Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~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
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-- 4 --
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.
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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.
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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.
CS77
