Poultry marking equipment and methods
AssigneeCargill, Incorporated
InventorsCarolina Bolaños Alfaro, Kira Hasbun Chavarría, Michael Herrera Castro, Ricardo Paniagua Marin
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Abstract
A method of branding indicia onto an outer surface of at least one food item, including the steps of: positioning at least one food item on a top surface of a conveyor, conveying food item(s) toward a branding station comprising a laser, wherein the branding station comprises an upper member spaced from the top surface of the conveyor, and wherein the upper member comprises an aperture; conveying food item(s) into the space between the upper member and the top surface of the conveyor; and branding indicia onto the outer surface of the food item(s) with the laser through the aperture.
Claims17
A method of branding indicia onto an outer surface of at least one food item, comprising the steps of:
- positioning at least one food item on a top surface of a conveyor;
- conveying the at least one food item toward a branding station comprising a laser, wherein the branding station comprises an upper member spaced from the top surface of the conveyor, and wherein the upper member comprises an aperture;
- conveying the at least one food item into the space between the upper member and the top surface of the conveyor;
- and
- branding indicia onto the outer surface of the at least one food item with the laser through the aperture.
A method of branding indicia onto an outer surface of at least one food item, comprising the steps of:
- attaching at least one food item to a horizontal movement mechanism;
- moving the at least one food item in a generally horizontal direction toward a branding station comprising a laser;
- and
- branding indicia onto the outer surface of the at least one food item with the laser.
A system for branding indicia onto an outer surface of at least one food item, the system comprising:
- a conveyor comprising a top surface;
- and
- a branding station adjacent to the conveyor, the branding station comprising a laser and an upper member spaced from the top surface of the conveyor;
- wherein the upper member comprises an aperture adjacent to the laser and is adjustable relative to the branding station so that the laser position can be changed relative to the top surface of the conveyor.
(canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.