GB747455A - Method of and machine for handling eggs - Google Patents

Abstract

747,455. Coating eggs. FOOD MACHINERY & CHEMICAL CORPORATION. May 13, 1954 [June 1, 1953], No. 14079/54. Class 49. [Also in Groups XVII, XVIII, XIX, XXX and XXXVII] Eggs to be sorted according to weight and quality, e.g. colour, are conveyed along a predetermined path and discharged therefrom at appropriate points by means controlled by a record of the weight and quality of the article. An operator takes eggs from boxes delivered by a conveyer 100, Fig. 1, candling each by viewing it against a light 106, and placing it in the appropriate one of eight racks 108a .... h. each rack corresponding to a different colour or quality. Adjacent these racks is an elevator carrying cups 112, and as an empty cup reaches a rack containing eggs, one of the eggs rolls into the cup and in doing so closes a contact which records the quality of the egg on a " memory device." At the top of the elevator, each egg is transferred to a weighing cup 118 and its weight is recorded on the " memory device." The egg is then transferred to a horizontal conveyer 122 which extends across transverse conveyers 124, 126 divided into eighteen lanes, each lane corresponding to a different quality/weight combination. As an egg on conveyer 122 reaches the lane corresponding to its quality and weight, a solenoid is actuated by the " memory device " to tip the cup and transfer the egg to the conveyers 124, 126. From conveyers 124, 126, the eggs pass to a conveyer 138 where they are rotated and sprayed with a sealing liquid spray (" oiling "), and thence to shoots feeding egg accumulators which are automatically depressed as each row is filled, and when completely full, close a gate which is only opened when an empty accumulator is in position to receive eggs. Eggs' from the conveyers 124, 126, Fig. 1, pass to the further conveyer 138 where they are coated with oil from a spray not shown. Conveyer 138 is similar to conveyers 124, 126, comprising rods transversely attached to chains; the rods have enlarged portions defining lanes; in addition, the rods are caused to rotate by pressing against rubber strips so that the eggs are rotated in their traverse. To enable conveyers 124, 126 to be positioned close to the " oiling " conveyer 138, sprockets have three teeth of greater height than the intervening teeth so that the links between two transverse rods may bend sharply. To transfer the eggs from conveyers 124, 126 to the " oiling " conveyer 138, a vane extending the whole width of the conveyers 124, 126 may be rotated by sprockets to intermesh with the transverse rods and push the eggs over the junction. A similar arrangement is provided at the exit of conveyer 138. Rubber aprons cushion the eggs against breakage. The lanes on the oiling conveyer are preferably separated by ribs.