This invention relates to storing benthic organisms, such as crabs and sea urchins, and feeding the benthic organisms. More specifically, the invention relates to a facility in which each individual is housed in a separate chamber, and in which feed is given to each individual in a controlled amount and at a controlled time. More specifically still, the invention relates to a facility in which each individual is moved individually in a controlled manner from chamber to chamber through the facility. The invention there by achieves that each individual will have a controlled length of stay in the facility. The benthic organisms are removed from the facility according to a "first-in, first-out" method. The invention has for its object to increase the sales value of each single in dividual. Crabs are fed until they are "filled up". Sea urchins are fed until the roe sack has reached selling size.

The brown crab {Cancer pagurus) is a crab species which is caught commercially in Europe. It is known that crabs that are sold may be so-called "empty" crabs; that is to say, they have moulted but not filled up the space inside the shell with tissues. The external size of the crab thereby gives a wrong impression of the amount of food in the crab.

Echinoderms, especially sea urchins ( Echinocardium spp.), contain gonads. The roe within the female gonads is regarded as a delicacy in some Asian countries. The size of the gonads is dependent on the food availability for the sea urchins.

There is a need to be able to feed benthic organisms, such as crabs and crustaceans and such as echinoderms, in a controlled way which ensures that every individual has a high content of edible material. This increases the sales value. It also ensures stable deliveries to a market. The invention has for its object to remedy or reduce at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art or at least provide a useful alternative to the prior art. The object is achieved through the features that are specified in the description below and in the claims that follow.

The invention is defined by the independent claims. The dependent claims define ad vantageous embodiments of the invention.

In a first aspect, the invention relates to a facility for storing benthic organisms, the facility comprising a plurality of chambers in a rack, each chamber being defined by a surrounding wall, and the chambers being arranged side by side so that the surround ing wall abuts against the surrounding wall of an adjacent chamber. The facility com prises a tank with a bottom, side walls and end walls, and the tank may be filled with water. Each chamber comprises at least one first opening. The rack is arranged to be lowered in a raisable manner into a shaft, which is formed of at least a first shaft wall, in the tank and up from the shaft. The first shaft wall covers the first opening when the rack is positioned in the shaft, and the facility includes a lifting means for raising and lowering the rack up from the shaft and into the shaft, respectively.

Each chamber may be provided with a second opening opposite the first opening, and a second shaft wall may cover the second opening when the rack is positioned in the shaft. The facility may comprise a plurality of racks and a plurality of shafts. The lifting means may be arranged to raise and lower two neighbouring racks.

The facility may comprise a mobile operating station arranged to operate two neigh bouring racks that have been raised out of two neighbouring shafts, the operating sta tion may comprise a service shaft, a first actuator which may be provided with a pis ton, and the first actuator may be arranged to move the piston through a chamber from the first opening of the chamber towards the second opening of the chamber, and the operating station may comprise a movable barrier, the barrier being arranged to close and open between the first opening of a chamber in a first rack and the sec ond opening of a chamber in a second, neighbouring rack.

The operating station may be provided with a feeding apparatus arranged to carry a feed into a chamber positioned in the service shaft. The service shaft may be provided with a hatch blocking the second opening of the chamber when the rack is positioned in the service shaft. The hatch may be arranged to be opened to a cleaning liquid that has been supplied to the chamber. The operating station may comprise a gutter for the cleaning liquid. The first actuator may be provided with a cleaning apparatus. The cleaning apparatus may be connected to the piston. The piston may be formed with a cross section adapted to an internal profile of the surrounding wall. A second actuator may move the barrier between a closed position and an open posi tion. The operating station may comprise a connecting element forming a tunnel be tween two adjacent chambers in the neighbouring racks that are positioned in the op erating station. The operating station may be arranged to take a raised position and a lowered posi tioned relative to the shafts, and, in its raised position, the operating station may be arranged to be moved horizontally relative to the shafts.

