CA1209347A

CA1209347A - Poultry-harvesting assembly

Info

Publication number: CA1209347A
Application number: CA000439184A
Authority: CA
Inventors: John A. Benson; Paul S. Berry; Peter J. Kettlewell; Michael J.B. Turner
Original assignee: National Research Development Corp UK
Current assignee: National Research Development Corp UK
Priority date: 1982-10-29
Filing date: 1983-10-18
Publication date: 1986-08-12
Also published as: NL8303728A; NL191330C; DE3339286C2; ES8406845A1; GB2128870B; FR2535165B1; IT1162974B; GB2128870A; FR2535165A1; GB8328110D0; DE3339286A1; ES526905A0; NL191330B; IT8368132A0

Abstract

ABSTRACT

A poultry-harvester for use in a poultry house comprises two contra-rotating rotors arranged side by side with the flexible fingers of each rotor abutting and/or intermeshing with the fing-ers of the other rotor. In operation, as the harvester is driven towards the birds to be harvested, the two rotors are rotated in opposite directions to one another so that the fingers co-operate to carry birds between the two rotors and deposit them on the conveyor belt. In another embodiment, a third pick-up rotor is arranged in front of and co-operating with the other two rotors in a triangular formation and the conveyor belt deposits the birds on a turntable at the rear of the harvester. In this latter case, the support frame for the conveyor belt is preferably able to scan back and forth around an arc to accelerate the harvesting opera-tion and the third rotor is rotated in the direction of the scan.

Description

~2~34~7 POULTRY-HARVESTING ASSEMBLY
The present invention relates to a poultry-harvesting assembly e.g. for harvesting birds from the litter in a broiler or rearing house.
At the present time, poultry are always harvested manually.
05 However apart from the high cost of labour involved, excessive bruising of the birds can often occur resulting in downgrading or somtimes the death of the birds in transit.
It is an object of the invention to provide a more efficient and humane means for harvestlng poultry in these conditions.
According to the present invention, a poultry harvester e.g. for harvesting chicke~ls from the lltter in a broiler house, comprises two rotors arranged side by side with each rotor providing a continuous array of radially extend~ng guide elements closely adjacent and/or abutting and/or intermeshing with the guide elements of the other rotor, and drive means for contra-rotating the two rotors about vertical or predominantly vertical axes so that the guide elements co-operate to transmit birds between the two rotors to a discharge location.
Conveniently, the harvester is mounted on ground wheels, cas~ers, gantry or tracks for ~v~ nt towards ~he birds to be harvested in which case the discharge location is to the rear of the two rotors.
Conveniently, the guide elements comprise an array of flexible fingers e.g. of the sort currently used for plucking the feathers from ch~cken carcasses.
Conveniently, baffles on the discharge side of the rotors are positioned to ensure that the harvested birds will be dis-charged rearwardly of the rotors. When the guide elements comprise flexible fingers, for example, the baffles may take the form of rigid or semi-rigid comb members interdigitating with these fingers.
Conveniently, at least during operation of the harvester, the rotation axes of the rotors will be lnclined to enable the ,,y~

1209:34~7 contra-rotating rotors to lift ~he birds off the ground as they move towards the discharge locatlon e.g. for discharge on to an endless conveyor loca~ed behind the rotors.
Conveniently, the rearward end of the harvester is pivoted 05 on a catching platform, the conveyor in this instance being extendable.
According to an optional feature of the invention, said two rotors may be carried at one end of a support arm pivotally mounted at its other end for movement about a vertical or substantially vertical axis.
Alternatively, said two rotors may be carried at one end of a support arm mounted at its other end on a ground-wheel-supported chassis incorporating a differential gear between the ground wheels.
Conveniently, one or more additional rotors are provided at the side and/or in front of said two rotors and act to bring the birds into said two rotors.
Conveniently, the or each said additional rotor is adapted for rotation by the drive means about a vertical or predominantly vertical axis and provides a continuous array of radially e~tending guide elements which are closely adjacent and/or abut and/or intermesh with the guide elements of said two rotors and/or with the guide elements of other of said additional rotors if more than two said additional rotors are present.
In one such case, for example, two said additional rotors are provided so as with said two rotors to lie in a V-formation when viewed in pl~n. Alternatively 9 said two additional rotors may be provided so as with said two rotors to lie in a square or rectangular formation when viewed in plan.
In another case, one said additional rotor is provided so as with said two rotors to lie in a triangular formation.
Conveniently, when said one or more additional rotors are provided, the birds can be collected from a sc~nn~ng movement as well as a forward movement by suitably controlling the direction of rotation of said one or more additional rotors.

