GB2128870A - Poultry-harvesting assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

A poultry-harvester 10 for use in a poultry house comprises two contra- rotating rotors 12, 13 arranged side by side with the flexible fingers 20 of each rotor abutting and/or intermeshing with the fingers 20 of the other rotor. In operation, as the harvester is driven towards the birds to be harvested, the two rotors are rotated in opposite directions to one another so that the fingers 20 co-operate to carry birds between the two rotors and deposit them on the conveyor belt 45. In another embodiment, a third pick-up rotor is arranged in front of and co-operating with the other two rotors in a triangular formation and the conveyor belt deposits the birds on a turntable at the rear of the harvester. In this latter case, the support frame for the conveyor belt is preferably able to scan back and forth around an arc to accelerate the harvesting operation and the third rotor is rotated in the direction of the scan. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Poultry-harvesting assembly The present invention relates to a poultry-harvesting assembly e.g. for harvesting birds from the litter in a broiler or rearing house.

At the present time, poultry are always harvested manually. Howeverapartfrom the high cost of labour involved, excessive bruising of the birds can often occur resulting in downgrading orsomtimes the death of the birds in transit.

It is an object ofthe invention to provide a more efficient and humane means for harvesting poultry in these conditions.

According to the present invention, a poultry harvester e.g. for harvesting chickens from the litter in a broiler house, comprises two rotors arranged side by side with each rotor providing a continuous array of radially extending guide elements closely adjacent and/or abutting and/or intermeshing with the guide elements ofthe other rotor, and drive means for contra-rotating the two rotors about vertical or predominantly vertical axes so that the guide elements co-operate to transmit birds between the two rotors to a discharge location.

Conveniently, the harvester is mounted on ground wheels, casters, gantry ortracksfor movement towardsthebirdsto be harvested in which case the discharge location is to the rearofthetwo rotors.

Conveniently, the guide elements comprise an array offlexible fingers e.g. of the sort currently used for plucking the feathers from chicken carcasses.

Conveniently, baffles on the discharge side ofthe rotors are positioned to ensure that the harvested birds will be discharged rearwardly ofthe rotors.

When the guide elements comprise flexible fingers, for example, the baffles may take the form of rigid or semi-rigid comb members interdigitating with these fingers.

Conveniently, at least during operation of the harvester, the rotation axes of the rotors will be inclined to enable the contra-rotating rotors to lift the birds offthe ground astheymovetowardsthe discharge location e.g. for discharge on to an endless conveyor located behind the rotors.

Conveniently, the rearward end of the harvester is pivoted on a catching platform, the conveyor in this instance being extendable.

According to an optional feature of the invention, said two rotors may be carried at one end of a support arm pivotally mounted at its other end for movement about a vertical or substantially vertical axis.

Alternatively, said two rotors may be carried atone end of a support arm mounted at its other end on a ground-wheel-supported chassis incorporating a differential gear between the ground wheels.

Conveniently, one or more additional rotors are provided atthe side and/or in front of said two rotors and actto bring the birds into said two rotors.

Conveniently, the or each said additional rotor is adapted for rotation by the drive means about a vertical or predominantly vertical axis and provides a continuous array of radially extending guide elements which are closely adjacent and/or abut and/or intermesh with the guide elements of said two rotors and/orwith the guide elements of other of said additional rotors if more than two said additional rotors are present.

In one such case, for example, two said additional rotors are provided so as with said two rotors to lie in a Formation when viewed in plan. Alternatively, said two additional rotors may be provided so as with said two rotors to lie in a square or rectangularformation when viewed in plan.

In another case, one said additional rotor is provided so as with said two rotors to lie in a triangular formation.

Conveniently, when said one or more additional rotors are provided, the birds can be collected from a scanning movement as well as a forward movement by suitably controlling the direction of rotation of said one or more additional rotors.

In the case discussed above of said one additional rotor being arranged in a triangularformation, the harvester preferably includes control means for varying the direction of rotation of said additional rotor so that it is at all times rotating in the direction of scan.

