Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B25/00—Packaging other articles presenting special problems
  • B65B25/06—Packaging slices or specially-shaped pieces of meat, cheese, or other plastic or tacky products
  • B65B25/064—Packaging slices or specially-shaped pieces of meat, cheese, or other plastic or tacky products of poultry

Definitions

• the background of the present invention is a widespread desire and even direct provisions to the effect that the weight or category of weight of packed poultry should be indicated on the packing.
• the invention relates to a method of packing poultry individually in bags by which method the poultry bodies suspended by their legs while being conveyed individually to the packing station are weighed and thereafter on the packing station are placed mechanically in bags on which the weight or the category of weight of the piece of poultry in question is Indicated.
• the poultry bodies are advanced along a conveyor path past a weighing device and thereafter released so as to fall down according to the ascertained weight - into one of a number of open trays.
• a suitable stock of bodies has been collected in a tray
• the bodies are removed therefrom and are introduced into a packing device provided with bags on which the weight or the category of weight ascertained for the bodies in the tray in question is indicated and by means of the device the body is placed in the bag which is sealed.
• the said removal from the tray ana the introduction into the packing device are carried out manually.
• Broilers are for instance divided into categories of weight shifting by 100 grams from class to class.
• category of weight for a broiler of 1000 grams ranges from 950 to 1050 grams, for a broiler of 1100 grams from 1050 to 1150 grams, and for a broiler of 1200 grams from 1150 to 1250 grams.
• Said method has various drawbacks.
• the bag with its contents of plucks which beforehand have been placed into the poultry body runs the risk of falling out.
• the operator has to seize each in- dividual poultry body, lift it free from the tray and in- troduce it into the packing device before packing can take place.
• each packing device needs its own operator.
• a further drawback is the risk of a critical loss of weight. Poultry which after it has been killed and cleaned comes from the refrigeration tank soon loses weight due to loss of liquid when coming into contact with the atmosphere. Notoriously, a loss of weight of 10 to 20 grams in the course of 10 minutes may be experienced.
• the known method involves that as a consequence of their necessary stay in the trays, many of the weighed bodies will remain for rather a long time in contact with the atmosphere and some of them longer than others before they are packed.
• the invention also relates to a plant for carrying out said method, and the plant which is provided with a conveyor path for the poultry bodies suspended individually by their legs, a weighing apparatus coupled to the conveyor path and a packing station placed at the delivery end of the conveyor path and adapted for mechanically introducing the piece of poultry in question into a bag on which the weight or category of weight thereof is indicated, is characterized in that the delivery end of the conveyor path is adapted to gather a predetermined number of poultry bodies aligned in a group, that a corresponding number of packing devices is placed near said delivery end , that a transfer aggregate provided with individual seizing members for each piece of poultry is adapted so as to remove in the lump the total number of poultry bodies from the delivery end of the conveyor path and to advance the removed bodies to a position opposite their respective packing device, that opposite each packing device there is located a transfer element belonging to the transfer aggregate, all these elements being adapted to remove in the lump the poultry bodies in question from the seizing members and introducing them into the packing devices, and that the packing devices are connected with a
• the distribution of the bodies to the packing devices is rationalized and there is no more question of manually providing each packing device with stocks of different types of bags.
• the plant including a possible packing centre is well suited for electronic control in that the compulsorily operated conveying of the body allows the use of electronic watching during the entire process described above.
• the transfer aggregate may be provided with a displacement path on which the seizing devices are movable along the path, the displacement path extending along the delivery end of the conveyor path where the seizing members may grasp their individual piece of poultry, and up to a position in front of a row of packing devices, the seizing members being adapted so as by a movement along the displacement path to take up a position opposite their individual packing device for transfer of the removed body to the device.
• the transfer elements may according to the invention be adapted so as to transfer the bodies removed by the seizing members from a hanging to a lying position and to introduce the bodies in the last mentioned position into their particular packing device.
• the said embodiment of the plant may without difficulty and in a space saving manner be combined with the other transport systems serving for transfer of the poultry bodies from the refrigeration tank and the weighing device and for removal of the packed bodies.
• the transfer aggregate is provided with a rail body bearing the seizing members movably mounted along the rail, and the transfer elements are co-swingably mounted on oscillation arms in such a manner that from an upright position in which the elements are opposite their particular seizing member they are swingable into a lowered position in which they are opposite the reception end of a number of packing devices placed in a row at a level lower than the delivery end of the conveyor path for introduction of the poultry bodies retained by the transfer elements into their particular packing device, and the transfer elements are provided with retaining means adapted to retain the poultry bodies during the swinging substantially in a relative position in relation to the elements corresponding to the relative position in which the bodies are removed from the seizing members.
