The background of the present invention is a wide¬ spread desire and even direct provisions to the effect that the weight or category of weight of packed poultry should be indicated on the packing.

The invention relates to a method of packing poultry individually in bags by which method the poultry bodies suspended by their legs while being conveyed individually to the packing station are weighed and thereafter on the packing station are placed ir.ec ariic lly in bags on which- the weight or the category of weight of the piece of poultry in question is Indicated.

According to a known method of the said kind the poultry bodies are advanced along a conveyor path past a weighing device and thereafter released so as to fall down - according to the ascertained weight - into one of a number of open trays. When a suitable stock of bodies has been collected in a tray, the bodies are removed therefrom and are introduced into a packing device provided with bags on which the weight or the category of weight ascertained for the bodies in the tray in question is indicated and by means of the device the body is placed in the bag which is sealed. The said removal from the tray ana the introduction into the packing device are carried out manually.

Broilers are for instance divided into categories of weight shifting by 100 grams from class to class. Thus, the category of weight for a broiler of 1000 grams ranges from 950 to 1050 grams, for a broiler of 1100 grams from 1050 to 1150 grams, and for a broiler of 1200 grams from

1150 to 1250 grams.

Partly in order to cover all of the current spectrum of weight and partly to secure continuous packing corre¬ sponding to the number of arriving poultry bodies, which in big slaughterhouses may amount to 4000 bodies or more per hour per conveyor path, it should be taken into account that, when use is made of the known method, β to 8 packing devices, one packing device for for instance trays are required. Each tray can hold about 100 bodies and accord- ing to the degree of filling the operator of the packing device moves the packing device from tray to tray and -

# after having provided the device manually with a stock of the type of bag applicable for the pertinent bag, he in¬ troduces one by one the bodies collected in the tray ^" into the device. ^"~

Said method has various drawbacks. When falling down into a tray the bag with its contents of plucks which beforehand have been placed into the poultry body runs the risk of falling out. The operator has to seize each in- dividual poultry body, lift it free from the tray and in- _ troduce it into the packing device before packing can take place. Thus, each packing device needs its own operator.

A further drawback is the risk of a critical loss of weight. Poultry which after it has been killed and cleaned comes from the refrigeration tank soon loses weight due to loss of liquid when coming into contact with the atmosphere. Notoriously, a loss of weight of 10 to 20 grams in the course of 10 minutes may be experienced. The known method involves that as a consequence of their necessary stay in the trays, many of the weighed bodies will remain for rather a long time in contact with the atmosphere and some of them longer than others before they are packed. In order not to risk that the packed bodies will have a weight inferior to that originally ascertained and indicated on the packing, it may in practice be necessary voluntarily to increase the limits of weight in the figures stated above, such as by 20 grams at each end so that for instance a broiler of

1000 grams voluntarily is weighed out with 970 to 1070 grams a"broiler of 1100 grams with 1070 to 1170 grams, and a broiler of 1200 grams with 1170 to 1270 grams, i.e. with a relative loss in the form of a general excess of weight of 20 grams per broiler since the selling price is based on the prescribed categories of weight. Already for one single transmission box containing 10 broilers this means a loss of income of up to 200 grams and possibly more.

It is the object of the invention to avoid said draw- backs and according to the invention this is achieved by the fact that a predetermined number of poultry bodies after having been advanced with a mutual distance from body to body are gathered on the conveyor path aligned in a group that the group of bodies thus gathered are removed in the lump from the conveyor path by means of one seizing member per body, that by means of the seizing members said bodies are advanced to a position opposite their particular pack¬ ing device, and that the bodies are transferred in the lump from the seizing members to their particular packing device while concurrently with the weighing a bag is placed at each .packing device bearing an indication of weight correspond¬ ing to the weight of the piece of poultry in question ascertained by the weighing procedure, whereafter the body is packed in its individual bag by means of the packing device.

