JPH04278028A - Fungal inoculator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the title inoculator designed to reduce the frequency of mycelial breakages and rake out seed fungi without impairing mycelial vital power. CONSTITUTION:In an inoculator where a container 12 with seed fungi held therein is supported in a downwardly tilted manner and also equipped with an edge 46 to rake out a specified amount of seed fungi through advancing, under rotation, into said container 12, the edge part of said edge 46 is formed in a comb-shaped manner so as to be projected in the direction virtually opposite to that of said rotation, and the projected tip of the edge part 17 of said comb- shaped edge is formed into a cutting edge 19.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a germ inoculator.

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the artificial cultivation of mushrooms, mycelium culture is carried out by inoculating excellent inoculum prepared under strict control into a mushroom cultivation bottle filled with a culture medium. Nowadays, as the scale of cultivation has increased, automation of each process of artificial mushroom cultivation has begun. Various automatic machines have been developed that can automatically perform the inoculation process in the seed inoculation step. In this type of inoculation machine, the scraping blade for scraping out the seed bacteria has a spatula-shaped blade part as shown in Figure 7, and by feeding a predetermined amount into the bottle while rotating the scraping blade, the blade part The entire surface of the starter bacteria contained in the bottle is scraped off to adjust the particle size of the starter bacteria to a predetermined size.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above-mentioned conventional inoculation machine has the following problems. In other words, according to the above-mentioned inoculation machine, the culture medium is forcibly scraped off while scraping the entire surface of the starter bacteria stored in the bottle with the spatula-shaped scraping blade, so the hyphae of the starter bacteria are cut into small pieces. This causes a problem in that the vitality of the hyphae weakens, and as a result, it takes time for the inoculum to colonize the culture medium in the cultivation bottle after being inoculated, prolonging the cultivation period. In particular, this kind of mushroom seed for artificial cultivation is cultivated in a granular culture medium mainly made of sawdust and Konuka, so the mycelia are intricately entangled and elongated in this granular culture medium, causing scratches. When scraping with a blade, complex forces are applied to the hyphae and the culture medium, causing the hyphae to be cut into small pieces. Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a seed inoculation machine that can reduce the degree of hypha fragmentation and adjust the inoculum without impairing the vitality of the hyphae. There is something to do.

0004

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has the following configuration to achieve the above object. That is, in an inoculation machine equipped with a scraping blade that tilts a bottle containing seed bacteria downward and enters into the bottle while rotating to scrape out a predetermined amount of seed bacteria, the blade portion of the scraping blade is It is characterized in that it is formed in the shape of a comb blade that protrudes almost directly in the direction of rotation of the scraping blade, and that the protruding end of the comb blade part is formed as a cutting blade.

[0005]

[Operation] The operation will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. The scraping blade 46 is provided in the shape of a comb blade that protrudes so that its blade portion 17 faces almost directly in the direction of rotation, and the cutting blade 19 is formed only at the protruding end and not in the recessed portion. As shown in FIG. 6, the cutting blade 19 of the scraping blade 46 digs into the culture medium in a rake-like manner and digs up the culture medium into pieces. That is, as mentioned above, the culture medium is in the form of granules made of sawdust, Konuka, etc., and it must contain an appropriate amount of moisture;
Since the hyphae are intricately intertwined, they are properly bound together, and the cutting blade 19 partially bites into the culture medium in a rake-like manner, resulting in pieces being excavated throughout the culture medium. Therefore, compared to the conventional technique where the entire culture medium is forcibly scraped off with a cutting blade, fewer mycelia are cut. The culture medium that has been excavated into pieces is crushed appropriately to loosen the mycelia and adjust the seed culture to an appropriate particle size.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a front view of the inoculating machine 10, and FIG. 2 shows a side sectional view. As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, seed bacteria can be supplied from two bottles 12, respectively. Of course, it may be supplied from one bottle. Reference numeral 14 denotes a fixing part for the bottle 12, which can hold the bottle 12 downward at an angle of about 45 degrees. A shooter 16 is provided on the base 18 near the mouth of the bottle 12, and guides the inoculum falling from the bottle 12 to be supplied into a cultivation bottle (not shown). In FIG. 2, reference numeral 20 is a moving table, and the bottle 12 is guided by a rail 22.
It is movable in the direction. That is, the rail 22
is installed in the base 18 at an angle of about 45°, and guides the moving table 20 in the direction of the bottle 12. Reference numeral 24 denotes a fixed-size feeding motor, and a timing belt 32 is stretched between a pulley 26 provided at the end of the rotating shaft and a pulley 30 arranged on a table 28.

As clearly shown in FIG. 3, a clamping device 34 is disposed on the moving table 20.
By clamping the timing belt 32,
When the motor 24 is driven and the timing belt 34 is rotated, the timing belt 34 is moved along the rail 22. The clamp device 34 includes an air cylinder 36
Clamp piece 3 rotated and driven around shaft 37 by
8, and the timing belt 3 is clamped by the clamp piece 38.
2 can be clamped. The motor 24 is composed of a variable speed motor such as a servo motor, and by controlling the number of rotations or the rotation speed of the motor, the movable table 2
0 is fed by a fixed length, and the feeding amount can be adjusted. This motor 24 and the like constitute a fixed size feed mechanism.

