Poultry Hanging System and Method
OwnerGrover S. Harbeninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention relates to systems and methods for hanging live poultry for further processing. The system has an alignment conveyor, a hanging station, and a shackle. The conveyor conveys poultry from an input point to the hanging station. A hanging box of the hanging station grasps the poultry and rotates the poultry to an inverted position in which legs of the bird extend upwards and away from the hanging box. A shackle moves past the hanging box so that the shackle engages the legs of the bird and then transports the bird through the processing facility. A processor and at least one sensor control operation of the system so that human intervention is minimized.
Claims20
A poultry hanging system for moving standing birds from an input point in a processing facility to a picking line, the birds each having a head and two legs, the poultry hanging system comprising:
- an alignment conveyor having an upper surface;
- at least one hanging station positioned above the upper surface of the alignment conveyer and comprising a hanging box configured to securely grasp a bird;
- and
- at least one shackle coupled to the picking line that is positioned above the at least one hanging station,
- wherein the alignment conveyor conveys the bird from the input point to the at least one hanging station, and wherein the at least one hanging station rotates the bird so that the legs of the bird are positioned above the head and positions the grasped bird for pickup by the at least one shackle.
A method for hanging birds in a processing facility having an input point and a
- picking line, the birds each having a head and two legs, the method comprising:
- providing a hanging system comprising:
- an alignment conveyor having an upper surface;
- at least one hanging station positioned above the upper surface of the alignment conveyer and comprising a hanging box configured to securely grasp a bird;
- and
- at least one shackle coupled to the picking line that is positioned above the at least one hanging station,
- wherein the alignment conveyor conveys the bird from the input point to the at least one hanging station, and wherein the at least one hanging station rotates the bird so that the legs of the bird are positioned above the head, and positions the grasped bird for pickup by the at least one shackle;
- positioning a bird on the alignment conveyor adjacent to the input point;
- conveying the bird on the alignment conveyor from the input point to the at least one hanging station;
- moving at least one of a first side and a second side of the hanging box from a first, open position in which the first side is spaced from the second side a first predetermined distance to a second, closed position in which the first side and the second side are spaced from each other a second predetermined distance that is less than the first predetermined distance to grasp the bird therebetween the first side and the second side;
- rotating the hanging box and the bird from a first, grasping position located adjacent to the conveyor, to a second, picking position that is spaced from the conveyor and adjacent to the at least one shackle;
- sliding the at least one shackle past the bird so that each leg of the bird is positioned into a slot formed in the at least one shackle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.