Conveniently, the rotors are belt driven so as to allow belt slip in the eventthatthe rotors become overloaded.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure lisa perspective view looking rearwardly from the front of a mobile poultry-harvester in accordance with the invention; Figures 2 and 3 are simplified plan and side views of the same assembly; Figures4,5 and 6 are diagrammatic plan views of alternative embodiments; Figures 7a and 7b are respectively plan and side views of a fu rther embodiment of the harvester; Figures 8 to 11 diagrammatically illustrate the operation of the harvester of Figures 7a and 7b; and Figures 1 2a and 12b are respectively plan and side views of yetanother embodiment ofthe harvester.

Thus referring now to Figures 1 to 6 ofthe drawings, a mobile bird-harvester lOin accordance with the present invention comprises two rotors 12,13 mounted on asub-frame 15 atthefront end ofthe harvester chassis 17.

The rotors 12, 13 takethe form of drum members 19 (Figure 1) each carrying an array offlexible rubber fingers 20 ofthe sort currently used for plucking chicken carcasses.

As will be seen from the drawings, each finger comprises a smooth root portion adjacent drum member 19 and a corrugated end portion. Typically the fingers will taper fro an intitial diameter of about 25 mm to a final diameterofabout 12 mm atthetip.

The overall finger length is typically about 235 mm giving rise to an overlap of about 50 mm at the position of maximumintermesh betweenthetwo rotors. The resilient nature ofthefinger material allows the fingers 20 to be pushed into appropriate apertures in the two drum members as shown in Figure 2, a peripheral groove in the root portion of each finger ensuring that the finger locks securely into place in the drum aperture.

The rotors 12,13 are driven byvee-belts 23,24 from two centrally-located pulleys 26 (Figure 1) mounted on a common shaft, one belt being crossed and the other not so asto give the desired contra-rotation ofthetwo rotors.

At its upper end, the shaft carries a stepped pulley assembly 31 driven by another V-belt 32 from a similar but inverted assembly 34 This latter assembly is mounted on the output shaft of a right-angled gear box 36. The drive assembly is completed by an electric motor 38 connected to the input shaft ofthe gear box 36 by a coupling 40.

Reference numerals 28,29 indicate two combs which are secured to the harvester chassis to ensure thatthe harvested birds are discharged rearwardly.

The V-belt drive system described above ensures that should the rotors 12,13 become overloaded, the belts can slip about their pulleys so as to allow the rotors to stop rotating or to rotate at a lesser speed.

Reference numerals 42,43 indicate the ground wheels on which the harvester will move forward. As can be seen from Figure 3, during use, the chassis 17 is tipped forwardly on these wheels so that rotors 12, 13 will operate to liftthe birds off the ground for discharge on a conveyor belt 45.

Forthe avoidance of doubt, it should be pointed out that Figure 2 is a plan view of the harvester when disposed horizontally.

Indeed, in an alternative embodiment (not shown), the harvesterwill remain horizontally disposed throughout its operation and the desired lifting action ofthe two rotors is achieved by having the rotor axes upwardly and forwardly inclined away from the central conveyor belt.

Returning now to the illustrated embodiment, itwill be seen that the belt 45 is mounted on two transverse support rollers 47, 48, the roller47 being driven through a belt arrangement 50 from a right-angled gear box 52 itself driven from the stepped pulley 34.

The conveyor belt assembly is completed by two side-wall curtains 54,55 running most ofthe length of the belt 45. As best seen from Figure l,the upperedge regions ofthe curtains are secured to the chassis 17 and their lower edge regions are loosely supported by the upperface of belt 45.

The harvester is completed by a push handle 57 which additionally carries the usual manual controls (not shown) for motor 38.

In operation, the operator tilts the harvesterforwards as shown in Figure 3 and the motor 38 is started to contra-rotate rotors 12, 13. The harvester loins then pushed towards the birds and the contra-rotating rotors gently lift the birds on to the conveyor belt 45.

The rearwardly-moving belt discharges the birds on to a crating platform (not shown) at the rear ofthe harvester.

Although the harvester is still at the prototype stage, it is envisaged that a suitable forward speed forthe harvester might be about 3 metres/minute with a rotation speed of 40 rpm for rotors 12, 13 and a rearward speed (relative to the harvester chassis) of about 100 metres/minute for conveyor belt 45.

With the dimensions and operational speeds indicated above, it is envisaged that a harvesting capacity of about 100 birds per minute might be attained with a typical broiler-house bird distribution of 20 birds per square metre.

