Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
10~44~Z
The present invention relates to a skinning apparatus
for skinning fish fillets an~ has particular reference to an
apparatus with an endless feed belt, a rotatable skinning
roller, a transfer roller between the feed belt and the skinning
roller, and a fillet skinning knife and a skinning pressing
surface associated with the skinning roller.
For the entraining of fish fillets in known skinning
machines of this kind, for example, the machine disclosed in
German (Fed. Rep.) Patent Specification No. 1,810,673, the
skinning roller has a roughening and runs at a greater peri-
pheral speed than the transfer roller, so as to provide a
stretching of the fish fillet. Although a flush contact
between the skin side of the fish fillet and the surface of
the skinning roller is thereby ensured, this does not allow
either a secure running-in of the leading end of the fish
fillet below the pressing surface or a slipless entraining
of the skin along the pressing surface. Although the entrain- -
ing of the skin would be improved if the skinning roller were ~-
` to be provided with saw teeth, the problem of the running-in
of the leading end of the fish fillet below the pressing ~ -
-~ surface remains unsolved. Moreover, the points of the saw -
teeth may unduly stress the fish skin.
According to the present invention there is provided
a skinning apparatus for skinning fish fillets which comprises
~ an endless feed belt guided around at least one gui~e roller and ~,
-. a rotatable cylindrical skinning roller provided in its -
t circumferential surface with a plurality of depressions each
having a Elank which is so disposed as to lead wlth respect
to a given direction of rotation of the skinning roller and
lies in a plane including an angle at a side of the plane
' facing in a direction opposite said given direction of at
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most 90 with a plane tangential to the circumference of the
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skinning roller at the intersection of the first mentioned
plane with that circumference. The apparatus according to the
invention also comprises a rotatable transfer roller arranged
between the feed belt and the skinning roller to transfer
fillets from the feed belt to the skinning roller, a skinning
knife provided with a cutting edge arranged at à spacing from
the circumferential surface of the skinning roller, and a presser
surface arranged downstream of the cutting edge at a uniform
spacing from the circumferential surface of the skinning roller.
In accordance with the present invention, the feed belt
and the transfer roller are so arranged that an upward facing
surface of the belt lies in a plane which is tangential to the
transfer roller at the uppermost point of its circumference, and
is disposed above the axis of the skinning roller to intersect
the circumference of the skinning roller, and includes an angle
; of at least 30 with a plane tangential to the circumference
^ of the skinning roller at the intersection with that circumference
of the plane containing the upward facing belt surface. -
With this arrangement, the leading tip of the fish
` 20 fillet can be pushed into the depressions of the skinning roller,
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;~ entrained by these ahead of the cutting edge of the skinning knife
. and the pressing surface, and can be conveyed without slip
along the latter.
Also in accordance with the present invention, the
cutting edge of the knife is arranged in the region of the culmi-
nation line of the circumferential surface of the skinning roller,
` so that the leading tip disposed in one of the depressions in the ~ -
`~ skinning roller surface - of the fish fillet can maintain its
- attitude in the depression. -
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Preferably~ the skinning knife is arranged motionless
and provided with the presser surface. Expediently~ the apparatus
may further comprises a pressing device arranged in the proximity
of the cutting edge of the knife, and mounted to be deflectable
away from the skinning roller. The pressing device may be provid-
ed with an endless conveying surface and be drivable at a periphe-
ral speed at least equal to that of the skinning roller. This
pressing device enables the leading tip of a fish fillet to
be urged into one of the depressions of the skinning roller
and/or to be held in such depression until the skinning knife
is reached, which is of advantage in the case of, for example,
` stiff fish fillets or fillets with bluntly severed tail ends.
In that case, a roller represents a particularly simple form
of pressing device; if the roller is divided into several
parts along its length, the loading of the device with fish
fillets in close sequence is facilitated.
Alternatively the pressing device may comprise a
plurality of separate belts each having a turn-round zone
adjacent to the cutting edge of the knife, the belts being
turned around in said zones through small radii of curvature.
A pressing device of this kind may enable loading in close
sequence as well as treatment of a number of fish fillets
hitherto not s~innable by machine.
To improve the running-out of the fillets especially
smaller fillets, the machine may further comprise a rotatable
fillet entraining roller arranged downstream of the knife
with respect to the given direction of rotation of the skinning
roller and drivable to rotate in the same direction as the
skinning roller. - -
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104~412
An embodiment of the present invention will now bemore particularly described by way of example with reference
to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIGURE 1 is a schematic oblique view of a skinning
apparatus embodying the invention; and
FIGURE 2 is a side elevation, to an enlarged scale,
of part of the apparatus of Figure 1.
Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a
skinning apparatus comprising a rotatable deflecting roller .-
11 around which is guided an endless feed belt 1, a rotatable
skinning roller 2, a rotatable transfer roller 3 arranged
between the deflecting roller 11 and the skinning roller 2,
and a rotatable fillet entraining roller 5, the rollers being
mounted on axles journalled with a requisite degree of accuracy
in a machine frame (not shown). The axle of the roller 2 is
denoted by the numeral 22. The common tangent 27 to the upper
sides of the feed belt 1 and the transfer roller 3 lies above
the axis of the skinning roller 2 and includes an angle 28,
which is greater than 30, with the notional tangent 25
'' 20 tangential to the circumference of the roller 2 where the .
circumference is intersected by the tangent 27. .