The first shaft wall of a shaft and the second shaft wall of a neighbouring shaft form a channel between them, and one of the first shaft wall and the second shaft wall is per- forated. A pump may carry water into the channel. The water may flow from the channel into the rack in the shaft. The water may flow out of the shaft through an opening in one of the side walls of the tank. At least one of the first shaft wall and the second shaft wall may comprise a transparent material. One or more light sources may be positioned in the channel. In a second aspect, the invention relates, more specifically, to a method for storing and feeding benthic organisms. The method comprises providing a facility as described hereinbefore, putting the benthic organisms into vacant chambers and feeding the benthic organisms in the facility. The method may further comprise removing the ben thic organisms from the facility in such a way that the benthic organisms that are re- moved have spent an equally long time in the facility.

In what follows, examples of preferred embodiments are described, which are visual ized in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a section of a rack;

Figure 2 shows, on the same scale, a cross section of a facility according to the invention;

Figure 3 shows, on a smaller scale, a longitudinal section of the facility according to the invention;

Figure 4 shows, on a larger scale, a section of the facility, where a rack at the end of the tank of the facility is raised for the chambers of the rack to be emptied of a benthic organism;

Figures 5-15 show subsequent steps in a method for moving the benthic organism through the facility; Figure 16 shows the putting-in of new benthic organisms into the facility;

Figure 17 shows an alternative way of putting new benthic organisms into the fa cility;

Figure 18 shows schematically, on a larger scale, a first actuator and a piston;

Figure 19 shows, on a different scale, a perspective view of the facility in another embodiment; and

Figures 20-22 show, on a larger scale, sections of the facility shown in figure 19 and details of an operating station in which an actuator with a piston is shown in different positions.

In the figures, the reference numeral 1 indicates a facility according to the invention. The facility 1 comprises a plurality of racks 21. Each rack 21 comprises a plurality of chambers 23 which are arranged in horizontal rows 24 and vertical columns 25. In the schematic figures, six chambers 23 are shown in each row 24 and three chambers 23 in each column 25. The invention is not restricted to using racks 21 of this size, as the number of rows 24 and the number of columns 25 may be adjusted to the purpose. A rack 21 comprising thirty rows 24 and fifteen columns 25 may be suitable for the pur pose.

Each chamber 23 is defined by a surrounding wall 26. In the figures, each chamber 23 is shown with a rectangular cross section. Each chamber 23 is formed of a bottom 260, a roof 269, a first side wall 261 and a second side wall 262. The rack 21 may be formed out of plates. A plate may form a first side wall 261 in a chamber 23, and the same plate may form a second side wall 262 in a neighbouring chamber 23. In the same way, a plate may form a bottom 260 in a chamber 23, and the same plate may form the roof 269 of a chamber 23 below. The rack 21 is shown with lower supports 27. The rack 21 is shown with attachments 28 projecting upwards for a lifting member 29 which may be formed as a yoke.

The rack 21 is positioned in a shaft 3 in a tank 4. The tank 4 is formed with a bottom 40, and a first side wall 41 and a second side wall 42, and with a first end wall 43 and a second end wall 44 as shown in figures 2 and 3. A first lifting means 5 is shown in the figures as a derrick 51. The derrick 51 is shown having a lifting frame 52 and a plurality of legs 53. Each leg 53 is provided, at its free end portion 530, with a guiding means 55 which may be displaced or moved along a guide 57. The guide 57 is shown attached to the side walls 41, 42 of the tank 4. The guiding means 55 may consist of a wheel or a toothed wheel. The guide 57 may consist of a rail or a toothed rack. The guide 57 is shown attached to the side walls 41, 42 with a plurality of brackets 59 as shown in figure 2. The guiding means 57 may be provided with a motor (not shown) to displace the first lifting means 5 along the guide 57 so that the first lifting means 5 may be moved along the tank 4.

