Butchering – Conveyer – Loading or unloading
Patent
1998-11-20
2000-05-23
Little, Willis
Butchering
Conveyer
Loading or unloading
452182, A22B 700
Patent
active
060660376
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to a conveyor belt feeder for automatically transferring pieces of meat, such as salmon fillets onto a conveyor belt.
BACKGROUND ART
It is known in connection with processing of fish that each operator removes a fish fillet from a conveyor belt and carries out a few manual operations, such as removal of bones and blood spots, so as subsequently to place the fillets in a bin. The fillets are emptied on a second conveyor belt advancing the fillets to a scale, where the weight of said fillets is determined. Subsequently, the fillets are suitably portioned and the yield and throughput of each operator are calculated.
The existing plants do not render it possible to ensure that each fillet is placed in a nicely straightened state on the continuously running conveyor belt when said fillet is emptied out of the bin. It is important especially in connection with fish fillets, such as salmon fillets, that said fillets are handled carefully in such a manner that they are not positioned on the conveyor belt in a folded state, which might imply both that the quality of the fillet is deteriorated and that the measurement of the weight is encumbered with difficulties. These difficulties do not apply in the same extent to other fish fillets, such as white fish, codfish, coalfish etc.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is therefore to provide a conveyor belt feeder allowing a transfer of delicate pieces of meat, such as salmon fillets, onto a conveyor belt in such a manner that the pieces of meat in question are placed thereon in a non-folded state.
The conveyor belt feeder according to the invention is characterised in that it comprises a platform which is carried by a support and which is displaceably arranged in a direction to and fro said support, whereby the platform carries a transfer belt receiving the piece of meat in question, that the transfer belt extends beyond a front rim on said platform and is operationally connected to said platform in such a manner that its upward surface is moved forwards and around said front rim of the platform substantially synchronously with the advancing movement of the platform, and that driving means are provided for effecting the displacement of the platform.
As a result a conveyor belt feeder is obtained which comprises a belt, said belt in a stopped state allowing a placing of the piece of meat in question in a nicely non-folded state. When the advancing movement of the platform inwards over a conveyor belt is activated, the above belt allows a fast and lenient transfer of the piece of meat in the same state onto the continuously advanced, optionally transverse conveyor belt. The advancing movement of the platform carries the piece of meat beyond the front rim of the platform whereby said piece of meat falls freely downwards onto the conveyor belt in a state substantially corresponding to the state in which it was placed on the transfer belt while said transfer belt was still in use. After the piece of meat has left the transfer belt and consequently the platform, said platform is quickly returned to its starting position in which it is ready for receiving the next piece of meat.
According to the invention it is particularly preferred that the platform comprise a plate with a curved, front and rear end when seen in the moving direction of the platform, and that the transfer belt extends across the upper surface of the platform and around the curved ends, said transfer belt comprising a front and rear end secured to the support on the bottom side of the platform. In this manner a relative movement of the platform and the transfer belt is allowed without the use of lubricants, which might present a risk when the hygienic requirements are to be met.
According to the invention the support may carry two parallel beams extending parallel to one another and parallel to the front and rear end of the platform adjacent the bottom side of said platform, and which are adapted to assemble the transfer belt, said beams
REFERENCES:
patent: 2771632 (1956-11-01), Walker
patent: 3919741 (1975-11-01), Backhaus et al.
patent: 4084293 (1978-04-01), Hogan et al.
patent: 5370873 (1994-12-01), Warren et al.
patent: 5580303 (1996-12-01), Winslow et al.
patent: 5591076 (1997-01-01), Evers et al.
Little Willis
Marel hf
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