EP2503010B1

EP2503010B1 - Method and apparatus for processing pelts

Info

Publication number: EP2503010B1
Application number: EP20120001946
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kurt Pedersen
Original assignee: JASOPELS AS
Current assignee: JASOPELS AS
Priority date: 2011-03-23
Filing date: 2012-03-20
Publication date: 2015-04-22
Anticipated expiration: 2032-03-20
Also published as: DK2503010T3; DK177230B1; EP2503010A1; PL2503010T3

Description

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for processing animal pelts.

Background

When animals such as minks are put down to retrieve their pelt, the animal pelts need to be processed before they can be utilized in e.g. clothing. Tumblers are often used in one or more steps of the processing of the pelts.
The skinning of the animal bodies preferably results in tubular shaped pelts arranged with the skin side of the pelt turned outwards and the fur side of the pelt turned inwards. After the skinning, leftovers of e.g. meat, fat, sinews and the like is removed from the skin side of the pelt.
A step of the processing of the pelts often comprises tumbling the pelts with the skin side facing outwards together with a liquid absorbing granular material such as sawdust to remove the remaining leftovers from the skin side of the pelts and/or to dry the skin side.
A known apparatus for tumbling such animal pelts comprises a drum with a compartment comprising a tumbling section and a separation section. The tumbling section is adapted to tumble the pelts together with sawdust, and at the separation section the drum wall consist of a metal grid for separating the sawdust from the pelts before unloading the pelts from the drum. The drum is arranged with an angle in relation to horizontal so that the pelts during rotation of the drum are transported from the tumbling section to a separation section due to gravity.
However, such a solution suffers from several drawbacks, e.g. that it may be hard to control the processing of the pelts. Another drawback may be that an apparatus as the above described may result in the need of time consuming manual monitoring of the result of the tumbling.
WO 2008/101505 relates to a tumbler for dead animal bodies and pelts. The tumbler comprises a number of sections, and the tumblers are transported between the sections by means of a conveyer unit extending through the tumbler in the longitudinal direction of the tumbler.
DE 33 36 050 A1 discloses a drum for processing pelts. The drum comprises one compartment for processing the pelts, and the compartment is formed by an inner cylindrical cage in the form of a grating. Guides are arranged to extend into the compartment from the cage, and upon changing the rotation direction of the drum, the additive is transported to one end of the drum while the pelts are transported towards the other end of the drum to a door to be unloaded.

The invention

The invention relates to a method of processing animal pelts according to claim 1.
This method facilitates an advantageous processing of animal pelts. During the first processing, the skin side of the pelts may be very wet and sticky. This may result in liquid absorbing granular material sticking to areas of the skin during the absorption of the liquid on the skin side of the pelts. Such granular material sticking to the skin side of the pelts may prevent further dry granular material from absorbing liquid at the areas with the granular material sticking onto the skin and may even form a bunch/lump of sticky granular material with an outer substantially dry surface at such areas of the skin side. A result of this is that the skin side of such pelts is not processed enough, and thus, when the granular material has been separated from the pelts after in the separation compartment during the first processing, some of the pelts may need a further processing to achieve a dry and clean skin side. The automatic second processing facilitates that the pelts are processed a second time and thus, a more homogeneous result of the processing of the pelts may be achieved.
In a preferred aspect of the invention, the method further comprises:

utilizing a first treatment compartment and a first separation compartment of said drum during said first processing, and utilizing a second treatment compartment and a second separation compartment of said drum for said second processing.