An operating station 7 is movably attached to the first lifting means 5. The operating station 7 includes a service shaft 71, a first actuator 72, a piston 73 which is connect ed to the first actuator 72, a movable barrier 74 which is connected to a second actua tor 75, and a tunnel 76. The operating station 7 is shown with a feeding apparatus 77, a hatch 711 in the service shaft 71 and a gutter 63. The second actuator 75 moves the barrier 74 inside the tunnel 76 so that the barrier 74 can alternate between closing the tunnel 76 to the passing of a benthic organism 2 and opening the tunnel 76 to the passing of the benthic organism 2.

The tank 4 is provided with a plurality of shafts 3. Each shaft 3 may extend from the first side wall 41 to the second side wall 42. The shaft 3 is formed of a first shaft wall

31 and a second, opposite shaft wall 32, see figures 4 and 5. The shaft walls 31 and

32 form a channel 33 between them. The second shaft wall 32 of the shaft 3 nearest to the end wall 44, and the end wall 44 form a first end channel 331 between them. In the same way, the first shaft wall 31 of the shaft 3 nearest to the end wall 43, and the end wall 43 form a second end channel 332 between them (see figure 16).

In one embodiment, one of the shaft walls 31, 32 is perforated so that water in the channel 33 or in the end channel 331, 332 may flow through the perforated shaft wall 31, 32 into the shaft 3. A pump (not shown) supplies the channel 33 with water. It is advantageous for the other one of the shaft walls 31, 32 to be tight, so that water in the shaft 3 cannot flow into a neighbouring channel 33. Each shaft 3 is provided, in an upper portion, with an outlet (not shown) in one of the side walls 41, 42 where water in the shaft 3 may flow out. Each shaft 3 thereby has separate water supply and drainage. This gives good anti-infection hygiene. Each shaft 3 may thereby also be emptied of water when there is a need for maintenance or washing. In an alternative embodiment (not shown) both shaft walls 31, 32 may be perforated so that water in the channel 33 may flow through the shaft walls into the shafts 3 on either side of the channel 33. On the opposite sides of the shafts 3, there are tight shaft walls. In an upper portion, each shaft 3 is provided with an outlet (not shown) in one of the side walls 41, 42 where water in the shaft 3 may flow out. Each shaft thereby 3 has water supply shared with a neighbouring shaft 3 and separate drainage. This gives good an- ti-infection hygiene. The advantage is that the number of channels 33 is reduced by half and this saves space.

The facility 1 is shown provided with a drain channel 61 along the side wall 41 as shown in figure 2. The gutter 63 of the operating station 7 has a drain discharging into the drain channel 61.

The facility 1 is further provided with a second lifting means 8 which is positioned above the second end wall 44 of the tank 4. The second lifting means 8 comprises a wire 81 and a hook 83 which can be attached to the lifting member 29 as shown in figures 4 and 5. The second lifting means 8 is arranged to raise and lower the rack 21 positioned in the shaft 3 nearest to the second end wall 44.

In one embodiment, the facility 1 is further provided with a third lifting means 85 which is positioned above the first end wall 43 of the tank 4. The third lifting means 85 comprises a wire 81 and a hook 83 which can be attached to the lifting member 29 as shown in figure 17. The third lifting means 85 is arranged to raise and lower the rack 21 that is positioned in the shaft 3 nearest to the first end wall 43.

In one embodiment, the piston 73 is connected to a reservoir (not shown) for a clean ing liquid 731. The piston 73 is provided with a plurality of nozzle openings 733 out of which flows pressurized cleaning liquid, see figure 18.

The benthic organism 2 to be fed in the facility 1 is placed in a rack 21 as shown in figure 1. In the figures, the benthic organism 21 is shown schematically as a crab.

Figures 19 to 22 show the facility 1 in an alternative embodiment. The operating sta tion 7 comprises two service shafts 71. The first actuator 72 is attached to an actuator frame 78. The actuator frame 78 is provided with a plurality of first actuators 72. The actuator frame 78 is hingedly attached to the operating station 7 at hinges 781. A third actuator 79 is arranged to move the actuator frame 78 between a horizontal ori entation as shown in figures 19-21 and a vertical orientation as shown in figure 22.