• the retaining means may be arranged so as to retain the poultry bodies until they are pushed into a bag by a piston member while being stowed whereby, In addition to a well-managed introduction of the body into the device, a uniform stowing of the bodies during the packing may be achieved.
• a removal device may be mounted at the delivery end of each packing device, said removal device being adapted to jointly remove the filled bags from the packing devices and deliver them to their particular sealing aggregate which, after the filled bag having been sealed, delivers It to its particular removal device. Also this part of the packing process may consequently take place concurrently with the other operational steps in such a manner that the grasp of the product is not released until it has been completely packed for delivery and sorting out in shipping boxes.
• Figure 1 A - D is a schematic representation of an embodiment of a plant according to the invention having a conveyor path, a transfer aggregate and a number of packing devices,
• Figure 2 A - F is a side view of the same embodiment of the packed product.
• Figure 3 is a schematic representation on a larger scale of a detail of the transfer aggregate of the plant.
• the plant shown has a conveyor path 1 for poultry bodies 2 being suspended by their legs 3 in retaining means
• a weighing apparatus 5 is coupled to the conveyor path and is arranged so as to register the weight of each poultry body 2 passing each single apparatus and to transmit a corresponding signal to a bag magazine 6 adapted to contain a number of bags 7 divided into categories of weight and marked accordingly.
• section A shows on a schematic scale the part of the conveyor path having relation to the present invention.
• the poultry bodies 2 arrive along said conveyor path from a refrigeration tank in which they are cooled after having been killed and cleaned.
• the conveyor path may start already in a cleaning station so that a continuous conveyo'r system from cleaning via cooling to the final packing is provided.
• Section B shows in Fig. 1 the delivery end 8 of the conveyor path. Said end is adapted for collecting a predetermined number of poultry bodies aligned in a row.
• the distance between the bodies 2 at said delivery end 8 is substantially less than the distance "a" between the bodies 2 during the preceding feeding.
• the Invention may also be performed in a way in which the distance between the bodies 2 at the delivery end 8 is the same as during the preceding feeding.
• the present example shows a closely picked-up group of four bodies 2 only. In practice a group of eight bodies has for Instance proved to be a practical unity of operation.
• a number of packing devices 9 corresponding to the number of bodies of the group are mounted, viz. four in the present example.
• the packing devices are indicated schematically and in the example they are of the known kind in which the poultry bodies in order to be introduced into a bag 7 shown schematically are forced through a resilient funnel 10 which causes the bodies to be stowed.
• the packing devices are located with a mutual distance between their sides corresponding to the distance "a" between the bodies suspended on the conveyor path 1. The distance may, however, also deviate from "a”.
• the transfer aggregate is provided with a distribution element in the form of a rail body 11 on which particular seizing members 12 are mounted displaceably along the body, one seizing member per poultry body 2 in the gathered group of bodies at the delivery end 8.
• a distribution element in the form of a rail body 11 on which particular seizing members 12 are mounted displaceably along the body, one seizing member per poultry body 2 in the gathered group of bodies at the delivery end 8.
• seizing members 12 are mounted.
• Each seizing member has a pair of prehensile claws 13 for each of the legs 3 of the poultry bodies.
• the rail body extends along the delivery end 8 of the conveyor path up to in front of the row of packing devices 9 placed at a level lower than the delivery end 8.
• the seizing members 12 are adapted so that from a position opposite its particular poultry body on the delivery end 8 the seizing member takes up a position opposite its packing device 9 by a movement along the rail body 11. Moreover, the rail holy 11 is movable towards the poultry bodies 2 suspended on the delivery end 8 in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper so that the seizing members 12 will grasp the legs of the individual bodies and again at some distance back from the delivery end 8 in order to pull the bodies 2 free from the retaining means in which they were suspended.
• transfer aggregate is also provided with transfer elements 15, one transfer element per packing apparatus 9.
• transfer elements 15 consists of retaining means in the form of bars 16a, 16b, 16c, confer Fig. 3, constituting oblong supporting elements.
• the elements are swingable jointly from a position in which the supporting members lo are located opposite the seizing members 12 to a position in which they Introduce the poultry bodies removed from the seizing members 12 into the packing devices 9.
• the transfer elements 15 are movable in the direction of the axis of oscillation and the cars 16a, 16b and 16c extend in the same direction.
• the length of the bars lo corresponds at least to the outer distance between the legs 3 of a suspended poultry.
• the bars 16 constitute together a seizing member being open in the displacement direction to the right, the bar 16 in Fig.
• each packing device 9 there is provided a removal member 21 and all these members are adapted to jointly remove the bags 7 in which a poultry body has been placed, away from the packing device 9 and to deliver the filled bags 7 to their respective sealing aggregate 22 which will seal the open end of the bags 7 whereafter the bags with the poultry bodies are released and delivered each to its respective conveyor bowl 23 for further sorting out in categories of weight and introduction into corresponding shipping boxes.