Thus, a more continuous and/or faster processing of the pelts may be achieved.
In this embodiment, the first treatment compartment preferably comprises an inlet for loading the pelts into the drum, and the second separation compartment comprises an outlet for unloading the pelts from the drum. The pelts are thus automatically transported from the first treatment compartment to the first separation compartment, from the first separation compartment to the second treatment compartment, and from the second treatment compartment to the second separation compartment before being unloaded from the drum.
In an advantageous aspect of the invention, the method may further comprise said pelts being loaded into said drum to a treatment compartment arranged at a first end of said drum before said first processing, and wherein said pelts are unloaded from said drum from a separation compartment arranged at a second end of said drum after said second processing.
In a preferred aspect of the invention, the method may comprise that absorbing granular material separated from a separation compartment during said first processing is automatically loaded into a treatment compartment to be reused during said second processing.
During the separation, dry granular material may be blended with more wet granular material which has absorbed liquid during the first processing. Thereby, the granular material may be suitable for being reused in the second processing thus e.g. reducing the needed amount of granular material. Also, by automatically blending and reusing the granular material from the first processing for the second processing, a less complex supply of granular material for the second processing may be achieved.
In an advantageous aspect of the invention, the method may comprise that the said granular material is automatically unloaded from said separation compartment and into a temporary storage compartment in said drum by means of perforations in an inner wall.
This may facilitate an advantageous separation of the granular material from the pelts in the separation compartment(s), and an advantageous handling, transportation and/or treatment of the granular material during the treatment process of the pelts.
At least one of the said compartments comprises one or more fixed transportation guides extending from an inner surface of a wall of at least one of said compartments, said fixed transportation guides inducing a movement of the content of the said at least one compartment in the longitudinal direction of the drum during rotation of the drum.
The transportation guides are arranged with an angle in relation to the longitudinal direction of the drum so that the transportation direction is determined by the rotation direction of the drum. It is understood that the transportation guides may be adjustably arranged in aspects of the invention to facilitate that the transportation guides may be adjusted into fixed positions with various angles in relation to the longitudinal direction dependent of the selected angle.
In an aspect of the invention, the method may comprise the pelts being prevented from leaving a compartment of said drum for an amount of time during operation of the apparatus by means of a partition wall separating said treatment compartment and said separation compartment and extending from an inner surface of the drum, wherein the ratio between the height of said inner separation wall and the height of said one or more fixed transportation units is no more than 1:4 such as no more than 1:3 and preferably no more than 1:1.2.
This may facilitate a simple way of transporting the pelts to different compartments of the drum and keeping the pelts in a compartment for an amount of time.
In an aspect of the invention, the method may comprise the step of changing the rotation direction of the drum to change the transportation direction of the content of one or more compartments of the drum.
This may be advantageous due to several reasons. For example, the drum may comprise only one separation compartment and one treatment compartment, and pelts may thus be transported between such compartments by means of amending the rotation direction of the drum. The transportation may be facilitated by one or more transportation guides arranged with an angle in relation to the longitudinal direction of the drum and being attached to a wall of the drum to extend into a compartment of the drum.
The invention furthermore relates to an apparatus according to claim 7
In general, it is preferred that the wall being arranged for separating an absorbing granular material from said pelts during the tumbling is an inner wall arranged inside the drum with a distance to the outer drum wall. However, in other embodiments, the wall arranged for separating an absorbing granular material from said pelts during the tumbling may be the outer drum wall and the granular material is in such an embodiment unloaded directly to the exterior of the drum.
The wall arranged for separating the absorbing granular material from the pelts during the tumbling in the separation compartment preferably comprises a plurality of perforations to facilitate that the granular can leave through the perforations while the pelts are maintained in the separation compartment. The perforations may be obtained by drilling, by die-cutting, and/or the like. Also, the wall may be made from a metal grid made from e.g. braided and/or welded/soldered wires, preferably metal wires forming openings between the wires to obtain the said perforations. In general it is understood that the wall comprising the perforations may be made from any suitable structure and material facilitating separating the absorbing granular material from the pelts during the tumbling in the separation compartment.
In an advantageous aspect of the invention, the said drum may comprise a first treatment compartment and a second treatment compartment, a first separation compartment and a second separation compartment,
wherein said first separation compartment is arranged between said first treatment compartment and said second treatment compartment in said drum, and
wherein said second separation compartment is arranged adjacent to said second treatment compartment.
Such an apparatus may e.g. facilitate a continuous processing of pelts so that a continuous flow of pelts may be loaded into the apparatus, and the processed pelts may automatically be unloaded from the apparatus.
Alternatively, or additionally, the apparatus may facilitate a batch process so that a batch of pelts is loaded into the apparatus, preferably together with a granular material to be processed.
In an advantageous aspect of the invention, the apparatus is during operation configured for automatically:

transporting pelts from said first treatment compartment to said first separation compartment,
transporting pelts from said first separation compartment to said second treatment compartment, and
transporting said pelts from said second treatment compartment to said second separation compartment.

In a preferred aspect of the invention, the said apparatus is configured to automatically load granular material separated from at least one of said separation compartments into a treatment compartment of said drum during normal operation of said apparatus.
Preferably, said apparatus is configured for passing on said separated granular material to said treatment compartment by means of an outlet in a partition wall of said drum.
In an advantageous aspect of the invention, at least one of said walls being arranged for separating an absorbing granular material from said pelts is an inner wall arranged with a distance to an outer drum wall of said drum to form a temporary storage compartment in said drum.
This e.g. facilitates an advantageous separation of the granular material from the pelts, and an advantageous handling of the granular material during the treatment process of the pelts in the drum. Alternatively, at least one of the separation compartments may comprise a wall with perforations arranged to unload the granular material directly to the exterior of the drum.
Preferably, the wall for separating the granular material from the pelts extends in the longitudinal direction of the drum with a distance to the outer drum wall, thus forming the separation compartment and the temporary storage compartment for separated granular material.
At least one of said compartments comprises one or more fixed transportation guides extending from an inner surface of the said at least one compartment, said fixed transportation guides being arranged to induce a movement of the content of the said at least one compartment in the longitudinal direction of the drum during rotation of the drum.
This may e.g. facilitate a reliable and more controlled transportation of the pelts and/or granular material
On an aspect of the invention, said apparatus comprises at least one partition wall separating said treatment compartment and said separation compartment and extending from an inner surface of the drum into the drum,
wherein the ratio between the height of said partition wall and the height of said one or more fixed transportation guides is no more than 1:4 such as no more than 1:3 and preferably no more than 1:1.2.
The said ration may have an advantageous influence in relation to controlling the flow of the pelts through the drum.

