SHRIMP PROCESSING APPARATUS AND METHOD

摘要

A shrimp processor (10) removes the undesirable sand vein (12) from a desirable shrimp (18) meat portion and peels away a selectively cut shell (16). The shrimp processor (10) includes a series of aligned conveyor roller (28) pairs carried within its housing a spaced relation for conveying a headless shrimp (20) from an entrance end (24) of the housing (22) to a downstream exit end (26). A high speed rotating saw tooth styled cutting blade (40) having a knife edge is carried by the housing and positioned downstream the entrance end between adjacent conveyor roller pairs for sutting a 1/16" wide strip (42) into the dorsal side of the shrimp along the longitudinal axis for exposing the sand vein. In combination with the dorsal strip cut, a second cutting blade (50) cuts through the ventral side of the shrimp for severing the shell into opposing shell sections. A brush (62) positioned further downstream sweeps the sand vein (12) from the cut shrimp. Opposing peeler rollers (64) then receive the shrimp and theeth (68) extending from each roller penetrate the severed shell sections (58, 60) while the cut shrimp is being conveyed downstream, and peel the shell sections from a desirable meat portion of the shrimp while ejecting the deveined and peeled shrimp form the housing.