GB2083995A

GB2083995A - Device for opening the carotid artery of poultry

Info

Publication number: GB2083995A
Application number: GB8128305A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: IND MAST VEB K
Current assignee: IND MAST VEB K
Priority date: 1980-09-22
Filing date: 1981-09-18
Publication date: 1982-04-07
Also published as: NL8103423A; DD153461A3; RO88672A; HU191180B; GB2083995B; DK415081A

Abstract

Poultry suspended from hooks on an overhead track are moved to a rotating cutting knife by means of driving fingers 15 and an endless driver chain 11, with their head or necks received between guide rails 17, 18 the spacing between which is adjustable. A deflecting device 25, 26 presses away the poultry bodies transversely of the guide rails and further rails 29, are provided for placing thereon the shoulder bones of larger poultry. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Device for opening the carotid artery of poultry A device for opening the carotid artery of poultry which is transported along a hook conveyor track with its feet hanging on suspension hooks.

There is known a device from DE 2600086, wherein a conveyor worm having a forced guide to the cutting knife is provided beneath and parallel to the conveyor track, the necks of the animals to be slaughtered being seized by the worm thread and being thus conveyed to the cutting knife. The deficiency of this device is that, due to the usual close spacing between the hooks of the hook conveyor track, several necks are often seized by the worm thread as they pass thereinto, thus causing bruising.

The bruising causes congestion, as a result of which some of the following animals are not seized by the forced guide and the worm and no cutting is effected. An additional person is necessary for aftertreatment. Due to the close succession of animals and, in particular, due to several animals being seized in a worm thread, the additional device for lifting the animals which, with varying body sizes, is to ensure that the cut is always effected directly behind the head does not become fully operative. As a result, in the case of relatively large animals, the cut is effected too far away on the animal body, which constitutes a meat loss.

It is the aim of the invention to provide a device which prevents the meat losses which come about as a result of cutting being effected in different places if the animal body sizes in a batch to be slaughtered vary and which does not render necessary any subsequent treatment.

The technical problem which is solved by the invention.

It is the object of the invention to develop a device for opening the carotid artery of poultry which guarantees uniform cutting closely behind the heads of the animals to be slaughtered, while taking into account the varying body sizes of the animals, and which ensures that each animal fed to the device will be seized, transported and cut while avoiding bruises and congestions.

According to the invention, the problem is solved in that a special conveyor system, including its drive, the forced guides and the cutting knife are arranged on a base frame. The conveyor system consists of a detachable, endless articulated link chain, whose fastening legs are forcibly guided so as to prevent any lateral tilting. A driving finger is provided on each fastening leg. The distance between the driving fingers is identical with the central-axis distance between the hooks of the hook conveyor track. The drive is effected through sprocket wheels by means of an infinitely controllable driving device.The head or neck forced guide consists of a tapering inlet and two guide rails which both correspond to the total length of the conveyor system, the guide rail directed towards the conveyor system being fixed and the other rail being angular in design and arranged so as to be adjustable to the neck diameter.

The two guide rails are provided in parallel with and at a distance from each other so that the necks of the animals, transported by the hook conveyor track and the driving fingers of the conveyor system, slide through this distance and are forcibly guided. The design of the rails prevents the heads from being pulled from this constrained position. A short distance from the end of the conveyor system and this head or neck forced guide, there is arranged a known 'per se' rotating cutting knife, whose cutting depth is adjustable. The conveyor system, including the head or neck forced guide and the cutting knife arranged at the end thereof, rises in the vertical direction from the inlet towards the cutting knife.

The height of the inlet and that of the outlet of the forced guide is independently adjustable by corresponding means. The inlet into the head or neck forced guide is located vertically beneath the hook conveyor track. The end of the forced guide with the cutting knife is arranged so as to be laterally offset from the axis of the hook conveyor track. The hook conveyor track is lowered in the direction of transportation from a higher horizontal conveyor plane to a lower horizontal conveyor plane at the point of the inlet into the forced guide and is continued in this lower conveyor plane over the length of the forced guide.In order to ensure that the animals will slide easily through the forced guide and that cutting will be satisfactory, the conveyor system, including the forced guide and the cutting knife, has been rotated about the longitudinal axis of the conveyor system, in such a way that the head or neck forced guide is approximately at a right angle to the central axis of the suspension hook, which is slanted as a result of the lateral deflection of the forced guide, and to the animal attached thereto. Above the conveyor means, at the level where the neck begins, there is located a deflecting device which acts laterally of the animal body.The stunned poultry on the hook conveyor track is continuously inserted into the inlet of the forced guide of the device by the lowering of the hook conveyor track from the higher conveyor plane to the lower conveyor plane. In orderto reduce the oscillating movement, the animal body is linked tangentially to a guide plate which is additionally provided at the inlet of the forced guide. The head, including the neck, is introduced between the two guide rails. The guide rails are set to the distance that corresponds to the neck diameter and continue in parallel as far as the cutting knife.

Approximately where the parrallel forced guide begins, there engage, above these guide rails, the horizontal driving fingers of the conveyor system, which overcome the friction of the neck on the guide rails and move the neck to the cutting knife is synchronism with the hook conveyor track. The distance between the inlet into the forced guide and the hook conveyor track is so set that the smallest utilisable animal of a batch to be slaughtered is transported in a stretched condition into the forced guide and further two the cutting knife.The height of the outlet from the forced guide and the lateral deflection of the conveyor system are so set that the mentioned smallest animal is guided past the cutting knife in a stretched condition without being damaged, the yielding of the hooks of the hook conveyor track in their lateral deflection being taken into account. If the animals are relatively large, the shoulder bone rests on guide rails. These guide rails are situated above the driving fingers and extend in parallel with the head or neck guide rails. During the transportation process to the cutting knife, the deflecting device presses against the animals where the neck begins so that the heads thereof are lifted to beneath the guide rails of the forced guide. This position is maintained as far as the cutting knife, due to the action of the body weight.

