Machine for separating a shoulder from a forequarter of meat

Claim 1

A machine for separating the shoulder from a forequarter of meat, which forequarter has a shank, comprising an upright frame having an upwardly extending front side and an upwardly extending rear side spaced from said front side, means for suspending a forequarter of meat in the upright position between the front side and rear side of said frame, a reciprocal shovel-like cutting tool mounted on said frame and located between said means for suspending a forequarter of meat and the front side of said frame, said cutting tool comprising an upwardly extending main planar face located between the front and rear sides of said frame and having a lower triangular portion with its apex directed downwardly and a trapezoidal portion extending upwardly from the triangular portion with at least a portion of each of the upwardly extending edges of said trapezoidal portion bent angularly with respect to said main planar face and extending therefrom toward the rear side of said frame and constituting two lateral faces, guiding means mounted on the front side of said frame and operatively connected to said cutting tool for defining a rectilinear path of travel for said cutting tool inclined with respect to the vertical at an angle in the range of 7* - 10* and arranged for reciprocating said cutting tool in the downward and upward directions, means for positioning the forequarter of meat and for maintaining the forequarter in position mounted on the rear side of said frame, said means being movably positionable substantially horizontally toward and away from the path of travel of said cutting tool and arranged to clasp the shank of the forequarter of meat and to position the forequarter with respect to said cutting tool while firmly maintaining it in position during the operation of separating the shoulder, the inclination of said guiding means being directed downwardly from the front side toward the rear side of said frame and toward said positioning and maintaining means, a pair of horizontally spaced separating shoes, a lowering arm secured to each said separating shoe and mounted on said frame for supporting said separating shoes, said lowering arms located between the path of travel of said guiding means and the rear side of said frame and disposed laterally of and on opposite sides of the path of travel of said guiding means, and control means operatively connected to said lowering arms for swinging said lowering arms toward the front side of said frame so that the orientation of the portion of the forequarter of meat other than the shoulder is modifieD progressively with respect to the downward stroke of said cutting tool, so that said cutting tool is inserted between and follows the muscles in the shoulder up to the shoulder blade without damaging the muscles.