DE29510308U1 - Plastic device for holding eggs to be hatched in incubators - Google Patents

Description

"Plastic device for holding eggs to be hatched in incubators"

The invention relates to a device made of plastic as a container open at the top for receiving eggs to be hatched in incubators with an insert that receives the eggs in recesses and is movable relative to the container floor surface.

A plastic egg tray in container form is known from a publication by BITEC GmbH Bismark in D-39629 Bismark with an insert with honeycomb-shaped recesses, where each honeycomb can be fitted with an egg to be hatched. The insert has upward-facing pusher inserts on its shorter transverse sides, which penetrate the walls of the container or allow a neighboring insert to penetrate, whereby the inserts are slowly moved back and forth by a drive device in order to cause the eggs placed in them to rotate when they are fed forward.

Once the chicks have hatched, the shells and other contaminants remain on the insert and the floor of the container or egg tray. To clean, the insert and tray are usually placed separately in dishwashers.

rinsed, then reassembled and filled with new eggs to be hatched.

The object of the invention is to create a solution that makes easy cleaning possible without the need to separate the insert from the incubation tray and at the same time makes it possible to fill the insert with eggs to be hatched in a raised position and to gently lower the entire insert onto the floor surface when filled.

With a device of the type described above, this object is achieved according to the invention in that the insert is provided with outward-facing guide pins and the corresponding wall surfaces of the container are provided with guide grooves for these guide pins.

With guide pins and corresponding guide grooves it is possible to enable a targeted predetermined movement of the insert relative to the bottom of the container.

A particularly useful design is that the guide grooves are provided with a lowering slope and a sliding groove parallel to the floor for lowering the insert from a raised filling position into the lowered breeding movement position.

In order to fix the insert, e.g. when washing in automatic washing machines, the invention can provide that at the end of the lowering slope there is a recessed groove pointing towards the upper free edge for fixing the insert in an overhead position to be taken up for washing.

This makes it possible to turn the device upside down for washing, the insert then falls over the lowering slope into the drop-in groove and is held in this position for the washing process.

In order to ensure a slight fixation of the insert when turning back from the washing position to the filling position, the invention also provides that the lowering slope is equipped with a locking and/or holding end at its upper dead center.

Applications are conceivable in which the guide grooves should comply with different criteria. In order to avoid having to replace the entire rack, the invention provides in a further embodiment that the wall areas on the container that have the guide surfaces are designed as replaceable plug-in disks that can be locked into the wall surface.

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The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing, which shows in

Fig. 1 a simplified side view of a breeding container or egg tray,

Fig. 2 is a plan view approximately according to arrow II in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a section along line A-A in Fig. 2 and in the

Fig. 4 and 5 enlarged side views of the side walls of the breeding container with differently designed backdrop areas.

The device, generally designated 1, is formed by an egg tray or a plastic incubation container, generally designated 2, in which a sliding insert 3 is provided, which can be moved back and forth according to the double arrow 4 in Fig. The movement takes place on the one hand by the action of an outward-facing plunger 5, which is attached in one piece to the base plate 3, and on the other hand by a stop opposite the plunger 5 (Fig. 3), which is actuated by the plunger of an adjacent egg tray.

or by a drive tappet, which is not shown in detail in the figures.

The base plate 3 is designed as a honeycomb-like, thin-webbed grid 6 with inserts 7 protruding into the interior of the honeycomb recesses, such that eggs of different sizes can be placed there. Due to the design of the inserts, it is guaranteed that the placed eggs touch the base surface 8 in the lower position of the insert 3 shown in Fig. 1 and 2, so that when moving according to the double arrow 4, the eggs are forced to slowly turn or rotate.

The insert 3 has outward-pointing pins 9 which are guided in guide grooves 10 (Fig. 4 and 5); the double arrow indicating movement 4 is also shown in relation to a guide pin in Fig. 4 and 5 and is designated there with 4'.

In the case of Fig. 4, the guide groove 10 consists of a lower groove portion 10a aligned parallel to the base surface 8 and an adjoining, upwardly aligned oblique groove region 10b, which ends in a slightly opposite, beveled end region 10c, such that in this position the respective guide pin 9 can assume a kind of rest position there.

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If the insert and thus the guide pins 9 in Fig. 4 are moved to the left in the upper rest position, the pins and thus also the insert slowly lower towards the floor 8 until the insert is lowered to the floor and the inserted eggs come into contact with the floor surface.

Fig. 5 shows a special design of the groove 10, which here also has a lower parallel groove area 10a. Unlike the embodiment according to Fig. 4, the groove 10 according to Fig. 5 has an upward-facing end groove area 10d and a drop-in stop or a drop-in recess 11. If the egg tray 2 is turned upside down according to arrow 12 for washing, the respective pin 9 falls into the drop-in groove 10d and fixes the insert in this position. If the container is turned back, the pins 9 fall into the holding end 11 and fix the insert in this position in such a way that the insert can be filled with eggs again. When this small stop end 11 is overcome, the insert can then be returned to the lower working or turning position via the lowering slope 10b.

In Fig. 5 it is also indicated that the groove 10 is attached to a separate component, generally designated 13.

which can be attached to the corresponding wall areas of the breeding container 2 via insertion grooves 14, which is particularly useful if the manufacturer of such objects offers and keeps different groove configurations available.

Claims (5)

Expectations: 1. Plastic device as an open-topped container (1) for receiving eggs to be hatched in incubators with an insert (3) receiving the eggs in recesses and movable relative to the container floor surface (8), characterized in that that the insert (3) with outward-facing guide pins (9) and the corresponding wall surfaces of the container (2) are provided with guide grooves (10) for these guide pins (9). 2. Device according to claim 1,
characterized, that the guide grooves (10) are provided with a lowering slope (10b) and a sliding groove (10a) parallel to the floor for lowering the insert (3) from a raised filling position into the lowered breeding movement position. 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2,
characterized, that at the end of the lowering slope (10b) there is a recess groove (10d) pointing to the upper free edge for fixing the insert (3) is designed to be placed in an overhead position for washing. 4. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the lowering slope (10b) is equipped with a locking and/or holding end (11) at its upper dead center. 5. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wall areas on the container (2) having the guide grooves (10) are designed as replaceable plug-in disks (13) that can be locked into the wall surface (Fig. 5).