Abstract:
A method and apparatus for partially cutting hock joints, and letting feet remain attached to the rest of carcass by skin and one or more tendons, exposing the hock joint by folding feet, and hanging the carcasses in the evisceration shackles by hock joints, the method unambiguously ensures that if a carcass is condemned by an Inspector, the feet belonging to that carcass are condemned as well. Furthermore, this invention solves the even more tractable problem of capturing folded feet, separating feet from the carcass while leaving the carcass still hanging in the shackles, transferring feet into an infeed paw cutter wheel, and cutting knuckle portion to produce chicken paws ready for further processing.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/369,976, filed Apr. 4, 2002. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     This invention relates generally to harvesting edible portions of meat from an animal carcass and, more particularly, to harvesting edible feet and paws from a poultry carcass. 
     2. Background Art 
     Until October 2001, U.S. was a big exporter of poultry feet or paws to China, it changed when China refused to accept chicken paw packages that did not bear USDA seal of inspection. In the U.S., in most instances chicken feet or paws are considered inedible as they are harvested or removed from the carcass before a determination on final disposition of a carcass is made, and, therefore, do not bear USDA seal of inspection because the feet once removed cannot later be correlated to a carcass. Although paws are graded for systemic and localized conditions, it can not be irrefutably proved that if an Inspector condemns a carcass because of systemic conditions, the feet or paws belonging to that particular carcass have been called during the grading process. A method and apparatuses that would ensure that when an Inspector condemns a carcass, feet or paws belonging to that particular carcass are condemned as well would be of value to the poultry industry. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     Per USDA, if a chicken carcass is discarded because of systemic issues, all parts associated with the carcass must also be discarded in a verifiable manner. This is accomplished by the present invention by hanging carcasses on evisceration shackles, hanging by a partially severed hock joint with feet folded over and hock joint exposed for inspection and removing the feet only after a determination on carcass disposition has been made by an inspector. This invention provides a method for (a) subsequent severance of feet from a carcass where the carcass remains firmly in the shackles, (b) transportation of severed feet to an infeed wheel of a paw cutter, and (c) final cutting of the knuckle part to produce a paw that can be further processed to obtain an edible product. 
     The present invention involves a method whereby the feet remain attached to the carcass through the USDA inspection step. This method involves partially severing the hock joint leaving the feet attached to the carcass by skin and a few tendons. The partial severing of the hock joint is performed by an adjustable blade that can be adjusted to sever the hock joint without completely severing through the joint. Once a partial severing of the hock joint has been completed the method includes the step of unloading the carcass from the kill line shackles and transferring the carcass to the evisceration line shackles either manually or mechanically where the carcass hangs in the shackle by the hock joint with the feet folded over. The series of evisceration line shackles are conveyed past the USDA inspectors where the hock joint is fully visible for inspection. If a carcass is rejected by the inspector the tenuously attached feet will also be rejected with the carcass. This process thereby eliminates the possibility of a carcass being rejected without the feet also being rejected. The inventive method continues by conveying the carcass that has been accepted and is hanging in the evisceration shackles adjacent the inspection station to a portion of the inventive apparatus which includes a guide bar which is inclined and designed to capture the feet and position the feet such that the hock joint can be completely severed as the joint moves across the edge of a stationery blade. The completely severed feet can then be transferred to a paw cutter device for severing the paw at the knuckle. This inventive method and apparatus allows the feet and paws to be harvested in such a manner that when a USDA inspector rejects a carcass, the feet of the carcass will also be rejected thereby eliminating the problem outlined in the above background of description. 
     A method and apparatus for partially cutting hock joints, and letting feet remain attached to the rest of the carcass by skin and one or more tendons, exposing the hock joint by folding feet, and hanging the carcasses in the evisceration shackles by hock joints, is a method and apparatus that unambiguously ensures that if a carcass is condemned by an Inspector, the feet belonging to that carcass are condemned as well. Furthermore, this invention solves the even more intractable problem of capturing folded feet, separating feet from the carcass while leaving the carcass still hanging in the shackles, transferring feet into an infeed paw cutter wheel, and cutting knuckle portion to produce chicken paws ready for further processing. 
