Patent ID: 7261629

Claim:
A method of partially deboning a poultry wing separated from a poultry carcass, the wing having a primary segment with a bone extending longitudinally therethrough that was separated from a poultry carcass, a mid-wing segment having a pair of bones extending longitudinally therethrough that are joined at an elbow joint to the bone of the primary segment, and a tip segment joined at a tip joint to the bones of the mid-wing segment and extending away from the tip joint, and an inside surface that faced the carcass and an outside surface that faced away from the carcass, comprising: suspending the poultry wing from its tip segment at a position away from the tip joint at a protrusion in the tip segment, advancing the suspended wing along a processing path with the outside surface of the poultry wing facing one side of the processing path, as the wing is advanced: bending the primary segment of the wing at the elbow joint with respect to the mid-wing segment of the wing laterally about an elbow guide positioned on the outside surface of the poultry wing until the elbow joint is opened, as the elbow joint is opened, stretching the tissue extending between the primary segment and the mid-wing segment about the elbow joint, separating the stretched tissue extending between the primary segment and the mid-wing segment at the elbow joint at a position that exposes the end of the bone of the primary segment and separates the primary segment from the mid-wing segment, such that the tissue about the bone end of the primary segment tends to refract from about the bone end and leave the bone end exposed.