texture of the meat, and no organoleptic or vis- 

 ual detection is possible when cooked. Usually 

 unnoticed, it is not likely to appeal to the aes- 

 thetic, but it is harmless when consumed after 

 freezing or cooking. 



DEVELOPMENT OF 

 PROCESSING MACHINERY 



Soon after the April 1960 discovery of the 

 Florida grounds and subsequent dredging dem- 

 onstrations in that year, several attempts to 

 develop calico scallop shucking and eviscerat- 

 ing machines were initiated. In some instances 

 the operational detail was not revealed, but the 

 early developments, conducted independently 

 of one another, utilized similar basic principles. 

 That is, heat was used for shucking, and a com- 

 bination of vacuum suction and cutting action 

 was used for evisceration. 



Evisceration 



Figure 8 shows the first eviscerator devel- 

 oped (1960) being tested aboard the explora- 



tory fishing vessel. From this pilot machine, 

 two large vacuum cutting action type units 

 were developed through shore based tests (Ren- 

 froe, 1964) and placed on a vessel for eviscera- 

 tion at sea. These original units were beset 

 with frequent mechanical breakdowns and 

 could not operate for more than brief, inter- 

 rupted periods. Because of this and other costly 

 factors, the venture was discontinued although 

 a reasonably successful unit was developed. 



In May 1961 a combination shucker and evis- 

 cerator was completed and tested aboard the 

 exploratory vessel (fig. 9) . The unit was a sin- 

 gle, compact machine for use aboard shrimp- 

 type scallop vessels. Heat was used for shuck- 

 ing and vacuum cutting action for evisceration. 

 This machine did not perform well and it was 

 therefore discontinued. 



In January 1965 an eviscerator based on a 

 somewhat different principle was tested at sea 

 aboard the Oregon (fig. 10). Evisceration was 

 done by a series of spring steel blades moving in 

 continuous line over an extruded metal screen 

 to provide a scraping or cutting action. The 

 operation with a water-spray system attached 



Figure 



-Prototype experimental eviscerator being tested aboard the exploratory 

 fishing vessel. 



10 



