the furcula 14 by adversely pressing it with the meat separator 15; (4) effecting cutting along the periphery of the raised joint 11c of the scapula 11a in such a manner that the cutting reaches a bone by the cutter blade 16 to disconnect a joint envelop and thereby expose the joint 11c (see Fig. 3(A)), wherein the cutting by the cutter blade 16 is effected along the periphery of the joint 11c of the scapula 11a with the meat separator 15 remained at the original position a in the figure; (5) moving the head 12a of the humerus 12b by the meat separator 15 downward with a caution not to press the exposed joint 11c of the scapula 11a to widen a space between the glenoid 11b of the joint 11c and the head 12a of the humerus 12b (see Fig. 3(B)); (6) inserting the cutter blade 16 in a widened space between the joint 11c of the scapula 11a and the head 12a of the humerus 12b to disconnect the tissues like ligaments (see Fig. 3(B)), wherein meat can be forced out outside the meat separator 15 by a press-down action and as a result, there are chances that damages by cuts are given in the meat, but, according the method or apparatus of this invention, there is provided with a structure wherein the meat separator 15 does not work in that way; (7) repeating the steps 5, 6 to force the head 12a of the humerus 12b down to the position c from the position a of Fig. 1 by the meat separator 15; disconnecting all the muscles between the joint 11c of the scapula 11a and the head 12a of the humerus 12b (see Figs. 1, 3(C)); (8) then pulling the humerus 12b and the ulna 12c toward the cone 20 to strip and separate the breast meat 10a from bones of the upper half, wherein, if cutting is effected in a area 14a hatched with oblique lines on the front side of the furcula 14 except for the peripheral portion around the shoulder joint 11, the stripping and separation can be in a smoother manner carried out. The cutting in the hatched area is, in detail, carried out in such a method comprising the steps of: pressing a round cutter blade 36, rotary or stationary, to both branches of a V letter in shape of the furcula 14 at the same time, as seen in the perspective front view of Fig. 4(A) and in the perspective side view of Fig. 4(B); and moving the edge of the cutter blade 36 from the roots of the furcula in the shoulder to a joining point of both branches along a direction of an arrow D, as if the edge scrape meat on the furcula 14 off, to apply cutting for a distance C, which is effective in reducing residual meat between both branches of the furcula 14. In this case, residual meat in a furcula portion can be less and a recovery rate is improved in separating breast meat from bones, which is effected by tearing the breast meat apart. In Fig. 5, there is provided a block diagram, as an example, illustrating principal parts of an apparatus for separating bone and meat of this invention. The apparatus comprises a positioning/pressing mechanism 21 and a control circuit 22 for repetition, the latter of which comprises a first actuating circuit 27 for a pressing force, a second actuating circuit 28 for a cutter, and a timer circuit 29 for repetition, wherein the positioning and pressing 21 determines a position of pressing by the meat separator 15, the meat separator 15 is pressed, then a cutter blade 116 is driven to cut and a control unit for repetition 22 makes the pressing and cutting in combination repeated in a desired number of times. The positioning/pressing mechanism 21 comprises: a X - Y table 23 with a sensor; an actuator 24 for pressing; and a meat separator 15 with a vibrator 25 and an oscillating mechanism 26, wherein the meat separator 15 with the oscillating mechanism 26 detects, with the help of the X - Y table 23 having the sensor, a position where the meat separator 15 can engage with the joint 11c of the scapula 11a, which is the shoulder joint 11 and the meat separator 15 can press down the head 12a of the humerus 12b by means of the actuator 24 for pressing after determining the position of engagement. The meat separator 15 has the oscillating mechanism at its root, as shown in Fig. 6, so as to be adaptable for a oblique plane in pressing. The meat separator can fast bite the head 12a of the humerus 12b by the action of a plurality of spikes 30 planted on the lower side, which is later detailed, and downwardly pointed edges integrally formed at the fore end of the meat separator 15 in cooperation with the action of the vibration having a proper wavelength caused by the vibrator 25. As described before, the meat separator 15 is