None.
The present invention relates generally to a picker apparatus for defeathering or plucking of poultry and other avian in a food processing facility. More particularly, one aspect of the present invention is concerned with an improved belt drive system for driving a plurality of rotatable devices, and another aspect of the present invention is concerned with a quick release positioning adjustment for the operating components of a picker apparatus.
In typical poultry/avian processing facilities, birds are shackled to an overhead conveyor that sequentially passes the carcasses from equipment that stuns, kills, and scalds the birds, to plucking equipment that removes the feathers, and then to other equipment for evisceration and further processing. Generally, picker machines use rubber fingers mounted on rows or banks of contra-rotating discs or drums to rub the feathers off of the birds. Often opposing banks of discs and/or multiple banks of discs having a variety of orientations are utilized to make contact with, and thus pluck feathers from, all sides of the carcass.
In many picker machines in which opposing banks of discs are employed, the disc banks are mounted to a frame with a carrier that allows for horizontal adjustment of the opposing banks with respect to each other. Such horizontal adjustment is necessary to allow the opposing banks to be moved apart from each other for routine cleaning and maintenance. The horizontal adjustment of the picker banks is usually controlled by a crank screw that is connected to each of the bank carriers. Adjustment with the crank screw is slow, as hand cranks are usually utilized due to the corrosive nature of food processing facilities, which greatly reduces the life of electric motors. More importantly, each time the carriers are adjusted from an operating position to a cleaning position, it is difficult to readjust the carriers back to the exact same operating position.
The drive mechanism for existing picker machines includes a drive motor located at one end of the bank of picker discs. Each picker disc is connected to a drive pulley, and a flat belt is connected to the drive motor and intertwined with drive pulleys such that alternating discs are rotated by the drive belt in opposite directions. Such is accomplished by winding the belt around the top of one pulley, around the bottom of the next pulley, around the top of the next, and so forth. Motor inefficiency and wear are extremely high for such drive systems because the motor, being located at either end of the bank of pickers, must pull all pulleys from a single point. Similarly, the forces exerted on the pulley located furthest away from the drive motor in a disc bank are extremely high. In addition, substantial belt tension is required to prevent the belt from slipping on the pulleys, making replacement of the belt and/or the motor difficult and increasing the wear on all components in the system. Another disadvantage resulting from the location of the motor at either end of the banks of picker discs is that such requires two variations for each picker bank, one having the motor at one end, and another having the motor at the opposite end, depending upon the installation location of the picker banks. For example, a particular installation might require that all motors be located toward the front of the picker machine. Thus picker banks located on the left side of the machine (with the picker discs facing inward) would require the motor to be located to the right side of the bank, and the bank on the right side of the machine would require that the motor be located on the left side of the bank.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus that permits fast, easy adjustment of picker banks while at the same time maintaining a desired operating position for the picker banks, and a drive system for a picker machine that has higher efficiency, decreased wear, and which is universal for various installation locations.
There is, therefore, provided in the practice of the invention an apparatus and method for defeathering or plucking of poultry in a food processing facility, including an apparatus that permits fast, easy adjustment of picker banks while at the same time maintaining a desired operating position for the picker banks, and further including a drive system for a picker machine that has higher efficiency, decreased wear and which is universal for various installation locations.
The objects of the invention are accomplished through the use of a picker machine that includes a frame having a cross member for mounting horizontally adjustable carriers. The carriers are slidably mounted to the frame cross member. Picker banks are attached to the carriers for horizontal adjustment with the carriers. The carriers each include a releasable connection to a carrier stop. The carrier stops are threadingly engaged with a crank screw in the same manner in which the carriers of the prior art are engaged with the crank screw.
In operation, the carriers are connected to the carrier stops and the crank screw is rotated to provide fine-tuning adjust of the carriers. In a preferred embodiment, the crank screw will have reverse threads on each side of the screw (i.e. one side left-handed threads, the other right-handed), such that one carrier stop is engaged with each side and rotation of the screw will result in the two stops either moving together or apart depending upon the direction of rotation. Once the desired adjustment is achieved for the operating position, no further rotation of the crank screw is required. When necessary to adjust the carriers apart for cleaning or maintenance, the connection between the carriers and the carrier stops is released and the carriers are slid apart from each other. When cleaning or maintenance is completed, the carriers are slid back together and reconnected to the carrier stops. In this fashion, the carriers can be quickly and easily returned to their original operating position.
The drive system of the invention includes a drive motor centrally located within the bank of picker discs. The motor is connected to the pulleys of the picker discs with a ribbed drive belt. In a preferred embodiment each picker bank has two drive motors which are located in the middle of a plurality of disks. A spring loaded tensioner is provided in a preferred embodiment to permit easy removal and replacement of the drive belt.
In operation the ribbed belt allows the drive motor to both pull and also push the pulleys of the picker discs. This results in decreased wear on the motor versus the prior art systems in which the motor is only pulling the pulleys. In addition, the use of the ribbed belt reduces the amount of belt tension necessary for the machine. Thus, easy removal and replacement of the belts with the spring loaded tensioner is possible. The location of the motor within the bank of pickers, versus at one end of the bank, reduces the forces on pulleys located away from the motor. Furthermore, the central location of the motor allows a single bank design to be universal regardless of the bank's installation orientation (i.e. right or left side of the machine).
