The developed machine was based in the principle of deboning
fish by forcing the flesh through small holes combining compression
and shear action over the product, so the fish bones are forced
to lay flat over a perforated surface. This allows for the extrusion of
meat through the holes, so not only the bones, but also scales and
skin are kept on the outer side of the drum. A perforated drum was
set up along with means for providing cyclic pressing and shearing
action on process product against it.
A semi-manual prototype, at 60% scale of the full intendedcapacity,
having a motor-driven perforated drum, was built to
demonstrate the feasibility of the development. Species from the
Atlantic Ocean and carps from inland waters were processed in
short batches. Selected marine species were: white croaker (Micropogonias
furnieri), brazilian flathead (Percophis brasiliensis), red
porgy (Pagrus pagrus), silver warehou (Seriolella porosa), and king
weakfish (Macrodon ancylodon).
Using data obtained form prototype operation, a full-scale machine
was built. The developed FBSM uses a drum with a diameter
of about 1/5 of the usual in belted machines.
A scheme of FBSM is shown in Fig. 1. This fish meat-bone separation
machine is, basically, a perforated rotating drum (1), a set of
oscillating matching curvature beams (2) that press the fish against
the drum. The auxiliary elements are an intake hopper (3) and a
pair of scrappers (4 and 5) that clear the drum orifices from outside.
A spiralled scrapper (6) aids in the removal of the boneless