a profiled plate, as shown in Fig. 7(A), wherein the fore end has a concave opening 32 increasing in width toward the fore end and the concave opening 32 has sides 33 of tapered surfaces to secure engagement in the joint 11c of the scapula 11a and thereby facilitate the detection of position, as shown in Fig. 7(B). Besides edges 31 are integrally formed at the fore edge on the lower side and a plurality of spikes 30 are planted across the surface of the lower side to secure the press-down of the head 12a of the humerus 12b. The cutter blade 16 is, for example, a small-diameter rotary blade rotating in a horizontal plane, moves along the meat separator 15, as a guide, in a proper contact and is adaptable to cutting along any desirable direction, so that tissues such as a tendon, ligament, muscle, envelope and the like around a shoulder joint can be cut in a smoother manner. An embodiment of this invention will be given with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 10 is an schematic illustration of principal parts of an apparatus for separating bone and meat which automatically adapt itself to a size of the upper half of a poultry carcass according to a method of this invention, Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a guide bar illustrating an outline of a structure, Fig. 12 is an illustration of positional relations of a cutter blade ready for insertion, wherein the cutter blade changes its starting position for inserting according to a size of the upper half, and Fig. 13(A), (B) are illustrations of cutting operation of two pairs of tendons which connect the head of scapula 11a and the head 12a of humerus 12b, wherein Fig.13(A) is a view of cutting of a tendon (i) and Fig.13(B) is a view of cutting a tendon (ii). A method and apparatus of this invention are automatically adapted to a change in a size of the upper half of a poultry carcass, wherein a starting position and finishing depth of cutting in the body of the upper half for a cutter blade is changeable according to differences in size of the upper half as a work when the cutting is applied around a shoulder joint and the cutting is an important factor to determine a recovery rate, that is, better selections of the position and depth of the cutter blade in the body of the upper half are automatically resulted in a good recovery rate. The present invention is, accordingly, to enable the cutter blade to properly adjust a position before and depth after insertion thereof in the body of a work in a flexible manner in accordance with a size of the work regardless the magnitude of the size. As shown in Fig. 12, a starting position for insertion of a obliquely moving cutter blade 116 is set at a point of a lateral outward distance of Sa from a vertical reference plane Ya and at a vertical downward distance Ha of Ha from a horizontal reference plane Xa, wherein the vertical reference plane Ya is positioned on the inside of a shoulder joint 11 and the horizontal reference plane Xa is positioned on the upper side of the shoulder joint 11. Magnitudes of the Sa and Ha have a small spread of variation falling in the range of 2 to 3 mm according to variations in magnitude of sizes of the head 11c of a scapula 11a and therefore the spreads of variations in magnitude of the Sa and Ha can be said to be affected at a relatively minor level by the variations in magnitude of sizes of the upper half. In this invention, on the basis of the above observations, a plurality of guide bars 121 are prepared beforehand, as shown in Fig. 10, which guide bars have respective different values of S in a proper range according to conceivable different sizes of upper halves, for the purpose to especially absorb influence of a magnitude in size of an upper half on setting of a reference plane, especially a vertical reference plane Ya. A magnitude of S of a guide bar 121 is selected on the basis of a size of the upper half and moreover, reference pieces 121b, 121b are mounted on the upper side of the guide bar 121, which are used for proper positioning in height of the guide bar 121 and thereby a horizontal reference plane Xa. When a guide bar 121 is applied to an upper half, a proper S of the guide bar 121 is selected from the stock in accordance to a size of the upper half and a guide bar 121 with the S is inserted and pressed, in a widening manner in a direction of an arrow, inside shoulder joints of the upper half to set a vertical reference plane Ya and at the same time set a horizontal reference plane Xa by the help of reference pieces 121b, 121b. A mechanism for an