120~347 In the case discussed above of said one additional rotor being arranged in a triangular formation, the harvester preferably includes control means for varying ~he direction of rotation of said additional rotor so that it is at all times rotating in the 05 direction of scan.
Conveniently, the rotors are belt driven so as to allow belt slip in the event that the rotors become overloaded.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-Figure 1 is a perspective view looking rearwardly from thefront o a mobile poultry-harvester in accordance with the invention;
Figures 2 and 3 are simplified plan and side views of the same assembly;
Figures 4, 5 and 6 are diagrammatic plan views of alternative embodiments;
Figures 7a and 7b are respectively plan and side views of a further embodiment of the harvester;
Figures 8 to 11 diagrammatically illustrate the operation of the harvester of Figures 7a and 7b; and Figures 12a and 12b are respectively plan and side views of yet another embodiment of the harvester.
Thus referring now to Figures 1 to 6 of the drawings, a mobile bird-harvester 10 in accordance with the present invention comprises two rotors 12,13 mounted on a sub-frame 15 at the front end of the harvester chassis 17.
The rotors 12,13 take the form of drum members 19 tFigure 1) each carrying an array of flexible rubber fingers 20 of the sort currently used for plucking chicken carcasses.
As ~ill be seen from the drawings, each finger comprises a smooth root portion adjacent drum member 19 and a corrugated end portion. Typically the fingers will taper from an inltial diameter of about 2~ mm to a final diameter of about 12 mm at the tip.
The overall finger length is typically about 235 mm giving rise ~2~)93~

to an overlap of about 50 mm at the position of r~ intermesh between the two rotors. The resilient nature of the finger material allows the fingers 20 to be pushed into appropriate apertures in the two dru~ members as shown in Figure 2, a 05 peripheral groove in th~ root portion of each finger ensuring that the finger locks securely Into place in the drum aperture.
The rotors 12,13 are driven by vee-belts 23,24 from two centrally-located pulleys 26 (Figure 1) mounted on a common shaft, one belt being crossed and the other not so as to give the desired contra-rotation of the two rotors.
At its upper end, the shaft carries a stepped pulley assembly 31 driven by another V-belt 32 from a similar but inverted assembly 34. This latter assembly is mounted on the OlltpUt shaft of a right-angled gear box 36. The drive assembly is completed by an electric motor 38 connected to the lnput shaft of the gear box 36 by a coupling 40.
Reference numerals 28,29 indicate two combs which are secured to the harvester chassis to ensure that the harvested birds are discharged rearwardly.
The V belt drive system desribed above ensures that should the rotors 12,13 become overloaded9 the belts can slip about their pulleys so as to allow the rotors to stop rotating or to rotate at a lesser speed.
Reference numerals 42,43 indicate the ground wheels on which the harvester will move forward. As can be seen from Figure 3, during use, the chsssis 17 is tipped forwardly on these wheels so that rotors 12,13 will operate to lift the birds off the ground for discharge on a conveyor belt 45.
For the avoidance of doubt, it should be pointed out that Figure 2 is a plan view of the harvester when disposed horizontally.
Indeed, in an alternative embodiment (not shown), the harvester will remain horizontally disposed throughout its operation and the desired lifting action of the two rotors is achieved by having the rotor axes upwardly and forwardly inclined away from the central conveyor belt.

3~7 P~eturning now to the illustrated embodlment, it ~ill be seen that the belt 45 is mounted on two transverse support rollers 47,48, the roller 47 being driven through a belt arrangement 50 from a right-angled gear box 52 itself dFiven from the s~epped pulley 34.
05 The conveyo~ belt asse~ly is completed by two side-wall curtains 54,55 running most of the leng~h of the belt 4~. As best seen from Figure 1, the upper edge regions of the curtains are secured to the chassis 17 and their lower edge regions are loosely supported by ~he upper face of belt 45.
The harvester ls ~ompleted by a push handle 57 which additionally carrles the usual manual controls (not shown~ for motor 38.
In operation, the operator tilts the harvester forwards as shown in Figure 3 and the motor 38 is started to contra-rotate rotors 12,13. The harvester 10 is then pushed towards the birds and the contra-rotating rotors gently lift the birds on to the conveyor belt 45. The rearwardly-moving belt discharges the birds on to a crating platform (not shown) at the rear of the harvester.
Although the harvester is still at the prototype s~age, it is envisaged t~.at a suitable forward speed for the harvester might be about 3 metres/minute with a rota~ion speed of 40 rpm for ro~ors 12,13 and a rearward speed (relative to the harvester chassis) of about 100 metres/mimlte for conveyor belt 45.
With the dimensions and operational speeds indicated above, it is envisaged that a harvesting capacity of about 100 blrds per minute might be attained with a typical broiler-house bird distribution of 20 birds per square metre.
In alternative embodimen~s (not shown), the harvester might advantageously be motori~ed rather than pushed by hand. Other possible features in futuze ~achines include ~he use of four ro~ors side by side, the outer two of which serve to sweep birds ln towards the two central rotors which lift the birds onto the conveyor. One such arrangement is shown in Figure 4 where the sweeping rotors àre iden~ified by reference numerals 60,61.

