Automated saw for splitting carcasses

Abstract

An automated saw for high speed splitting of suspended carcasses, such as hog carcasses, through the backbone as the carcasses continuously move along a carcass rail includes a splitting station and a back roller station located on opposite sides of the carcass rail. The splitting station includes a splitting saw that can be driven in three directions, including horizontally towards a carcass to begin cutting, vertically down to make the cut and horizontally parallel to the carcass rail to match the speed of the moving carcass as the cut is made. A guide roller carried by the splitting station positions the backbone in a known position relative to the saw. The back roller station includes a back roller for positioning the carcass relative to the saw as the cut is made. The back roller is also movable in three directions, including horizontally in to contact the carcass, vertically down, and horizontally parallel to the carcass rail to match the motion of the saw. The back roller and saw are structurally independent, but are accurately driven to maintain the relative position of the saw and the back roller as the cut is made.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a saw for splitting an eviscerated animal body, the animal body being suspended and continuously moving along a body track during the cutting. More particularly, the present invention relates to automatic saws that split the trunk in the vertical direction by simultaneously driving the split saw vertically to split and horizontally following the moving livestock trunk. Background technique [0002] One step in the processing of livestock carcasses, particularly pig carcasses, is splitting the carcass after evisceration. Automatic saws are known for this task, but these saws suffer from various problems, including inaccurate cuts and slow speeds. Not being able to cut accurately is disadvantageous because valuable meat is wasted and subsequent processing is made more difficult. The slow speed limits the processing rate of the carcass, or requires the installation of multiple cutting machines in order to process several...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

This inaccurate cut relative to the centerline of the spine is not good for the meat processing industry

[0005] The second difficulty is related to the weight of the U-shaped frame due to the need to maintain accurate alignment between the opposed vertical legs of the frame while supporting the torso on the back and driving the saw in a vertical direction along the opposed legs of the frame, makes the frame heavy

Moving any additional distance beyond the minimum distance required to position the saw on top of its cutting point will take additional time and slow down the process

Having to pass the back roller between the legs of the animal's torso also presents a variety of other disadvantageous constraints on the size, shape and stiffness of the arm, which limits accurate positioning of the saw relative to the animal's torso

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