Figures

The invention will be described in the following with reference to the figures in which:

fig. 1: illustrates a view into the internal of a preferred embodiment of a drum of an apparatus for processing animal pelts according to a preferred embodiment of the invention,
fig. 2: illustrates a preferred embodiment of a drum of an apparatus for processing animal pelts according to a preferred embodiment of the invention seen in perspective,
fig. 3: illustrates an embodiment of an apparatus comprising a drum for processing of animal pelts,
fig. 4: illustrates another embodiment of a drum of an apparatus for processing animal pelts according to an embodiment of the invention,
figs. 5a-5c: illustrates different embodiments of the interrelationship between the height of a transportation guide and a partition wall according to embodiments of the invention, and
fig. 6: illustrates an embodiment of an adjustable transportation guide.

Detailed description

Fig. 1 illustrates a view into the interior of a preferred embodiment of a drum 2 of an apparatus 1 for processing pelts. The drum 2 is rotatable around its central axis extending in the longitudinal direction LD of the drum 2 by means of drive means such as an electric motor (not illustrated) arranged appropriately to perform the rotation of the drum 2.
The drum 2 is separated into treatment compartments 10, 30 and separation compartments 20, 40. The first treatment compartment 10 comprises an inlet 14 and an outlet 24. The outlet 24 acts as an inlet for the first separation compartment 20. The first separation compartment thus comprises an inlet 24 and furthermore an outlet 34. The outlet 34 of the first separation compartment 20 acts as an inlet for the second treatment compartment 30. The second treatment compartment 30 thus comprises an inlet 34 and furthermore an outlet 44 which acts as an inlet for the second separation compartment 40. The second separation compartment 40 further comprises an outlet 45 for unloading the pelts to the exterior of the drum 2. It is understood that the inlets of the compartments preferably are arranged opposite to the outlets of the compartments 10, 20, 30, 40.
The treatment compartments 10, 30 and the separation compartments 30, 40 are arranged alternating in the drum 2 so that the first separation compartment 20 is arranged in continuation of the first treatment compartment 10, the second treatment compartment 30 is arranged in continuation of the first separation compartment 20, and the second separation compartment 40 is arranged in continuation of the second treatment compartment 30. Thus, the first separation compartment 20 is arranged between the first treatment compartment 10 and the second treatment compartment 30 in the drum 2, and the second separation compartment 40 is arranged adjacent to the second treatment compartment 30 to receive the pelts from the second treatment compartment 30.
The first separation compartment 20 comprises an inner wall 21, and the second separation compartment 40 comprises an inner wall 41. The inner walls 21, 41 of the separation compartments 20, 40 comprises a plurality of perforations 22, and are arranged in the drum 2 with a distance to the outer wall 3 of the drum 2 and thus establishes a temporary storage compartment 23, 43 between the outer wall 3 and the inner wall 21. The temporary storage compartments 23, 43 preferably extend in the drum 2 around the exterior of the separation compartments 20, 40 between the separation compartments and the outer wall 3 of the drum 3.
The first separation compartment 20 is thus formed by the inner surface of the perforated inner wall 21, a partition wall 16 between the first treatment compartment 10 and the first separation compartment 20, and a partition wall 26 between the first separation compartment and the second treatment compartment 30. In the same way, the second separation compartment 40 is formed by the inner surface of the perforated inner wall 41, a partition wall 36 between the second treatment compartment 30 and the second separation compartment 40, and an end wall 9 of the drum 2.
The first temporary storage compartment 23 is formed by the outer surface of the inner wall 21, a partition wall 16 between the first treatment compartment 10 and the first temporary storage compartment 23, and a partition wall 26 between the first temporary storage compartment 23 and the second treatment compartment 30. In the same way, the second temporary storage compartment 43 is formed by the outer surface of the inner wall 41, a partition wall 36 between the second treatment compartment 30 and the second temporary storage compartment 43, and an end wall 9 of the drum 2. Thus, the separation compartments 20, 40 in the illustrated embodiment has a smaller diameter than the treatment compartments 10, 30 due to the temporary storage compartments 23, 43 arranged around the exterior of the separation compartments 20, 40. It is understood that the outer wall 3 of the drum 3 in embodiments of the invention is not necessarily the outmost wall of the drum 2.
The particle size of the granular material, and the size of the perforations 22 of the inner walls 21, 41 are selected so that granular material in the separation compartments 20, 40 is separated from the pelts in the separation compartments 20, 40 during rotation of the drum 2 and leaves the separation compartments 20, 40 through the perforations 22 in the inner walls 21, 41 into the temporary storage compartments 23, 43 while the pelts are retained in the separation compartments 20, 40.