~Z~ 7 Another possible embodiment Ls the use sf four ro~ors set in an approximately square formation (Figure S). The rear two r~tors 12,13 lift birds up onto the conveyor 45 as described above. The direction of rotation o~ the front rotors 63,64 can 05 be altered so that by sweeping the harvester from side to side birds oan be picked up as well as by moving forward. In such an embodiment the rearward end of the harvester might be pivoted at a point on the catching platform (66) and ~he conveyor made extendable so that the harvester could scan in an arc advancing slowly forward at the end of each sweep.
In another embodiment, a harvester with four rotors which scans linearly from side to side before advancing forward may be envisaged.
In another embodiment (Figure 6), a double headed harvester is envisaged, in which the rotors 12l13 and belt 45 of the earlier embodiments are duplicated at 12',13' and 45' respectively.
~ eferring now to Figures 7a and 7b, a mobile bird-harvester 110 in accordance with another aspect of the present invention comprises three rotors 112,113,114 mounted in a tri-angular formation to provide a pick-up head 116 at the front end of the harvester. Each of the rotors 112,113,114 provides an array of flexible rubber fingers of the sort curren~ly used for plucking ch~cken carcasses.
Behind the pick-up head 116, is an angled conveyor belt 118.
The support frame 120 for belt 118 is carried at one end by two wheels 122 and at the other end by a scAnnln~ arm 124 to which it is attached by a horizontal pivot 126 allowing the conveyor to pivot up and down.
The ~rm 124 is mounted on the harvester chassis 128 by means of a turutable 130 allowing the arm to scan an arc on vertical axis XX (Figures 7b).
The arm 124 also supports a second turntable 132 with a large diameter top arranged to receive birds from the discharge end of conveyor 118. The turnta~le 132 rotates independently of the arm 124 and is powered to rotate in one or other direction such as shown for example by arrow A.

3~3~7 The drives on the harvester can be mechanical, electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic, or any combination of these, the prime mover (not shown) being carried on the chassis 128. Thi9 can be used to drive the machine either forward or backwards as shown by 05 arrow B. The wheels 122 would be steered to allow the vehicle to manoeuvre.
The conveyor is p~wered to convey rearwardly as shown by arrow G. The scanning action of the conveyor frame 120 and the s~nning arm 124 can, for example, be effected by suitably driving the wheels 122. These can be driven in either direction as shown by arrows D and E and can also pivot to allow the vehicle to go forward.
The rear pick-up rotors 112 and 113 have a fixed direction of rotation as shown by arrows F and G, but the front rotor 114 is able to reverse as shown by the double-headed arrow H. The front rotor is also capable of being lifted up out of use as shown by broken lines 114'.
In operation, the broiler harvester 110 starts with the conveyor 118 running and the ~urntable 132 and pick-up rotors 112,113,114 rotating. The front rotor 114 rotates in the same direction as the direction of scan.
The pick-up head then scans through the birds (Figures 8 and 9~ lifting the birds up from the litter and placing them onto the conveyor 118. The birds are then carried along by the conveyor until they drop onto the turntable 132. They continue to travel with the turntable 132 until they are lifted off either by hand or by machine and are then packed into crates or modules.
When the sC~nn~ng arm reaches the end of its travel (Figure 10), the direction of rotation of the rotor front 114 is reversed and the vehicle moves forward as shown by the arrows in Figure 11. The arm 124 then scans back in the reverse direction.
Turning now to Figures 12a and 12b, these show an embodiment of the invention in which the pick-up head 116 is mounted on a rigid frame 134 which forms the main chassis of the -~h~ne.
At the rear, the chassis is supported by two ground wheels 136 mounted on a differential axle 138 which can be used to drive the machine forward in the normal way and also to allow the machine to scan ro~nd on axis XX. This lattex effect is achieved by locking the input shaft on the differential so as to allow the wheels 136 to move in opposite directions to each other only.
05 Thus when the machine is scanned round by the driving of the front wheels 122, the rear wheels 136 will move exactly the same amount as each other but in opposite directions, making the machine pivot around the centre of the differential unlt which would be on axis XX. The machine can then be made to move forward again by releasing the lock on the input shaft and driving it in the normal way until the machine is in the next position to scan.
As will be clear, the same reference numerals and reference letters have been used in Figures 12a, 12b as were used in Figures 7a, 7b for like parts or motions in the earlier embodiment of the invention.

