Patent ID: 8079896

Claim:
An apparatus for cutting a shrimp body, the shrimp body having a tail portion that includes a plurality of tail sections connected by joints, the apparatus comprising: a housing; a cutting mechanism mounted outside the housing; and a motorized driving means mounted inside the housing for driving the cutting mechanism via first and second drive shafts extending through first and second apertures in a wall of the housing; wherein the cutting mechanism includes: a rotating cutting disk mounted on the first drive shaft and rotated by the motorized driving means; and means for securely holding the shrimp body and carrying the shrimp body past the rotating cutting disk, wherein the holding and carrying means is configured to position the shrimp body in relation to the rotating cutting disk so that when the cutting disk cuts the shrimp body, the cutting disk leaves a first joint at a head end of the tail portion and a last joint at a tail end of the tail portion intact while cutting least one intermediate joint between the first and last joints.