With conventional shrimp peeling systems presently available, an operator manually orients a shrimp on a moving feed tray by depositing the shrimp in a predetermined location on the tray. In some instances, over a period of a four to eight hour shift, operator attentiveness diminishes such that the operator does not position the shrimp on a feed tray properly. When a shrimp is not placed on a tray correctly, the shrimp will not always be transported properly to a clamp assembly located on a rotating shrimp transport wheel. As a result, a shrimp will not be in the desired position as it passes various work stations where, for example, the shrimp is cut, deveined, or the meat is removed. As a result, a shrimp will either be cut improperly such that it has to be re-worked to procure the desired end product, or the shrimp is destroyed.
Additionally, because of the need for an operator to properly position shrimp in the feed conveyor of a shrimp peeling machine, increased operating speeds with which shrimp can be fed to various work stations have not been obtainable.
Further, it has been found with various shrimp peeling machines presently available, that the shrimp must be fed at approximately 90.degree. to the shrimp transport wheel which transports shrimp on the wheel past various work stations. Having the shrimp conveyor tray located 90.degree. to the shrimp transport wheel requires that the shrimp peeling apparatus have substantially large machine width dimensions, which, unfortunately, includes a substantial amount of unwanted air space.
Additionally, it is desired that once shrimp have been properly fed to clamp assemblies on a rotating shrimp transport wheel, that the shrimp be properly cut, deveined and the meat removed from the shell. It has been found, in some instances, that the cutting, deveining and/or meat removal operations have not been entirely satisfactory. In some instances, the cutting of the shrimp meat is too coarse in that it appears that the shrimp has been cut with a saw-like blade. What is desired is to have a smooth, clean cut of the shrimp meat.
Similarly, at the deveining station where the shrimp vein is removed from the shell, it has been found that the vein removal has not been as complete, in all instances, as desired. What sometimes occurs is that the shrimp vein is not properly withdrawn from the shrimp which is undesirable in that the deveining operation will, in some cases, have to be repeated.
Further, at the station where the shrimp meat is removed from the shell, it has been found that, on some occasions, the shrimp is torn from the shell in somewhat of a rough pulling motion such that the meat is ripped from the shell as opposed to removing the meat from the shell in a more gentle manner as to avoid any undesired shredding or tearing of the shrimp meat.
What is desired is to have a feed system for a shrimp peeling machine in which shrimp can be fed to the peeling machine at rates substantially higher than feed rates presently available. Further, it is desired to obviate the need for an operator to properly position a shrimp in a conventional traveling feed tray, yet, at the same time, it is necessary that a shrimp will be properly positioned for transport to a rotating clamp assembly located on a shrimp transport wheel. It also is desired to provide a shrimp feed system where the shrimp are fed along a longitudinal axis which is substantially in line with the longitudinal axis of the shrimp clamp assemblies positioned on a transport wheel.
It is further desired that once the shrimp has been properly fed to the rotating shrimp transport wheel, that the shrimp shell and meat be uniformly and smoothly cut. Further, it is important that the shrimp vein be removed uniformly from the shrimp shell. It also is desired to remove the shrimp meat from the shell to avoid tearing or shredding the shrimp as it is pulled away from the shell, the adverse effect being that the physical appearance of the shrimp meat is diminished with the attendant disadvantage that the commercial value of the shrimp can be diminished.
Finally, it is desired to improve the frame construction of the shrimp peeling machine so that when the frame support is assembled together, the various frame members are properly aligned and that the frame support will not become misaligned during shipment or subsequent use of the device.