Butchering – Conveyer – Orienting
Patent
1990-10-31
1992-06-30
Little, Willis
Butchering
Conveyer
Orienting
452182, A22C 2508
Patent
active
051258684
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an apparatus for orientation of fish with respect to the position of abdomen and dorsum.
There exists a need for such an orientation in charging machines for fish. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,811 discloses an apparatus, the operation of which is based on the fact that the centre of gravity of the fish is situated closer to the dorsum and that the dorsum therefore tries to reach the deepest point of a V-shaped chute. Errors appear in the orientation, when the cross section of the fish is less distinctly triangular, especially at the abdominal section of the fish. Moreover, the chute shall be dimensioned considering the fish size in question.
The German Auslegeschrift 16 79 060, the Swedish Published Specifications 324 045 and 366 203 as well as the Finnish Patent Application 811370 disclose different embodiments of orientation apparatuses generally based on the principle that the fish is more or less squeezed at the dorsal and abdominal side, whereby the fish turns to a position desired. These apparatuses have the drawback that the fish gets easily damaged. Efforts have been made to solve this problem by arranging the elements squeezing the fish yieldingly resilient, mainly in the axial direction, to eliminate the restraining influence of the friction, or e.g. in the form of two rotary brushes, as shown in the Finnish Patent Application 811370. Hereby it is, however, necessary to adapt partly the space between the elements and partly the stiffness of the elements in proportion to the weight of the fish. Since automatic charging machines are mainly used in connection with smaller shoal fish, it shall be possible to adjust these machines for handling fish within the weight area of 10 to 500 g per fish, which means quite a number of different sets of brushes or similar elements.
The object of the present invention is to provide a new apparatus for orientation of fish with respect to the position of abdomen and dorsum, the outer dimensions of which apparatus are small and which is capable of handling fish of very varying sizes at high capacity.
The apparatus of the invention is mainly characterized in that it comprises a device for bringing the fish in motion head first at a speed desired and a guide element arranged at a distance after this device in the path of motion of the fish in such a way that the head of the fish hits the guide element obliquely both with respect to the direction of motion of the fish and also with respect to the middle plane of the fish head so that the centre of gravity of the fish head lies sidewards from the perpendicular to the guide element through the contact point of the fish, due to which the fish turns under the influence of its own mass into sideward contact with the guide element and into the same orientation with respect to the direction for abdomen and dorsum, irrespective of, whether the fish hits the guide element with dorsum or with abdomen.
The invention utilizes the fact that most fishes have a triangular cross section of head, the sides of the fish head forming the sides of an isosceles triangle, the base of which is formed by the neck of the fish, which neck is halved by the middle plane of the fish head. When the fish head hits the guide element at high speed, preferably in such a way that one side of the head forms an essentially right angle with the surface of the guide element, the fish rolls against the side where the centre of gravity is situated with respect to the perpendicular through the contact point on the surface of the guide element, on account of which the dorsum and the abdomen, respectively, always are directed to the same direction. It is enough that the head section of the fish is triangular, the rest of the body follows in the same direction, even though the cross section of the body is not triangular. At a change of direction, the normal force functioning through the mass of the fish generally is at least ten times the force of gravity, thanks to which the fish does not behave like a stiff fish, but the turning occur
REFERENCES:
patent: 1689919 (1927-03-01), Heath
patent: 3514811 (1970-06-01), West
patent: 3550192 (1970-08-01), Ericksson
patent: 3561041 (1971-02-01), Szymanski et al.
patent: 4601083 (1986-07-01), Shoji
patent: 4651385 (1987-03-01), Persson
Int'l Search Report filed with respect to WO-89/10061.
LandOfFree
Apparatus for orientation of fish with respect to the position o does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Apparatus for orientation of fish with respect to the position o, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Apparatus for orientation of fish with respect to the position o will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1860307