Skinning machine

摘要

1,034,550. Skinning machines. WOLVERINE SHOE & TANNING CORPORATION. Sept. 4, 1964 [March 11,1964], No. 36329/64. Heading A2U. A machine for skinning and removing meat from hogsides comprises a drum 14, Fig. 1, rotatably mounted in a frame 12, a channel 66 extending across the periphery of the drum, a clamp 18 located in the channel, and a knife 230, which is located near the said periphery to slice meat 110M, Fig. 12, and skin 110S from a hogside 110 held by the clamp and carried on the periphery of the rotating drum. The knife 230 is mounted so that it can be moved nearer to or further away from the periphery of the drum by mechanism controlled by the drum's rotation. The knife may be moved momentarily away from the said periphery, e.g. at an angular position of the rotating drum where the knife is slicing meat from skin at the middle of the back of a double hogside. The knife 230, Figs. 1 and 10, may be mounted on a pair of L-shaped arms 248, 250. The short leg of each arm is pivoted to the frame 12 by a pivot 250a. The long legs of the arms are connected to the frame by tension springs 252, which urge depending studs 272, 274 against circular cams 258, 260 eccentrically mounted on a shaft 262, which can be rotated by the manual turning of a crank 270 acting through a gearbox 268, to attain fine vertical adjustment of the arms 248, 250 and the knife 230. Automatic mechanism may be provided for adjusting the arms and the knife vertically. This mechanism comprises a bracket 290 depending from each arm and carrying a roller 292, which engages a cam 294 on a shaft 296 carrying a lever 298, Fig. 3. This lever is connected to a fluid-pressureoperated ram 300, which is supplied with fluid, e.g. compressed air, through holes 304, 306 and a valve 308, controlled by microswitches 506, actuated by pins 504 on cams 500 mounted on a driven stubaxle of the drum 14. The hogside is pressed against the periphery of the drum by a holding-down assembly 22, Fig. 1, comprising a plurality of rollers 350, each attached to one end of a leaf spring 354, whose other end is secured to a supporting bar 358, Fig. 2, mounted in the machine frame. The leaf springs are supported, between their ends, by an underlying bar 370, which is mounted in sleeves 374, 376, connected to fluid-pressure-operated rams 380, 382, secured to an upper bar 386 of the frame. The rollers 350 can be raised or lowered by corresponding movement of these rams. Rollers at the ends of the assembly 22, e.g. the three rollers at each end of an eleven-roller assembly, may be urged towards the periphery of the drum by adding weight to them, as by controlled thrusts from individual fluid-pressure operated rams.