The outer wall of the drum 3 defining the treatment compartments 10, 30 together with end walls and partition walls as described above is preferably substantially solid so that no liquid absorbing granular material can leave through the wall 3 when located in the treatment compartments 10, 30.
In Fig 1, the travelling path of the liquid absorbing granular material through the drum 2 during operation is indicated by dashed arrows, and the travelling path of the pelts through the drum 2 is indicated by solid arrows.
When processing of the animal pelts, the pelts are loaded into the first treatment compartment 10 by means of the inlet 14 e.g. together with the liquid absorbing granular material, preferably being a granular wood material such as sawdust. The inlet 14 is preferably arranged at a first end wall 8 of the drum 2.
The pelts are thus tumbled for an amount of time in the first treatment compartment 10 together with the granular material, and are during the tumbling transported towards the outlet 24, preferably by means of inclining fixed transportation guides attached to the inner surface 16 of the wall 3 the first treatment compartment 10. These transportation guides are not illustrated in fig. 1 but is described in more details later on in relation to e.g. fig.2.
When a certain amount of pelts are loaded into the first treatment compartment 10, the pelts will over time accumulate in the first treatment compartment 10 near the partition wall 16 between the first treatment compartment 10 and the first separation compartment 20.
When enough pelts are accumulated near the partition wall 16 the pelts and granular material will due to e.g. the influence from the transportation guides be automatically loaded over the edge 17 of the partition wall 16 between the first treatment compartment 10 and the first separation compartment 20 and through the outlet 24 into the first separation compartment 20 during rotation of the drum 2.
In the first separation compartment 20, the liquid absorbing granular material will during rotation of the drum 2 be separated from the first separation compartment 20 and leave through the perforations 22 in the inner wall 21 into the first temporary storage compartment 23 between the outer wall 3 of the drum 2 and the inner wall 21. Preferably, the second separation compartment 20 also comprises transportation guides attached to the inner surface of the inner wall 21, for transporting the pelts from the first separation compartment 20 towards the outlet 34 as described above in relation to the transportation of the content of the first treatment compartment 10 towards the outlet 24.
The transportation guides, other optional further parts protruding from the inner surface of the inner wall, and the inner wall 21 applies a mechanical impact on the pelts during the rotation of the drum 2. Thus, granular material sticking to the pelts is released from the pelts and leaves the separation compartment through the perforations in the inner wall 21 together with other already loose granular material in the separation compartment 20, and the granular material is hereby loaded into the temporary storage 23 of the drum 2.
During this process, granular material which may have been clumped together may be released from each other and blended with the loose and maybe more dry granular material.
The temporary storage compartment 23 preferably also comprises one or more transportation guides arranged to guide the blended granular material towards an outlet 6 of the temporary storage compartment 23, preferably an outlet 6 in a partition wall 26 separating the temporary storage compartment 23 from the second treatment compartment 30.
The blended granular material is thus automatically loaded from the temporary storage compartment 23 through the outlet 6 and into the second treatment compartment 30. The pelts in the first separation compartment 20 are automatically loaded over the edge 27 of the partition wall 26 between the first separation compartment 20 and the second treatment compartment 30 and through the outlet 34 into the first separation compartment 20 during rotation of the drum 2.
The granular material from the temporary storage compartment 23 is thus reused and tumbled together with the pelts from the first separation compartment 20 in the second treatment compartment 30.
The pelts are in thus processed a second time in a second treatment process by means of the second treatment compartment 30 and the second separation compartment 40 as explained above in relation to the first treatment compartment 10 and the first separation compartment 20. Thus, after an amount of time, accumulated pelts near the partition wall 36 between the second treatment compartment 30 and the second separation compartment 40 are loaded over the edge 37 of the partition wall 36 and into the second separation compartment 40 by means of the outlet 44. In the second separation compartment 40, the granular material is separated from the pelts through perforations in the inner wall 41 of the second separation compartment 40, and preferably enters into a second temporary storage compartment 43 and from there to the exterior of the drum by means of the outlet 7, e.g. an outlet in the outer wall 3 of the drum 2.
The temporary storage compartment 43 arranged to receive granular material from the second separation compartment 40 may in embodiments of the invention be arranged with the outlet 7 in the wall 3 of the drum near the partition wall 36 between the second compartment 30 and the second separation arrangement. In such an embodiment the temporary storage compartment 43 may comprise transportation guides arranged to transport the content of the temporary storage compartment 43 in an opposite direction than the transportation guides of the compartments 10, 20, 23, 30, 40. However, it is understood the outlet 7 may naturally be arranged at any suitable location.
