MACHINE FOR CLASSIFICATION OF FISH

MACHINE DE TRI DU POISSON

English Abstract

ABSTRACT
machine for classification of fish according to thickness.
The machine comprises a substantially V-shaped groove the
oblique sidewalls of which are formed by conveyor belts or
the like (1,2), a slot (3) of gradually increasing width,
when seen in the direction of conveyance, being provided
between the lower edges of the groove sidewalls. The V-shaped
groove is oriented at an angle upwardly from the input end,
preferably at an angle (.alpha.) of 10 to 45° to the horizontal.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A machine for classification of fish according
to its thickness, comprising, in combination:
(a) generally downwardly convergent walls defining
a bottomless-trough-like structure of a generally V-shaped
transverse cross-section;
(b) said walls having lower edges defining an
elongate slot increasing in width in a predetermined direction;
(c) said predetermined direction being oriented
upwards of an acute slope angle relative to a horizontal plane,
whereby said slot has a lower end and an upper end; and
(d) advance means for moving each of said walls
along said slot generally in said predetermined direction.
2. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
walls are each coincident with a part of a run of an endless
conveyor belt.
3. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
angle is 10 to 45°.
4. A machine as claimed in any of claims 1, 2 or 3,
wherein the lower end of said slot is coincident with a feed end of
said machine at which respective pieces of fish are introduced
into said trough-like structure to be advanced along said slot
in said predetermined direction until they fall through said
slot.

Description

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The present invention relates to a machine for classification
of fish, in particular for classification of fish according
to thickness. For this purpose machines are known comprising
a substantially V-shaped groove, the oblique sidewalls of
which are formed by conveyor belts or the like, and a slot
being provided between the lower edges of the groove side-
walls, the width oE which increases in the direction of feeding.
A classifying machine of this kind operates in such a manner
that the fish when being fed along the groove at some time
arrives at a location where the slot is sufficiently wide
for the fish to fall through. Thus, a small or slim fish
will fall through earlier than a big or thick fish.
With fish being more or less superimposed in the groove, the
classification result will be inferior. A small or medium
size fish may be forced through the slot too early if a large
fish rests on the smaller or medium size fish, and a small
fish may ride on top of a larger and thus be brought too far
in the groove before falling through the slot.
The present invention aims at overcoming this disadvantaye.
Obviously, this could have been achieved by providing for
feeding the fish one at a time to the classifying groove,
e.g. by using a special fish feeding machine, or by reducing
the supply rate to such an extent that fish will only rarely
ride on top of other fish. ~oth these methods do, however,
involve other disadvantages such as reduced classification
capacity.
Machines are also known for the classifica-tion of articles,
which machin~s comprise conveyor belts running upwardly at
an ~ngle, but in these known machines the belt or belts do
not form any groove, the classification being effected by
means of deviating means. ~inally, classifying machines are
known comprising horizontally running conveyor belts, a slot
of increasing width when seen in the direction of conveyance
being provided between the belts.

The present invention airns at a classifying machine of the
type referred to at first, in which the disadvantages of
the known machines are overcome and -the capacity o~
classification is improved.
The invention consists in a combination of the following
features each known per se:
the machine comprises a substantially V-shaped groove the
oblique sidewalls of which are formed by conveyor belts or
the like,
The V-shaped groove is oriented at an angle upwardly when
seen from the input end, the angle preferably being between
10 and 45 to the horizontal, and
a slot is provided between the lower edges of the groove
sidewalls th~ wldth of which increases in the direction o~
conveyance.
By orienting the groove as disclosed, the fish will be con-
veyed upwardly during the classifica-tion process. Fish which
rest on other fish will then have a tendency to glide back-
wards relative to the underlying fish as the latter, due to
the wedge effect, will be relatively firmly gripped between
the conveyor belts whereas the top fish will be more free.
When using a classification machine in accordance with the
present invention a further advantage will be achieved.
Transverse separating walls are provided underneath the slot
between the groove sidewalls, which separating walls define
the classification boundaries. When a fish, on falling
through the slot, strikes such a separating wall, the fish
may be damaged by the impact thus caused. By orienting the
groove as per the present invention, the moment of inertia
of the fish when the impact occurs will be substantially
reduced, and thus the damage of the fish will be less severe.
A classifying machine in accordance with the invention is
shown schematically in the drawing attached hereto, in side-

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view (Fig. 1), plan view (Flg. 2) and end view (Fig. 3)respectively.
The classifying machine comprises a substantially V-shaped
groove the oblique sidewalls of which are formed by
conveyor belts or the like 1 and 2. A slot 3, the width of
which inreases in the direction of conveyance, indicated by
an arrow in Fig. 2, is provided between the lower edges of
the groove sidewalls 1 and 2. A number of transverse
separating walls 4 are mounted underneath the slot 3, and
collection bins which are not shown in the drawing and which
may be exchangeable, are placed underneath the slot 3 and
between the separating walls 4.
In order to improve the capacity of the machine and also the
classification quality, the groove is oriented at an angle
upwardly from the input end. The angle ~ o~ the groove with
respect to the horizontal is preferably 10 to 45. ~y
orienting the groove in this manner, fish lying in the bottom
of the groove, e.g. underneath other fish, will have a stronger
frictional en~agement with the conveyor belts in the groove
and consequently be conveyed Inore safely along the groove
than will Eish lying higher in the groove, i.e. on top of
other fish, and thus having a lighter frictional engagement
with the conveyor belts. Thus, the higher lying fish will
have a tendency to be conveyed not as rapidly as the underlying
fish, until it itself lies in the bottom of the groove and
this comes into the wedge grip between the conveyor belts.