System and method for automatic organization, hanging and driving of slaughtered animals

An apparatus for accepting an unoriented group of carcasses and automatically orienting them for transfer to a slaughter house hanging line comprising:

• a receiving-alignment assembly, an accumulator device, a transfer device, an axial alignment assembly and a suspension-movement assembly,
• the receiving-alignment assembly, designed to longitudinally orient the carcasses (head facing left or right on the pathway through the receiving-alignment assembly) while the carcasses traverse the receiving-alignment assembly's whole pathway,
• the accumulator device, designed to accept carcasses from the receiving-alignment assembly track and to form them into a queue, further comprises a treadmill and an accelerating track,
• said treadmill being configured to accept carcasses from the circular track and deliver them to the accelerating track, the accelerating track being configured to allow the carcasses to queue up before passing on to the transfer device,
• the transfer device, designed to transfer carcasses from the accumulator device the axial alignment assembly in two ways such that the carcass heads will be facing down in the axial alignment assembly regardless of the initial position of the carcass heads,
• said transfer device further comprises a position recognition camera and a two way handling mechanism configured such that:
• when the camera detects a carcass with its head facing up the camera signals the handling mechanism to transfer the carcass one way, inverting the carcass, and
• when the camera detects a carcass with its head facing down the camera signals the handling mechanism to transfer the carcass the other way, without inverting the carcass,
• the axial alignment assembly, designed to accept the carcasses from the transfer device and to conditionally rotate the carcasses such that the carcasses are delivered to the suspension-movement assembly with the carcass chests facing the same direction regardless of the initial chest direction, said axial alignment assembly further comprising:
• an axial rotation adjustment vessels and a chest orientation recognition camera configured such that,
• when the chest orientation recognition camera detects a carcass chest facing the wrong direction the camera signals for rotation of the axial rotation adjustment vessel rotating the carcass, and
• when the chest orientation recognition camera detects a carcass chest facing the proper direction the camera does not signal for rotation,
• the suspension-movement assembly is designed to receive the carcasses from the axial alignment assembly and preparing them for transfer to a slaughter house hanging line, said suspension and movement assembly further comprising a plurality of movable hanging supports, each hanging support further comprises a movable claw that engages the carcasses' feet, lifts them from the axial alignment assembly and moves the suspended carcasses properly oriented in a manner suitable for transfer to the slaughter house hanging line.