IE20130359A1

IE20130359A1 - Straightening curled articles

Info

Publication number: IE20130359A1
Application number: IE20130359A
Authority: IE
Inventors: Patrick Thomas
Original assignee: Whitby Seafoods Ltd
Priority date: 2012-11-27
Filing date: 2013-11-27
Publication date: 2014-07-16
Also published as: GB201303508D0; GB2510460A; GB201320948D0; IE20130357A1; GB2508229A; IE86643B1; GB2510240B; IE20130358A1; GB201221257D0; IE86760B1; GB201320950D0; GB2508249A; GB2510461B; GB201320949D0; GB2510240A; GB2510461A

Abstract

The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for straightening curled articles and is particularly, although not exclusively, applicable to Nephrops norvegicus. Small lobsters are fed between a conveyor (52) and an upper stationary member (54) to straighten the lobsters.

Description

TENING CURLED ARTICLES ΐThe present invention relates to apparatus and methods for reorientating wrongly orientated articles and to straightening curled articles. The present invention rs particularly, although not exclusively, applicable to reorientating wrongly orientated Nephrops norvegicus. it is known to remove the shells on tails of Nephrops norvegicus by placing the taiis to rest on the shell and with the end of the tails leading the way on a conveyor. The taiis are advanced towards two opposed drive rollers. As the taiis pass between the rollers the shells move forward between the rollers and the meat is squeezed off the shells to fail into openings in the conveyor in advance of the opposed rollers.

The tails are placed within the shell and the ends of the taiis leading by a manual operation. This is time-consuming. Further, the tails are floppy and they are difficult to handle and orientate, thus further increasing the time to effect the alignment.

A further problem is that the meat coming off the rollers is often damaged.

It is an object of the present invention to attempt to overcome at least one of the above 20 or other disadvantages.

According to one aspect of the present invention, apparatus is arranged, in use, to reorientate the direction of wrongly orientated articles comprising a conveyor arranged to, in use, pass articles over a jet such that the jet is arranged to cause wrongly orientated articles to be impacted by the jet to cause the wrongly orientated articles to flip over such that they are correctly orientated.

According to another aspect of the present invention apparatus is provided arranged in use to reorientate the direction of elongate articles comprising a conveyor arranged in use to pass articles over an at least partially upwardly directed flow such that the flow is arranged to cause wrongly orientated articles to flip over such that a previously trailing end of the elongate article is caused to now lead and with correctly orientated articles remaining in their orientation Without flipping over.

The flow which may comprise the jet may operate periodically. The flow may comprise an air flow. The jet may comprise an air knife.

I·· II -- ΕίΓ CL | QP£fJ TO PUBLIC ^SPFCT^rj j j JSi to. .££§/... Di ,!i IE1 30 3 59 The flow which may be a jet flow may be longer in the direction of travel of articles on the conveyor than in a direction transverse to that direction. The jet may be at a different pressure or at a different volume at different locations of the air knife, The jet may be applied through a plurality of openings in the conveyor. The diameter of at ieast some of the jets may be between 0.2mm and 4mm and is preferably 1mm. There may be between 20 and 120 openings arid preferably there are 70 openings.

The flow, such as the jet may be at [east upwardly and forwardly with respect to the 10 base of the conveyor.

A plurality of jets spaced from each other may be arranged to impact on the articles. Both air jets may be arranged to impact simultaneously on the articles, !n the exemplary embodiments the flow is effected by directing the flow at least partially downwardly with the flow impacting on a base of the conveyor beneath an article. Suitably the flow is arranged to pass at least partially across the extent of the conveyor. Preferably the flow is arranged to impact on a deflector or downstream of the commencement of the flow which deflector extends at least partially across the conveyor. Typically, the flow is directed upwardly from the base of the conveyor. In an exemplary embodiment the apparatus includes a construction downstream of the commencement of the flow arranged to be engaged by the leading end of an incorrectly orientated article. Here, a correctly orientated article is arranged to be urged by the flow past the constrictor. Suitably the conveyer is inclined downwardly in the direction of intended travel of the articles. Preferably, the conveyer included a channel along which articles, in use, are arranged lo pass. In exemplary embodiments the apparatus includes vibration means arranged in use, to vibrate the conveyer. Here, the vibration means are arranged to cause all of the articles to be on the conveyer with the same part of the article facing downwards. Suitably the vibration means are arranged to at least partially assist in moving the articles along the conveyer. Preferably the vibration or the operation of air flow or both are arranged to occur periodically, for instance at the same time.

