GB2239640A

GB2239640A - Loading, packing and unloading of carcasses into or from a mobile cold store

Info

Publication number: GB2239640A
Application number: GB9025130A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Lennart Akesson
Original assignee: SKANSKA SLAKTERIMASKINER AB
Current assignee: SKANSKA SLAKTERIMASKINER AB
Priority date: 1989-11-20
Filing date: 1990-11-19
Publication date: 1991-07-10
Anticipated expiration: 2010-11-19
Also published as: SE8903894L; GB2239640B; SE469814B; SE8903894D0; DE4036971A1; GB9025130D0

Abstract

In order to facilitate the loading of carcasses into or from the cold storage space of a refrigerated vehicle, the storage space is fitted with a system of suspension rails, formed by pipes (1) and automatically and/or manually operable points or switches (6, 7) whereby suspended carcasses arriving on a main rail (8) can be diverted onto selected branch rails within said storage space, or whereby suspended carcasses can be diverted from such branch rails onto a main rail to leave the storage space. A packing device (11) is operable to deliver the suspended carcasses to the desired locations in the cold storage space or to extract the suspended carcasses therefrom. The invention allows rapid loading and unloading of the refrigerated vehicle, without the inconvenience and risks to hygiene which are involved in conventional arrangements by the need for personnel to enter and move about in the cold storage space. <IMAGE>

Description

1 1 3 D E, -ú1 C> INVENTION:

METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY LOAD, CHANGEOVER, PACK AND UNLOAD CARCASSES, CUTS OF MEAT OR THE LIKE IN A MOgILE COLDSTORAGE PLACE AND ARRANGEMENT FOR CARRYING OUT THt METHOD The present invention relates to a method that from a cold storage in a slaughterhouse automatically transport carcasses cuts of meat or the like to a mobile cold storage as a truck, trainwaggon, container or the like and through a number of change-over devices automatically be able to load the transpoted meat into the mobile cold storage and there by means of aautonatically operated packer be able to pack the meat into the mobile unit and also to unload the meat automatically. The present invention also shows an arrangement for carrying out the method.

One problem today when loading and unloading is that everything are made manual by persons, who must stretch out against the roof to which the arrangement is attached and by hand-operating page 2 change the change-over devicesp which cause working-injury and a wornout state of the labouts and it will also take a rather long time to load or unload a cold storage.

A further problem today is that it usually takes more than one person to carrying out the work, one who looks at the meat comeing out from the warehouse cold storage while another person will be loading the meat and manually operate the change overs for changing meat between the lines and a third person have to stand inside the mobile cold storage and pack the carcasses against the front of the storage and in order to have the carcasses packed effectively the mobile unite have to be driven up for a hill and brake the unit in-order to have the carcasses pressed forward by the movement force and at the same time a person in the mobil cold storage lock up the carcasses by means of a stopper. The risk of an accident is very high. The aim is to load as much as possible in the mobile cold storage in order to have the transport economically justifiable.

Still a further problem today is the sanitary demands on such transport. It is not desirable to have a person walking with shoes in the cold storage which showes also is used outside the storage and the sanitary problem also include that the person will be touching the meat.

There is also the problem when loading the mobile cold storage that the carcasses have to be packed in a special way, in order to load as much as possible. You also have to pack front- and backparts alternately in order to have the cargo equally divided.

Accordingly ther are problems not having a good economy for these transports because there are to many persons involved in loading and unloading and it takes to much time. The workers will also taken the risk for working injuries and wornout problems.

The object of the invention described herein is to create an easier method and arrangement for loading and unloading carcasses or meat cuts into and out from a mobile cold storage. and having the danger of accidents and wornouts to a minimum.

A further object of the invention is that it is possible to handle the meat and the storage where the meat is placed in a more hygienic way because the working is automatically and no person get in contact with or touch the meat and do not have to enter the starage room.

