CA1241309A - Device for packing poultry in boxes or containers - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Device for packing poultry in a box comprising an endless belt (19) running over a plurality of rolls (14-18) with horizontal axles and provided with spaced apart rows of fingers (20), which are hingedly connected with the belt (19) said belt (19) having an upwardly running part at which the fingers project forwardly and move from the floor with the belt and the picked-up poultry upward-ly said poultry in normal position being taken over by a series of substantially horizontal guide cams at the level of the top reverse rol (15) at which level the fingers are withdrawn and move down-wardly with the belt whilst the poultry is taken over by endless belts (27,29) which feed them to a feed regulating device (30) which discharges into a box (36).

Description

3~9 Device for packing poultrv in boxes or containers.

The invention relates to a device for packing poultry in boxes or containers. It is known to do this with a conveyor belt running close to the floor, to which the poultry is driven, and which takes the 5 poultry along as soon as the lair has gone onto the belt and then carries it to transport containers.

This device does not work satisfaccorilv.

The object of the invention is to produce a device which is particularly suitable for picking up and packing poultry which is in a 10 concentrated layer on the floor of a room, such as a pen, and with which it is possible to pick up the poultry without damaging it and transfer it to means which transfer it in the proper manner to boxes or containers.

Ti1is object is acl1;eved in the first,place according to the invenCion 15 by tl1c device comprising:

a pick-up device provided with an endless belt or the like which runs over reverse wheels or rolls with horizontal axles, said belt having a part beginning near the rloor and running upwards, which is provided with projecting series of fingers with openings between the, which are attached to the belt in such a way that in the upgoing psrt of the belt they are facing away from it, but near the bottom reverse wheel or roll in front of that can slide forwards over the floor;

a guide caro which grips between the fingers near the top reverse wheel and runs to a conveyor belt or belts situated outside the - track of the fingers;

and a feed-regulating device at the discharge end of the belts and a container or box conveyor connecting with the feed-rec~ulatincg device.

The fingers of the pick-u~ device grip between the legs of the poultry and pick it up, each series of finp,ers picking up a row of chickens or the lie Thev are then raised with the upgoing part of the convevor belt or chain, where guiding i5 taken over by the fingers of a cam.
In this wav the birds remain in their normal position and are pushed further over the cam by the fingers until they slide over it to a conveyor belt after the fingers have been withdrawn from the cam. The 15 attachment of the fingers is such that they slide forward over the floor or ground at the front and bottom reverse wheel or roll.

This can be achieved in a sirnple manner by the fingers being hingedly conrlected to the belt in such a way that in the upgoing part thèy are held by a stop in an approximately horizontal position facing away from the belt, and in the downgoing part can swing against the belt, and by having near the bottom reverse wheel or roll a curved guide element which guides the fingers, which are hanging down in the returning part, towards the floor.

In the upgoing part of the belt, the fingers are therefore in a 25 position in which they carry the birds which have been picked up, while 3 3~

after they have passed the top reverse wheel(s) the fingers fall back downwards against the belt and will not swing down further until they have reached the bottom reverse wheel, where they run against the floor and, sliding forward over the floor underneath the front and bottom reverse wheels,slide forward over the floor.

This guiding towards the floor can be controlled with a guide element, for example a plate which runs towards the floor and ensures that the fingers which are hanging down do not crash aRainst the floor. It is desirable for each belt to have a lower part near the floor gradually running towards it and for the guide plate to follow this part, preferably in the shape of a curve. this whole pick-up device can be disk posed ad~justably on a mobile underframe which is provided with the feed-regulating device and the container or box conveyor, so that adjustment to floor height and the like is.possible.

According to the invention, the feed-rePulating device preferably consists of a rotatable disc into which the conveyor belt leads, and which is provided with a revolving wall with outlet opening on the side fflcing the container conveyor, said outlec opening being provided with a movable door, and there being a slide plate located between the outlet opening and the edge of a container. A quantity of poultry is assembled on the disc and is carried portion-wise via the opening when the door is opened and via the slide plate connected therewith to a container or box. When a container or box is full, it is pushed on and replaced by another, which can take place using horizontal conveyors or a destacking and stacking device.

The device is preferably designed in such a way that the Hall with door is rotatable about the axis of rotation of the disc and the slide plate extends over the width of the range of rotation of the wall opening.

This means that when the door is opened the feed-regulating device can deliver a stream of poultry onto the slide plate which convevs them over the whole width of a hox or container.

. , It is, of course, also possible for the wall to have two openings with accompanvin~ doors, and for each opening to connect to a slide plate to the container.

The design of the door can be such that it consists of two parts which are hingedly connected to each other, one of which when viewed in the direction of rotation of the disc past the opening is hingedly connected to the wall, while the second is hin~edly connected to the edge of the first part facing away from the wall, and is held by a spring in an angular position in relation to the first part, and there are means for moving the door away from or towards the opening in such a way that the second part,on contact with the wall at 1 point before tho opening, halides over the wall against the direction of rotation during the cloying rnovement. This means that each time the door cloves the birds are moved away from the opening and therefore cannot becorne jammed in it.

The poultry, which is lifted by means of the pick-up device and is carried to a conveyor belt, can be taken to a conveyor device consisting of two transverse belts which connect with the discharge end of the cam and whose working faces move towards each other and lead to a belt situated between them which conveys away from the cam in the direc-L30r3 tion of the feed-regulatin~, disc. The stream of poultry which is delivered each time by a series of fingers is then carried in concentrated form to the central belt, which takes it to the feed-re~ulating device.

The invention Jill now be explained in greater detail with reference to the drawings.

Fig. l shows a side view of an embodiment of the device according to the invention and Fig. shows a top view of the embodiment of Fig. l.

The device shown in the drawings consists of an underframe l with wheels 2.