     These and other advantageous features of the present invention will be in part apparent and in part pointed out herein below. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     For a better understanding of the present invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a rear left side perspective view of the feet harvesting and paw production apparatus is shown; 
     FIG. 2 is a left side view of the feet harvesting and paw production apparatus is shown; 
     FIG. 3 is a front right side perspective view of the feet harvesting and paw production apparatus is shown; 
     FIG. 4 is a rear right side perspective view of the feet harvesting and paw production apparatus is shown; 
     FIG. 5 is a rear right side perspective view of a feet indexer assembly; 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the hock blade assembly; 
     FIG. 7 a  is a side view of a PRIOR ART shackle; 
     FIG. 7 b  is a side view of the shackle of the present invention; 
     FIG. 8 is a top plane view of the system for remaining paws; 
     FIG. 9 is a front view of the apparatus; and 
     FIGS. 10 a ,  10   b  and  10   c  illustrate a poultry carcass hanging from a shackle by a partially severed hock joint. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION 
     According to the embodiment(s) of the present invention, various views are illustrated in FIG. 1-9 and like reference numerals are being used consistently throughout to refer to like and corresponding parts of the invention for all of the various views and figures of the drawing. Also, please note that the first digit(s) of the reference number for a given item or part of the invention should correspond to the FIG. number in which the item or part is first identified. 
     One embodiment of the present invention comprising a method and apparatus for partially severing the hock joint leaving the feet attached, re-hanging the bird on an evisceration shackle, inspecting the bird and completely severing the hock which teaches a novel apparatus and method for harvesting edible feet. 
     Birds are hung on the kill line shackles by their feet. In a typical poultry plant in the U.S., at one point they go through a scald process where the birds (including their feet) are immersed in hot water. Kill line shackles may go through one or a series of brushes that capture feet and remove most of cuticle and any surface contaminants like fecal balls off the feet. In most cases, a hock cutter is used to severe hock joint to separate feet from the rest of the carcass. However, this invention requires that hock joint be not completely cut so that the feet remain tenuously (either by skin or by skin and a few tendons) attached to the rest of the bird. This can be performed by an adjustable blade that can be adjusted to sever the hock joint without completely severing through the joint. 
     The birds are unloaded from the kill line shackles and transferred to evisceration line shackles either manually or mechanically. On the evisceration shackles, the carcasses hang by the hock joint with feet folded over such that the joint is on one side of the shackle and the feet extend through the shackle and out on the opposing side so that the hock joint is fully visible to USDA inspectors. The carcasses go through the evisceration process as they always have. There are no changes to be made in any of the evisceration equipment to process birds hanging with the feet folded over the hock joint. 
     When the carcasses are inspected by USDA inspectors, if they decide to condemn a carcass, the feet are condemned with it 100% of the time. The remaining portion of the invention is physically located on the evisceration line after the Inspectors. As the carcasses and the shackles enter the machine, a specially designed mechanism captures the shackles holding them steady. The mechanism comprises a sprocketed or tabbed belt where the sprockets or the tabs extend horizontally outward from the belt portion extending between the legs of the carcass thereby holding or forcing the carcass downward such that the carcass hock joint is held in the shackle. This holds the shackle steady. The mechanism also assures that the carcasses stay rigid and do not move in any direction. Simultaneously, a double bird guide bar or guide rail gently captures the feet. The guide bar or guide rail is angled away from the approaching carcass to pull the foot away from the bird. All evisceration shackles are modified so that there is a bend in the evisceration shackle at a certain point above the bottom of the shackle creating a wider open area through which the hock joint can be released. The guide bar is inclined so that as the evisceration shackle moves horizontally, the feet in the shackle tend to rise with the incline of the guide rails, and as the feet portion of the joint rises to pop out and through the bend in the shackle, a specially designed knife separates the feet from the rest of the carcass. The guide bar or guide rail has an upper and lower portion and the feet of the carcass are positioned between the upper and lower portions. The upper and lower guide rails have an equidistant gap therebetween over at least a portion of their length. The guide rails also preferably have extension members or extension portions that angle outward from each other to assure the feet are received in the gap. The blade is mounted on a blade mount assembly. The blade can be stationary and positioned such that the hock joint moves across the edge of the blade as it pops out or is released out and through the open area of the shackle at the bend in the shackle. The blade can be canted upward to engage the hock joint as the carcass is conveyed through the station. The blade can be an upwardly curved crescent shaped blade or an upwardly canted straight blade or any other appropriate blade design. The bend in the shackle assists in allowing the hock joint to pop up slightly such that the remaining tendons and skin can be positioned to be severed by the blade. A powered rotatable sprocketed guide wheel which is preferably hydraulically driven moves the feet along the guide bar and feeds them into a cylindrical wheel of a paw cutter. The guide wheel is sprocketed such that it positions and indexes the feet appropriately. The paw cutter in its concept and design is the subject of an application for which the applicant has already applied for a patent. The paw cutter blade cuts the knuckle portion off, which falls on to a slide and can either be captured or discarded. The produced paws are pumped to a picker scalder for further processing. 