The invention also relates to a plant for carrying out said method, and the plant which is provided with a conveyor path for the poultry bodies suspended individually by their legs, a weighing apparatus coupled to the conveyor path and a packing station placed at the delivery end of the conveyor path and adapted for mechanically introducing the piece of poultry in question into a bag on which the weight or cate¬ gory of weight thereof is indicated, is characterized in that the delivery end of the conveyor path is adapted to gather a predetermined number of poultry bodies aligned in a group, that a corresponding number of packing devices is placed near said delivery end . that a transfer aggregate

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provided with individual seizing members for each piece of poultry is adapted so as to remove in the lump the total number of poultry bodies from the delivery end of the con¬ veyor path and to advance the removed bodies to a position opposite their respective packing device, that opposite each packing device there is located a transfer element belonging to the transfer aggregate, all these elements being adapted to remove in the lump the poultry bodies in question from the seizing members and introducing them into the packing devices, and that the packing devices are con¬ nected with a bag magazine being adapted so as to advance to each packing device a bag having an indication of weight thereon corresponding to the weight ascertained in the weighing apparatus for the piece of poultry in question. By the' above mentioned measures is achieved that the whole conveying of the poultry bodies starting with a re¬ moval from the conveyor path and ending with an introduction into the correct bag is controlled by machinery, the grasp of the poultry body not being released until after removal from the conveyor path the body is completely packed in its bag. Collection of the bodies in a group on he conveyor path and removal of said group in the lump therefrom for joint packing Involve that the tocai packing procedure com¬ prising conveying from cooling, weighing and packing in bags assumed the character of a continuous process. Practically all of the bodies will require the same time for their pack¬ ing. The time during which the bodies are in touch with the atmosphere is essentially reduced, which reduces the risk of critical loss of weight. The distribution of the bodies to the packing devices is rationalized and there is no more question of manually providing each packing device with stocks of different types of bags. In addition, it is possible without difficulty to incorporate the plant into a packing centre in which the bodies packed in bags and arriving from the packing devices are sorted out according to their weight and placed in corresponding shipping boxes of e.g. 10 bodies. Moreover, due to its structure the plant

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including a possible packing centre is well suited for el¬ ectronic control in that the compulsorily operated convey¬ ing of the body allows the use of electronic watching during the entire process described above. According to the invention the transfer aggregate may be provided with a displacement path on which the seizing devices are movable along the path, the displacement path extending along the delivery end of the conveyor path where the seizing members may grasp their individual piece of poultry, and up to a position in front of a row of packing devices, the seizing members being adapted so as by a move¬ ment along the displacement path to take up a position opposite their individual packing device for transfer of the removed body to the device. Further, the transfer elements may according to the invention be adapted so as to transfer the bodies removed by the seizing members from a hanging to a lying position and to introduce the bodies in the ^' last mentioned position into their particular packing device. The said embodiment - of the plant may without difficulty and in a space saving manner be combined with the other transport systems- serving for transfer of the poultry bodies from the refrigeration tank and the weighing device and for removal of the packed bodies. In a particularly compact embodiment of the invent- ive plant the transfer aggregate is provided with a rail body bearing the seizing members movably mounted along the rail, and the transfer elements are co-swingably mounted on oscillation arms in such a manner that from an upright position in which the elements are opposite their particular seizing member they are swingable into a lowered position in which they are opposite the reception end of a number of packing devices placed in a row at a level lower than the delivery end of the conveyor path for introduction of the poultry bodies retained by the transfer elements into their particular packing device, and the transfer elements are provided with retaining means adapted to retain the poultry bodies during the swinging substantially in a

relative position in relation to the elements corresponding to the relative position in which the bodies are removed from the seizing members.

According to the invention the retaining means may be arranged so as to retain the poultry bodies until they are pushed into a bag by a piston member while being stowed whereby, In addition to a well-managed introduction of the body into the device, a uniform stowing of the bodies during the packing may be achieved. According to the invention a removal device may be mounted at the delivery end of each packing device, said removal device being adapted to jointly remove the filled bags from the packing devices and deliver them to their particular sealing aggregate which, after the filled bag having been sealed, delivers It to its particular removal device. Also this part of the packing process may conse¬ quently take place concurrently with the other operational steps in such a manner that the grasp of the product is not released until it has been completely packed for delivery and sorting out in shipping boxes.

In the following the Invention will be explained in more detail, reference being made to the drawing on which

Figure 1 A - D is a schematic representation of an embodiment of a plant according to the invention having a conveyor path, a transfer aggregate and a number of packing devices,

Figure 2 A - F is a side view of the same embodiment of the packed product, and

Figure 3 is ^a schematic representation on a larger scale of a detail of the transfer aggregate of the plant.

The plant shown has a conveyor path 1 for poultry bodies 2 being suspended by their legs in retaining means

4 which are movable along the conveyor path 1. A weighing apparatus 5 is coupled to the conveyor path and is arranged so as to register the weight of each poultry body 2 passing each single apparatus and to transmit a corresponding signal to a bag magazine 6 adapted to contain a number of bags 7

divided into categories of weight and marked accordingly.

