Animal skinning machine

Abstract: Cattle skinning machine, of the type used for skinning animals preferably sheep and goat, featured in that a traction trolley (6), mounted on a square shape metal frame (1), is capable of holding the animal body skin and be displaced upwards, stripping the skin off and, at the completion of said operation will drop the skin inside a container with the aid of a traction cylinder (15) located on back side of machine, said cylinder, by means of a rope or cable (13) connected to traction trolley, exerts a pressure to move said trolley upwards, the whole assembly provided with a stretching cylinder (16) which has the function of keeping the slaughtered animal on a straight position to allow for an easy skinning operation.

Description: The present invention relates, to a skinning machine used for the skinning of cattle that produce meat for human consumption, specially that of sheep and goat according to the preamble of claim 1. At present, one of most common practices is the manual skinning of this type of cattle, while in large slaughter houses a known device is used to help in the skinning of animals, said device consisting of a arm shaped bar that is introduced between the lumbar region and the skin, which has been partially stripped out, swinging up and down while the said device horizontal axis also swings continuously making it possible the complete skinning of cattle. The manual skinning means a high labour cost, and also presents some inconveniences such as the manual handling of the dressed bodies for it is obvious that the skinning operators touch the cattle wool or hair and then the meat very frequently, transmits unwanted tastes and smells and, possibly, human deseases. The device provided with an arm for final skinning, presents the inconvenient of requiring an important previous labour operation for each animal, as it is necessary to cut off the legs and strip off the said legs skin, and make a cavity between in lumbar region between the skin and the body so as to leave sufficient space to introduce the operation arm, this operation implying ,in one hand an undesirable handling and, in the other hand, frequent impacts on the meat, what may affect to the meat quality and appearance. It must also be emphasised, as a serious inconvenient in this skinning method, the excessive times spent as well as the high costs involved in the mechanical devices required. Further, JP-A-08089160 discloses an apparatus for peeling skin of a butchered body. It is the technical problem of the present invention to provide an improved skinning machine, avoiding the drawbacks of the prior art. This problem is solved by a skinning machine having the features of claim 1. Said machine consists of a square shaped metal frame, provided with front struts, the traction trolley running on a series of rails by means of multiple wheels, with a traction cylinder or an electrical winch provided to have an upwards displacement. Said traction trolley consists of at least two cylinders, which pick the front legs skin ends. Two profiles are provided near the bottom front end of the metal frame, positioned in a triangular arrangement, with a support placed on the front common point, this support reinforcing the connection to frame by means of a longitudinal profile, while a cylinder projects out of the said support base, and said cylinder stem incorporates on one end two adjacent hooks designed to hold the stumps of previously skinned front legs, whereas the animal body will be usually hanging by a leg inserted into one of the guiding rail hooks. Once the marking or scoring of the body skin has been made, the front legs skin will be stripped off, and the leg skin ends will be hooked onto the traction trolley, as it has been described hereinbefore, while the previously cleaned stumps are inserted onto the front cylinder stem hooks, using the said cylinder and the guiding rail hook to keep the body straight, following with an upwards displacement of the traction trolley with the result of a complete skinning of the body including the head. Once the skinning operation is completed, the trolley, by means of the upper longitudinal profile, meets the guide plate arms, this operation producing the pivoting of said guide plate towards the inside of the metal frame, and at that moment, by means of adequate limiting switches, the picking stems move the skin upwards and drop same onto the guide plate placing the skin inside a container positioned at the bottom within the metal frame. Once this operation has been completed, the pressure on the traction cylinder is released by means of a control device, and therefore the said traction trolley returns to the initial position, making it possible to start a new cycle. The present cattle skinning machine presents an important advantage related to health conditions since the skinning operators do not get in contact with the animal body. When carrying out a manual skinning, the operator gets in contact with the animal wool or hair as well as with the meat, so said skinning machine object of the present invention avoids unwanted contacts and transmission of contaminant agents from operator or from animal wool or hair. Furthermore, the meat does not absorb undesired smells produced during manual skinning. Another advantage with respect to machines provided with an arm introduced into the lumbar region is the fact that the dressed body does not get in contact with any foreign element, i.e., it is not rubbed or impacted, thus avoiding the presence of unwanted soft areas on the meat Another advantage of said machine with respect to the means known in the prior art, consists of that said machine object of the invention obtains complete perfect skins, whereas the operation times are considerably reduced, for with the known skinning means the operation consists of skinning the four legs and partially skinning of the animal body including the incision in the lumbar region, with the machine object of present invention it is sufficient to initiate the skinning of the front legs, completing the skinning operation including the animal head, thus obtaining a better output. As a conclusion the most important advantages are the sustantial time reduction for the skinning operations, as well as the cost reduction on equipment, since the cattle skinning machine object of the present invention has a solid and simple construction with respect to the sophisticated and expensive known systems. To better understand the object of the present invention a practical preferential embodiment of said machine is shown on Figure 1. This Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the cattle skinning machine. The cattle skinning machine consists, as shown in Figure 1, of a frame (1) positioned facing a guiding rail (2) used as a support of hooks (3), intended to hold the slaughtered animals by one of their back legs. Said frame (1) presents a square shape and is provided with a profile at each corner, the front profiles (4) preferably being of U shape, with openings (5) arranged as support for the displacement, by means of wheel assemblies (7), for the traction trolley (6). The said traction trolley (6) consists of an upper beam (8) with ends provided with wheel assemblies (7), while the bottom side is provided with two bases (9) also with rolling lines (7) in their ends. Said bases (9) are connected to the upper beam (8) by means of two L shape profiles (10), with support parts (11) projecting out, horizontally and parallel, from the point where said L shape profiles (10) and bases (9) meet, said support parts consisting of a square shape part with concave shaped upper end. The L shape profiles (10) are linked to cylinders (12), which, by being in a perpendicular position, make the cylinders stems face the support parts (11), being limited by the said cylinders stems (12), a variable length cylindrical profile, arranged in parallel with the said support parts (11). A cable or rope (13) is provided linked to the upper side of the traction trolley (6), said cable or rope, and with the help of at least three pulleys (14) placed on frame (1) upper end, connected to stem end of a traction cylinder (15), positioned on frame (1) back side. A stretching cylinder (16) is separately positioned, perpendicular to bottom end of frame (1), being anchored to said frame (1) by means of a support (17) and two profiles (18), which are connected to the front profiles (4). A profile (19) is mounted to assure that the cylinder (16) keeps perpendicular. Two supports (20) are located horizontally, close to frame (1) upper end and on the frame front side, parallel to each other, said supports being made of any shape of standard profiles, with a common rotation axis (21). A guiding plate (22) is connected, by means of said rotation axis, to said supports (20), obtaining the pivoting of said plate by means of arms (23) anchored on their inside side and helped by the pressure exerted by the upper beam (8) on said arms (23) on the upwards displacement. The said guiding plate (22) is made with square shape y laminated section. The features of the guiding rail (2) are omitted for not being part of the invention, and, as it has been described hereinbefore, said skinning machine will be positioned facing the said guiding rail.