The pelts in the second separation compartment 40, which are now separated from granular material, are unloaded from the second separation compartment 40 through the outlet 45 to the exterior of the drum 2, this outlet 45 is preferably arranged in the second end wall 9 of the drum 2 as illustrated.
As illustrated, the second separation compartment 40 may be longer than the first separation compartment, i.e. the second separation compartment 40 may consume a larger part of the length of the drum 2 than the first separation compartment 20. This may e.g. help to assure an increased separation of granular material from the pelts before the pelts are unloaded from the drum.
Fig. 2 illustrates the drum 2 of the apparatus 3 seen in perspective, where a part of the drum wall is removed to facilitate a look into the drum 2. The construction of the drum 2 of fig. 2 is substantially identical to the construction of the drum of fig. 1 with the separation compartments 20, 40, the treatment compartments 10, 30, the temporary storage compartments 23, 43, outlets/inlets, partition walls, etc. of the drum 2 of fig. 1.
As illustrated in fig. 2 and as explained in relation to fig. 1, the inner walls 21, 41 of the separation compartments 20, 40 comprises a plurality of perforations 22 facilitating that granular material can leave the separation compartments 20, 40 through the perforations and into the temporary storage compartments 23, 43.
As mentioned above, one or more of the compartments 10, 20, 23, 30, 40, 43 may comprise one or more inclining fixed transportation guides 4 attached to the inner surface of the walls of the compartments. These transportation guides 4 are arranged with an angle ϕ in relation to the longitudinal direction LD of the drum 2 as illustrated in fig. 1. Thus, by rotating the drum 4, in the present example clockwise when seen from the first end of the drum comprising the end wall 8, the guides 4 will induce a movement of content of the compartment towards the next compartment in the treatment process. For example, the transportation guide(s) 4 in the first treatment compartment 10 will transport the content towards the first separation chamber 20 by rotating the drum 2 clockwise.
In an embodiment of the invention, the apparatus comprising the drum 2 may be arranged to shift between a clockwise and couterclockwise/anticlockwise rotation direction. The apparatus may in this way prevent the content of the compartments from entering into the next compartment in the process (or out of the drum) in that the transportation guides 4 will induce a movement of the content away from a compartment which is considered as the next step in the treatment process of the pelts. For example, a counterclockwise rotation of the drum 2 will transport the content of the first treatment compartment towards the end wall 8 of the drum 4. In such an embodiment, the walls 8, 9, 16, 26, 26 and/or the internal of the compartments may comprise a suitable screening arrangement (not illustrated in any figure) for preventing the content from entering a previous compartment during the couterclockwise rotation of the drum 2.
As illustrated, the compartments 10, 20, 30, 40 may comprise further protruding parts 70 attached to the inner surface of the walls of the compartments 10, 20, 30, 40 and extending into the compartment. These protruding parts 70 preferably comprise longitudinal members arranged substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction LD of the drum 2. The purpose of such further protruding parts 70 is to induce further mechanical forces to the content of the compartment, and the further protruding parts 70 may additionally help to slow down the transportation of the content towards an outlet which at least in some situations may be advantageous.
Fig. 3 illustrates an embodiment of an apparatus 1 comprising a drum 2 according to embodiments of the invention. The apparatus comprises an outer casing 73, shielding the drum 2 from the surroundings. The apparatus 1 is arranged on legs preferably telescopic legs 74. This facilitates that the drum may be adjusted to an appropriate height. Furthermore, the telescopic legs may facilitate arranging the drum 2 with an angle in relation to horizontal so that the gravitation force acts on the content of the drum towards the outlet 45 (not illustrated in fig. 3). Of cause, the drum 2 may in aspects of the invention also be arranged with an angle in relation to horizontal by any other appropriate means.
Fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the invention wherein the drum 2 only comprises a treatment compartment 50 and a separation compartment 60. The treatment compartment 50 comprises transportation guides 4 (not illustrated in fig. 4) arranged to induce a movement of the content of the treatment compartment towards an outlet 54 and into a separation compartment 60 as explained in relation to fig. 1.
The separation compartment may furthermore comprise transportation guides for inducing a movement of the content in the same direction as the transportation guides of the treatment compartment 50 by the same rotation direction.
Thus by rotating the drum 2, the transportation guides 4 of the treatment compartment 50 may induce a movement on the content of the treatment compartment 50 towards the separation compartment as described earlier to load the pelts and the granular material into the separation compartment 60. However, in this embodiment, the outlet 45 of the separation compartment may be closed by a door 71 to prevent the pelts from unintentionally leaving the compartment through the outlet in the end wall 9 of the drum. (such a door may naturally also be implemented in embodiments of a drum as described in relation to figs 1. and 2.
