AU755298B2 - Stock handling device - Google Patents

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

TO BE COMPLETED BY APPLICANT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: IAN MURRAY CATFORD, ROBERT CRAIG CATFORD and COLIN CHARLES CATFORD lan Murray Catford, Robert Craig Catford and Colin Charles Catford A.P.T. Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys GPO Box 772, Adelaide, SA 5001 STOCK HANDLING DEVICE Details of Associated Provisional Application No. PP7657 dated 11 December 1998 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us:- This invention relates to a handling device, that is particularly useful for handling animals for example sheep during shearing, but might also be useful for other handling functions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The handling of stock for various purposes is still primarily performed manually.

The manual handling of stock presents difficulties in so far as the repetition and effort involved leads to various strains and injuries and as a corollary that there is additional cost associated with injuries resulting from tasks requiring stock handling.

Additionally typically the working life of individuals associated with the manual handling of animals, such as the shearing of sheep, is much shorter as a result of the high manual handling load.

A large number of suggestions have been made to assist with the handling of stock, to take on the majority of the physical effort involved. Thus there have been several suggestions for sheep shearing tables and handling devices which have been devised to assist with the placing of sheep on a shearing table and then with the holding of sheep in place for the shearing to take place. One of the problems associated with manual handling of sheep during shearing is that a sheep needs to be shorn all over, S. 20 and unless the sheep is manually turned over there is required an incremental turning action to be effected by the device concerned. Additionally the sheep is alive and ••will have a tendency to move and resist being held for shearing, unless it is held on its back whereon it will tend to stay still, however, this does not allow for shearing of the back itself.

Moffatt in US patent specification 4459941 discloses a shearing table whereby a sheep is loaded onto two parallel rollers which are motorised to turn in the same direction to allow rotation of the sheep. The two rollers are mounted on a centrally positioned upright member with a universal joint which is said to assist with the loading of the sheep thereon. The legs of the sheep are tied and fastened to shackles.

It is not entirely clear how the legs are to be dealt with as the sheep is rotated.

Australian patent application 29867/84 in the name of Brooker shows a shearing table having a belt entrained between two rollers which, in part, supports a sheep for shearing. The feet are still to be shackled, which shackles rotate in a manner coordinated with the rollers.

The handling of the fleece of both of these suggestions is somewhat unsatisfactory because it can easily fall between the rollers or the frame and get caught up in various parts of the support table. Additionally these two suggestions provide only for the sheep to be maintained in a generally horizontal position whereas manoeuvrability of the sheep is desired because it is convenient to have the sheep held angled upwardly or downwardly to access parts of the sheeps anatomy. Similarly there is no accommodation for a range of sizes of sheep. Should the legs become untethered they are somewhat ungainly to put back, a problem exacerbated because of the lack of support relatively close to the position in which the legs are to be shackled.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a handling device for animals and perhaps humans that obviates or minimises any one of the above problems or at least provides the public with a useful choice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An animal handling apparatus, including an animal support subassembly, extending at least a length of the animal to o be supported, S. 20 a base-assembly supporting the sub-assembly, said subassembly including a first roller and a second roller, said first and second rollers being spaced apart side by side, and having entrained therebetween an animal supportive endless belt, said endless belt configured to undercover substantially all of the animal, S• 25 tension adjustment means to adjust tension of the endless belt, drive means to drive the first roller to thereby drive the endless belt around the first and second roller, and .drive actuation means to actuate the driving of the first roller.

This then provides for a device that permits handling of an animal with support over the undersurface of the animal as well as for collection of anything that comes off of the animal, and is of particular benefit for use with sheep in shearing because the fleece can be readily handled as a complete item, minus perhaps the stains, such as might be derived from the crutch, that are removed during the shearing operation.

Preferably an upper train of the endless belt exhibited upwardly between the first and second roller is contacted only by said first and second roller, the upper train in use 4 supporting the animal. Various portions of the endless belt will constitute the upper train of the endless belt as the belt is driven around the first and second roller.

Most preferably the tension adjustment means is so adjusted to provide for a sag in the upper train of the belt, the sag in part being present as a result of the animal being carried thereon. The sag enhances the support for the animal, there being a greater surface area than where the belt were taut, and it is less likely that the animal will slip from the animal handling device.

