HALF PIG'S HEAD BONING METHOD AND APPARATUS

METHODE ET DISPOSITIF DE DESOSSAGE DE DEMI-TETES DE PORCS

English Abstract

ABSTRACT
The invention concerns a method and apparatus for severing
the jowl muscles of a half pig's head, in order to
facilitate subsequent boning of the half head to provide
bone and pig's head meat as the end product.
For this purpose, in one embodiment of the invention,
the half pig's head (19) is placed on a moving conveyor
(11) comprising a series of stainless steel plates (12),
the half head being held securely in a predetermined
position by a locating and supporting means (13 to 18)
welded to the plate (12). The half head so held is
presented by the conveyor to a fixed wedge member (20)
pointing in the opposite direction to that of the
conveyor movement, the wedge member acting to force
the jaws of the half head progressively further apart
to sever the jowl muscles.
Preferably, the outer skin or rind of the half head is
removed before the latter is placed on the conveyor. This
is achieved manually by an operative using a knife, the
half head during this operation being placed on a table
(26) and held in position by a wire loop (28) which
holds the snout of the half head tightly against a post
(27).

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive
property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A method of severing the jowl muscles of a half pig's
head, comprising placing the half head on a moving conveyor such
that the half head is held securely on the conveyor for sideways
presentation to a fixed wedge member pointing in the opposite
direction to that of the conveyor movement, the wedge member
entering between the jaws of the half head from the side and
acting to force the jaws progressively further apart to sever
the jowl muscles without severing the entire jaw.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outer
skin of the half head is removed before the latter is placed on
the conveyor.
3. An apparatus for severing the jowl muscles of a
half pig's head, the apparatus comprising an endless conveyor,
a fixed wedge member located above the conveyor and pointing
in the opposite direction to that of the conveyor movement, and
at least one means for locating and supporting a half pig's head
sideways on the conveyor in a position wherein upon movement of
the conveyor the fixed wedge member enters between the jaws of
the half head from the side and acts to force the jaws pro-
gressively further apart to sever the jowl muscles without
severing the entire jaw.
4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the
conveyor comprises a series of plates with a respective locating
and supporting means fixed to at least some of the plates.
5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the
locating and supporting means comprises a plurality of upstanding
members fixed to the plate for locating the bottom jaw of a half

Claim 5 continued:
head, and a supporting member arranged to support the upper jaw
of the half head as it is forced upwardly and backwardly away
from the lower jaw, the bottom jaw being retained in position
by the underside of the wedge member.
6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the wedge
member comprises a first portion adjacent the forward end which
is disposed in a plane substantially normal to the conveyor,
and a second portion spaced from the forward end and inclined
rearwardly and sideways relative to the first portion.
7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the wedge
member comprises a first portion adjacent the forward end which
is disposed in a plane substantially normal to the conveyor,
and a second portion spaced from the forward end and inclined
rearwardly and sideways relative to the first portion.