     The details of the invention and various embodiments can be better understood by referring to the figures of the drawing. Referring to FIG. 1 the feet harvest and paw production portion of the apparatus  100  is shown. The carcass arrives at this apparatus after the hock joint has been partially severed and the carcass has been rehung on the modified shackle. The feet harvest and paw production apparatus  100  is positioned on the evisceration portion of the line after the USDA inspection station. The feet harvest and paw production portion of the apparatus  100  includes a main frame assembly  102  which supports the conveyor  104  which carries the series of evisceration shackles  106 . The evisceration shackles  106  are conveyed on conveyor  104  past the blade mount assembly  108  and the blade  110  such that the hock joint can be passed across the blade  110  thereby completely severing the hock joint severing the feet from the carcass. As the carcass is being conveyed on the evisceration shackles approaching the blade mount assembly  108 , upper and lower guide rails  116  and  118  respectively capture the feet within the gap therebetween to position the feet for complete severing of the hock joint. The upper and lower guide rails  116  and  118  are canted upward or inclined in such a manner to raise up and pop the hock joint through the evisceration shackle at the bend point as it passes over the blade  110 . The feet harvesting positioning and indexing mechanism  112  comprises a blade assembly frame mounted to a main frame, and a sprocketed feet indexing wheel which indexes and positions the feet and is mounted to the blade assembly frame is operable to sever the hock joint as the hock joint passes over the blade  110 . The completely severed feet are then conveyed to the sprocketed paw cutting index wheel  114  where the completely severed feet are captured by the paw cutting wheel before subsequent cutting of the paw portion. 
     Referring to FIG. 2, a side view of the feet harvesting and paw production apparatus is shown. The side view again shows the conveyor  104  extending through an evisceration line area with the evisceration shackles  106  being conveyed thereon. The evisceration shackles  106  are conveyed on an overhead rail where the evisceration shackles are attached to the overhead rail by a track wheel. As the carcasses that are hanging in the evisceration shackles are conveyed toward the blade apparatus  108 , guide rails  116  and  118  are designed to capture and position the feet within the uniform equidistant gap  200  for appropriate positioning of the hock joint as it passes over the blade  110 . The guide rails  116  and  118  are canted upward or inclined such that the gap  200  is canted upward as well which will cause the feet to move upward in the evisceration shackle such that the hock joint rises up and is released or pops through the bend in the evisceration shackle at the appropriate time thereby causing the hock joint to be completely severed as it passes across the blade  110 . The sprocketed paw cutting wheel  114  then captures the completely severed foot such that the paw can be separated at the knuckle by the circular blade  206 . Without the bend in the shackle and the appropriate incline of the guide bar a consistent uniform cut of the hock is not achieved. 
     Referring to FIG. 3 a front right side perspective view is shown which again reveals the feet harvest and paw production apparatus  100  for positioning along an evisceration line area. A front right side perspective view of the positioning and indexing apparatus  112  is partially shown. The blade mount assembly  108  and the sprocketed paw cutting indexing wheel  114  are also shown. The drive motors  302  and  304  for the feet indexing wheel and the paw indexing wheel are also shown. 