The advantage of the solution according to the invention consists in that there occurs a continuous run into the forced guide, thus avoiding bruising and congestion and causing all the animals within a batch forslaughterto be seized. It is impossible for the heads to escape from the forced guide as far as the cutting knife. The deflecting device acts individually on each animal body. The animal body's own weight acts causally, in contrast to the known mentioned device, for the desired constrained position of the heads as far as the cutting knife, ensuring uniform cutting a short distance behind the heads and thus avoiding meat losses. The lateral deflection of the forced guide causes the neck ofthe animals to be so turned that the cutting knife will always open the carotid artery.

The invention will hereinafter be explained in more detail in an exemplified embodiment. In the accompanying drawings FIGURE 1 shows a side view of the device according to the invention FIGURE 2 shows a top view of the device according to the invention FIGURE 3 shows the forced guide system FIGURE 4 shows a cut-out from the articulated link chain FIGURE 5 shows the guide of the articulated link chain FIGURE 6 shows a diagrammatical representation of the forced guide in its lateral deflection.

On the base frame 1, there is arranged the special conveyor system 2, together with the drive 3 and the forced guide 4, and the cutting knife 5. The base frame 1 consists of a welded tubular frame. The feet 6 of the base frame 1 are provided with a height adjustment device 7 of the inlet of the forced guide 9 and with a height adjustment deyice 8 of the outlet of the forced guide 10. The conveyor system 2 consists of a detachable endless articulated link chain 11. The articulated link chain 11 is forcibly guided on the guide elements 13 and 14. A driving finger 15 is provided on each fastening leg 12. The drive is effected through sprocket wheels 16 by means of an infinitely controllable driving device not shown. The head or neck forced guide 4 consists of the guide rails 17 and 18.The guide rail 17 is fixedly arranged and the guide rail 18 is angular in design and is set relative to the guide rail 17 in accordance with the neck thickness. The setting is effected by means of a sliding piece 19 and a clamping bolt 20. The rotating cutting knife 5 is arranged a short distance from the end of the forced guide 4 on the conveyor system 2 and is adjustable through a threaded spindle 31. The drive ofthe cutting knife 5 is effected by means of an electric motor 21. The conveyor system 2, including the forced guide 4, rises from the inlet of the forced guide 9 to the outlet of the forced guide 10. This height adjustment is effected by the heightadjustment units 7 and 8. The inlet of the forced guide 9 is located vertically beneath the hook con veyor track 22.The outlet of the forced guide 10, including the cutting knife 5, is laterally offset at a distance 23 from the central axis of the hook con veyortrack 22. The distance 23 is adjustable by means of a threaded spindle 24. The hook conveyor track 22 is lowered, at the point of the inlet 9 into the forced guide 4, in the direction oftransportation from the higher horizontal conveyor plane 33 to the lower horizontal conveyor plane 34 and is continued in this plane. The conveyor system 2, including the forced guide 4 and the cutting knife 5, has been rotated about the longitudinal axis of the conveyor 2 to such an extent that the central axis of the deflected suspension hook 32 of the hook conveyor track 22 is, in continuation, at a right angle to the forced guide 4. For pressing away the animal bodies transversely of the longitudinal direction of the forced guide 4, there is provided a deflecting device 25 at the level where the neck begins and approximately concentric with the conveyor system 2. The deflecting device 25 consists of a lever 26 which is mounted so as to be pivotable through a pivot point 28 by means of an extension spring 27. The guide rails 29 and 30, which are provided for placing thereon the shoulder bones of the larger animals of a batch to be slaughtered, are simultaneously designed as covers of the driving fingers 15.

Claims

1. A device for opening the carotid artery of poultry which istransported on a hook conveyor track with its feet hanging on suspension hooks, the device comprising a forced guide for the necks of the animals to be slaughtered and substantially consisting of two parallel guide rails and a rotating cutting knife which is arranged at the end of the forced guide, characterised in that a conveyor system for the necks of the animals, consisting of an endlessly revolving articulated link chain comprising driving fingers, which are arranged at right angles and whose spacing corresponds to the spacing of the central axes of the suspension hooks of the hook conveyortrack, is provided on a base frame, and in that the guide rails for the necks of the animals are arranged beneath the driving fingers and are adjustable to the neck diameter, and in that above the driving fingers there are provided guide rails for placing thereon the shoulder bones of larger animals, and in that a deflecting device, which acts laterally on the body to be slaughtered, is arranged at the level of the through-passing body to be slaughtered, the conveyor system with the guide rails for the necks as well as those for the shoulder bones and the rotating cutting knife rising vertically from the inlet to the outlet of the forced guide, the inlet into the forced guide being situated vertically beneath the hook conveyor track which, at this point, is lowered from a higher conveyor plane to a lower conveyor plane, and in that the end of the forced guide, including the cutting knife, is arranged so as to be laterally offset from the axis of the hook conveyor track, the conveyor system, including the forced guide and the cutting knife, being rotated about its longitudinal axis.

2. A device for opening the carotid artery of poultry which is transported on a hook conveyor track with its feet hanging on suspension hooks substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.