System and method for measuring meat tenderness

US3956924A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Armour Holdings Limited · US

Inventors

• Leo J. Hansen · Clarendon Hills, US
• Harry E. Lockery · Sudbury, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 22, 1971
• Grant date: May 18, 1976
• Expiry date: Oct 22, 1991

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N3/42
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A system for measuring the tenderness of meat includes a probe equipped with a force transducer which generates an electrical signal having an instantaneous amplitude representative of the penetration resistance force encountered by the probe during insertion to a predetermined depth. The transducer is connected in a bridge circuit which is energized by a storage battery coupled to the bridge through a regulating network to insure a constant supply voltage for the resistive transducer. An amplifier receives the force signal and couples it to a memory circuit which includes a capacitor fed by a unidirectional current-carrying circuit. The capacitor stores a charge proportional to incremental increases in the transducer signal; and since it does not discharge except by operator reset, the charge stored after the probe comes to rest is representative of the peak penetration resistance force and, thus, a measure of the tenderness of the meat. A readout circuit generates a visual indication of the voltage across the memory capacitor which may then be discharged by selective action of the operator to set the system for a new measurement.