In alternative embodiments (not shown), the harvester might advantageously be motorised rather than pushed by hand. Other possible features in future machines includethe use of four rotors side byside, the outertwo of which serve to sweep birds in towards the two central rotors which liftthe birds onto the conveyor. One such arrangement is shown in Figure 4 where the sweeping rotors are identified by reference numerals 60,61.

Another possible embodiment is the use of four rotors set in an approximatelysquareformation (Figure 5). The reartwo rotors 12,13 lift birds up onto the conveyor 45 as described above. The direction of rotation ofthe front rotors 63,64 can be altered so that by sweeping the harvester from side to side birds can be picked up as well as by moving forward. In such an embodimentthe rearward end ofthe harvester might be pivoted at a point on the catching platform (66) and the conveyor made extendable so thatthe harvester could scan in an arc advancing slowlyforward atthe end of each sweep.

In another embodiment, a harvesterwithfourrotors which scans linearlyfrom side to side before advancing forward may be envisaged.

In another embodiment (Figure 6), a double headed harvester is envisaged, in which the rotors 12, 13 and belt 45 of the earlier embodiments are duplicated at 12', 13'and45' respectively.

Referring nowto Figures 7a and 7b, a mobile bird-harvester 110 in accordance with another aspect ofthe present invention comprisesthree rotors 112, 113,114 mounted in a triangular formation to provide a pick-up head 116 atthefront end of the harvester.

Each ofthe rotors 112, 113, 114 provides an array of flexible rubberfingers ofthe sort currently used for plucking chicken carcasses.

Behind the pick-up head 116, is an angled conveyor belt 118. The support frame 120 for belt 118 is carried at one end by two wheels 122 and at the other end by a scanning arm 1 24to which it is attached by a horizontal pivot 126 allowing the conveyorto pivot up and down.

The arm 124 is mounted on the harvest chassis 128 by means of a turnable 130 allowing the arm to scan an arc on vertical axisXX(Figures7b).

The arm 124 also supports a second turntable 132 with a large diametertop arranged to receive birds from the discharge end of conveyor 118. The turntable 132 rotates independently of the arm 124 and is powered to rotate in one or other direction such as shownforexample byarrowA.

The drives on the harvester can be mechanical, electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic, or any combination ofthese,the prime mover (not shown) being carried on the chassis 128. This can be used to drive the machine eitherforward or backwards as shown by arrow B. The wheels 122 would be steered to allow the vehicleto manoeuvre.

The conveyor is powered to convey rearwardly as shown by arrow C. The scanning action ofthe conveyorframe 120 and the scanning arm 124can,for example, be effective by suitably driving the wheels 122. These can be driven in either direction as shown by arrows Dand Eand can also pivot to allow the vehicle to go forward.

The rearpick-up rotors 112 and 1 have a fixed direction of rotation as shown by arrows Fand G, but thefront rotor 114 is able to reverse as shown by the double-headed arrow H. The front rotor is also capable of being lifted up out of use as shown by broken lines 114'.

In operation, the broiler harvester 110 starts with the conveyor 118 running and theturntable 132 and pick-up rotorsll2, 112,113,114 li4rotating.Thefrontrotor 114 rotates in the same direction as the direction of scan.

The pick-up head then scans through the birds (Figures 8 and 9) lifting the birds up from the litter and placing them onto the conveyor 118. The birds are then carried along by the conveyor until they drop ontotheturntabre 132.They continue to travel with the turntable 132 until they are lifted off either by hand or by machine and are then packed into crates or modules.

When the scanning arm reaches the end of its travel (Figure 10), the direction of rotation of the rotorfront i is reversed andthevehicle moves forward as shown bythe arrows in Figure 11. The arm 124 then scans back in the reverse direction.

Turning nowto Figures 12a and 12b, these show an embodiment of the invention in which the pick-up head 116 is mounted on a rigid frame 134which forms the main chassis ofthe machine.

Atthe rear, the chassis is supported by two ground wheels 136 mounted on a differential axle 138 which can be used to drive the machine forward in the normal way and also to allowthe machine to scan round on axis XX. This latter effect is achieved by locking the input shaft on the differential so as to allow the wheels 136 to move in opposite directions to each other only. Thus when the machine is scanned round by the driving of the front wheels 122, the rear wheels 136 will move exactly the same amount as each other but in opposite directions, making the machine pivot around the centre ofthe differential unit which would be on the axis XX. The machine can then be made to moveforwardagain by releasing the lockonthe input shaft and driving it in the normal way until the machine is in the next position to scan.