The apparatus may have a roller spacing adjustment means whereby a distance that the first and second rollers are spaced apart can be adjusted. This facilitates the handling of animals of differing sizes. The adjustment means might be adjustable during the operation of the stock handling apparatus, so that the distance might be adjusted by, for example, an hydraulically operated ram, or an electrically operated screw threaded adjustment arrangement. Alternatively the adjustment might be achieved manually by adjusting the distance whilst the machine is not operated such as perhaps by a manually operated screw threaded device such as a turnbuckle or perhaps by unfastening fixtures supporting the rollers relative to the sub-assembly o and setting the fixtures further apart, or closer together, before refastening the fixtures. It will be understood that this is convenient because adjustment is possible to comfortably accommodate a smaller or larger animal such as a lamb to a 200 kg ram carrying 18 months of wool.

The rollers may be held substantially horizontal, and this is the preferred attitude of 25 the rollers for stable support of the animal. Additionally it is preferred that the rollers are substantially parallel one with respect to the other for ease of construction and predictability of handling. The invention will, however, be understood to include within its scope a subassembly wherein the rollers are not held apart parallel one with respect to another, but perhaps diverge so that one end of the rollers are held further apart from another end of the rollers. It will also be understood that the first and second rollers might be a composite roller provided in coaxial segments so as to effectively provide a single, segmented roller. Thus, two or more roller segments might be provided, which roller segments may or may not be supported for rotation on a single shaft or driven by a single drive means although the latter is preferred.

Thus for example two shafts might be provided for each roller with the first and second rollers being divergent at their longitudinal centres.

It is preferred that when the rollers are substantially horizontal the endless belt covers substantially all of the subassembly from an upright aspect, in effect presenting an open tube with the sub assembly enveloped therein. Particularly, taking the case of shearing of sheep, the shearer will tend to be standing next to one of the rollers, and any debris or wool will fall, if it could, downwardly onto the subassembly which is in this embodiment protected by the endless belt. Movement of the endless belt will tend to clear wool or debris to one side of the handling apparatus. Preferably the endless belt is in the form of a single belt however it may be desired to have two or more endless belts positioned side by side or perhaps overlapping.

It is also preferred that the apparatus has relative roller height adjustment means whereby the relative height of the rollers can be adjusted. Thus one of the two rollers may be positioned higher than the other, which thereby provides for a generally sloping upper train of the endless belt. The animal, in the case of a sheep, can be supported on the slope and this is found to be of particular assistance in better supporting the sheep when presenting an area of wool facing generally at an angle to the horizontal. Shearing surfaces of the sheep that are vertically positioned or horizontally positioned are not as convenient as when surfaces are presented at an angle therebetween.

The roller preferably also has subassembly height adjustment means whereby the height of the subassembly can be adjusted relative to the base of the animal handling apparatus, which adjustment is desirable to adjust the working surface presented by the upper train of the endless belt to a height of most comfort to the shearer concerned.

The subassembly may also be horizontally slidable perhaps radially relative to the base assembly so that for example the subassembly can be slidably moved between a loading/unloading position and a working position. Thus for example a loading/unloading position may be adjacent an animal handling chute from which an animal is loaded onto the subassembly and the subassembly may then be slid into a different position in which the animal is worked upon.

In one particular form the base assembly includes an upright member, the sub assembly including a lateral support member having a means to releasably fasten the upright base member to permit height adjustment of the sub-assembly up and down the upright member. In one form one end of the lateral support member is connected with the upright member in the above manner and preferably the upright member is the sole support for the lateral support member and thereby the subassembly. The sub assembly thus extends generally horizontally to one side of the upright member, which configuration facilitates access to the subassembly.

In the one particular form, the first and second rollers are supported from the lateral support member each by a respective first and second set of one or more arms, each of said set of arms extending upwardly of the lateral support member to thereby permit a sag in an upper train of the endless belt below the lowest level of one or both of the rollers.

Preferably the first and second set of arms are separately pivotable with respect to the lateral support member. This allows for a very simple mechanism to allow for alteration of a distance between the first and second rollers.

The height of the first roller relative to the second roller can be adjusted by axial rotation of the first and second set of arms relative to the lateral support member, thereby adjusting the tilt of the first and second rollers. The first and second set of arms might be kept fixed relative to each other during this operation to maintain the distance between the first and second rollers, or alternatively it might be desired at the same time to alter the distance between the first and second rollers. The tilt adjustment might be used to deliver the animal from the handling apparatus so that the animal can simply slide off of the upper train of the belt as the tilt becomes greater.