After an amount of time, the rotation direction of the drum is changed, and thus, the transportation guides of the compartments will induce a movement of the content from the separation compartment 60 and into the treatment compartment for a second processing of the pelts. Furthermore, the separated granular material in the temporary storage compartment 63 may be automatically returned to the treatment compartment 50 to be reused by means of transportation guides and an outlet 72 in a partition wall between the temporary storage compartment 63 and the treatment compartment 50. After a while, the rotation direction may be changed again to move the content of the treatment compartment 50 into the separation compartment 60. The door 71 may then be opened to outlet the pelts from the separation compartment 60.
Also, the temporary storage compartment 63 may comprise an outlet 7 to load the granular material from the temporary storage compartment 63 to the exterior of the drum, and this outlet may be covered by a further door 73 to be opened when the liquid absorbing granular material is to be unloaded from the drum 2.
It is understood that in embodiments of the invention which are not illustrated, the separation compartment(s) 20, 40, 60 as described in relation to figs. 1, 2 and 4 may comprise transportation guides 4, arranged to incline in the opposite direction than transportation guides of treatment compartments of the drum. This may be advantageous in relation to controlling the transportation of the pelts and/or granular material through the drum in embodiments where the apparatus facilitates changing the rotation direction of the drum 2.
Fig. 5a to 5c illustrates different embodiments of the height of transportation guides 4 of the drum and the height of partition walls 16 separating a treatment compartment 10 and a separation compartment 20. In the examples of figs. 5a-5c, the first treatment compartment 10 and the first separation arrangement 20 are utilised, but it is understood that the embodiments may apply mutatis mutandis to any treatment compartment 10, 30, 50 and separation compartment 20, 40, 60 of a drum 2 according to embodiments of the invention.
In fig. 5a, the height h2 of the partition wall 16 is larger than the height h1 of the transportation guide 4. In fig. 5b, the height h2 of the partition wall 16 is substantially equal to the height h1 of the transportation guide 4. In fig. 5c, the height h2 of the partition wall 16 is smaller than the height h1 of the transportation guide 4. Common to the embodiments of figs 5a-5c is that the ratio between the height h2 of the partition wall 16 and the height h1 of the transportation guides 4 is no more than 1:3 such as no more than 1:2 and preferably no more than 1:1.2.
For example, if the partition wall 16 as a non limiting example is 5 cm high, the height of the transportation guide 4 may be between 15 cm and 6 cm. Another example may be that if the height of the transportation guide 4 as a non limiting example is 10 cm, the height of the partition wall 16 may be between 12 cm and 30 cm. i.e. it is understood that the ratio may go both ways as illustrated so that the transportation guide 4 is higher than the partition wall 16 or vice versa.
Fig. 6 illustrates an embodiment of an adjustable transportation guide 4 for transporting the content of the drum 2 in the longitudinal direction LD of the drum 2 when the drum rotates.
The angle ϕ of the transportation guide 4, which in this embodiment comprises an oblong member, is fixed to and extending from a wall of the drum 2 into the internal of the drum to induce a movement of the content of the drum in the longitudinal direction LD of the drum 2. In the present example, the transportation guide is attached to the inner surface of the outer wall 3 of the drum 2 and the transportation guide 4 of fig. 6 may thus be a transportation guide attached in a treatment compartment 10, 30, 50 of the drum. It is understood that a similar transportation guide 4 may be attached to the inner surface of the perforated wall 21, 41, 61 of a separation compartment 20, 40, 60, or to the inner surface of the outer wall 3 in a temporary storage compartment 23, 43. 63.
The adjustable transportation guide 4 can in this embodiment be adjusted in relation to the longitudinal direction LD of the drum 2 into predefined angles ϕ by rotating the transportation guide 4 around an axis AX. In this way, the transportation guide 4 may be adjusted individually to adjust the speed of the travelling of the content of the compartment in which the transportation guide is fixed through the drum 2. The adjustable transportation guide 4 is in this example attached to predefined locations 75 for attachment of the adjustable transportation guide 4, and may be fixed at the predefined location by any appropriate means such as a screw, a bolt, a spring system, a locking system arranged near the end of the rotation axis AX for the rotation of the transportation guide and/or the like.
In general, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular examples described above but may be adapted in a multitude of varieties within the scope of the invention, as specified in the claims. Furthermore, it is to be understood that two or more embodiments and/or features illustrated in the figures may also be combined in a multitude of varieties to achieve different embodiments not directly described in this document.

