US 11,925,185 B2
Apparatus and method for cutting into breast fillets that are connected to one another at least in the region of a breastbone of a carcass of poultry bodies or parts thereof, wherein the breast fillets are cut along the breastbone
Lasse Riggert, Lübeck (DE); Valentin Fischer, Lübeck (DE); and Andreas Landt, Lübeck (DE)
Assigned to Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. Baader GmbH + Co. KG, Lübeck (DE)
Appl. No. 17/624,446
Filed by Nordischer Maschinenbau Rud. Baader GmbH + Co. KG, Lübeck (DE)
PCT Filed Jun. 23, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/067496
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 3, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/004778, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 14, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 102019118268.9 (DE), filed on Jul. 5, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0354139 A1, Nov. 10, 2022
Int. Cl. A22C 21/00 (2006.01)
CPC A22C 21/003 (2013.01) [A22C 21/0053 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus configured and adapted for cutting into breast fillets that are connected to one another at least in the region of a breastbone of a carcass of poultry bodies or parts thereof, the breast fillets being cut into along the breastbone, the apparatus comprising:
a transport apparatus having a revolvingly driveable transport conveyor for transporting, neck first, the poultry bodies or parts thereof to be processed in a transport direction along a transport path defining a transport plane;
at least one holding apparatus, arranged on the transport conveyor, for receiving and holding the poultry bodies or parts thereof during transport along the transport path in the transport plane;
a knife assembly, arranged along the transport path in a region of the transport conveyor, the knife assembly having a pair of separating knives for cutting the breast fillets along the breastbone, wherein one of the separating knives is arranged on either side of a center axis of the transport path such that there is formed between the pair of separating knives a gap for transport of the poultry bodies or parts thereof to be processed with the breastbone through the separating knives, which are mutually opposite; and
a centring means is associated with the knife assembly, the centring means being configured and adapted for pre-centring the breastbone of the carcass, the centring means comprising two centring elements which are each movable out of a stand-by position, in which the centring elements are positioned outside the transport path, into a centring position, in which the centring elements are positioned on the transport path, and back, wherein the centring elements in their centring position are located at least partly in front of the pair of separating knives in the transport direction of the poultry bodies or parts thereof.