In exemplary embodiments the apparatus includes a turner located on the conveyor, the turner being arranged to be engaged by articles on the conveyor whereby in the, any articles on their side are arranged to be turned such that then they do not lie on their side. Suitably, the turner comprises a projection extending upwardly from the base of the conveyor. Preferably the projection extends upwardly from the base and forwardly with respect to the direction in which articles are conveyed. More preferably, the projection Is inclined to one side of the conveyor. Suitably the turner ls located downstream of the flow. In exemplary embodiments the apparatus includes a guide arranged, in use, to turn products not already (li 3 0 3 59 correctly orientated to be guided onto a surface in the correct orientation. Here, the guide is typically connected to a part that does not vibrate. The guide may also be connected to the conveyor. Suitably, the guide comprises a wire. Preferably, the projections on the product are arranged, in use to engage with the guide to effect the reorientation.

In exemplary embodiments, the apparatus includes a ramp on one side wali arranged, in use, to assist in retaining at least some articles on the conveyor after they have been impacted by the flow. Suitably, the ramp extends above the remainder of the side wall. Preferably the ramp includes a vertical extent. More preferably, the ramp includes a portion that particularly faces downwardly towards the conveyor.

The exemplary embodiments comprise Nephrops Norvegicus orientation apparatus.

It will be appreciated that a method of reorientating wrongly orientated articles to a 15 correct orientation is also disclosed. The method comprising conveying the articles over the flow with the flow causing the wrongly orientated articles to flip over to such that they are correctly orientated. Suitably, the cross-sectional area of the one end region of wrongly orientated articles is greater than the cross-sectional area of at least some of the remainder of the articles such that the force exerted by the flow is greater on the end region whereby the force exerted by the fiow assists in causing the wrongly facing articles to flip over. Preferably the greater cross-sectional area is caused to increase by the force of the flow. Typically the weight of the wrongly orientated articles is greater towards a leading region of the article than it is towards a trailing region to assist in causing the jet to flip over the wrongly facing articles. The method may comprise using apparatus having an abutment which an incorrectly orientated article at least is arranged to abut whilst the flow is applied at least partially upwardly on the article.

According to another aspect of the present invention straightening apparatus is provided arranged in use to straighten curled articles comprises a conveyor arranged in use to transport articles in a first direction, which articles may be curled, and a straightening member created above the upper surface of the conveyor whereby the engagement of the articles with the conveyor and the stationary member is arranged to at least partially straighten the curled articles.

According to a further aspect of the present invention a method of at least partially straightening articles comprises passing the curled articles between an upper stationary member and a lower conveyor whereby engagement of the curled articles with the stationary member and the conveyor at least partially straightens the curled articles.

IE 1 3 0 3 59 According to another aspect of the present invention, a method of orientating wrongly orientated articies to a correct orientation comprises conveying the articles over a jet with the jet causing the wrongly orientated articles to flip over to such that they are correctly orientated, According to a further aspect, there is provided an apparatus for separating meat from a 5 shell comprising a recessed portion facing a protrusion and means for moving at least one of the recessed portion or protrusion such that, in use, the shell is caused to move between the recessed portion and the protrusion and the meat is caused to he removed from the shell.

In the exemplary embodiments at least one of the recessed portion or protrusion is 10 curved. Suitably at ieast one of the recessed portion or protrusion is arc shaped. Both the recessed portion and the protrusion are arranged, in use to be caused to move. For instance, suitably at least one of the recessed portion or protrusion are rotated. Alternatively the recessed portion and the protrusion are both rotated in opposite directions and at a different peripheral speed. Suitably, the reaction of the different peripheral speeds is less than 8:1 or Jess than 6:1 or more than 2:1 or more than 3:1 or is 4.4:1. Suitably, the recessed portion and the protrusion are biased towards each other. It will be appreciated that there is therefore also provided a method of separating meat from a shell comprising engaging the shell in a nip formed between a recessed portion and a protrusion and moving at least one of the recessed portion or protrusion such that the shell travels through the nip and the moat is removed before the nip. Suitably, the meat is caused to pass to at least one side of the nip with respect to the direction of movement of at least one of the recessed portion or protrusion. Here, the meat is caused to travel past the nip under the speed of movement of the recessed portion or protrusion or both. Typically, at least one of the recessed portion or protrusion is curved. Preferably, the method comprises initially engaging the tail of the shell with the nip. For instance, engaging at least the central region of the tail thereby causing the meat and at least one oi the veins of the meat is to be removed. In the exemplary embodiments the method comprises removing the meat from Nephrons Norvegicus.