List

1.: : Apparatus for processing animal pelts.
2.: : Drum of apparatus.
3.: : Outer wall of drum.
4.: : Transportation guides inside compartments of drum
5.: :Inner surface of the wall on which transportation guides is attached.
6.: : Outlet from first temporary storage compartment and into second treatment compartment
7.: : Outlet from second temporary storage compartment.
8: : First end wall of drum
9.: : Second end wall of drum
10, 30, 50.: : Treatment compartment of drum.
16, 26, 36: : partition walls between separation compartments (and/or temporary storage compartments) and treatment compartments
14.: : Inlet for first treatment compartment
20, 40, 60.: : Separation compartment of drum.
21, 41, 61.: : Inner wall of separation compartment comprising plurality of perforations.
22.: :Perforations of inner wall.
23, 43, 63.: : Temporary storage compartment between outer wall of drum and inner wall of separation compartment.
24: : Inlet for first separation compartment
34: : Inlet for second treatment compartment
44.: : Inlet for second separation compartment.
45.: : Outlet of second separation compartment to the exterior of drum
54: : outlet/inlet between separation compartment and treatment compartment of drum comprising one treatment compartment and one separation compartment.
70.: : Further protruding parts attached to inner surface of compartment.
71.: : Door
72.: : Door of temporary storage compartment.
73.: : Casing of apparatus
74.: : Telescopic legs
75.: : Predefined location for attachment of adjustable transportation guide

Claims

A method of processing animal pelts by tumbling said pelts by means of an apparatus (1) comprising a drum (2), including one or more treatment compartments (10, 30, 50) and one or more separation compartments (20, 40, 60) separated by a partition wall (16, 26, 36), said method comprising the steps of:
- loading one or more pelts into a treatment compartment (10, 50) of said drum (2),

- performing a first and a second processing of said pelts in said drum (2) by using a treatment cycle twice before unloading said pelts from the drum (2),
the method including after the first processing by means of said treatment cycle unloading said pelts from said separation compartment (20, 60) of the drum through an outlet (34, 54) in said partition wall (26, 36) and into a treatment compartment (30, 50) of said drum (2),
performing the second processing of said pelts in said drum (2) by means of said treatment cycle, and
- unloading said one or more pelts from said drum (2) after the second processing,
whereby, in case of a drum with a single treatment compartment (50) and a single separation compartment (60), said first and second processing takes place in the same treatment and separation compartments (50, 60) by reversing the rotation direction of said drum (2),
wherein said treatment cycle comprises the steps of :
- tumbling said one or more pelts in said treatment compartment (10, 30, 50) together with a liquid absorbing granular material such as sawdust,

- automatically unloading said pelts and said granular material from said treatment compartment through an outlet (24, 44, 54) of said partition wall (16, 36), and into said separation compartment (20, 40, 60) of said drum, and

- tumbling said one or more pelts in said separation compartment (20, 40, 60) so as to separate said granular material from said pelts in said separation compartment (20, 40, 60) by means of perforations (22) in a wall (21, 41, 61) forming said separation compartment (20, 40, 60),
wherein at least one of said compartments (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60), comprises one or more fixed and inclining transportation guides (4) extending from an inner surface of a wall (3, 21, 41, 61) of at least one of said compartments, said fixed transportation guides (4) inducing a movement of the content of the said at least one compartment in the longitudinal direction (LD) of the drum (2) during rotation of the drum (2), and
wherein said automatic unloading is achieved due to the configuration of said partition walls (16, 26, 36) and the inclining transportation guides (4).
A method according to claim 1, comprising:
utilizing a first treatment compartment (10) and a first separation compartment (20) of said drum (2) during said first processing, and