S 25 The various adjustments that can be made to the apparatus may be manual adjustments so that perhaps the adjustment may be made using a manually operated screw threaded device or by unfastening fixtures supporting two adjustable parts and setting the parts further apart, closer together, or at a greater angle, before refastening the fixtures. Preferably however the various adjustments are at least assisted or driven mechanically or pneumatically. Pneumatic or mechanical adjustments may be controlled electronically by a control means and the control means may allow for adjustments to be made using foot pedals or hand controls for example.

One advance in the handling of sheep is the use of what is known as an electroimmobilizer which immobilises sheep by electrical paralysis. An example of such a device is disclosed in Australian Patent No 561340 and renders the animal concerned still. Improvements have been made to the device subject of Australian 7 Patent No 561340 in that it now has a timing arrangement to release the animal from paralysis periodically to allow for breathing of the animal.

The present invention in its preferred form does not have a tethering arrangement and is intended for use with an electroimmobilizer such as the aforementioned device, however other embodiments of the invention might also include tethering arrangements which rotate at the same angular speed as the endless belt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a better understanding, the invention will now be described with reference to one embodiment wherein, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the illustrated animal handling apparatus, Figure 2 is a perspective view from the first roller of an animal support sub assembly without an animal supporting endless belt, Figure 3 is a perspective view from the second roller of an animal S 20 support sub assembly without an animal supporting endless belt, Figure 4 is a plan view from above of the animal support sub assembly with the animal supporting endless belt, Figure 5 is a schematic end plan view showing some of the potential adjustments of components of the animal support subassembly, and .oo.•i Figure 6 is a schematic end plan view showing the first and second rollers positioned at different heights achieved by tilting the animal support sub assembly relative to the base of the animal handling apparatus.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Dimensions of certain of the parts as shown in the drawings may have been modified and/or exaggerated for the purposes of clarity of illustration.

The overall layout of the animal handling apparatus is best illustrated in Figure 1.

The illustrated animal handling apparatus includes an animal support subassembly supported off of the ground by a base assembly The animal support subassembly includes a first roller and a second roller the first and second rollers being spaced apart side by side and having entrained thereon an animal supportive endless belt An upper train of the endless belt, extending between upper portion of the first and second roller, provides undercover for substantially all of the animal.

The base assembly comprises an upright base member (10) and a horizontal base frame The upright member is supported on an upright member plate (11) which is slidably attached to rails (12) formed by steel support members having a rectangular aperture (13) limiting the movement of the upright member plate (11).

The movement of the plate might be controlled by a hydraulic ram (not shown) so that the upright member and the sub assembly supported therefrom can be readily moved relative to any means provided for delivering the animal to be handled, such 20 as a chute. Alternatively the plate might be manually pushed along the rails, and locked into place by pins extending through the plate and engaging locking bores within the rails. Apart from the slide the horizontal base frame is generally cross shaped with a transverse base member (14) being formed of RHS steel and extending in the direction transverse of said first and second rollers and extending 25 past the two rollers to thereby stably support them. A lateral base member extends in the same direction as the rollers but extends past a free end of the rollers again to provide stability. It can be seen that the lateral base member is not centrally positioned relative to the transverse base member, but close to one end thereof and generally underlies the second roller Constructional details of the animal support sub assembly are best seen in Figures 2 to 4. The sub assembly is support by a lateral support member (20) which is attached to the upright base member (10) from a first end (21) full details of which are not shown. The lateral support member takes the form of a shaft which is stationary. A first set of roller arms (22, 23) support the first roller from the lateral shaft and a second set of arms (24, 25) support the second roller from the lateral shaft. The first set of arms and second set of arms can be independently pivoted radially around the lateral shaft so as to provide for roller spacing adjustment whereby a distance that the first and second rollers are spaced apart can be adjusted.

A first connector bar (30) is connected through and fixed to the first set of arms and is parallel to the first roller and extends substantially the same length as the first roller. A second connector bar (31) is connected through and is fixed to the second set of arms and is parallel to the first roller but extends generally only between the first set of arms (24, 25). A roller spacing ram (32) is pivotably connected between the first connector bar and the second connector bar. Extension of the roller spacing ram (32) extends the distance between the first and second rollers, whereas retraction of the ram decreases the distance between the first and second rollers. A control means is provided for operation of the ram, and may be mounted on a suitably positioned console together with control means for operation of other aspects of the animal handling apparatus. The console may be supported on a wand extending from the upright base member so as to be positioned generally within easy reach of the operator of the animal handling apparatus. The console might be position •generally above a central position of the animal support subassembly and on a side opposite to where the operator stands, so all the operator needs to do is to reach across and operate whichever control is required. The wand might be adapted to be .20 moved out the way either upwards or to the side.

