Patent ID: 8616099

Claim:
An apparatus for portioning meat comprising: a base unit, a top plate, a controlling means, a first drive means mounted on the base unit, a casing mounted on the base unit, the casing having a center and further comprising: a second drive means that cooperates with the first drive means for rotating the casing, and a pressing member dividing the casing into at least two chambers, the at least two chambers being an in-feed chamber and a pressing chamber, the pressing member being rotatably mounted between the base unit and the top plate by a hinging arrangement, so as to be positioned within the casing off-center with respect to the center of the casing, and thereby closer to the pressing chamber than the in-feed chamber, such that (i) the pressing member is rotated along with the casing by the casing's walls so as to orbit the center of the casing when the first and second drive means cooperate to rotate the casing 180Â°, and (ii) the hinging arrangement causes the pressing member to glide within and with respect to the casing as the first and second drive means rotate the casing and the pressing member rotates around the hinging arrangement and orbits around the center of the casing, to thereby change the pressing member's relative position within the casing so that the in-feed chamber becomes a new pressing chamber and the pressing chamber becomes a new in-feed chamber, thus producing a pressing force between the pressing member and the new pressing chamber in the casing, an ejecting device, mounted on the base unit, for ejecting through an opening in the top plate meat from the pressing chamber, a portioning means for receiving the meat ejected from the pressing chamber, the portioning means further comprising: a portioning plate, third drive means for operating the portioning plate, a position adjustable bottom piece, wherein the adjustable bottom piece is automatically adjusted to optimize the yield of the meat, a cutting means, positioned between the pressing chamber and the portioning plate, wherein the meat is placed in the in-feed chamber, the in-feed chamber becoming the new pressing chamber and the pressing chamber becoming the new in-feed chamber, when the first and second drive means rotate the casing 180Â°, due to the off-center rotatable mounting of the pressing member within the casing.