It will be appreciated that the various aspects can be combined independently and in conjunction with other aspects to provide an improved apparatus. The present invention is further defined in the claims and elsewhere in the specification.

The present invention is further defined in the claims and elsewhere in the specification.

The present invention can be carried into practice in a number of ways and one embodiment will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: IE 1 3 0 3 59 Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a machine 10 arranged to align Nephrops norvegicus such as small lobster and to separate the shells from the meat; Figure 2 is a perspective view of part of a conveyer 12 used in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a side view of supply station arranged to feed Nephrops nor veg icus to the machines of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a plan view of the end region of the conveyor shown in figure 1; Figure 5 is a detailed view of the end region of the conveyor shown in figure 1, Figure 6 is a plan view of part of the conveyor; Figure 7 is an alternative embodiment showing an alternative section of the machine 10 in the region of the alignment; Figure 8 is a detaii of a deflector, and Figure 9 is a perspective view of an alternative end region of the machine showing how the meat is separated from the shell.

As shown in Figure 1, the machine 10 includes a hopper 14 arranged to convey small lobster 16 from the hopper onto a conveyor 12. Whilst only one conveyor is shown a plurality of conveyors may be provided which plurality of conveyors may be side by side or parallel to each other or both. The conveyer 12 supplies the small lobster onto a transporter 18 that feeds the small lobster through opposed driven rollers 20 that strip the meat off the tails in a known manner. The conveyor 12 includes a channel that is narrower in width than the lengths of the small lobster. The shells of the small lobster passes through the rollers which shells are later dispersed of. The meat is squeezed off the shell and passes through openings 22 in advance of the rollers for subsequent processing.

The oonveyor 12, which may be a conveyor inclined downwardly at an angle of between 10° and 30 as shown at 17 for instance towards the transporter 18, may be vibrated to orientate the smail lobster such that the small lobster rests on its shell 40 with the meat 42 facing upwardly. The vibration effects this orientation as a resuit of the heaviest part of the small lobster being in the shell region of the small lobster. The vibration is effected by an eccentric drive 24. The vibration may be continuous or periodic. The vibration assists in causing the small lobster to move down the conveyor. When the lobsters are on their backs or IE 1 3 0 3 59 shells they proceed rapidly down the conveyor: on their fronts the meat and the spines from the shells impedes their progress.

Some small lobster on the conveyor will have the tails 44 facing forwardly. Other small 5 lobster will have the tails facing rearwardly. In order to ensure that all of the small lobster leaves the conveyor with the tails facing forwardly, a jet, such as an air jet 29 which may be an air knife, is supplied through the base 26 of the conveyor from a pump 27. The air may be continuously or periodically supplied. The period of air supply may correspond to the period of vibration of the conveyor. There may be more than one such air jet which is spaced from the first air jet.

The rate of flow of air supplied may be between 2 UM and 16 UM and is preferably 4 UM for the trailing air jet and 10 UM for the leading air jet. The base 26 of the conveyor may include between 5 and 20 openings and is preferabiy supplied through 10 openings. The diameter of at ieast some of the openings may be between 4 mm and 0.2 mm and is preferably 1 mm. At ieast one or some of the openings may be forward facing such as at an angle of 45° to the base of the conveyor in the direction of travel of the lobsters. Alternatively or additionally the or each air jet may comprise an air knife slit which may be longer than it is wide. The air through such slits may enter at an inclusive angle to channel of less than 60° such as 30°. The air through such slits may have a different pressure and or volume of air at different locations along the slit which may assist in altering the orientation of products. The air jets may be attached to the conveyor or may be separate from the conveyor.