A further object of the invention is to reduce the costs and working tasks by means-of an automatically operating load- and unloadsystem in which you have a high speed of load and unloading the meat and a effectively packing using only one person.

1 page 3 A still further object of the invention is to reduce the issue of cold from the cold storage by a fast loading, packing and unloading of the meat from the mobile coldstorage.

Accordingly the present invention allowes a methold and arrangemang for loading, packing,and unloading of carcassesi meat cuts or the like, wherein a better working area, hygienic treatment and better economy is achived.

The invention also include an arrangement for carrying out the above mentioned method. The arrangement include a load- and unload pipe to a mobile cold storage place and an amount of change over devices which takes over the hanging meat to different tubes and where packers takes the cargo aganist the front and press the cargo to a back lock which keep the carcasses on its place and which back locks can by a electronic system set a time for opening and closing of the change overs in order to regulate the hanging meat on different tubes and make it possible for a effective packing. A further automatic system loose the back locks and stoppers at the unloading of the cargo.

The characteristics for the present invention will be described in the following claims.

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the enclosed drawings, which shows a preferred embodymenti in which fig 1 is a preferred embodyment of the arrangement seen from under and fig 2 shows a mobile cold storage place from behind and fig 3 is a side view of a mobile cold storage place with the arrangement included inside. Figur 4 shows a change over device with all its details joint to a pipe and fig 5 shows the same change over connected with the loading pipe and fig 6 shows the change over extension from the frontand fig 7 is a view of section A-A of the change over extension and fig 8 is a view of section B- B of a pipe.

Figur 1 shows from below a part of the arrangement in a mobile cold storage$ where the pipes 1 are seen and the amount of them is depending of the storages area and it is also seen how these pipes 1 are fixed by means of holders 2. Along the pipes 1 are seen stoppers 3 for the roll hooks or slide hooks which transports the carcasses and/or the meat cut. When the mobile cold storage place is to be loaded from a slaughterhouse a pipe will be connected to the load and unloadpipe 8 and the meat will be transpoted to the mobile cold storageand on hte pipe 8 where a pneumatic cylinder 4 will be operated from the drivers controlbox outside the mobile cold storage and control a change over extension 7 to be in close contact with the pipe 1 whereas the hook with the carcasses will enter pipe 1. Anamount of change over hinges 5 and some change over stop 6 can be found in the figur. Large carcass ' es are to,be loaded alternately by frontand backparts for two pipes 1 it is to be operated by the controlbox and the both cylinders 4 will work with the change over extensions 7 and then it is possible to load frontpart, backpart and frontpart etc on one pipe 1 while the other pipe 1 receive backpart, frontpart, backpart etc. Accordingly it is possible to efectively use all loading space and everything is controlled from outside the cold storage plac..

4 on f igur 2 the mobile cold storage place from the back and the load and unloading pipes 8 are seen, which will be connected to the unloading pipes from the cold storage place in the slaughterhouse. Further is seen a manuel positioner 9 which also can be used for manuel controlling the change overs in the mobile cold storage.

Figur 3 is a side view of the mobile cold storage and the pipe 1 is seen on which a carcasses is hanging on a hook on the pipe 1. The automatic loading of the meat into the mobile cold storage will be made by means of a packer 11 which have been preprogrammed to hold a certain pressure. The packer 11 press on to the upper part of the hook and move the hanging carcasses into the mobile cold storage against the front end and under the packer 11 are a line of back stoppers 12 and when the packer 11 moved the hook 10 to the front and when the programmed pressure is achived the hook 10 will be hold firm by a back stopper 12 and the packer 11 return to the starting point in order to take a new hook 10. By unloading of all in the mobile cold storage hanging carcasses will all back stoppers 12 be turned up and the carcasses will be hold back by the stoppers 3 which are operated by the drivers controlbox and he release the hooks 10 by a signal and unloading can be made in a controlled way by either one pipe at the time or by one hook from each pipe at the time. Loading and unloading can of course also be made manual by means of the positioner 9.

