A method is disclosed of mechanically deboning animal thighs for separating and collecting meat there from and an apparatus and an alternative apparatus for performing the method, including automated individual processing steps. The processing steps include: grasping a thigh bone of an animal thigh at a hip knuckle with a bone holder; cutting tissue near the hip knuckle; and engaging the thigh bone adjacent the bone holder with a meat stripper. The processing steps further include: moving the bone holder and meat stripper away from one another in a direction substantially coextensive with the longitudinal extend of the thigh bone; allowing the meat stripper to pass over the knee knuckle; and collecting the meat separated from the bone. In particular the method includes and each of the apparatuses perform the process step of cutting tissue adjacent a knee knuckle of the thigh bone, prior to allowing the meat stripper to pass over the knee knuckle. The apparatuses include a plurality of processing stations for carrying out the individual steps, and the processing stations are arranged along a path of conveyance defined by a conveyor chain moving through a predefined path.

Scraping bone dust off of pieces of meat may be performed using a sensor camera, a computing system, and a robotic arm equipped with a scraper. The camera may provide images of a piece of meat that may be processed in the computing system, either alone or in combination with the sensor camera, to determine how to control the robotic arm. A pair of bone scraping systems may be used in combination with a flipping device disposed between them to enable bone dust scraping from both sides of the piece of meat.

An apparatus and method for separating meat from bone. Meat-laden bones are fed to a compression screw rotating within a barrel. The compression screw and the barrel cooperate to progressively compress the meat-laden bones to force the meat-laden bones radially outward against an inner wall of the barrel as the meat-laden bones move axially along the compression screw. At least a portion of the meat is separated from the meat-laden bones by forcing the meat through apertures in the barrel while inhibiting the meat-laden bones from co-rotating along within the barrel with the compression screw. In one embodiment, inhibiting the meat-laden bones from co-rotating within the barrel along with the compression screw is accomplished by cooperation of guide channels extending axially along an inner surface of the barrel with curved fillets extending between a root of the compression screw and screw flights of the compression screw.

A meat processing apparatus includes: a first robot arm and a meat separator. The first robot arm has a tool including a scraper at a tip portion. The meat separator is disposed separately from the first robot arm and configured to be inserted into a cut in a workpiece widened by the scraper and move vertically relative to the workpiece to pull a meat part of the workpiece.

A meat separator separates meat part attached to bone part by coming into contact with outer peripheral surface of the bone part of bone-in meat that moves relatively with respect to the meat separator. The meat separator includes a plurality of clamp blocks. The clamp blocks each include scraping contact portion that comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the bone part, and the scraping contact portions cooperate with each other so as to clamp the outer peripheral surface of the bone part. At least one of the clamp blocks is configured so that at least a part of the scraping contact portion of the clamp block is displaceable in a plurality of directions along outer surface shape of the bone part, and the at least one of the clamp blocks includes biasing function portion that elastically pushes back the displacement in direction moving away from bone part.

The invention relates to a method, system and spine processing device, for loosening meat from a spine portion of a split carcass part of a four-legged slaughter animal, comprising a positioning device for positioning the carcass part; a cutting device for loosening the meat, by cutting, from spinous process parts and from articular processes, the cutting device comprising a first cutter for cutting along the spinous process parts; a second cutter for cutting along an outer side of the articular processes; a third cutter for cutting along an upper side of the articular processes. The second cutter is movable transverse to the cutting direction, relative to the first cutter. The cutting device has an urging element for urging the second cutter towards the first cutter in the transverse direction while cutting, such that the second cutter cuts along the outer side of the articular processes.

A slicing device includes cutter device, workpiece holding part, relative movement device, and slicing position operating part. The cutter device has slicing blade that is driven in a direction along a blade surface. The workpiece holding part holds workpiece. The relative movement device moves the workpiece holding part and the cutter device relative to one another in slicing direction in which meat of a workpiece is sliced. The slicing position operating part moves the slicing blade of the cutter device toward and away with respect to the workpiece, which moves relatively in the slicing direction, from a direction intersecting the slicing direction. A blade surface portion that cuts the workpiece along a driving direction of the slicing blade and a pressing portion that presses an outer surface of the workpiece are alternately disposed at a position of the slicing blade where the slicing blade comes into contact with the workpiece.

In a round blade for slicing, a plurality of blade surfaces each having an arc shape and centered on a rotation center of a round blade main body are disposed to be spaced apart from each other on an outer peripheral portion of the round blade main body. A non-blade surface portion is disposed between the adjacent blade surfaces on an outer peripheral portion of the round blade main body. An outer end portion of the non-blade surface portion in a radial direction is located radially inward with respect to an outer end portion of the blade surface in the radial direction.

A meat-attached matter removal device includes a pair of gripping arms, an arm driving unit, and a circular blade body. The pair of gripping arms grip a base of an attached matter, which is attached to a chicken thigh meat, from both sides and raises the attached matter from the chicken thigh meat. The arm driving unit drives the pair of gripping arms. The circular blade body passes over the pair of gripping arms to cut the attached matter raised by the pair of gripping arms from the base of the attached matter.

The invention relates to a method, system and spine processing device, for loosening meat from a spine portion of a split carcass part of a four-legged slaughter animal, comprising a positioning device for positioning the carcass part; a cutting device for loosening the meat, by cutting, from spinous process parts and from articular processes, the cutting device comprising a first cutter for cutting along the spinous process parts; a second cutter for cutting along an outer side of the articular processes; a third cutter for cutting along an upper side of the articular processes. The second cutter is movable transverse to the cutting direction, relative to the first cutter. The cutting device has an urging element for urging the second cutter towards the first cutter in the transverse direction while cutting, such that the second cutter cuts along the outer side of the articular processes.