Method and an apparatus for transporting slaughter animals during slaughtering, packaging or otherwise processing said animals, in particular poultry
AssigneeTerpa Poultry B.V.
InventorWillem M. de Greef
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of transporting slaughter animals, in particular poultry, during slaughtering, from a conveyor having suspension hooks to a packaging device, a dissecting device or a similar device. The slaughter animals are transferred from the suspension hooks to a buffer conveyor wherein the slaughter animals are buffered in oriented array. From the buffer conveyor, they are transferred in oriented array to a gripper device of the packaging device or the like.
Claims20
A conveyor for slaughter animals comprising a rail guide, suspension carriages for the slaughter animals movable along the rail guide, drive means for displacing the carriages along the rail guide and wherein the carriages are out of engagement with the drive means along at least one rail guide portion where the conveyor serves as a buffer conveyor and wherein the buffer conveyor is a closed, triangular conveyor.
A system for transporting slaughter animals comprising:
- transporting means having a track and a plurality of suspension hooks for hanging slaughter animals in a vertical state while moving along the track;
- buffer conveyor, each having a rail guide, suspension carriages for holding animals in a vertical state movable along the rail guide for orienting the carriages, in an array and means for driving the carriages along only a section of the rail guide;
- means for transferring the slaughter animals from the suspension hooks to suspension carriages of the buffer conveyors;
- and gripping means for removing the slaughter animals form the suspension carriages.
A method of transporting slaughter animals, comprising:
- hanging slaughter animals from suspension hooks in a vertical state;
- passing the suspension hooks along a track with the hung animals in a vertical state and subjecting the hanging animals to butchering operations;
- weighing the butchered animal while hanging;
- transferring each weighed animal to one of a plurality of buffers conveyors in dependence on the weight of the animal by directly removing the animal from a suspension hook and orienting the removed animals in a given array in a vertical state;
- removing the buffered animals from the buffer conveyor by moving the animals along buffer conveyor and gripping same while in the vertical state;
- and packaging the removed animals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.