Either as a result of the end of the tails being lighter than the rest of the small lobster or as a result of the end of the tails having a greater cross-sectional area than the remainder of the smali lobster, the tail end regions of the small lobster are caused to be raised as the smali lobster passes over the air jets. When the end of the tail leads the small lobster over the jets, the ends of the tails may rise up slightly. However, as the conveyor is inclined downwardly, this raising of the ends of the tails Is not sufficient to cause the tails to flip over. However when the ends of the tails face upstream on the conveyor, the raising of the ends of the tails is sufficient to cause the ends of the tails to flip over and to reorientate the taiis with the ends leading. This is assisted by the downwards inclination of the conveyor which makes the flipping more readily able to occur. When there is more than one air jet and the tail is facing the wrong way the tail end will lift to bring the tail end into the move concentrated part of the air flow. This brings the other end of the lobster touches the channel causing friction which allows the combination of the two slightly spaced apart air knifes to turn the tail over. There may be a local constriction in the width of the channel in the lower region of the channel on the trailing end of the slit of the upstream slit or the downstream slit or both to assist In the friction effect.

IE 1 3 0 3 59 Such a local constriction may also assist in allowing different sized products such as the lobster tails to be turned over when required.

Figures 7 and 8 show an alternative arrangement for flipping incorrectly aligned 5 products such that the previously trailing tails are caused to flip over such that the tails subsequently lead.

As shown in Figure 6 air may be directed downwardly and forwardly such as from one side of a conveyor 102 which angle may be 45° to the longitudinal extent of the conveyor 102, such as through a pipe 104. The air may impinge against the base 106 of tho conveyor and may also be directed at least partially across the conveyor and may, alternatively or additionally be at least partially directed towards a deflector 108. The air supply may create a vortex.

The deflector 108 may be mounted on the side of the conveyor and may be mounted on the same side as the pipe 104, In use, a correctly orientated product will advance towards the deflector. As the article approaches the deflector 108 air Is directed at least partially upwardly beneath the tail to cause the air to rise above a constriction 110 of the deflector to allow the product to hop over the deflector which may be at least partially through a recess 112 in the deflector.

An incorrectly oriented product will advance towards the constriction and may momentarily abut the constriction 110.

Tho tail may be subject to an upwardly directed force of air which may cause the tail fins to fan out thereby increasing the force urging the tail upwardly. The tali may also be urged to twist slightly as a result of air acting across the extent of the conveyor. The tail is then caused to flip upwardly and forwardly to fly past arid over the tall such that the product leaves the constructor with the tai! now leading.

The deflector and any of its features may be incorporated into any of the embodiments.

Furthermore any features of the first embodiment may be incorporated into the 35 embodiment referred to in Figures 6 and 7.

Downstream of the air jets and upstream of the end of the conveyor 12 an Inclined turner such as a blade 64 may be provided or shown in Figure 4, The blade 64 may extend from the base 26 of the conveyor and may extend up one side 64 of the conveyor. The blade IEl 3 0 3 59 may assist some of the product 62 which may be on its side, as opposed to on its back, to move onto its back. The product 6Ξ Includes small barbs on tbe shell that engage with the biade 64 to further assist in turning the products to resting on their shell, Figure 4 also shows a guide 68 which may be provided. The guide may extend beyond the end of the conveyor. The guide may comprise a wire guide. The guide may extend forwardly and downwardly with respect to the inclination of the conveyor 12. The guide 68 may be connected to a non vibrating part 70 of the machine as shown in Figure 5. This connection may serve to limit the vibration of the guide from that of conveyor 12.

When the leading tail of a lobster on its back comes to the wire guide part of the tail is initially between the wire guide and the side of the channel. Then part of that side of the shell comes between the wire guide and the shell. This causes the lobster tail to flick over such that the meat now faces downwardly as it leaves the conveyor 12. The meat is then stripped from the rciiers as previously described. The meat coming off the shell from the underside of the shell rather than from the top side.

It will be appreciated that the meat can be extracted from the shell from either orientation of the product.

Sometimes the small lobsters may be curled up which be due to rigor mortis. Previously such curled products have to be straightened by hand. Figure 3 shows a supply station so that straightens such products.

The small iobsters are fed between a conveyor 52 and an upper stationary member 54.

Whilst the member 54 has beon described as a stationary member it will be appreciated that the member 54 may flex - il is only stationary relative to the movement of the conveyor.

The small iobsters are fed between a conveyor 52 and the upper stationary member 54.