The actuator frame 78 is provided with a driving mechanism 70 for moving the first actuator 72 relative to the actuator frame 78.

In figure 20, the first actuators 72 are shown in the pulled-out position so that a rack 21 clears the pistons 73 when the rack 21 is moved in the service shaft 71 nearest to the first actuators 72. In figure 21, the first actuators 72 are shown in a pushed-in position. In figure 22, the actuator frame 78 has been pivoted up into a vertical orien tation by the third actuator 79. Thereby there is access to the chambers 23 of the rack 21 through an opening 713 in the operating station 7. Benthic organisms 2 are put into the chambers 23 through the opening 713.

The method for using the facility 1 is described in what follows, with references to fig ures 3 to 17.

Figure 3 shows the facility 1 when all the chambers 23 are being used for storing and feeding the benthic organism 2. Fully raised organisms 2 are removed from the facility 1 by raising the rack 21 out of the shaft 3 at the second end wall 44 of the facility 1. The first shaft wall 31 and second shaft wall 32 of the shaft 3 block the two opposite openings 231, 232 of the chamber 23. The rack 21 is raised with the second lifting means 8 so that the chambers successively come above the upper edge of the second shaft wall 32 and the organisms 2 may be removed through the opening 232 as shown in figure 4. In figure 5, it is shown that the rack 21 has been emptied of benthic or ganisms 2. The empty rack 21 is lowered into the shaft 3 as shown in figure 6. The first lifting means 5 with the operating station 7 is moved along the guide 57 so that the service shaft 71 is positioned above and in line with the shaft 3 housing the empty rack 21. The operating station 7 is then lowered relative to the shaft 3 so that the lower edge of the service shaft 7 touches the second shaft wall 32 as shown in figure 7. The lower edge of the tunnel 76 touches the first shaft wall 31. The barrier 74 blocks the tunnel 76. The first actuator 72 with the piston 73 is in a retracted position so that a rack 21 may be raised up beside the piston 73.

The first lifting means 5 raises two neighbouring racks 21 : an empty rack 21 and a rack 21 housing benthic organisms 2 in the chambers 23 as shown in figure 8. The racks 21 are raised to the same height so that the uppermost chambers 23 come above the second shaft wall 32 and so that the piston 73 may be moved into the chamber 23 through the opening 231. The tunnel 76 forms a channel between the chambers 23 of two neighbouring racks 21. The tunnel 76 and each of the racks 21 have a tight fit to prevent limbs of a benthic organism 2 from getting pinched between the tunnel 76 and the rack 21. Pressurized cleaning liquid 731 exits the piston 73, and feed residues (not shown), faecal matter (not shown) and any other material (not shown) from the benthic organism 2 are removed with the liquid flow out through the opening 232, through the tunnel 76 and through the empty chamber 23 of the neigh bouring rack 23. The hatch 711 is opened by the liquid flow so that cleaning liquid and washed-out material flow out of the gutter 63 and on into the drain channel 61 as shown in figure 9. The second actuator 75 moves the barrier 74 so that there is an open passage from the chamber 23 with the benthic organism 2 in one rack 21, via the tunnel 76 and into the empty chamber 23 in the neighbouring rack 21. The first actuator 72 moves the piston 73 through the chamber 23 so that the benthic organism 2 is displaced through the tunnel 76 and into the neighbouring chamber 23 as shown in figure 10. The ben thic organism may move voluntarily, but the piston 23 ensures that the benthic organ ism 2 has got completely into the chamber 23 and does not have any limbs inside the tunnel 76. The piston 73 also blocks the tunnel 76 so that the benthic organism 2 can not move back and into the tunnel 76 again.