obliquely moving cutter blade 116 to obliquely slide (not shown) is mounted on the guide bar 121 and by the mechanism, the edge of the obliquely moving cutter blade 116 is always positioned at a position of Sa and Ha respectively from the reference planes, vertical and horizontal, when starting. The mechanism, in such a manner, enables proper positioning of the obliquely moving cutter blade 116 to be secured. According to a method and apparatus of this invention, tendons connecting the head 11c of a scapula 11a and the head 12a of a humerus 12b are cut by a two-stage cutting with an obliquely and horizontally moving cutter blades 116, 117, since a tendon (i) 123 extends from the head 11c of the scapula 11a to the head 12a of the humerus 12b obliquely outwardly and a tendon (ii) 124 extends between both head 11c, 12a almost vertically inside the tendon (i) 123, as shown in Fig. 13(A). A cutting process comprises the steps of: effecting a first cutting to disconnect all the tendon (i) 123 and part (2/3) of the tendon (ii) 124 by the obliquely moving blade 116; shifting the head 12a of the humerus 12b, which is bonded in a weaker manner, downward along a direction of Yb by a separator 15; and then effecting a second cutting along the surface of the separator 15 in a sliding manner to completely disconnect the rest of the tendon (ii) 124 by the horizontally moving blade 117. In the second cutting stage, a horizontal cutting is adopted and therefore, the edge of the cutter blade 117 is stopped at the surface of a bone, before the edge of a cutter blade gives damages to the neighboring meat 125, as shown in Fig. 13(A), (B). In such a way as has been described above, a method of this invention makes it possible to conduct the cutting around a shoulder joint by cutter blades without any damages given on meat, while automatically adapting cutting conditions to a variation in size of upper halves and thereby, makes it possible to separate breast meat from bones together with wings by a separating mechanism with a higher recovery rate. Fig. 10 shows main components and arrangement thereof in an outline of an apparatus for separating bone and meat according to this invention, which is automatically adapted to a magnitude in size of the upper half of a poultry carcass. The apparatus comprises: an inserting cone 20 for holding fast the upper half 10; a plurality of guide bars 121 with different openings in size; an obliquely moving cutter blade 116; a separator 15; a horizontally moving cutter blade 117; and a separating mechanism not shown. A guide bar 121 comprises a round rod 121a having the shape of a letter U, which has an opening of a width S at its open end, and reference pieces 121b, 121b at the open end of the upper side, as shown in Fig. 11. Guide bars 121 of different openings in size are prepared in stock. A guide bar 121 may have a variety of shapes, which comprise shapes of not only an English letter U but an English letter V and a Greek letter Π and a round rod 121a may be replaced by a square rode, a plate or a tube. A mechanism for an obliquely moving cutter blade 116 to obliquely slide is mounted on a pair of straight portions of a guide bar 121 and with a proper guide bar 121, an obliquely moving cutter blade 116 can be guided to cut into a work at a right position of a new set of Sa and Ha, which are determined by reference planes, vertical and horizontal, Ya, Xa newly set by insertion and pressing of a selected guide bar 121. A separator 15 comprises a horizontal plate member with a concave opening 32 (see Figs. 10, 13) at its fore end and the opening 32 engages with the head 11c of a scapula 11a, and the head 12a of a humerus 12b is pressed down along a direction of an arrow Yb by the bottom portion of the opening 32, the head 12a of humerus 12b having already been weakened in bonding strength with a partner in the first cutting. The horizontally moving cutter blade 117 can slide on the separator 15 along a horizontal direction of an arrow Xb. The separating mechanism is so constructed to be downwardly operated manually or with mechanical force in order to move the breast meat and wings downward, after the cuttings at the shoulder joint 11. According to the embodiment above mentioned, the upper halves of poultry carcasses are processed to separate meat and bone without any damages on recovered meat, wherein the separation is easily automatically adaptable to variations in size of the upper halves regardless a variety of sizes of the upper halves, and therefore improvement on a recovery rate can be achieved.