The upper stationary member may be a planar member which may be a rubber member. Alternatively the upper member 54 may comprise a profited member which may comprise a corrugated member which corrugations may extend transverse such as perpendicular to the direction of travel 58 of the conveyor 52. The corrugations may be formed of rubber or plastic. The stationary member may abut the conveyor when no articles are between the conveyor and the stationary member. Alternatively the stationary member may be spaced from the conveyor, even when no articles are between these members.

As a resuit of the reduced height between the stationary member and the conveyor the cur! the products may be reduced or eliminated such that the products 60 exit the upper IE1 30 3 59 member 54 in a straightened condition. The products may not necessarily be aligned. The conveyor 52 then feeds the products on the conveyor 12 shown in Figure 1.

As shown in Figure 6 a deflector 72 is provided on one side wall 74 of the conveyor. 5 The deflector may be coextensive with the air jet or partially coextensive or downstream of the air jet. Air from the jet may be directed forwardly and upwardly and the deflector may cause the air from the Jet to be directed also towards the other side wall 76. In this way some of the lobsters may be directed up the other side wall.

A ramp 78 projects upwardly from the side waif 76. The ramp may be a wall that may be curved. Some products may ride up the ramp which may assist in returning the products to the base 26 of the conveyor. The ramp may include a vertical extent along part of its length and a part of the ramp may be angled to face d own ward I y.

Figure 8 shows a separation part 112 of the machine arrangement to remove meat 114 from the sheii 16.

The separation part may include one part having a protrusion 118 such as curved or arced protrusion 118 which may be an upper part facing a recess 120 such as a curved or arcuate recess 120.

At least one of tho protrusion 113 or recess 120 may be movable such that a tail nipped between them is urged forwardly and such that the meat is stripped from the shell. At least one of the recess or protrusion may be rotatable. When both rotate they may rotate in opposite directions and they may rotate at different peripheral speeds. For instance the protrusion 118 may rotate at a peripheral speed faster than the recess 120 such as a ratio of less than 8:1 or Jess than 6:1 or more that 2:1 or more than 3:1 or in the region of 4.4:1. The protrusion may rotate at 157rpm and the recess may rotate at 3Srpm, As the nip between the recess and the protrusion is such that the shell is gripped and forced through the recess and protrusion the meat is unable to pass through the nip and is directed to one side or the other of the nip. The shell continues through the nip in the direction of the nip. In this way the shell is collected at a separate location to the meat downstream of the separation part. This contrasts with the conventional method of separation where rollers effect the separation within the meat being collected in the gaps in a flat conveyor in advance of the rollers. In this conventional method of separation meat that may slightly to one side of a gap Is crushed by the convenor and the roiiers to become waste product.

IE 1 3 0 3 59 The recess and the protrusion may be resiliently based towards each other and may be resiliently based into contact with each other by means {not shown).

The recess portion and the protrusion may grip at least the central portion or only the 5 central region of the tail and may affect removal of at least some of the veins of the meat.

The recess and the protrusion may have the same radius or may have different radii. The recess may have a greater curve or arc than the curve or arc of the protrusion, The speed of removal of the meat may cause the meat to move beyond the recessed portion and the nip in the same general direction that the shell is caused to travei but to one side or the other.

Attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined rn any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features. 3Q The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Claims

1. Straightening apparatus arranged, in use, to straighten curled articles comprising a conveyor arranged, in use to transport articles in a first direction which articles may be curled 5 and a straightening member located above the upper surface of the conveyor whereby the engagement of the articles with the conveyor and the stationary member is arranged to at least partially straighten the curled articles.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the stationary member is spaced from 10 the conveyor,

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in that the stationary member contacts the conveyor when there is no product between the conveyor and the stationary member. 15

4. Apparatus as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 3 in which the stationary member is arranged to flex when the product is conveyed beneath the stationary member.

5. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 in which the stationary member comprises a profiled stationary member.

6. Apparatus and claimed in claim 5 in which the profile comprises corrugations.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 in which the corrugations extend transversely to the direction of travel of the conveyor. 6, Apparatus as claimed in any one of claim 1 to 7 in which the articles comprise Nephrops Norvegicus.

8. 9. A method of at least partiaiiy straightening articles comprising passing the curled 30 articles between an upper stationary member on a lower conveyor whereby engagement of the curled articles with the stationary member and the conveyor at least partially straightens the curled articles.

9.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9 when using straightening apparatus as claimed in 35 any of claims 1 to 9.