• the bag magazine receives from the weighing apparatus 5 an impulse having as a consequence that from the weighing apparatus 5 a bag 7 carrying an Indication of weight corresponding to the weight of the piece of poultry in question ascertained in the weighing apparatus 5 will be advanced to the packing device 9 in which the weighed poultry body in question is to be packed.
• This operation is indicated schematically by an arrow 23'.
• the poultry bodies are advanced individually suspended by their legs along the conveyor path 1 with a mutual distance "a" which in practice is depending partly on a mutual distance between said bodies necessary for the operation of suspending the bodies and partly on the desire of conveying each body along the conveyor path 1 and past the weighing apparatus 5 undisturbed by one of the neighbouring bodies.
• a a mutual distance between said bodies necessary for the operation of suspending the bodies and partly on the desire of conveying each body along the conveyor path 1 and past the weighing apparatus 5 undisturbed by one of the neighbouring bodies.
• Said group of bodies is removed in the lump by the seizing members 12, distributed by the latter to a position each opposite its packing device, transferred by means of the transfer elements 15 in the lump from the seizing members 12 to its particular packing device 9 and into the latter, introduced each into its own bag 7 which in the meantime by impulse from the weighing apparatus 5 has been advanced from the magazine 6 with the weight ascertained for each one indicated therecn, and delivered in the lump from the packing devices 9 for sorting out and introduction into shipping boxes.
• the working rhythm may be adapted so that the total work from cooling to weighing, to packing into bags and to delivery of the bags assumes the character of a continuous operational process.
• each individual poultry body is positively handled which makes it possible to exactly control the velocity and the operational steps of the single phases of the process and to quickly completing the whole working process described so that the contact of the individual poultry bodies with the atmosphere will be as short as possible.
• the system functions even if a poultry body falls out from the conveyor path 1 during its advancement. If the body falls out before the weighing procedure, no bag will be advanced for the reatining means 4 which passes in empty condition past the weighing apparatus 5, and the same is the case for the corresponding packing device 9. If the body falls out after the weighing procedure, the bag in question remains in the empty condition in front of the packing device in question and should be removed before the next group of bodies arrives to the packing devices.
• the system also allows a sorting out by qualities, for instance in quality I and II, respectively. If a II quality is ascertained to be present on the conveyor path 1 before the weighing apparatus 5, said ascertainment can be communicated to the weighing apparatus 5, e.g. by providing the retaining means 4 with a particular indication member such as a displacement pin 24 which will be pushed out, e.g. manually, for the ascertained quality II so that by means of the pin 24 the weighing apparatus 5 will indicate a quality II, a corresponding impulse being sent to the bag magazine 6 to transfer a bag 7 marked quality II. The said body II will thereafter be packed in said bag concurrently with the other bodies. Thus, it is not necessary to remove the body II from the conveyor system and to collect and pack such bodies separately.
• a particular indication member such as a displacement pin 24 which will be pushed out, e.g. manually, for the ascertained quality II so that by means of the pin 24 the weighing apparatus 5 will indicate a quality II, a corresponding impulse being sent to the bag
• the system also allows a specific sorting out by weight, such as a specific packing of so-called grill broilers, i.e. a broiler of 1200 grams without its contents of plucks. This means that during the conveying step no such plucks will have to be introduced into the broiler. If the weighing apparatus 5 shows a broiler of 1200 grams it can inform the plucks station not to introduce plucks into the body in question and also instruct the magazine 6 to advance a specific bag marked to be for a grill broiler. Also said sorting out can consequently be carried out in the system without requiring the body in question to be removed from the conveyor system and to collect and pack such bodies separately.
• a specific sorting out by weight such as a specific packing of so-called grill broilers, i.e. a broiler of 1200 grams without its contents of plucks. This means that during the conveying step no such plucks will have to be introduced into the broiler. If the weighing apparatus 5 shows a broiler of 1
• the poultry bodies will remain at a mutual distance "a" also at the delivery end 8 of the conveyor path, the seizing members 12 being arranged at the same mutual distance when being in their operational position indicated in Fig. 1B.
• the members 12 can be spread along the rail 11 seeing that the packing devices 9 may be so broad - seen in the longitudinal direction of the rail 11 - that a spreading of the bodies as mentioned Is advisable or necessary.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Processing Of Meat And Fish (AREA)

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Publications (2)

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ID=8117044

Family Applications (1)

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• 1981
  • 1981-06-30 DK DK291281A patent/DK153932C/da not_active IP Right Cessation
• 1982
  • 1982-06-30 GB GB08304281A patent/GB2112736B/en not_active Expired
  • 1982-06-30 NL NL8220228A patent/NL8220228A/nl unknown
  • 1982-06-30 EP EP82902062A patent/EP0084541B1/de not_active Expired
  • 1982-06-30 DE DE823248861T patent/DE3248861T1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1982-06-30 ES ES513702A patent/ES513702A0/es active Granted
  • 1982-06-30 IT IT48722/82A patent/IT1148978B/it active
  • 1982-06-30 BR BR8207773A patent/BR8207773A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1982-06-30 AU AU85896/82A patent/AU8589682A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1982-06-30 WO PCT/DK1982/000060 patent/WO1983000130A1/en active IP Right Grant

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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