A tension roller (35) extends generally the length of the second roller and is pivotably supported from a tension connector bar (40) by two swinging arms (38, 39). The tension connector bar is supported on two tension controller arms (36, 37) 25 which are generally V shaped and are pivotably mounted on respective ends of the lateral support member (20) as well as on respective ends of the first connector bar A tension adjustment ram (41) is connected between the tension connector bar and the first connector bar It will be seen that extension and retraction of the tension adjustment ram (41) push inwardly or outwardly the tension roller to take up or give out slack to the endless belt.

A tilt adjust arm (45) is fixed relative to the first end (21) of the lateral support member (20) and extends in the direction of the second roller. A tilt adjust ram (46) connects between the first connector bar (30) and a free end (47) of the tilt adjust arm. It can be seen that extension and retraction of the tilt adjust ram can be used to adjust the tilt of the sub assembly with respect to the lateral support member.

The tilt adjust might have a timer associated therewith to, for example, move the subassembly from a working position to a tip-out position over a three second interval.

Generally when shearing has been finished and the electoimmobilizer has been removed the sheep is very docile and subdued so that when the sub-assembly is tilted the sheep will simply slide onto its feet.

It can be seen that the construction of the first and second rollers is substantially the same. Each roller is spaced apart and parallel with respect to the other roller and is rotatably about one shaft (55, 56) which is joumalled into two bearings (50, 51, 52, 53) at free ends of the first or second set of roller arms. The rollers are composite rollers each comprising three segments (57, 58 and 59) (60, 61, 62) respectively.

The end segments all have rounded end caps (63, 64, 65, 66) to provide a closed and smooth surface.

The first roller is a driven roller, and all other rollers are idler rollers. The first roller is thus responsible for driving the endless belt. The means to drive the endless belt, in the present example is an hydraulic motor (70) mounted on one of the first set of roller arms (23) and is connected to the first shaft (55) by means of a transmission belt (71).

2 A bottom roller (72) extends below the lateral support member to provide a rotational surface for the belt to be drawn over. The bottom roller is somewhat shorter than the first and second rollers and comes short of an edge of the endless belt, so that if any wool should fall into the bottom of the belt it can readily be scooped out.

It can thus be seen that the endless belt is entrained around the entire sub assembly from an upright aspect. Thus the top and bottom of the sub assembly are covered and in addition the longitudinal sides are also. The ends of the sub assembly are not covered. This arrangement allows for ready cleaning out of the subassembly and also permits ready removal of the endless belt, which can be removed by slackening of the belt and simply drawing the belt off from the free end of the sub-assembly.

The lateral support member (20) is connected to the upright base member (10) in a non rotational manner so that any rotational adjustment of the sub-assembly constituents are relative to the lateral support member. The connection of the lateral support member to the upright base member allows for vertical adjustment. The manner in which this is connected can be achieved in a number of different ways.

The drawings of Figures 1 to 4 are generally drawn to scale. The first and second rollers are approximately 1800 mm long whereas other rollers are shorter, generally in the order of 1500 mm and the same goes for the remainder of the sub-assembly apart from the supported end of the lateral support member. Thus the end of the other rollers, and most of the subassembly falls short of both edges of the belt, which arrangement facilitates the maintenance of the sub-assembly in a clean state.

It can be seen that this construction permits considerable flexibility in the manner in which the stock handling apparatus can be adjusted. The options are schematically shown in Figures 5 and 6. The distance between the rollers 4) can be adjusted as shown by arrow (80) the tension roller (35) can be extended or retracted as shown by arrow The tilt of the sub assembly can be adjusted as shown by arrow (82) thereby presenting a sloping support for the sheep. The height of the sub assembly can be adjusted as shown by arrow (83) and the lateral position of the sub assembly on the base assembly can be adjusted as shown by arrow (84).

So* In the case of the relative movements of the different components of the apparatus being controlled using pneumatic rams, the adjustments of the apparatus may be controllable by a control means. The control means may allow for adjustments to be 20 made using foot pedals for example.

Various features of the invention have been particularly shown and described in connection with the exemplified embodiment of the invention, however, it must be understood that these particular arrangements merely illustrate and that the invention is not limited thereto and can include various modifications falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

oooeo

Claims (23)

1. An animal handling apparatus, including an animal support subassembly, extending at least a length of the animal to be supported, a base-assembly supporting the sub-assembly, said subassembly including a first roller and a second roller, said first and second rollers being spaced apart side by side, and having entrained therebetween an animal supportive endless belt, said endless belt configured to undercover substantially all of the animal, tension adjustment means to adjust tension of the endless belt, drive means to drive the first roller to thereby drive the endless belt around the first and second roller, and drive actuation means to actuate the driving of the first roller, such that in use the animalis positioned transversetoe entinment of the belt soth ththe animal rotates atu xis wen the belt is drien.

2. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the apparatus includes roller spacing adjustment means whereby a distance that the first and second rollers 20 are spaced apart can be adjusted.

3. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 2 wherein the endless belt covers substantially all of the subassembly from an upright aspect.

4. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 3 wherein an upper train of the endless belt exhibited upwardly between the first and second rollers is contacted solely by said first and second rollers. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 4 wherein the tension adjustment means is adjustable to provide for a sag in the upper train of the belt, the sag in part being present as a result of the animal being carried thereon.

6. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 5 wherein the tension adjustment means is adjustable during the operation of the stock handling apparatus.

7. An animal handling apparatus as in either of claims 4 or 5 wherein the tension 7 adjustment means is an hydraulically operated ram. .02/20/2062 18: 160

8--2225ATPG 92 +61-8-82723255 APT PAGE 09/27 13 8. An animal handling apparatus as in either of claims 4 or 5 wherein the tension adjustment means is an electrically operated Screw threaded adjustment arrangeme 1 t.

9. An animnal handling apparatus as in claim 3 wherein the rollers are held Substantially horizontal for stable support of the animal, An animal handling apparatus as in claim 9 wherein the rollers are substantially parallel one with respect to the other.

11. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 9 wherein. the rollers diverge so that one end of the rollers are held fturther apart from another end of the rollers. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 10 wherein the first and second rollers are a composite roller provided in segments so that two or more roller segments are provided. :13. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 12 wherein the roller segments are supported for rotation on a single shaft for each of the first and second rollers.

14. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 13 wherein the segments of the fis roller are driven by a single drive means.. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 10 wherein the endless belt is in the *0fourn of a single belt.

16. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 10 wherein two or more endless belts are positioned side by side or overlapping.

17. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 15 wherein the apparatus has relative roller height adjustment means whereby the relative height of the rollers can be adjusted.

18. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 17 wherein one of the two rollers is positioned higher than the other, thereby providing for a generally sloping upper train of the endless belt. 02/10/2002 16:10 +61-8-82723255 APT PAGE 10/27 14

19. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 17 wherein the apparatus has subassembly height adjustment means whereby the height of the subassembly can be adjusted relative to the base of the animal handling apparatus.

20. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 19 wherein the base assembly includes an upright member and the sub assembly includes a lateral support member having a means for releasably fastening to the upright base member to permit height adjustment of the sub-assembly up and down the upright member.

21. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 20 wherein one end of the lateral support member is connected with the upright member and the upright member is the ^i sole support for the lateral support member and thereby the subassembly.

22. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 21 wherein the first and second rollers are supported from the lateral support member each by a respective first and second set of one or more arms, each of said set of arms extending upwardly of the lateral support member to thereby permit a sag in an upper train of the endless belt below the lowest level of one or both of the rollers. 20 23. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 22 wherein the first and second set of arms are separately pivotable with respect to the lateral support member to allow for alteration of a distance between the first and second rollers. 0e**

24. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 23 wherein the height of the first roller relative to the second roller can be adjusted by axial rotation of the first and second set of arms relative to the lateral support member, thereby adjusting the tilt of the first and second rollers. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 24 wherein the first and second set of arms are kept fixed relative to each other during the axial rotation so as to maintain the distance between the first and second rollers.

26. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 24 wherein the distance between the first and second rollers is altered during the axial rotation.

27. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 25 wherein the tilt adjustment of the subassembly is used to deliver the animal from the apparatus'so that the animal can STR 4slide off of the upper train of the belt as the tilt becomes greater. 02/10/2002 16:10 +61-8-82723255 APT PAGE 11/27

28. An animal handling apparatus as in any one of the preceding claim wherein the animal is immobilised by electrical paralysis.

29. An animal handling apparatus as in claim 28 wherein the animal is released from paralysis periodically to allow for breathing of the animal. An animal handling apparatus as in any one of the preceding claims wherein the apparatus includes tethering arrangements which rotate at the same angular speed as the endless belt.

31. An animal handling apparatus as in hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 5 15 Dated this 2nd day of October 2002 S IAN MURRAY CATFORD ROBERT CRAIG CATFORD and COLIN CHARLES CATFORD By their Patent Attorneys A.P.T. Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 0 *5500 0 05 *e