Description

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This invention relates to a method and apparatus
to assist in boning half a pig's head to provide bone,
rind and pig's head meat as the end product.
To comply with the strict Animal Health regulations
applicable in the Bacon Industry it is necessary for the
processing factory, following slaughter of the pig, to
split the carcass in two halves along the spine to
allow veterinary inspection of the spinal channel and to
split the pig's head along a centre line into two halves
to allow similar inspection of the brain. Once the
inspection is completed, the carcass is processed in the
normal manner.
The half pig's heads which remain are often sold
off as offal since the half heads are very difficult
to process efficiently and economically due to the
necessity for further processing of first severing the
~owl muscles. The present invention is primarily
directed at providing a method and apparatus for severing
the jowl muscles of a pig's head. The severing of the jowl
muscles finished, the processing of the half pig's
head to obtain pig's head meat and bone as separate end
products is relatively easy and the income resultant
on the sale of the said separated end products and the
rind substantially exceeds the income on the sale of
half pig's heads as offal.
The present invention provides a method of severing
the jowl muscles of a half pig's head which comprises
placing the half head on a moving conveyor such that
the half head is held securely on the conveyor in a
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predetermined position for presentation to a fixed wedge
member pointing in the opposite direction to that of the
conveyor movement, the wedge member acting to force the
jaws of the half head progressively further apart to
sever the relevant jowl muscles. Preferably the half
head has the outer skin or rind removed before it is placed
on the moving conveyor.
The present invention also provides an apparatus
for carrying out the method described above. The said
apparatus comprises an endless conveyor and a fixed
wedge member located above the conveyor and pointing in
the opposite direction to that of the conveyor movement,
the conveyor having at least one means for locating and
supporting a half pig's head thereon in position wherein
upon movement of the conveyor the fixed wedge member
acts to force thejaws of the half head progressively further
apart to sever the jowl muscles.
The invention will be understood from the following
description of an embodiment thereof given by way o~
example only with reference to the accompanying drawings
in which:
Figure 1. is a diagrammatic perspective view of a
part of the moving conveyor and the
wedge member of an apparatus of the
present invention;
Figure 2. is a plan view of the apparatus;
Figure 3, 4 and 5 illustrate in perspective views the
manner in which the moving of the conveyor,
carrying a half of a pig's head, in relation
to the wedge member acts to sever the jowl
muscles of the head; and
Figure 6. is a perspective view of the apparatus
at the end of one jowl muscle severing
operation.
Referring to the accompanying drawings there is
provided a metal frame 10 which carries in conventional
manner a moving conveyor 11, preferably electrically

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driven, each section of the conveyor 11 being a stainless
steel plate 12. The conveyor 11 is provided with a
plurality of spaced apart locating and supporting means
consisting of plates 13, 14, 15, 16 welded at right angles
to the exposed surface of the conveyor plate 12 and
bars 17, 18 which are also fixedly secured to the exposed
surface of the conveyor plate 12. The locating and
supporting means is adapted to hold securely in position
a half of a pig's head 19 as illustrated in Figures
3,4, 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.
The frame 10 also holds a tubular steel wedge
member 20 by means of conventional clamps 21 and 22
which engage respectively the bars 23 and 24 of the
said wedge member 20. The pointed end 20a of the
wedge member 20 is positioned in a direction directly
opposed to the operative direction of travel of the
conveyor 11. Further the wedge member 20 is positioned
above the conveyor 11 and the wedge member 20 in use
passes first between plates 13 and 14 and then between
bars 17 and 18. The wedge member 20 comprises a first
portion adjacent the ~orward end 20a which is disposed
in a plane substantially normal to the conveyor, and
a severing bar 25 which is spaced from the forward
end 20a and which is angled rearwardly and sideways
relative to the first portion - as illustrated in Figure 2
of the accompanying drawings.
Adjacent to one end of the conveyor 11 is
positioned a table 26 and a steel box post 27 provided
with a stainless steel wire loop 28.
In operation a half of a pig's head is held on the
post 27 by the wire loop 28 which is tightened around
the snout of the half head. The half head in this
position is stripped of the outer skin or rind by an
operative using a suitable knife.

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The skinned half head is then placed on the moving
conveyor 11 and held and supported in position by the
plates 13, 14, 15 and 16 and bars 17 and 18. It is
important that the half head be presented to the wedge
member 20 such that the pointed end 20a enter the
mouth portion of the half head. As the half head is moved
along the wedge member 20 the jaws of the half head are
forced apart - the pressures put on the half head are
considerable but the plates 13, 14, 15 and 16 and
the bars 17 and 18 hold the half head in position. The
bar 18 is suitably shaped so that as the upper jaw
is forced upward and backward it is supported. When
the half head reaches the severing bar 25,the lower
jaw is held by the underside of the wedge member 20 and the
upper jaw is forced further away from the lower jaw until
the jowl muscles are torn or severed.
The moving conveyor 11 then carries the treated
half head beyond the wedge member 20 and it may be
removed from the conveyor 11 and further treated in
a conventional manner to separate the bone end and head
meat.
It will be readily appreciated that the method
and apparatus of the present invention greatly speeds
up the processing of pig's heads to separate bone,
head meat and rind. The method and apparatus used
renders the processing hygienic and gives consistent
results.
The invention is not limited to the embodiment
described above which may be modified and varied
without departing from the scope of the invention.
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