     Referring to FIG. 4 a rear right side perspective view of the feet harvest and paw production apparatus  100  is shown. Again the main frame assembly is shown upon which the conveyor and other components are mounted. The feet harvesting and indexing apparatus  112  having a frame which is shown mounted to the frame assembly at mount points  400 ,  404  and  402 . The feet harvesting and indexing apparatus  112  is pivotable about pivot points or pivot members  406  and  408  for appropriate alignment of the feet indexer. 
     Referring to FIG. 5 a rear right side perspective view of the feet harvesting positioner and indexer assembly  112  is shown. The mounting bars  504  and  506  are shown which are used to mount the feet harvesting and indexing assembly to the main frame assembly. The feet indexing assembly  112  comprises a sprocketed wheel assembly  514  which is mountably attached to mounting bars  504  and  506 . The sprocketed wheel assembly  514  is mounted to mounting bars  504  and  506  by slotted bracket  508 . The sprocketed wheel assembly  514  can be adjustably mounted to slotted bracket  508  by mounting members  512  along slot  510 . The guide bars  116  and  118  are mounted to bars  504  and  506  by c-mounts  500  and  502 . The upper end of the c-mount is attached to the upper guide bar  116  and the lower portion of the c-mount is attached to the lower guide bar  118 . The c-bar positions the guide rails  116  and  118  such that a uniform gap  200  is therebetween. Mounting of the feet harvesting assembly  112  can be such that the assembly is angled away from the oncoming carcasses and such that the guide bars are inclined upward. As the feet are conveyed along the inclined gap the feet are pulled upward raising the hock joint in the shackle. The incline has the appropriate pitch such that the hock joint is raised and pulled through the bend in the shackle releasing the hock joint at the appropriate moment to be severed by the blade. 
     Referring to FIG. 6 a perspective view of the hock cutting blade mount assembly  108  is shown. The blade  606  of the blade mount assembly is shown with a dashed shadow line. The blade  606  can be adjustably mounted using a plurality of mounting holes  604 . The blade mount assembly is mounted to the main frame of the apparatus by mounting tabs  600  and  602 . The blade mount assembly  108  is mounted at the appropriate position and the blade  606  is adjustably mounted along mounting holes  604 . The blade  606  can be a blade design having alternative shapes. The blade can be an elongated rectangular shaped blade with a sharpened edge, a crescent shaped or curved blade, a triangular blade as shown in FIG. 6, or any other appropriate shape or design. The blade is positioned such that as the hock joint pulls through the bend in the evisceration shackle releasing it, the hock joint will pass across the blade  606  thereby completely severing the feet from the carcass. 
     Referring to FIGS. 7 a  and  7   b  the,prior art evisceration shackle is shown in FIG. 7 a . The evisceration shackle that is part of the present invention is shown in FIG. 7 b  and is not in the prior art. The evisceration shackle shown in FIG. 7 b  includes a mounting bearing  700  through which a pin is inserted thereby mounting the evisceration shackle to the conveyor. The mounting of the bearing  700  to the conveyor by a pin allows the evisceration shackle to freely swing back and forth in a multi-directional fashion. A rod  702  extends from the mounting bearing  700  to the hangar portion  712  of the evisceration shackle. The hanger portion  712  of the evisceration shackle is a rod formed to create left and right shackle hanging open areas  706  and  704  respectively on which the hock joints of the carcasses are hung. The left and right shackle areas  706  and  704  are tapered to narrow at the lower end of the shackle area. The prior art shown in FIG. 7 a  teaches a uniform taper for receiving and holding the hock joint. The present invention teaches a shackle area having a lower end with a straight upper portion and a tapered lower portion thereby creating a bend  710 . This bend allows the hock joint to consistently pull through at the bend  710  as it is raised due to the incline of the guide bars at the appropriate moment such that the hock joint is completely severed by the stationery blade of the present invention. The bend  710  allows the feet side of the hock joint to consistently slip through the shackle at the bend therefore allowing for consistent complete cutting of the hock joint. The shackle can be described as two adjacent rod members forming the left and right shackle hanging open areas  706  and  704  where the lower end of the rod members each form a substantially u-shaped elongated bend for receiving both hock joints in the bend where each of the substantially u-shaped bends for adjacent elongated leg pairs extending upward from each bend and said leg portions are parallel over a portion of their length and at least one of each of the adjacent leg pairs inwardly tapers. 