Figur 4 shows the change over between the pipe 1 and the load and unloading pipe 8 and the pneumatic cylinder 4 which is fixed on the change over extension 7 has moved this to be in close contact with the pipe 1. In this preferred embodyment we have stated that the cylinder 4 is controlled pneumatically, but it can of course be controlled by many different waysi, by example electronically. In this f igur the change over stop 6 on the pipe 8 is shown.

Figur 5 shows how the pndumatic cylinder 4 has returned the change over extension 7 to be in close contact with the load and unloadpipe 8. And the change over stop 6 on the pipe 1 is shown.

Figur 6 shows the termination edge on a change over extension 7 together with the guide 13 for the change over extension.

Figur 7 is a cross section A-A of figur 5 and the guide 13 is seen in its guide trace 14 when the change over extension 7 is in close contact with a pipe 1 or 8.

Finally in figur 8 which is a section view B-B of a part of f igur 5 and where is seen when the change over stop 6 in the pipe 1 and guide trace 14 in which the guide 13 is intended to go into.

The invention should not be considered as restricted to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings, since it permits being modified within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

6 C L A 1 M S 1. Method for automatically loading, change over, packing and unloading of hanging carcasses or cuts of meat to or from a mobile cold storage place c h a r a c t e r i s e d by the fact that from outside the mobile cold storage place the loading is electronically controlled by means of change overs from pipes and an automatically packing of the cargo and keeping the cargo on its place.

2. Method according to claim 1 where the carcasses are cattle with frontparts and backparts c h a r a c t e r i s e d. thereby that automatically change over front- and backparts are packed alternately on two or more different pipes and that the storage space will be completely loaded without any large empty space.

3. Method according to claim 1 where the unloading of the mobile cold storage is made automatically from outside operating the change over and controlling of an arrangemang inside the mobile cold storage.

4. Arrangement for carrying out the method according to claim 1 for automatically loadingt change over, packing and unloading of hanging carcasses or cuts of meat to or from a mobile cold storage place c h a r a c t e r i s e d. by a loading pipe <8> on which the carcasses will be forwarded and an amount of change overs where in each change over a cylinder <4> by electronic way from outside will be affected to move a change over extention C> from its position against a loading pipe <8> to a pipe <l> and where one on each pipe <l> existing packer <ll> forward a hook <1,0> with a hanging carcasses into the mobile cold storage and where the packer <ll> have a programmed pressure and where a back stopper <12> lock the hook <l0> on the pipe <1>.

5. Arrangement according to claim 4, c h a r a c t e r i s e d. thereby that on every load- and unloadpipe <8> are an amount of chance overs and that the inside the mobile cold storage are an amount of pipes <l> and that the along each pipe <l> are an amount of back stoppers <l2>.

6. Arrangement according to claim 4, c h a r a c t e r i s e d thereby that when the packer <ll> achive the preprogammed pressure it returns to the start position and takes up the next hook <105 and that the packer is reversible and will work as a unloader of of the carcasses and that the positioned pressure is controlled from outside the mobile cold storage.

J 1 7. Arrangement according to claim 4. c h a r a c t e r i s e d thereby that each change over consist of an change over hinge <5> with a change over extension <7> and where a cylinder <4> is fixed to the change over extension C> and affect the same to be moved against a pipe <l> and where in the change over extension <7> is a chane over stop <6> with a guide <13> which in will be moved in the change over stop <6> on the pipe <l> and a exact track of pipes will be formed without any irregularity between the pipe <l> and the change over extension C>.

8. Arrangement according to claim 4, c h a r a c t e r i s e d whereby the unloading of the mobile cold storage Is made by the fact that the line of back stoppers <M will be turned up and the hooks <l0> will be hold back by the stoppers <3> and where these from automatically affection from outside will move backwards and the hook <10> will be moved against the change overs which then are connected to the unloading pipe <8> and where the packers <ll> are working reversible as unloaders.