The foregoing and other objects are intended to be illustrative of the invention and are not meant in a limiting sense. Many possible embodiments of the invention may be made and will be readily evident upon a study of the following specification and accompanying drawings comprising a part thereof. Various features and subcombinations of invention may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of this invention.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention relates from reading the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The invention will now be described with reference to the drawing figures, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout. For purposes of clarity in illustrating the characteristics of the present invention, proportional relationships of the elements have not been maintained in the Figures. Instead, the sizes of certain small components have been exaggerated for illustration.
The picker apparatus of the invention, as shown in
The frame 100 has a plurality of side members 101 and 102, cross members 103, and corner members 104, with sufficient strength and stiffness to support the operational components of the apparatus. The frame members 101, 102, 103, and 104 may be joined together with any type of suitable fasteners or in any other manner known to those skilled in the art. While the drawing figures show frame members 101, 102, and 103 in horizontal arrangement, and corner members 104 in vertical arrangement, the invention contemplates frame members in other arrangements; for example, frame members 101 and 102 defining an “X” in joining two corner members 104, and/or corner members arranged at an angle where the lower ends of pairs of corner members 104 are farther apart than the respective upper ends, and/or the cross members 103 defining an angle, the vertex of which may be either above or below the horizontal. The apparatus further includes a plurality of carrier assemblies 200 slidably mounted on the cross members 103, and a plurality of picker bank assemblies 300 supported by the carrier assemblies 200, the details of which are further described below.
An embodiment of the invention includes at least four corner frame members 104 arranged in a rectangular pattern, wherein pairs of corner frame members 104 that define each side of the length of the apparatus are connected by at least two side frame members 101, and at least two side frame members 102, and further including at least one cross member 103 attached to the top of each pair of corner frame members 104 defining the ends of the apparatus. The apparatus further includes a conveyor rail 105 attached to the underside center point of each of the cross members 103 and running the length of the apparatus for conveying avian carcasses through the apparatus for defeathering. The apparatus further includes at least four carrier assemblies 200 slidably mounted in opposing pairs on the cross members 103, and at least two picker bank assemblies 300 on each side of the apparatus (
The carrier assemblies 200 of the invention, as shown in
The lateral position adjustment assembly of the invention, as shown in
In an embodiment of the invention as shown in
In another embodiment of the invention the adjustment screw 208 further includes an enlarged diameter end flange 218 opposite the gear housing 214, and engaging the adjacent carrier stop 203 to limit carrier stop travel preventing disengagement of the carrier stop 203 from the adjustment screw 208.
In an embodiment of the invention the carrier support assemblies 202 include, as shown in
In an embodiment of the invention the latch plate 205 is movably attached to the front carrier support plate 220, the latch plate 205 including a notch 224 at one end, the latch plate moving adjacent the notched end in a manner that allows the latch plate 205 to engage the carrier stop latch studs 210 in operating position and be disengaged from the carrier stops 203 for movement of the carrier assemblies 200 apart. The latch plate 205 is perforated at the other end for engagement 226 with manual release handle 206 for moving latch plate 205 up and down to effect engagement with, or disengagement from the carrier stop latch studs 210. Thereby, the operating position of the carrier stops 203 can be set using the lateral position adjustment assembly 204, after which the carrier assemblies 200 can be quickly and easily latched into operating position or released using release handle 206 and moved apart for routine maintenance of the apparatus as shown in
The notched latch plate 205 is perforated 226 at the end opposite notch 224 for engagement with the manual release handle 206, the latch plate 205 containing an additional oblong or curved slot 228 near notch 224 to allow pivot, and a further perforation 230 between slot 228 and release handle perforation 226, for attachment to connection 232 and pivot connection 234 on the front carrier support plate 220 in a manner to allow latch plate 205 to move up and down within a confined distance in response to movement of the manual release handle 206.
In an embodiment of the invention, at least one picker bank support bracket 207 is attached to vertical column 201 near the mid-point and extending below the mid point of the length of vertical column 201, wherein, as shown in
The picker bank assemblies 300 of the apparatus, as shown in
In one embodiment the picker bank drive system of the apparatus includes at least one drive motor 305 centrally located along the picker bank frame 302 within a set of picker discs 303 disposed in lateral alignment within the housing, the drive motor 305 and drive pulley 309 being engaged with the picker disk pulleys 311 with a double-ribbed drive belt 307, the drive system further including at least one spring loaded drive belt tensioner 313. The configuration of the mounting studs 317 is identical on each end of the picker bank assemblies 300 of the invention, thus the picker bank assemblies 300 of the invention are capable of installation on either side of the apparatus, in either the upper or lower position.
In another embodiment, as shown in
In an embodiment of the invention as shown in
In operation, the apparatus of
After defeathering of the avian carcasses is complete, the drive motors 305 are stopped, and the operator quickly and easily releases each carrier support assembly 202 by pulling release handle 206 to the raise latch plate 205 to disengage from the latch stud 210, as shown in
While preferred embodiments and particular applications of this invention have been shown and described, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that many other modifications and applications of this invention are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, this invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described, and the invention is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims. Though some of the features of the invention may be claimed in dependency, each feature has merit if used independently.
This application claims priority based on Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/539,294, filed Jan. 26, 2004.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60539294 | Jan 2004 | US |