Patent Application
20150000608
The present invention relates in general to the handling of live poultry in view of the transport from breeding farms to slaughterhouses, typically on-board lorries.
In particular, the invention relates to a system and method for handling live poultry by means of a transporting unit including a quadrangular supporting frame and a plurality of drawer-like cages inserted in a superimposed condition and in an extractable manner within the supporting frame.
Transporting units of live poultry of the type indicated above are described and illustrated, for example, in patent documents EP-1330952B1 and WO-2011/010329 of which the Applicant is co-inventor, as well as in the Italian patent application no. TO2013A000214 by the same Applicant, unpublished at the date of filing of the present application.
The supporting frame of the transporting unit, which can be configured to hold a single stack or two side-by-side stacks of drawer-like cages, is typically provided at the bottom with a pallet or platform with seats for introducing the forks of a conventional lifting truck, by means of which the transporting unit containing the live poultry is picked up from the breeding farm and loaded on the platform of the transport vehicle. At the slaughterhouse, a similar forklift truck picks up the transporting unit from the vehicle, and transfers it to the entrance of the slaughterhouse by extraction of the drawer-like cages from the supporting frame that, once emptied, are again inserted into the supporting frame for the return of the transporting unit to the breeding farm.
The presence of the pallet, which is necessary for the interaction with the forks of the lifting truck, makes the supporting frame of the transporting units currently in use particularly heavy: indeed, it represents about 50% of the weight of the entire structure. In addition, the cost of the pallet is particularly high, as it represents about 40% of the entire supporting frame.
Added to this is the not infrequent possibility that, during the manoeuvres of the lifting truck, the forks are incorrectly inserted within the relative seats of the pallet, with the consequent risk of damage, not only of the supporting frame, but also of the drawer-like cages immediately above the pallet. Also taking into account the fact that these operations are often carried out in conditions of uneven ground, and sometimes with poor lighting, as well as rapidly, the risks of damage mentioned above are not infrequent, and involve considerable repair costs and maintenance of the transporting units.
The object of the present invention is to overcome the aforesaid drawbacks.
According to a first aspect, this object is achieved thanks to a system of handling live poultry as defined in claim 1. Thanks to this solution idea, several important advantages are obtained.
Firstly, the structure of the supporting frame of the transporting unit is simplified, with a consequent appreciable reduction in the manufacturing costs, and above all, reduced in weight. For indicative purposes, in the case of a lorry platform having a working length of 13.5 m, filled in its entire length and width with the transporting unit according to the invention, it is possible to achieve a weight reduction of up to 2000 kg and above.
Secondly, the handling of the transporting units during the loading operations of the transport lorry eliminates any risk of damage due to erroneous manoeuvres of the forks of the lifting trucks, which are evidently eliminated.
Finally, the absence of the pallet allows altering the height of the supporting frame in order to increase the number of drawer-like cages of the stack(s) by one unit, with an increase in the order of 10% of the load of poultry on-board the lorry.
According to another advantageous characteristic of the invention, the handling system can include a distinct and separate temporary support base of the transporting unit, conveniently provided with raised platforms arranged frontally and dorsally to the supporting frame. This support base is advantageously used during the loading of the poultry at the breeding farm, both to avoid directly resting the supporting frame on the ground, and any consequent contamination, thereby keeping it cleaner and easier to wash, as well as making the placing of poultry in drawer-like cages at the top of the stack(s) easier, thus reducing the risk of injury and damage to the chickens.
According to a further aspect, the invention provides a method for handling live poultry.
The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, provided purely by way of non-limiting example, in which:
The transporting unit 1 comprises a sturdy metal supporting frame 2 having a quadrangular shape and formed by vertical uprights 3, interconnected by horizontal elements 4, and arranged to bear a plurality of drawer-like extractable cages 5 for the introduction and containment of live poultry. The drawer-like cages 5 are, in this case, arranged in a superimposed condition on two side-by-side stacks: it should nevertheless be noted that, alternatively to this double configuration, the known transporting unit 1 can also be of the single type, or rather, where the supporting frame 2 is designed to hold a single stack of drawer-like cages 5.
In both cases, the transporting unit 1 according to the prior art is equipped at its bottom with an integrated pallet 6, i.e. fixed rigidly and permanently to the supporting frame 2, which is conventionally provided with a pair of longitudinal seats 7 for inserting the forks of a conventional lifting truck.
Referring now to
Unlike the transporting unit 1 according to the prior art described above, the transporting unit 10 of the handling system according to the invention is devoid of the lower pallet, so that the supporting frame 2 normally rests directly on the ground.
Thanks to the elimination of the integrated pallet with the supporting frame 2, the transporting unit 10 according to the invention has an evidently simplified structure, together with an appreciably lower weight, compared to the transporting unit 1 according to the prior art, with the advantage of a significant reduction of the weight on board the lorry used for the transport of poultry from the breeding site to the slaughterhouse.
As the ground of the breeding farm is often uneven and contaminated by organic residues, to avoid direct contact of the supporting frame 2 with the ground, an optional accessory, a pallet 8 (
To facilitate such loading operations, the separate pallet 8 can be configured in the manner represented in
For handling of the transporting unit 10, the system according to the invention provides a unique lifting truck, represented schematically in
The platform 13, the length of which essentially corresponds to that of the transporting unit 10, is provided with a plurality of idle transverse rollers 14 and an attachment structure 15, longitudinally displaceable along the platform 13 in one direction and in the opposite direction, for example by means of a pair of motorized chains 16, most evident in
The attachment structure 15 has width and height dimensions essentially corresponding to those of an end side of the supporting frame 2 of the transporting module 1, indicated with S, and is configured to be able to temporarily anchor to this side S in the manner represented in
The platform 13 with the rollers 14 is also provided with a stop device 17 for locking the same side S of the attachment structure 15 in its fully retracted position, represented in FIG. 5, where it is arranged in the immediate vicinity of the vertical guide 12 of the lifting truck 11, and interacts at the bottom with the stop device 17.
The lifting and lowering of the platform 13 along the vertical structure of the guide 12 is operated in a conventional manner, for example by motorized chains not illustrated.
The handling methodology of the transporting unit 10 is exemplified in
Following the filling of the drawer-like cages 5 each inserted in turn within the supporting frame 2, possibly temporarily positioned on the pallet 8 or 9, the transporting module 10 is picked up from the lifting truck 11. For this operation, the attachment structure 15 is made to advance up to the free end of the platform 13, and is then anchored to the side S of the supporting frame 2 by means of the swivel hooks 18, and finally retracted until it stops against the stop device 17, in order to pull and drag the transporting unit 10 resting on the rollers 14 on the platform 13.
The platform 13 with the transporting module 10, thus locked by means of the stop device 17 is then raised along the vertical guide 12 (
The unloading operations of the transporting modules 10 from the lorry A on arrival at the slaughterhouse obviously takes place in reverse order: the platform 13 is positioned on the lifting truck 11 alongside the transporting unit 10 to be unloaded, which, following the engagement of the hooks 18 with the relative supporting frame 2, is pulled by the attachment structure 15 and dragged onto the rollers 14 of the platform 13 for subsequent transfer to the slaughterhouse.
Of course, the details of construction and the embodiments may be widely varied with respect to what is described and illustrated, without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the following claims. Thus, although the transporting unit described with reference to the illustrated example is of the double type, or rather having dimensions that accommodate a dual stack of drawer-like cages, the invention is equally advantageously applicable to single transporting units, or rather, sized to contain a single stack of drawer-like cages.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| TO2013A000528 | Jun 2013 | IT | national |