     Referring to FIG. 8 a top plane view of the feet harvest and paw production apparatus  100  is shown. The top plane view reveals that the assembly for the feet cutting and paw cutting are positioned at an angle with respect to the conveyor  104 . This angle assists in removing the feet from the carcass by pulling feet away from the carcass and allows the carcass to continue down the conveyance path unobstructed once the feet have been severed. The top plane view also reveals a plurality of laterally extending sprockets  800  or tabs where the sprockets or the tabs extend horizontally and laterally outward from a conveyance belt such that the sprockets extend between the legs of the carcass being conveyed, and thereby holding and/or forcing the carcass downward such that the carcass hock joint is held securely in the shackle. Forcing the carcass downward also tends to hold the shackle steady as it is conveyed adjacent the feet cutting and paw cutting assemblies. The mechanism also assures that the carcass remains somewhat rigid and does not move in any direction. Therefore, when the guide rails  116  and  118  captures the feet of the carcass and pulls the hock joint through the bend in the shackle due to the upward cant of the guide bar, the carcass is held firmly below by the sprocketed or tabbed conveyor. Guide rail  802  is shown which urges the shackle laterally towards the feet harvesting and paw production stations. 
     Referring to FIG. 9 a front view of the feet harvesting and paw production apparatus  100  is shown. The front view shows the shackle  106  hanging from the conveyor  104  and extending downward to a position adjacent the paw cutting and feet harvesting stations. Guide rails  802  and  900  are shown which urge the shackle laterally towards the feet harvesting and paw production stations. These guide rails  802  and  900  in addition to the guide bars  116  and  118  and the sprocketed conveyor  904  with the sprockets  800  extending therefrom to assist in positioning the carcass and more specifically in positioning the hock joint for complete severing of the feet from the carcass. The feet harvesting and paw production apparatus  100  is located in the evisceration line area after the inspection station for systemic issues and after evisceration. Carcasses are segregated based on whether they are accepted or rejected by the inspector. If the inspector accepts the carcass they are conveyed to apparatus  100  for further operation to remove feet. 
     Referring to FIGS. 10 a ,  10   b  and  10   b , the poultry carcass  1000  is shown hanging from a shackle  1004 . The hock joint  1008  is partially severed and the feet  1002  of the carcass are folded over such that the hock joint extends through the opening  1006  of the shackle to one side of the shackle  1004  and the folded over feet  1002  extended through the opening  1006  to the opposing side of the shackle. Referring to FIG. 10 c , an illustration of an adjustable hock joint blade  1016  is shown having an adjustable blade  1014  whose cutting depth can be bi-directionally adjusted as indicated by arrow  1024  to sever the hock joint  1018 . Shadow lines  1020  show the feet of the poultry carcass prior to partially severing the hock joint  1018 . Referring to FIG. 10 b , arrow  1010  illustrates the direction that the hock joint moves as the feet are conveyed through the guide rails. The hock joint moves upward as indicated by arrow  1010  towards the bend in the shackle such that the lower portion of the hock joint pulls through at the bend as indicated by arrow  1012  such that the remaining tendons and skin are severed in order to totally sever the hock joint. The severed foot  1022  is then captured for separating the paw from the remainder of the severed foot  1022 . 
     The various embodiments and various feet harvesting methods and apparatus examples shown above illustrate a method and apparatus for harvesting edible feet from a poultry carcass. A user of the present invention may choose any of the above embodiment, or an equivalent thereof, depending upon the desired application. In this regard, it is recognized that various forms of the subject feet harvesting method and apparatus could be utilized without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
     As is evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of the present invention are not limited by the particular details of the examples illustrated herein, and it is therefore contemplated that other modifications and applications, or equivalents thereof, will occur to those skilled in the art. It is accordingly intended that the claims shall cover all such modifications and applications that do not depart from the sprit and scope of the present invention. 
     Other aspects, objects and advantages of the present invention can be obtained from a study of the drawings, the disclosure and the appended claims.