Shellfish mounting method and shellfish mounting apparatus

A shellfish mounting apparatus configured to insert a pin formed of a resin into a vertical rope, and to mount shellfishes to both end portions of the pin, the shellfish mounting apparatus comprising:

• rotators, which each include two or more shellfish grasping bodies arranged at predetermined pitches;
• a hole forming apparatus, which is configured to form insertion holes in the shellfishes grasped by two of the two or more shellfish grasping bodies;
• a pin inserting apparatus, which is configured to insert the pin through the vertical rope;
• a pin holding body, which is capable of holding both end sides of the pin inserted through the vertical rope;
• a pin position adjusting tool, which is capable of adjusting a holding position of the pin;
• a guide driving unit, which is capable of respectively putting guides on both end portions of one pin held by the pin holding body so as to arrange the guides and the pin in a straight line;
• and
• a sliding mechanism, which is configured to transfer the shellfishes, through which the guides are inserted, onto the pin by sliding the shellfishes along the respective guides,
• wherein each of the rotators is an intermittent rotation type, and two shellfish grasping bodies and the shellfishes grasped by the two shellfish grasping bodies are capable of being conveyed by a unit pitch at a time through intermittent rotation of the rotators,
• wherein the hole forming apparatus is capable of substantially simultaneously and respectively forming the insertion holes in ears of the two shellfishes that are conveyed by the unit pitch at a time,
• wherein the pin inserting apparatus is capable of cutting out each pin from a series of pins formed of a large number of continuous resin pins, and inserting the cut-out pins into the vertical rope at substantially equal intervals in a longitudinal direction of the vertical rope,
• wherein the pin holding body is capable of sandwiching and holding both end sides of the pin inserted in the vertical rope,
• wherein the pin position adjusting tool is capable of performing position adjustment by sliding, in an axial direction of the pin, the pin held by the pin holding body,
• wherein the guide driving unit is capable of inserting the guides through the insertion holes of the two shellfishes, respectively, and putting the guides, which are inserted through the two shellfishes, on both the end portions of the pin held by the pin holding body so as to arrange the guides and the pin in a straight line,
• wherein the sliding mechanism is capable of transferring the shellfishes onto the pin by sliding the shellfishes beyond shellfish locking protrusions of the pin along the guides put on the pin, and removing the guides from the pin through the insertion holes of the shellfishes after transferring the shellfishes, and
• wherein the shellfish mounting apparatus is capable of substantially simultaneously performing, in parallel, hole formation in the two shellfishes, holding of both the end sides of the pin, insertion of the guides into the insertion holes of the two shellfishes, sliding of the shellfishes along the respective guides, and removal of the two guides from the pin.