WO2005011389A1

WO2005011389A1 - Machine for automatically presenting poultry to an operator entrusted with their tying

Info

Publication number: WO2005011389A1
Application number: PCT/IT2003/000473
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giuseppe Mignone
Original assignee: Fra Production S.P.A.; MIGNONE, Adriana
Priority date: 2003-07-29
Filing date: 2003-07-29
Publication date: 2005-02-10
Also published as: AU2003253286A1

Abstract

Machine for automatically presenting the poultry, in particular chickens (15) destined to be tied, said machine being constituted by a horizontal frame (1), on which at least three belts move, one central belt (5) in one direction for lading he poultry, and two parallel side belts (7) in the opposite direction for tying the poultry; said side bands (7) being constituted by a plurality of meshes (9) made of plastic and hinged between them, on which are mounted pairs of jaws (11, 13) for taking the poultry (15), said jaws passing, during the rotation of the corresponding belt, from an open configuration, wherein the poultry can be received between the jaws or released from them, to a closed configuration, wherein the poultry is compressed between the jaws for allowing their tying.

Description

"Machine for automatically presenting poultry to an operator entrusted with their tying"

The present invention refers to a machine for automatically presenting the poultry, in particular chickens, to an operator entrusted with their tying. In this field it is only right to mention the patent EP 0.493.852 in the name of the same Applicant which patent, however, refers to a machine carrying out the tying of said poultry in an automatic way. In the course of time it has been noticed that it is better to speed up the phase of presenting the poultry to the operator while maintaining the manual character of the tying operation. The grounds according to which said improvement is believed to be necessary are due to the fact that said automatic machines require maintenance and are subject to failures and breakdowns and, in some Countries, the cost of labour does not make it very advantageous to resort to a completely automated process yet. Scope of the present invention is the realization of a machine in a certain way similar to the automated machine described in the above mentioned patent, but in which the tying of the poultry is hand-made. The above and other scopes are obtained by the machine as claimed in the hereby attached claims. Advantageously, thanks to the arrangement of the pair of jaws hinged to the continuous belt with which the machine is provided, it is possible to obtain a poultry load or unload position wherein the poultry can be respectively inserted between or released from the jaws that are in a splayed position, and a tying position in which the poultry are firmly held between the jaws and can be easily tied by the operator. Moreover, advantageously, thanks to the provision of a central conveyor belt for the poultry destined to be tied and to a pair of side belts, it is possible to obtain high production levels while disposing of two operators only, each of them carrying out the taking of the poultry from the central belt, the loading between the jaws and the tying. Moreover, advantageously, thanks to the particular arrangement of the jaws it is possible to hold tightly the poultry during their tying and to arrange correctly their legs and wings against the rest of the body for assuring an optimal aesthetic presentation of the poultry once they have been tied. The above mentioned machine will be now described in detail with particular reference to the attached drawings, provided as a non-limiting example, wherein:

- Figure 1 is a side overall view of the above mentioned machine; - Figure 2 is a top schematic view of the machine of Figure 1, in which the control board is not shown;