Claims: An apparatus for separating breast meat together with wings from the upper half ( 10, 260 ) of a poultry carcass, comprising a fit-insert cone ( 20 ) to be inserted into a cavity of the upper half ( 10, 260 ) of a poultry carcass, for determining the location of a shoulder joint ( 11 ) comprising the head ( 12a ) of a humerus ( 12b ) and a glenoid, a separator ( 15 ) for depressing the head ( 12a ) of the humerus ( 12b ) engaged with the joint of the scapula ( 11a ), a cutting mechanism for cutting the tissues around the shoulder joint ( 11 ), the cutting mechanism including horizontally moving cutter blade ( 117 ), and a separating mechanism, characterised in that the cutting mechanism further includes an obliquely moving cutter blade ( 116 ). The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising means for cutting the breast and/or back except for a neighbouring portion of the shoulder joint ( 11 ). The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the fit-insert cone has the shape of a truncated cone ( 20 ). The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the separator ( 15 ) is a profiled plate with a concave opening ( 32 ) increasing in width toward the fore end for engaging the joint of the scapula ( 11a ), and downward pointed edges ( 31 ) for biting-in when a pressing force is applied at the fore end of the lower side. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the separator ( 15 ) has a plurality of spike-like protrusions ( 30 ) on the lower side. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the separator ( 15 ) has an oscillating mechanism for applying a pressing force in any desired direction. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the separator ( 15 ) is equipped with a vibrator mechanism ( 25 ). The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the separator ( 15 ) is equipped with an auto-adjustment aligning mechanism for detecting the joint of the scapula ( 11a ) to engage with. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein one of the cutter blades ( 117 ) employs the separator ( 15 ) as a guide. The apparatus of any preceding claim, further comprising a mechanism for selecting a combination of a pressing force of the separator ( 15 ) and cutting action, which interlocks with the pressing force, and repeating the process a desired number of times. The apparatus of any one of claims 2 to 10, wherein the cutting means is further capable of cutting on the surface of the front side of the furcula ( 14 ). The apparatus of any preceding claim, further comprising a plurality of guide bars ( 121 ) for determining locations of the vertical and horizontal reference planes, each having a size corresponding to a size of the upper half ( 10, 260 ) of a poultry carcass, and one of which is inserted while a pressing force is applied, wherein said obliquely moving cutter blade ( 116 ) is mounted on a guide bar ( 121 ) and adapted to be inserted at a right position to cut all outside tendons and part of the inside tendons, and said horizontally moving cutter blade ( 117 ) is adapted to completely cut the uncut rest of the inside tendons. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein reference pieces ( 121b ) are mounted on the upper side of a guide bar ( 121 ) to enable automatically positioning of the horizontal reference plane. The apparatus of claim 12 or 13, wherein the inserting position of the obliquely moving cutter blade ( 116 ) is automatically determined by a guide bar ( 121 ) selected according to the size of the upper carcass half ( 10, 260 ). The apparatus of any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the horizontally moving cutter blade ( 117 ) is movable along the separator ( 15 ) and means is provided for automatically determining the inserting position thereof according to the size of the upper carcass half ( 10, 260 ). A method for separating breast meat together with wings from the upper half ( 10, 260 ) of a poultry carcass, comprising cutting tissues around a shoulder joint ( 11 ), including tissues such as a tendon, ligament, muscle, envelope and the like between or in the vicinity of the head ( 12a ) of a humerus ( 12b ), a glenoid of a scapula ( 11a ), which construct a shoulder joint, to separate the breast meat from the body of the upper half together with wings, while a separating force is applied between the body of the upper half and a wing, characterised in that the cutting is carried out by inserting a guide bar ( 121 ) with a size corresponding to a size of the upper half ( 10, 260 ) of a poultry carcass while pressing it into a space between the shoulder joints ( 11 ), setting a vertical reference plane on the inside of the shoulder joint ( 11 ) for determining an inserting position of a horizontally moving cutter blade ( 117 ) by a distance in a lateral direction from the vertical reference plane, setting a horizontal plane for determining an inserting position of the horizontally moving cutter blade ( 117 ) by a distance in a vertical direction from the horizontal reference plane, inserting an obliquely moving cutter blade ( 116 ) from an inserting position obliquely in respect to the vertical reference plane, cutting all outside tendons and part of the inside tendons with the obliquely moving cutter blade ( 116 ) to reduce a combining force and then inserting the horizontally moving cutter blade into a gap between the joint and the head ( 12a ) of the humerus ( 12b ), which has already been widened by the pressing force applied to the head of a humerus, in order to completely cut the uncut rest of the inside tendons.

Inventors: ASANO TAKEO, FUJIWARA YOSHIMITSU, HAYAKAWA HIROYUKI, KODAMA RYUJI, KOUZU SHOUZOU, NOMURA YASUAKI, ASANO, TAKEO, FUJIWARA, YOSHIMITSU, HAYAKAWA, HIROYUKI, KODAMA, RYUJI, KOUZU, SHOUZOU, NOMURA, YASUAKI
Applicants: MAYEKAWA MANUFACTURING CO LTD, MAYEKAWA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
Application year: 1997
Main classification: A22C21
IPC codes: A22C21