This underframe carries on its front side a frame 3, which at is hingedly connected about a horizontal axis to the underframe 1 and is adjustable in height by means of the hydraulic cylinder 5, for exam?le for passing thresholds and the like. This frame can also rest on the floor 7 on wheels 6.

The frame 3 consists of a nutnber of polygonal frame patts, positioned in vertical planes and each consisting of the upgoing parts I, the horizontal parts 9 and lo, and three parts ll, 12 and 13 standing at an angle to each other.

'iupported in or near the corners of these polygonal parts are reverse rolls, indicated by l4, 15, 16, 17 and 18, over which runs an endless belt l9.

Instead of rolls it is, of course, also possible to use chain wheels, over which run endless chains which are linked together in the 6 3~

transverse direction.

Attached on this endless belt 19 or on the chains are series of fingers

2~ which at 21 are hingedly connected to the belt or chain and are supported by an ankle section 22. This support is given in the up~oing part which is located between the reverse rolls or wheels 14 and 15.

After passing the roll 16, the fingers 20 can, however, swing downwards, as shown, and after passing the rollsl7 and 18 and being guided by the plate 23 they are taken by force of gravity a~ains~ tlle floor 7 and rrom there slide horizontally over the floor from roll 18 to roll 14.

A large quantity of poultry can be picked up by the fingers 20 sliding over the floor, and it is then carried up, in the process the guide plate 24 on the outside of the upgoing part ensuring that the birds cannot escape from their support on the fingers 20.

Near the top reverse wheel 15 the guiding i9 taken over by a cam 25 which projects into the openings between the rinQers, which dulin~ the movemellt frolTl the reverse roll 15 to~the reverse roll 16 still support the conveyance of the poultry over the cam 25, but which then fall down so that the poultry slides over the sloping part 26 of the cam 25 onto a conveyor belt 27.

This picking up is preferably carried out in twilight or in the dark.

The conveyor belts 27 run crosswise towards each other to a conveyor belt 28 which runs in the longitudinal direction and leads to an upgoing conveyor belt 29, which leads to a feed-regulating device which in the general sense is indicated by 30 and consists of a rotatable 7 3~

disc 31 and a stationary revolving wall 32 which is provided with a discharge opening 33. At the discharge opening there is a guide plate 34, the discharge edge 35 of which corresponds to the width of a container 36. The containers ,36 are in a fitack, as shown in Fig. 1, and in a manner known per se an empty container can be removed each tire from the stack and taken to the position indicated by 37. When the container 37 has been filled, it can be pushed up to the right by the cylinder 38 in Fig. 1, where a new stack 39 of full containers is formed in a known way vith vertically upward and downward moving ratchet mechanisms 40, which can always lift the bottom container by gripping a rim flange.

The feed-regulatin~ device 30 is provided at the discharge opening 33 with a door, comprising a first part 41 which at 42 is hingedly connected to the wall 32, and a part 43 which at 44 is hingedly connected to the first part 41 and is held by a spring in an annular position in relation to the part 41. At 45 there is a cylinder with which this door 41, 43 can be opened or closed. Fix. 2 shows the door in the open position, 50 that a quantity of poultrv can be discharged via the opening 33. If the door is shut, the part 43 moves against the wall 32 and in the process will make a pivoting movement in relation to the part 41, so that this part 43 slides along the inside of the wall - 32 in the opposite direction to the direction of rotaeion of the disc 31 indicated by ehe arrow 46. This prevents birds from being jammed.

The wall 32 is provided on its outer periphery with a crown gear 47 which can be engaged by a gear vheel 48 which is connected to a motor 49. By rotating the wall 32 and thus the opening 33, it is now possible 8 3~S~

when the door is open to achieve distribution of a series of birds over the width of the slide plate 34 and thus of a container 36.

Instead of one single discharge opening 33, it is, of course, also possible to provide the feed-regulating device with several discharge openings which lead via slide tracks to containers.

The container conveyance takes place here by destacking from a stack and stacking full containers. It is, of course, also possible to use only horizontal conveyance of the containers to the underfra~e ] and, if necessary, to carry out the stackine elsewhere, and it is also possible to do the conveyance of the containers by hand.

Claims (3)

1. A device for packing poultry in boxes or containers, comprising:
(a) a wheel-mounted frame having front and rear ends.
(b) poultry pickup means at the front end of the frame arranged to pickup poultry from a support surface and to move the poultry upwardly and rearwardly to a discharge position.
(c) an outfeed conveyor below the discharge position of the pickup means and operable to move poultry rearwardly from said pickup means, and (d) a regulating device comprising a rotatable disc supported on the frame, drive means interengaging the frame and the disc for rotating the disc, the disc being surrounded by an endless wall mounted on the frame independently of the disc, the wall having an outlet opening facing a container for packing poultry, said outlet opening being provided with a movable door mounted on the endless wall, drive means interengaging the wall and the door for moving the door, and a slide plate mounted on the frame between said outlet opening and the container.

2. The device of claim 1 in which the wall with outlet opening and associated door is rotatable adjustably about the axis of rotation of the disc, drive means interengaging the frame and the wall for rotating said wall and outlet opening, and the slide plate extends over the width of the range of adjustable rotation of the wall opening.

3. The device of claim 1, in which the door comprises two parts which are hingedly connected to each other one of which, when viewed in the direction of rotation of the disc past the outlet opening is hingedly connected to one end of the wall adjacent the downstream end of the outlet opening, while the second part is hingedly connected to the opposite end of the first part facing away from the wall and is held in an angular position in relation to the first part, means being provided for moving the door away from or towards the opening in such a way that the second part upon contact with the wall at a point in front of the opening slides over the wall against the direction of rotation of the disc during the closing movement of the door.