As will be clear, the same reference numerals and reference letters have been used in Figures 12a, 12bas were used in Figures 7a, 7bfor like parts or motions in the earlier embodiment ofthe invention.

Claims (24)

1. A poultry-harvester comprising two rotors arranged side by side with each rotor providing a continuousarray of radially extending guide elements closely adjacent and/or abutting and/or intermeshing with the guide elements ofthe other rotor, and drive means for contra-rotating the two rotors about vertical or predominantlyvertical axes so thattheguide elements co-operate to transmit birds between the two rotors to a discharge location.

2. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1 mountedformovementtowardsthebirdsto be harvested and in which the discharge location is to the i rearofthetwo rotors.

3. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the guide elements comprise an array offlexible fingers.

4. A poultry-harvester as claimed in any preceding claim in which baffles on the discharge side ofthe rotors are positioned to ensurethatthe harvested birds will be discharged rearwardly of said two rotors.

5. A poultry-harvesteras claimed in Claim 4when including the limitations of Claim 3 in which the baffles take the form of rigid orsemi-rigid comb members interdigitating with the fingers.

6. A poultry-harvester as claimed in any preceding claim in which at least during operation ofthe harvester, the rotation axes of said two rotors will be inclinedtoenablethecontra-rotating rotorstoliftthe birds off the ground as they move towards the discharge location.

7. A poultry harvester as claimed in Claim 6 in said two rotors are operative to discharge the birds on to an endless conveyor located behind said two rotors.

8. A poultry-harvester as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 7 in which the rearward end ofthe harvester is pivoted on a catching platform, the conveyor being extendable.

9. A poultry harvester as claimed in any preceding claim in which said two rotors are carried at one end of a support arm pivotally mounted at its other end for movement about a vertical or substantially vertical axis.

10. A poultry harvester as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 7 in which said two rotors are carried at one end of a support arm mounted at its other end on a ground-wheel supported chassis incorporating a differential gear between the ground wheels.

11. A poultry-harvester as claimed in any preceding claim in which additional rotors are provided at the side and/or in front of the other rotors and act to bring the birds into said other rotors.

12. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 11 in which the or each said additional rotor is adapted for rotation by the drive means about a vertical or predominantly vertical axis and provides a continuous array of radially extending guide elements which are closely adjacent and/or abut and/or intermesh with the guide elements of said two rotors and/or with the guide elements of other of said additional rotors if more than two said additional rotors are present.

13. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 12 in which two said additional rotors are provided so as with said two rotors to lie in a V-formation when viewed in plan.

14. A poultry-harvester as claimed in claim 12 in which two said additional rotors are provided so as with said two rotors to lie in a square or rectangular formation when viewed in plan.

15. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 12 in which one said additional rotor is provided so as with said two rotors to lie in a triangular formation.

16. A poultry-harvester as claimed in any of Claims 12to 15 in which the birds can be collected from a scanning movement as well as a forward movement by suitably controlling the direction of rotation of said one or more additional rotors.

17. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 16 when including the limitations of Claim 15 comprising control meansforvarying the direction of rotation of said additional rotor so that it is at all times rotating in the direction of scan.

18. A poultry-harvester as claimed in any preceding claim in which the rotors are belt driven so asto allow belt slip in the eventthatthe rotors become overloaded.

19. A poultry-harvestersubstantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and/or as illustrated in Figures 1 to 3 ofthe accompanying drawings.

20. A poultry-harvester substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and/or as illustrated in Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings.

21. A poultry-harvester substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and/or as illustrated in Figure 5 ofthe accompanying drawings.

22. A poultry-harvester substantially as herein be fore described with reference to and/or as illustrated in Figure 6 ofthe accompanying drawings.

23. A poultry-harvestersubstantially as herein be fore described with referenceto and/or as illustrated in Figures 7a and 7b and Figures 8to 11.

24. A poultry-harvester substantially as herein be fore described with reference to and/or as illustrated in Figures 12aand 12b.