- Figure 3 is a partial perspective view showing a pair of jaws on their relative conveyor belt. The above-mentioned machine is substantially constituted by a substantially horizontal frame 1, on which, through appropriate controls 3 (not described as part of the prior art), at least three belts move, a central belt 5 for loading the chickens, and two side belts 7 arranged in parallel with respect to said central belt 5. The central belt 5 runs in one direction (shown in Figure 2 by the internal arrows), while the side belts 7 run in the opposite direction (indicated in Figure 2 by the external arrows). Said side belts 7 are constituted by a plurality of meshes 9 made of plastic and hinged between them and on said belts 7 are mounted the jaws 11,13 for taking the chickens 15 coming from the central belt and ready to be tied. Said jaws 11,13 for taking the chickens 15 are hinged in 11 ',13' on respective supports 17,19 that overlap each on a mesh 9 of the plastic belt 7 (as an alternative said supports can provide integrated one of said meshes 9 so that it is possible to insert them along the belt 7); to each of said supports 17,19 is fixed on the top a metal foil 21 on which abuts pushed an axial pin 23 loaded by a coaxial spring 25, said pin and said spring being contained in an appropriate hole 27 provided in the jaw. On the top of said hole 27 is provided an adjusting screw 29 able to load said spring 25 more or less. Said spring-loading is provided for maintaining the jaws firmly in contact with the poultry which are trapped between them as it will be apparent from the following description. Advantageously, the hinge point of each jaw 11,13 on the corresponding support 17,19 is provided set apart from the point in which said pin 23, loaded by the spring 25, abuts for allowing a partial rotation of the jaw 11,13 with respect to the corresponding support 17,19. At the bottom of the front jaw, that is to say of the left jaw of Figure 2 with respect to the feed direction of the belt 7, there is provided a flexible strap 31 made of plastic and able to cover the space between the two jaws 11,13 in order to avoid to soil the belt 7 and to avoid that parts of the poultry 15 get entangled in the meshes 9 of the belt 7. The machine works in the following way. When the belt 7 wraps itself around one of its front or rear take-up rollers 33,35, the jaws 11,13 tend to depart the one from the other because of the bending assumed by the belt 7. In correspondence with the input zone preceding the rectilinear part of the belts 7 and visible on the right of Figure 2, it will be therefore possible to the operator to insert the poultry taken from the central belt 5 between the jaws 11,13 of the belt 7 in front of which the operator works; in correspondence with the output zone at the end of the rectilinear part of the belts 7 and visible on the left of Figure 2, the poultry will be released and will fall by gravity from the jaws 11,13. Between said poultry load and release zones the jaws 11 are brought to compress the poultry because of the reduction of the bending of the belt and therefore of the distance between the surfaces of the jaws. As a consequence, when said jaws 11,13 will be at the centre of the rectilinear part of the belts 7 with the poultry 15 between them, it will be possible to the operator to proceed with the tying operation. Advantageously, the feed of said side belts 7 is intermittent in order to stop a pair of jaws 11,13 substantially at the centre of the rectilinear part of each belt for allowing the operator to tie the poultry. Moreover, the stopping time of said side belts 7 will be preferably adjustable by the operator according to his/her working capability. Advantageously, the two jaws 11, 13 are different between them in the concave wall, the one jaw being able to fit with a side of the poultry, the other jaw with the other side of the poultry, and comprise a depressed seat 37 for partially receiving the poultry wing which is notoriously arranged along the sides and for arranging it together with the corresponding leg in the correct position with respect to the rest of the body, as it is required for optimally presenting the poultry once the tying has been carried out.

Claims

1. Machine for automatically presenting the poultry (15), in particular chickens, to the operator entrusted with their tying, said machine comprising at least a belt (7) on which are arranged means for holding the poultry in order to carry out their tying, characterised in that said means comprise a pair of jaws (11,13), mounted on said belt (7), able to assume during the rotation of the belt a splayed configuration, in which the poultry can be received between the jaws or released from them, and a closed configuration, in which the poultry are held between the jaws for allowing their tying.

2. Machine according to claim 1, in which said belt comprise corresponding front and rear take-up rollers (31,33) in correspondence with which said jaws (11,13) get splayed while setting apart between them because of the bending assumed by the belt, thereby allowing the poultry loading and unloading.

3. Machine according to claim 2, wherein said belt (7) comprise a rectilinear part between said take-up rollers (31,33), in correspondence with said belt (7) said jaws (11,13) closing themselves while approaching, thereby allowing to firmly hold the poultry during their tying.

4. Machine according to claim 3, wherein said belt (7) is constituted by a plurality of meshes (9) made of plastic and hinged between them, on which said jaws (11,13) for taking and blocking the poultry (15) are mounted.

5. Machine according to claim 4, wherein said jaws (11, 13) are hinged on respective supports (17, 19) that overlap each to a mesh (9) of said side belts (7) or are an integral part thereof, to each of said supports (17, 19) being fixed a metal foil (21) on which abuts pushed an axial pin (23) loaded by a coaxial spring (25), said pin and said spring being contained in an appropriate hole (27) provided in the jaw.

6. Machine according to claim 5, wherein an adjusting screw (29) able to load said spring (25) more or less is provided at the top of said hole (27).

7. Machine according to claim 6, wherein the jaw (11,13) preceding the poultry with respect to the feed direction of said belt (7) is provided at its bottom with a flexible strap (31) able to cover the space between the two jaws (11, 13) in order to avoid to soil said belt (7) and to avoid that parts of poultry (14) may get entangled in the meshes (9) of said belt (7).

8. Machine according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said jaws (11,13) are different between them in their concave part, the one being able to fit with a side of the poultry (15), the other jaw with the other side (15).

9. Machine according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the feed of said belt (7) is intermittent in order to block a pair of jaws substantially at the centre of the rectilinear part of the belt for allowing the operator to tie the poultry.

10. Machine according to claim 9, wherein the stopping time of said belt (7) may be adjusted by the operator according to his/her working capability.

11. Machine according to any of the preceding claims, wherein there are provided three belts, a central belt (5) for loading the poultry, and two side belts (7) for tying the poultry, said two side belts being arranged in parallel with respect to said central belt (5), said central belt (5) running in one direction, while said side belts (7) run in the opposite direction.