The rack 21 with the benthic organism 2 in the uppermost chamber 23 is raised fur ther upwards in the service shaft 71 until the next chamber 23 comes above the sec ond shaft wall 32 and so that the piston 73 can be moved into the chamber 23 through the opening 231 as shown in figure 11. The walls of the service shaft 71 block the two openings 231, 232 so that the benthic organism 2 cannot get out of the chamber 23. The feed apparatus 77 dispenses a day's ration of feed (not shown) into the chamber 23. The first actuator 72 retracts the piston 73 into its starting position, and the second actuator 72 moves the barrier 74 into the tunnel 76 as shown in figure 12. Then the rack 21 that is outside the service shaft 71 is raised, so that the next chamber 23 housing a benthic organism 2 is flush with the tunnel 76 as shown in fig ure 13. After that, the method as described above with references to the figures from 8 to 12 is repeated.

When all the benthic organisms 2 have been transferred from one rack 21 to the neighbouring rack 21, both racks 21 are lowered into their respective shafts 3 as shown in figure 14. The operating station 7 is raised to be clear of the shaft walls 31, 32. The first lifting means 5 with the operating station 7 is moved along the guide 57 so that the service shaft 71 is positioned above and in line with the shaft 3 housing the empty rack 21. Then the operating station 7 is lowered onto the shaft walls 31,

32, as shown in figure 15. The method is repeated as described above with references to the figures from 7 to 14.

The method is repeated until all the benthic organisms 2 have been moved in the facil ity 1. The rack 21 at the first end wall 43 is then empty, and new benthic organisms 2 can be put into vacant chambers 23 as shown in figure 16. In the embodiment shown, the empty rack 21 has been raised by the first lifting means 5. In an alternative em bodiment shown in figure 17, the empty rack 21 is raised by the third lifting means The method is described as benthic organisms 2 being put into the rack 21 at the first end wall 43, moved through all the racks 21 throughout tank 4 and removed from the rack 21 at the second end wall 44. If the moving happens once a day, the length of stay in the facility 1 will correspond to the number of shafts 3 in the tank 4. If feeding happens every time moving has been carried out, the benthic organisms 2 will have received as many feed rations as there are shafts 3 in the tank 4.

The facility 1 and the method ensure that all the benthic organisms 2 have the same length of stay in the tank 4, and that the removal of benthic organism 2 happens in the same order as the putting-in thereof into the facility 1.

The method may also be varied in several ways, some of which are described in what follows. According to an alternative method, the operating station 7 picks up a rack 21 that is positioned between the racks 21 at the end walls 43, 44 and brings this rack 21 up to the second end wall in order to empty the rack 21 of benthic organisms 2 as described hereinbefore. The advantage of this method is that the benthic organisms 2 may be removed from the facility 1 if they are ready for sale before having been moved through the entire tank 4. The tank 4 may also be divided in two by an empty rack 21 being removed from a shaft 3 in the middle of the tank 4, the rack 21 being carried to the end of the tank 4 for new benthic organisms 2 to be put in and the rack 21 being returned to the vacant shaft 3. The rack 21 next to it is emptied of benthic organisms 2 as described above, and the benthic organisms 2 are moved in the direc tion from the first end wall 43 towards the empty rack 21 as described hereinbefore. The rack 21 at the first end wall 43 is supplied with new benthic organisms 2. The ad vantage of this method is the utilization of the entire capacity of the tank 4 even though the length of stay of each individual benthic organism 2 is shortened.

It should be noted that all the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate the invention, but do not limit it, and persons skilled in the art may construct many alternative em bodiments without departing from the scope of the attached claims. In the claims, reference numbers in brackets are not to be regarded as restrictive.

The use of the verb "to comprise" and its different forms does not exclude the pres ence of elements or steps that are not mentioned in the claims. The indefinite article "a" or "an" before an element does not exclude the presence of several such elements.

The fact that some features are indicated in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these features cannot be used with advantage.