| 摘要 |
There is described a saw for removing spinal column material from cattle carcasses in order to avoid exposing spinal column material, thereby avoiding such material coming into contact with the saw, the operator or the meat, thereby eliminating any possibility of the spread of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) by contact with such material. The saw comprises a housing (10) comprising a first and a second part (12, 14), each including one of a pair of bandsaw frames (15, 17) that are arranged in a generally mutually parallel spaced-apart relationship. Each frame (15, 17) carries a looped bandsaw blade having a cutting section 6. The apparatus can be moved along the length of a carcass to cause the blades simultaneously to cut the carcass either side of the spinal column into three longitudinal portions comprising an inner portion containing spinal column material and two outer portions containing substantially no spinal column material. The saw also has at least one connector (e.g. a hinge 30 and a pneumatic cylinder 36) for holding the housing parts (12, 14) firmly with respect to each other in such a way that the saw blades in the cutting sections (6) are spaced apart by a predetermined gap (38); the connectors are releasable to allow the housing parts (12, 14) to be moved outwardly relative to each other, which is desirable to permit the saw to be separated from a carcass and to simplify the changing of the bandsaw blades. |