utilizing a second treatment compartment (30) and a second separation compartment (40) of said drum (2) for said second processing.
A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said pelts are loaded into said drum (2) to a treatment compartment (10, 50) arranged at a first end of said drum before said first processing, and wherein said pelts are unloaded from said drum (2) from a separation compartment (40, 60) arranged at a second end of said drum (2) after said second processing.
A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein absorbing granular material separated from a separation compartment (20, 60) during said first processing is automatically loaded into a treatment compartment (10, 50) to be reused during said second processing.
A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said granular material is automatically unloaded from said separation compartment (20, 40, 60) and into a temporary storage compartment (23, 43, 63) in said drum (2) by means of said perforations (22) in said wall (21, 41, 61), wherein said wall (21, 41, 61) is an inner wall arranged with a distance to an outer drum wall of said drum (2).
A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said method comprises the step of changing the rotation direction of the drum (2) to change the transportation direction of the content of one or more compartments (10, 20, 23, 30, 40, 43 50, 60, 63) of the drum (2).
An apparatus (1) for processing of animal pelts, said apparatus comprising a drum (2) for tumbling said animal pelts, said drum (2) comprising:
at least one treatment compartment (10, 30, 50) comprising an inlet and an outlet, and at least one separation compartment (20, 40, 60) comprising an inlet, an outlet and a wall (21, 41, 61) forming said separation compartment (20, 40, 60) and being arranged for separating a liquid absorbing granular material such as sawdust from said pelts during said tumbling by means of perforations (22) in said wall (21, 41, 61),

said one or more treatment and separation compartments (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60) being separated by one or more partition walls (16, 26, 36) comprising an outlet (24, 34, 44, 54),

where at least one of said compartments (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60), comprises one or more fixed and inclining transportation guides (4) extending from an inner surface of said at least one compartment (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60), said fixed transportation guides (4) being arranged to induce a movement of the content of the said at least one compartment in the longitudinal direction (LD) of the drum (2) during rotation of the drum (2),

wherein said apparatus (1) is configured for automatically unloading said animal pelts and said granular material from said at least one treatment compartment (10, 50) through said outlet (24, 54) in said partition wall (16, 36) and into one of said one or more separation compartments (20, 60) during operation of said apparatus (1) for a first processing, and

wherein said apparatus is further configured for automatically unloading animal pelts from said separation compartment (20, 60) through said outlet (34, 54) of said partition wall (26, 36) and into a treatment compartment (30, 50) of said drum (2) for a second processing of said pelts together with absorbing granular material, followed by a subsequent further separation of absorbing granular material from said pelts in a separation compartment (40, 60) of said drum (2) during operation of said apparatus (1), before unloading the pelts from the drum (2),

which automatic unloading is configured for being provided due to the configuration of said one or more partition walls (16, 26, 36) and the inclining transportation guides (4),

whereby, in case of a drum with a single treatment compartment (50) and a single separation compartment (60), said first and second processing takes place in the same treatment and separation compartments (50, 60) by reversing the rotation direction of said drum (2).
An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said drum comprises a first treatment compartment (10) and a second treatment compartment (30), a first separation compartment (20) and a second separation compartment (40),
wherein said first separation compartment (20) is arranged between said first treatment compartment (10) and said second treatment compartment (30) in said drum (2), and wherein said second separation compartment (40) is arranged adjacent to said second treatment compartment (30).
An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said apparatus (1) during operation is configured for automatically:
transporting pelts from said first treatment compartment (10) to said first separation compartment (20),

transporting pelts from said first separation compartment (20) to said second treatment compartment (30), and

transporting said pelts from said second treatment compartment (30) to said second separation compartment (40).
An apparatus according to any of claims 7, 8 or 9, wherein said apparatus (1) is configured to automatically load granular material separated from at least one of said separation compartments (20, 40, 60) into a treatment compartment (10, 30, 50) of said drum (2) during normal operation of said apparatus (1).
An apparatus according to any of claims 7 to 10, wherein at least one of said walls (21, 41, 61) being arranged for separating an absorbing granular material from said pelts is an inner wall arranged with a distance to an outer drum wall (3) of said drum (2) to form a temporary storage compartment (23, 43, 63) in said drum (2).
An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said temporary storage compartment (23, 63) comprises one or more transportation guides configured for transporting said separated granular material through an opening (6, 72) in a partition wall (16, 36) and into a treatment compartment (30, 50) of said drum.
An apparatus according to any of claims 7-12, whereby said at least one partition wall (16, 26, 36) is separating said treatment compartment (10, 30, 50) and said separation compartment (20, 40, 60) and extending from an inner surface of the drum (2) into the drum (2),
wherein the ratio between the height (h2) of said partition wall (16, 26, 36) and the height (h1) of said one or more fixed transportation guides (4) is no more than 1:4 such as no more than 1:3 and preferably no more than 1:1.2.
An apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the height (h2) of said partition wall (16, 26, 36) is smaller than the height (h1) of the transportation guide (4).
An apparatus according to any of claims 7-14, configured for operating in according with a method according to any of claims 1-6.