The rollers 11, 2, 3 and 5 are driven, in the sense ~ :
of the peripheral arrows shown thereon in Figure 2, by drive .
means~not shown). The drive is effected so that the peri- :
pheral speed of the feed belt 1 deflected around the deflect-
ing roller 11 and of the skinning roller 2 are substantially
. the same, while the transfer roller 3 is rotated at a greater
peripheral speed and the peripheral speed of the fillet
entraining roller 5 is increased by comparison with that of : -
the skinning roller 2.
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A skinning knife 4, which is provided with a cutting
edge 41 and a pressing surface 42 thereunder, is pivotably
mounted on the machine frame in such a manner that it is
capable of being deflected in an anti-clockwise direction
against a spring force. The cutting edge 41 is arranged
in the proximity of the culmination line 23 of the circum-
ferential surface 21 of the skinning roller 2.
The skinning roller 2 is provided in its circum-
ferential surface 21 with a plurality of depressions 24,
10` which extend along envelope lines and which each possess a
leading flank 241 and a following flank 243. The shape of
the depressions 24 can be triangular, trapezoidal or groove-
shaped. The circumferential surface 21 of the roller 2 is
formed by the heads of the teeth between adjoining depressions
24. A particular characteristic of the skinning roller 2 is
the inclination of each of the leading flanks 241 of its
depressions 24 so as to include a following angle 29 of at
most 90 with the notional tangent 25 at the point of inter-
section of the leading flank with the circumferential surface
21. The course of the depressions 24 can for particular cases,
as a departure from the direction of the envelope lines, be
helical, arrow-shaped or other suitable shapes.
The skinning apparatus further comprises a pressing
-~ roller 6 mounted on an axle 61 journalled in the free end
of at least one pivot arm 62, which is pivotable about a -
pivot axle 63 mounted in the frame to be stationary relative
thereto. The deflecting location 64 of the roller 6 lies
closely in front of the cutting edge 41 of the skinning knife
4 and above the circumferential surface 21 of the skinning
roller 2. The pressing roller 6 is driven by suitable drive
means in the opposite direction to the skinning roller 2 and
at substantially the same peripheral speed. If so desired,
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the height level of the roller 6 may be limited or settable
by abutment means (not shown) serving as a support for the
pivot arm or arms 62. The fillet entraining roller 5 is
arranged so that its effective upper side is elevated by a
distance 51 relative to the upper surface 43 of the skinning
knife 4.
In operation of the skinning apparatus, a fish
fillet 7 laid with its skin side on the feed belt 1 is
conveyed by the belt over the transfer roller 3 to the
10 skinning roller 2. The more rapidly running transfer roller
3 effects a secure collecting and, in a given case, a teasing
out and stretching of the leading tail tip of the fish fillet.
As a consequence of the substantial correspondence between
the peripheral speed of the skinning roller and that of the
feed belt, the tail tip of the fish fillet 7, on reaching the
circumferential surface 21 of the skinning roller 2, inevitably
enters one of the depressions 24, in which it remains. In - -
dependence on the chosen inclination of the leading flank 241
of each of the depressions 24, the running-in of the tail tip -
-~ 20 of the fish fillet 7 is facilitated or the backing thereof
reinforced. As soon as the depression 24 receiving the tail ~ -
tip of the fillet 7 has reached the skinning knife 4, the -
`. cutting edge 41 of the knife begins to penetrate into the
flesh layer of the fillet. Before the resulting resistance -
can become effective, the following flank 243, in association
with the pressing surface 42, effects a secure yet careful
seizing of the skin of the fish fillet 7, so as to further
convey the fillet without slip against the cutting pressure
of the skinning knife 4. The fillet, severed from the skin,
30 slides along the surface 43 of the skinning knife 4 to, for
example, a fillet removal belt (not shown). With certain
fish fillets, it can be of advantage, or even essential, to
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assist the sliding away through the fillet entraining roller
5. The pressing roller 6 can be set to such a height by
means of the abutment means, in the case of an operation of
the kind described, that it does not come into contact with
the fish fillet 7 or at least not with the tail tip thereof.
If the fish fillet has a blunt tail tip or one unfavorable
for the running-in into one of the depressions 24, then the
pressing roller 6 can be disposed in its lowered setting to
urge the tail tip into one of the depressions 24 before the
tip moves under the cutting edge 41 of the skinning knife 4.
Thereby, the running-in of this fish fillet and the entrain-
ment of the skin thereof is ensured. In the case where
several fish fillets, especially those of smaller dimensions,
are to run in closely behind and/or beside one another below
` the cutting edge 41 of the skinning knife 4, there can be
provided instead of a single pressing roller 6, a plurality
of rollers which are displaceable upwardly independently of
one another. For extreme cases, in place of several pressing
rollers, there can be provided a plurality of endless convey-
ing belts, which lie beside one another, rotate with the same
peripheral speed and which, in a given case, can be deflected
with very small radius of curvature around deflecting rails
deviatingly arranged closely in front of the cutting edge 41
of the skinning knife.
The skinning apparatus hereinbefore described may
enable a fish fillet to be conveyed in such a manner that its
leading end runs in securely below the skinning knife and the
pressing surface, and the conveying of its skin during the
skinning may take place with positive engagement of the skin
without damage thereto, the run-out of the fillet also being
facilitated.
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