GB518607A - Improvements in fish-treating machines - Google Patents

Abstract

518,607. Dressing fish. ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES CO. June 5, 1939, No. 16479. Convention date, July 27, 1938. [Class 28 (ii)] In a machine for scaling, heading and cleaning fish, the fish is advanced sidewise by a conveyer to the cutter and is positioned on the conveyer by a guide member which engages the pectoral fin of the fish as the fish is advanced, the guide member extending at an angle to the direction of feed to shift the fish across the conveyer, as the fin slides along the guide, to a predetermined position with respect to the cutter. The fishes are gripped prior to presentation to the heading knife 92 by cam-actuated jaws 30, 32, the fishes being dropped singly and manually on to a table 55 over which.the jaws, which are connected to an endless sidechain 25, sweep. The back of the fish preferably rests against the inclined corrugated face 31 of the jaw 30, so that the drag of the fish on the table moves the fish, head foremost, until the snout rests against a fence plate 53 and the head is engaged by one of a series of pins 51 spaced along an endless chain 15. The pectoral fin if stuck down on to the fish body, is separated therefrom by resiliently mounted pivoted fingers 60 which project through the table 55, the fin thus being prepared 'for subsequent engagement by an inclined guide edge 56 which pulls the fish. forward for correct presentation to the knife 92. The fin is received between the edge 56 and a plate 57 arranged beneath it. The fishes are held down on the table 55 during the operation of the guide 56 by presser bars 68 having straight bottom edges beneath which the fishes slide. The bars are freely raisable, being held down only by their own weight, and may be assisted by a pivoted arm which bears on the fishes and holds them until they are secured by the closing of the jaws 30, 32. The fishes pass from the table 55 to longitudinal wires 75 through which water jets 76 operate, from above and below, to remove the scales, the jets preferably being directed towards the head of the fish. The fishes are steadied during the scaling and heading operations by spring- pressed pivoted fingers carried by a bracket 88. The cutter 92 has a saw-edge and is so positioned, with respect to the edge 56, that the head is severed at the back of the pectoral fin along a line extending at an angle to the belly, as determined by the slope of the members 30. The removal of the head in this manner permits the greater part of the entrails to fall out of the fish, further cleaning, if necessary, being effected by water jets 98. The fishes are discharged over a plate 100 into a suitable receptacle. The jaw members 32 have projections 34 which are received in recesses 35 in the opposite jaw 30, the projections being of different lengths so that short fishes may be gripped as well as long ones.