Claims

- 9 -

1. A poultry harvester comprising two rotors arranged side by side with each rotor providing a continuous array of radially extending guide elements closely adjacent and/or abutting and/or intermeshing with the guide elements of the other rotor, and drive means for contra-rotating the two rotors about vertical or predominantly vertical axes so that the guide elements co-operate to transmit birds between the two rotors to a discharge location.

2. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1 mounted for movement towards the birds to be harvested and in which the discharge location is to the rear of the two rotors.

3. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1 in which the guide elements comprise an array of flexible fingers.

4. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 2 in which the guide elements comprise an array of flexible fingers.

5. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which baffles on the discharge side of the rotors are positioned to ensure that the harvested birds will be discharged rearwardly of said two rotors.

6. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which baffles on the discharge side of the rotors are positioned to ensure that the harvested birds will be discharged rearwards of said two rotors and in which the baffles take the form of rigid or semi-rigid comb members interdigitating with the fingers.

7. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which at least during operation of the harvester, the rotation axes of said two rotors will be inclined to enable the contra-rotating rotors to lift the birds off the ground as they move towards the discharge location.

8. A poultry harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which at least during operation of the harvester, the rotation axes of said two rotors will be inclined to enable the contra-rotating rotors to lift the birds off the ground as the birds move towards the discharge location, said two rotors being operative to discharge the birds on to an endless conveyor located behind said two rotors.

9. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which the rearward end of the harvester is pivoted on a catching platform, the conveyor being extendable.

10. A poultry harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which said two rotors are carried at one end of a support arm pivotally mounted at its other end for movement about a vertical or substantially vertical axis.

11. A poultry harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which said two rotors are carried at one end of a support arm mounted at its other end on a ground-wheel supported chassis incorporating a differential gear between the ground wheels.

12. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which additional rotors are provided at the side and/or in front of the other rotors and act to bring the birds into said other rotors.

13. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which additional rotors are provided at the side and/or front of the other rotors and act to bring the birds into said other rotors, the or each said additional rotor being adapted for rotation by the drive means about a vertical or predominantly vertical axis and providing a continuous array of radially extending guide elements which are closely adjacent to and/or abut and/or intermesh with the guide elements of said two rotors and/or with the guide elements of other of said additional rotors if more than two said additional rotors are present.

14. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which additional rotors are provided at the side and/or front of the other rotors so as with said other rotors to lie in a V-formation when viewed in plan, each said additional rotor being adapted for rotation by the drive means about a vertical or predominantly vertical axis and providing a continuous array of radially extending guide elements which are closely adjacent to and/or abut and/or intermesh with the guide elements of said two rotors and/or with the guide elements of other of said additional rotors if more than one said additional rotor is present.

15. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which additional rotors are provided at the side and/or front of the other rotors so as with said other rotors to lie in a square or rectangular formation when viewed in plane, each said additional rotor being adapted for rotation by the drive means about a vertical or predominantly vertical axis and providing a continuous array of radially extending guide elements which are closely adjacent to and/or abut and/or intermesh with the guide elements of said two rotors and/or with the guide elements of other of said additional rotors if more than one said additional rotor is present.

16. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which an additional rotor is provided in front of the other rotors so as with said other rotors to lie in a triangular formation, the said additional rotor being adapted for rotation by the drive means about a vertical or predominantly vertical axis and providing a continuous array of radially extending guide elements which are closely adjacent to and/or abut and/or intermesh with the guide elements of said two rotors and/or with the guide elements of other of said additional rotors if more than two said additional rotors are present.

17. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which additional rotors are provided at the side and/or front of the rotors and act to bring the birds into said other rotors and in which the birds can be collected from a scanning movement as well as a forward movement by suitably controlling the direction of rotation of said one or more additional rotors.

18. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein an additional rotor is provided in front of the other rotors so as with said other rotors to lie in a triangular formation and in which the birds can be collected from a scanning movement as well as a forward movement by controlling the direction of rotation of said additional rotor so that it is at all times rotating in the direction of scan.

19. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 wherein an additional rotor is provided in front of the other rotors so as with said other rotors to lie in a triangular formation and including control means so that the birds can be collected from a scanning movement as well as a forward movement by controlling the direction of rotation of said additional rotor so that it is at all times rotating in the direction of scan.

20. A poultry-harvester as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which the rotors are belt driven so as to allow belt slip in the event that the rotors become overloaded.