In Fig. 1 section A shows on a schematic scale the part of the conveyor path having relation to the present invention. The poultry bodies 2 arrive along said conveyor path from a refrigeration tank in which they are cooled after having been killed and cleaned. Thus, the conveyor path may start already in a cleaning station so that a continuous conveyo'r system from cleaning via cooling to the final packing is provided. Section B shows in Fig. 1 the delivery end 8 of the conveyor path. Said end is adapted for collecting a pre¬ determined number of poultry bodies aligned in a row. In the following description the invention will be explained in connection with an embodiment in which the distance between the bodies 2 at said delivery end 8 is -substantially less than the distance "a" between the bodies 2 during the preceding feeding. As explained later on, the Invention may also be performed in a way in which the distance between the bodies 2 at the delivery end 8 is the same as during the preceding feeding. To save space, the present example shows a closely picked-up group of four bodies 2 only. In pract¬ ice a group of eight bodies has for Instance proved to be a practical unity of operation.

Close by the delivery end 8 a number of packing devices 9 ^' corresponding to the number of bodies of the group are mounted, viz. four in the present example.

In section D of Fig. 1 the packing devices are in¬ dicated schematically and in the example they are of the known kind in which the poultry bodies in order to be in¬ troduced into a bag 7 shown schematically are forced through a resilient funnel 10 which causes the bodies to be stowed. The packing devices are located with a mutual distance between their sides corresponding to the distance "a" be¬ tween the bodies suspended on the conveyor path 1. The distance may, however, also deviate from "a".

To the plant belongs in addition thereto a transfer aggregate schematically indicated in sections B and C of

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of Fig. 1. The transfer aggregate is provided with a distribution element in the form of a rail body 11 on which particular seizing members 12 are mounted displaceably along the body, one seizing member per poultry body 2 in the gathered group of bodies at the delivery end 8. Thus, in the present example four seizing members 12 are mounted. Each seizing member has a pair of prehensile claws 1 for - each of the legs 3 of the poultry bodies.

The rail body extends along the delivery end 8 of the conveyor path up to in front of the row of packing devices 9 placed at a level lower than the delivery end 8.

In a manner not shown in detail the seizing members 12 are adapted so that from a position opposite its particular poultry body on the delivery end 8 the seizing member takes up a position opposite its packing device 9 h" a movement along the rail body 11. Moreover, the rail holy 11 is movable towards the poultry bodies 2 suspended on the delivery -end* 8 in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper so that the seizing members 12 will grasp the legs of the individual bodies and again at some distance back from the delivery end 8 in order to pull the bodies 2 free from the retaining means in which they were suspended.

Moreover, the transfer aggregate is also provided with transfer elements 15, one transfer element per packing apparatus 9. Each transfer element 15 consis-s of retain¬ ing means in the form of bars Iβa, iSb, lcc, confer Fig. 3 _. constituting oblong supporting elements.

In a manner not shown in detail but schematically indicated by a swinging arm In Fig. the elements are swingable jointly from a position in which the supporting members l are located opposite the seizing members 12 to a position in which they Introduce the poultry bodies re¬ moved from the seizing members 12 into the packing devices 9- In addition to being swingable as indicated by an arrow lS, the transfer elements 15 are movable in the direction of the axis of oscillation and the cars iβa, lob and loc extend in the same direction. The length of the

bars lo corresponds at least to the outer distance between the legs 3 of a suspended poultry. The bars Iβ constitute together a seizing member being open in the displacement direction to the right, the bar iβ in Fig. 3 being destined to be pushed forward behind the legs 3 of the poultry bodies while the bars lob and l6c are pushed forward in front of the legs. When the seizing members 12 thereafter release their hold of"the legs 3 so that the body 2 with the legs 3 no is suspended in the element 15 _. and the element is lowered to the right in Fig. 3 _. the bars iβ will together during the swinging movement retain the poultry ody in a position in relation to the element 15 corresponding to the relative position in which the body is removed from the seizing members 12. By said procedure the poultry body changes from a hanging to a Tying position and in the latter position it is introduced into its pack¬ ing device 9. The supporting members lo are further in a manner not shown in detail adapted so ^' as to retain the poultry bodies in the packing devices 9 until by means of a piston member 19 the bodies while being stowed are pushed into a bag 7.

