Apparatus for separating the neck of a headless plucked fowl

摘要

A rotating apparatus for separating the neck of a headless fowl hanging by the ankle joints from a hook of an overhead conveyor, the apparatus having a fork-shaped clamping member for receiving the neck of the fowl and co-operating with a pivoting pressure arm adapted to be moved into the fork opening of the clamping member to pinch off the fowl'neck. A further fork member is provided above the clamping member and adapted to support the fowl by its shoulders. The fork member and the clamping member with the pressure arm attached thereto are vertically movable in timed relationship in which said two members are first moved together upwards with the fork member close above the clamping member whereupon, after the operation of the pressure arm to break the fowl's neck, the fork member remains in its upper position supporting the fowl while the clamping member together with the pressure arm is moved downwards whereby the separated neck vertebrae are at least partially pulled out of the skin of the neck through the opening previously formed by the removal of the fowl's head.