An apparatus and method for ventral/dorsal alignment of fish with a first fish conveying device, a guide roller for transversely positioning the fish in a feed-in channel, the guide roller extending across the width of the feed-in channel and having at least one section with reduced cross-sectional diameter, a channel floor in the centre of the channel comprising a transfer recess, widening in the conveying direction, to transfer the fish by effect of-gravity to a guiding channel arranged below the first conveying plane by aligning in a predetermined ventral/dorsal position, the guiding channel comprising lateral guide surfaces each arranged inclined with respect to the first conveying plane, and a second conveying device, forming a second conveying plane and configured to convey the fish on their side, said second conveying device being arranged downstream of the guiding channel for taking over the fish at the end of said guiding channel.

An apparatus and method for ventral/dorsal alignment of fish with a first fish conveying device, a guide roller for transversely positioning the fish in a feed-in channel, the guide roller extending across the width of the feed-in channel and having at least one section with reduced cross-sectional diameter, a channel floor in the centre of the channel comprising a transfer recess, widening in the conveying direction, to transfer the fish by effect of-gravity to a guiding channel arranged below the first conveying plane by aligning in a predetermined ventral/dorsal position, the guiding channel comprising lateral guide surfaces each arranged inclined with respect to the first conveying plane, and a second conveying device, forming a second conveying plane and configured to convey the fish on their side, said second conveying device being arranged downstream of the guiding channel for taking over the fish at the end of said guiding channel.

The present invention concerns a fish feed-in device (10) which is designed to supply fish (13) to a plurality of fish-processing devices and comprises a transverse conveyor (14) designed to convey the fish (13) transversely to their head-tail orientation in a transverse conveying direction (15), wherein the transverse conveyor (14) comprises a plurality of receptacles (17) each designed to individually hold one of the fish (13), and the transverse conveyor (14) has a controllable drive unit (19), at least one feeder device (11) designed to supply fish to the receptacles (17) of the transverse conveyor (14), a plurality of transfer devices (16) which are designed to selectively transfer the fish (13) from the transverse conveyor to longitudinal conveyors (12) arranged upstream of the respective fish-processing devices, wherein the longitudinal conveyors (12) are designed to convey the fish (13) in their head-tail orientation to the fish-processing machines, and a control device which is designed to control the at least one feeder device (11), the transfer devices (16), and the conveying speed of the transverse conveyor (14) on the basis of at least one predefined distribution specification. The invention furthermore concerns a corresponding method for supplying fish.

The present invention concerns a fish feed-in device (10) which is designed to supply fish (13) to a plurality of fish-processing devices and comprises a transverse conveyor (14) designed to convey the fish (13) transversely to their head-tail orientation in a transverse conveying direction (15), wherein the transverse conveyor (14) comprises a plurality of receptacles (17) each designed to individually hold one of the fish (13), and the transverse conveyor (14) has a controllable drive unit (19), at least one feeder device (11) designed to supply fish to the receptacles (17) of the transverse conveyor (14), a plurality of transfer devices (16) which are designed to selectively transfer the fish (13) from the transverse conveyor to longitudinal conveyors (12) arranged upstream of the respective fish-processing devices, wherein the longitudinal conveyors (12) are designed to convey the fish (13) in their head-tail orientation to the fish-processing machines, and a control device which is designed to control the at least one feeder device (11), the transfer devices (16), and the conveying speed of the transverse conveyor (14) on the basis of at least one predefined distribution specification. The invention furthermore concerns a corresponding method for supplying fish.

A method and apparatus for removing guts of a fish body, the method includes: transferring a fish body A, with a head cut off and removed, by a transfer device and cutting open the abdomen thereof with an abdominal blade on the way of transfer; transferring the fish body to a gut removal member and causing membrane separation blades, provided at an upper end portion of the gut removal member, to enter in between a peritoneal membrane portion on both sides of the vertebra and a fish meat inner wall on a head cut-off section of the fish body; swinging the gut removal member downwardly with its lower end portion as fulcrum to tilt the membrane separation blades from the horizontal state and peel off the peritoneal membrane portions from the fish meat inner wall; and shaking off downwardly the guts adhered to the peritoneal membrane portions.

A method and apparatus for removing guts of a fish body, the method includes: transferring a fish body A, with a head cut off and removed, by a transfer device and cutting open the abdomen thereof with an abdominal blade on the way of transfer; transferring the fish body to a gut removal member and causing membrane separation blades, provided at an upper end portion of the gut removal member, to enter in between a peritoneal membrane portion on both sides of the vertebra and a fish meat inner wall on a head cut-off section of the fish body; swinging the gut removal member downwardly with its lower end portion as fulcrum to tilt the membrane separation blades from the horizontal state and peel off the peritoneal membrane portions from the fish meat inner wall; and shaking off downwardly the guts adhered to the peritoneal membrane portions.

A fish feed-in device (1) for feeding fish (9) to a fish processing device (7) comprises a delivery conveying means (3) which is equipped with a controllable positioning drive (35) and a controllable conveying drive (36). The delivery conveying means (3) can be moved by the controllable positioning drive (35) into a first state (301) released by the fish (9) in a deposit space (11), into a second state (302) for grasping, centered holding and conveying of the fish (9) accessing said fish in the deposit space (11) and, in cooperation with the controllable conveying drive (36), into a third state (303) which releases the fish (9) after conveying at a fish delivery point (42) which is defined by a controlled delivery time with associated controlled fish delivery speed.

A fish feed-in device (1) for feeding fish (9) to a fish processing device (7) comprises a delivery conveying means (3) which is equipped with a controllable positioning drive (35) and a controllable conveying drive (36). The delivery conveying means (3) can be moved by the controllable positioning drive (35) into a first state (301) released by the fish (9) in a deposit space (11), into a second state (302) for grasping, centered holding and conveying of the fish (9) accessing said fish in the deposit space (11) and, in cooperation with the controllable conveying drive (36), into a third state (303) which releases the fish (9) after conveying at a fish delivery point (42) which is defined by a controlled delivery time with associated controlled fish delivery speed.

The present invention relates to a method for detecting the prone/supine position of fish (12) conveyed by means of a conveying device (13), comprising conveying the fish (12) by means of the conveying device (13) in the longitudinal direction (11) of the fish, optically scanning the ventral side (15) and dorsal side (16) of the fish (12) as a pair in order to determine a first brightness value profile of a first side and a second brightness value profile of a second side of a respective fish (12) by means of optical scanning means (14), determining a first ordered data series and a second ordered data series by ordering brightness values of the first brightness value profile and of the second brightness value profile according to a predefined ordering criterion, determining a first median from the first ordered data series and a second median from the second ordered data series, determining at least one differential value from the first median and the second median, and determining the prone/supine position by comparing the at least one differential value with at least one predetermined reference value. The present invention further relates to a corresponding apparatus.

The present invention relates to a method for detecting the prone/supine position of fish (12) conveyed by means of a conveying device (13), comprising conveying the fish (12) by means of the conveying device (13) in the longitudinal direction (11) of the fish, optically scanning the ventral side (15) and dorsal side (16) of the fish (12) as a pair in order to determine a first brightness value profile of a first side and a second brightness value profile of a second side of a respective fish (12) by means of optical scanning means (14), determining a first ordered data series and a second ordered data series by ordering brightness values of the first brightness value profile and of the second brightness value profile according to a predefined ordering criterion, determining a first median from the first ordered data series and a second median from the second ordered data series, determining at least one differential value from the first median and the second median, and determining the prone/supine position by comparing the at least one differential value with at least one predetermined reference value. The present invention further relates to a corresponding apparatus.