Claims: Cattle skinning machine, of the type used for skinning the animals used for human consumption, preferably sheep and goat, featured in that said machine comprises a square shape frame (1) mainly defined by four struts, with the two front struts (4), preferably having U-shape, positioned against each other, allowing for the housing and sliding of the traction trolley (6) wheel assemblies (7), with said traction trolley (6) holding and stripping off the animal skin by means of an upwards displacement obtained by means of a set of pulleys (14) with cable or rope and a traction cylinder (15) located at the machine back side, characterized in that a double stroke cylinder (16) is located on the bottom side of the machine front face, which projects out, in such a way that it is fixed in vertical central position, and is provided with two adjacent hooks mounted on said cylinder stem end, the connection of said cylinder (16) with the frame (1) be obtained by means of three profiles (18, 18, 19) meeting at the support part (17) to which said cylinder (16) is anchored. Cattle skinning machine according to claim 1, characterized in that traction trolley (6) consists of an upper beam (8), with wheels (7) mounted on said upper beam ends, while said traction trolley (6) bottom side comprises two bases (9) with wheels (7) mounted on bases ends, said bases (9) being connected to said upper beam (8) by means of two struts (10), being the point of connection of said bases (9) and struts (10) where the support parts (11) are horizontally, and parallel to each other, located, said support parts(11) having a half square section with a concave upper side, and provided with a pressure cylinder (12) facing each of said faces, with each cylinder (12) comprising a stem placed in horizontal position aligned with its associated support part. Cattle skinning machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a laminated shape, square section guiding plate (22) is located at the machine upper end, with said guiding plate (22) being isolated from machine frame (1) by means of two standard shape profiles (20) horizontally positioned, provided on their ends with pivoting connections (21) to guiding plate, whereas two arms (23) are provided at inside face of the guiding plate (22), fixed to said guiding plate by means of a V-shape strip.

Inventors: SOLDEVILLA BARDAJI JUAN JOSE, SOLDEVILLA BARDAJI, JUAN JOSE, Soldevilla Bardaji, Juan José
Applicants: SOLDEVILLA BARDAJI JUAN JOSE, SOLDEVILLA BARDAJI, JUAN JOSE
Application year: 1998
Main classification: A22B5
IPC codes: A22B5