9. Arrangement according to claim 4, c h a r a c t e r i s e d by the fact that the arrangement also have a manual control by means of a positioner <9>.

S U M M E R Y The present invention relates to a method for automatically loading, change over, packing and unloading of hanging carcasses or cuts of meat to or from a mobile cold storage place and arrangement <fig 3> for carrying out the method consisting of an amount of pipes <l> and change overs which changes the hooks <l0> from a loading and unloading pipe <8> to different pipes <l> and where a packer <ll> press the meat into the mobile cold storage without any person having to be presf&L inside.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows v

Claims

1. Method f or automatically loading, change over, packing and unloading of hanging carcasses or cuts of meat to or from a mobile cold storage place characterised by the f act that from outside the mobile cold storage place the loading is electronically controlled by means of change overs from pipes and an automatically packing of the cargo and keeping the cargo on its place.

2. Method according to claim 1 where the carcasses are cattle with frontparts and backparts characterised thereby that automatically change over front- and backparts are packed alternately on two or more different pipes and that the storage space will be completely loaded without any large empty space.

4. Arrangement f or carrying out the method according to claim 1 for automatically loading, change over, packing and unloading of hanging carcasses or cuts of meat to or from a mobile cold storage place characterised by a loading pipe (8) on which the carcasses will be forwarded and an amount of change overs where in each change over a cylinder (4) by electronic way from outside will be affected to move a change over extension (7) from its position against a loading pipe (8) to a pipe (1) and where one on each pipe (1) existing pack.er (11) gorward a hook (10) with a hanging carcasses into the mobile. -cold storage and where the packer It q (11) have a programmed pressure and where a back stopper (12) lock the hook (10) on the pipe (1).

5. Arrangement according to claim 4, characterised thereby that on every load- and unload pipe (8) are an amount of change overs and that inside the mobile cold storage are an amount of pipes (1) and that the along each pipe (1) are an amount of back stoppers (12).

6. An arrangement according to claim 4, characterised thereby that when the packer (11) achive the preprogrammed pressure it returns to the start position and takes up the next hook (10) and that the packer is reversible and will work as an unloader of of the carcasses and that the positioned pressure is controlled from outside the mobile cold storage.

7. Arrangement according to claim 4, characterised thereby that each change over consist of an change over hinge (5) with a change over extension (7) and where a cylinder (4) is fixed to the change over extension (7) and affect the same to be moved against a pipe (1) and where in the change over extension (7) is a chane over stop (6) with a guide (13) which in will be moved in the change over stop (6) on the pipe (1) and a exact track of pipes will be formed without any irregularity between the pipe (1) and the change over extension (7).

8. Arrangement according to claim 4, characterised whereby the unloading of the mobile cold storage is made by the fact that the line of back stoppers (12) will be turned up and the hooks (10) will be hold back by the stoppers (3) and where these from automatically affection from outside will move backwards and-the hook (10) will be moved against the change overs which then are connected to the unloading pipe (8) and where the packers (11) are working reversible as unloaders.

9. Arrangement according to claim 4, characterised by the fact that the arrangement also have a manual control by means of a positioner (9).

SUMMERY The present invention relates to a method f or automatically loading, change over, packing and unloading of hanging carcasses or cuts of meat to or from a mobile cold storage place and arrangement (fig"3) for carrying out the method consisting of an amount of pipes (1) and change overs which changes the hooks (10) from a loading and unloading pipe (8) to different pipes (1) and where a packer (11) press the meat into the mobile cold storage without any person having to be present inside.

Ashed 1991 atThe Patent Officr. State House. 66171 High Holbom, London WC1R47P. Further copies rmy be obtained frorn Sales Branch. Unit 6. Nine Mile Point. Cwmfelinfach, cross Keys. Newport- NPI 7HZ. Printed by Multiplex techniques lid. St Mary Cray. Kent.