A scraping blade device is mounted on the movable table 20. Reference numeral 40 denotes the rod, and the shaft 4 is rotatably supported by bearings 41, 41 provided on the moving table 20.
2, and is rotatably supported by a pin 43 at its base. A scraping blade 46 is formed at the tip of the rod 40 at a portion located inside the bottle 12. Scraping blade 46
As shown in FIG. 5, a comb-like blade portion 17 is formed on the front end side in the rotational direction and protrudes so as to face almost directly in the rotational direction. A blade 19 is formed. In other words, no cutting edge is formed in a portion that is a concave portion with respect to the rotational direction of the blade portion 17. next,
A spring 4 is installed between the tip of the shaft 42 and the rod 40.
7 is loaded and urges the rod 40 to pivot outwardly about the pin 43 with respect to the axis of the shaft 42. As a result, the outer end of the scraping blade 46 is in constant contact with the inner wall of the bottle 12. Therefore, by moving the moving table 20 by a fixed distance and rotating the shaft 42, the scraping blade 46 rotates and rises along the inner wall of the bottle 12 while keeping its outer end in contact with the inner wall of the bottle 12. Scrape out the starter bacteria inside. Two scraping blade devices are provided corresponding to the bottles 12, 12. 44 is a drive motor having a variable speed mechanism;
It is composed of a servo motor or the like, and rotates the shaft 42 and scraping blade 40 via a belt 45. Furthermore, another scraping blade device is driven via the belt 48. The rotation speed of the drive motor 44 can be freely adjusted.

[0009] With the above structure, the fixing part 14
The scraping blade device is driven at a predetermined rotation speed by fixing the bottle 12 to the motor 24, which is adjusted to a predetermined rotation speed and a predetermined rotation speed, and driving the drive motor 44, which is adjusted to a predetermined rotation speed. While rotating, the seeds are fed into the bottle 12 by a fixed amount, thereby scraping off a predetermined amount of the inoculum with a predetermined particle size and dropping it into a cultivation bottle (not shown). When scraping out the seed bacteria with the scraping blade 46, as described above, the scraping blade 4
6 is provided in the shape of a comb blade with its blade portion 17 protruding almost directly in the direction of rotation, and the cutting edge 19 is formed only at the protruding end and not in the recessed portion, so that it is difficult to scrape. As shown in FIG. 6, the cutting blade 19 of the cutting blade 46 bites into the culture medium like a rake and digs up the culture medium into pieces. In other words, as mentioned above, the culture medium is in the form of granules made of sawdust, konuka, etc., but because it contains an appropriate amount of moisture and the hyphae are intricately intertwined, it is appropriately bound, and the cutting blade 19 By partially digging into the culture medium like a rake, the entire piece is dug up. Therefore, compared to the conventional technique where the entire culture medium is forcibly scraped off with a cutting blade, fewer mycelia are cut. The culture medium that has been excavated into pieces is crushed appropriately to loosen the mycelia and adjust the seed culture to an appropriate particle size. In order to change the particle size of the inoculum, the rotation speed of the drive motor 44 may be changed. Since the feed rate of the scraping blade device is constant, when the rotational speed of the scraping blade 46 changes, the number of rotations during that period changes, and since the progress of one rotation changes, the particle size of the seed bacteria can be changed. To change the amount of inoculum, use the motor 24.
The feed amount can be changed by changing the rotation speed, etc. bottle 1
After scraping out the second seed, the bottle 12 is replaced and the timing belt 32 is unclamped by the clamp piece 38 by the cylinder 36. As a result, the movable platform 20 descends along the rails 22 due to its own weight and returns to its initial state. Although the present invention has been variously explained above with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and it goes without saying that many modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. .

0010

According to the inoculating machine of the present invention, as described above, the scraping blade is provided in the shape of a comb blade that protrudes so that the blade part faces almost directly in the direction of rotation, and the cutting blade is Since it is formed only on the protruding end and not on the recessed part, the cutting edge of the comb-like blade part of the scraping blade digs into the culture medium like a rake and digs up the culture medium into pieces. This method is different from scraping the entire culture medium by scraping it off, as in the method shown in Figure 1, and the degree of mycelial breakage is reduced accordingly. Therefore, the vitality of the hyphae is not weakened, the hyphae are well fixed to the culture medium in the cultivation bottle, and the subsequent hyphae culture can be carried out favorably.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an inoculator.

FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view of the inoculator.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the clamp mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the transmission section of the variable speed motor.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the shape of a scraping blade.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the state in which the culture medium is scraped off by the comb-like blade.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a conventional scraping blade.

[Explanation of symbols]

10　Inoculation machine 12 Bottle 17 Blade part 19 Cutting blade 20　Moving platform 22 Rail 24 Motor 34 Clamp device 44 Drive motor 46 Scraping blade

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An inoculation machine equipped with a scraping blade that tilts a bottle containing seed bacteria downward and enters into the bottle while rotating to scrape out a predetermined amount of the seed bacteria. 1. A germ-inoculating machine characterized in that the blade portion is formed in a comb-like shape that protrudes substantially directly in the direction of rotation of the scraping blade, and the protruding end of the comb-like blade portion is formed as a cutting blade.