For each packing device 9 there is provided a removal member 21 and all these members are adapted to jointly re¬ move the bags 7 in which a poultry body has been placed, away from the packing device 9 and to deliver the filled bags 7 to their respective sealing aggregate 22 which will seal the open end of the bags 7 whereaf-er the bags with the poultry bodies are released and delivered each to its respective conveyor bowl 23 for further sorting out in categories of weight and introduction into corresponding shipping boxes.

Concurrently with said packing process the bag ^' magazine receives from the weighing apparatus 5 an impulse having as a consequence that from the weighing apparatus a bag 7 carrying an Indication of weigh" corresponding to the weight of the piece of poultry in question ascertained in the weighing apparatus 5 will be advanced to the packing

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device 9 in which the weighed poultry body in question is to be packed. This operation is indicated schematically by an arrow 23' .

The whole cycle of operation of the plant shown is as follows:

The poultry bodies are advanced individually suspended by their legs along the conveyor path 1 with a mutual dist¬ ance "a" which in practice is depending partly on a mutual distance between said bodies necessary for the operation of suspending the bodies and partly on the desire of convey¬ ing each body along the conveyor path 1 and past the weigh¬ ing apparatus 5 undisturbed by one of the neighbouring bodies. Upon weighing by the weighing apparatus a pre¬ determined number of poultry bodies 2 are gathered in align- ment at the delivery end 8 of the conveyor path 1 where the distance between the bodies 2 is substantially less than during the preceding conveying. Said group of bodies is removed in the lump by the seizing members 12, distributed by the latter to a position each opposite its packing device, transferred by means of the transfer elements 15 in the lump from the seizing members 12 to its particular packing device 9 and into the latter, introduced each into its own bag 7 which in the meantime by impulse from the weighing apparatus 5 has been advanced from the magazine β with the weight ascertained for each one indicated therecn, and delivered in the lump from the packing devices 9 zr sorting out and introduction into shipping boxes. The working rhythm may be adapted so that the total work from cooling to weighing, to packing into bags and to delivery of the bags assumes the character of a continuous operational process. During this entire work each individual poultry body is positively handled which makes it possible zo exactly control the velocity and the operational steps of the single phases of the process and to quickly completing the whole working process described so that the contact of the individual poultry bodies with the atmosphere will be as short as possible.

The system functions even if a poultry body falls out from the conveyor path 1 during its advancement. If the body falls out before the weighing procedure, no bag will be advanced for the -reatining means 4 which passes in empty condition past the weighing apparatus 5 _. a d the same is the case for the corresponding packing device 9. If the body falls out after the weighing procedure, the bag in question remains in the empty condition in front of the packing device in question and should be removed before the next group of bodies arrives to the packing devices.

The system also allows a sorting out by qualities, for instance in quality I and II, respectively. If a II quality is ascertained to be present on the conveyor path 1 before the weighing apparatus 5 _. said ascertainment can be communicated to the weighing apparatus 5 _. e.g. by providing the retaining means 4 with a particular indication member such as a displacement pin 24 which will be pushed out, e.g. manually, for the ascertained quality II so that by means of the pin 24 the weighing apparatus 5 will indicate a quality II, a corresponding impulse being sent to the bag magazine β to transfer a bag 7 marked quality II. The said body II will thereafter be packed in said bag concurrently with the other bodies. Thus, it is not necessary to remove the body II from the conveyor system and to collect and pack such bodies separately.

The system also allows a specific sorting out by weight, such as a specific packing of so-called grill broilers, i.e. a broiler of 1200 grams without its contents of plucks. This means that during the conveying step no such plucks will have to be introduced into the broiler. If the weighing apparatus 5 shows a broiler of 1200 grams it can Inform the plucks station not to introduce plucks into the body in question and also instruct the maga¬ zine 6 to advance a specific bag marked to be for a grill broiler. Also said sorting out can consequently be carried out in the system without requiring the body in question to be removed from the conveyor system and to collect and p ck

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such bodies separately.

In an alternative embodiment not shown the poultry bodies will remain at a mutual distance "a" also at the delivery end 8 of the conveyor path, the seizing members 12 being arranged at the same mutual distance when being in their operational position indicated in Fig. IB. For delivering the bodies into the packing devices 9, the members 12 can be spread along the rail 11 seeing that the packing devices 9 ^ay be so broad - seen in the long¬ itudinal direction of the rail 11 - that a spreading of the bodies as mentioned Is advisable or necessary.