Bird Leg Bending Mechanism for Shackle Engagement
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Solution Overview
Problem
In poultry slaughterhouses, suspending birds from shackles is a labor-intensive and often inefficient process due to the risk of legs not engaging correctly with the shackle, leading to entanglement issues and reduced value of the bird as a food product.
Innovation Solution
The method involves bending the bird's legs at the hock joint to clench the feet, reducing their size and making them easier to insert into closed-loop shackles, while an apparatus with an engagement member and carrier aids in synchronizing the bending process, ensuring optimal engagement with the shackle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If manual arrangement of birds in retainer clips is used, then the process can be semi-automated, but the risk of shackle not catching legs correctly remains and labor intensity is high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by bending the bird's legs at the hock joint before insertion into the shackle. This pre-positioning of the legs in a bent state ensures that the feet are optimally positioned for engagement with the shackle, thereby improving reliability of correct engagement while enabling automation of the suspension process.
2Ease of operation
If legs are not bent before insertion, then the insertion process is simpler, but the digits spread out and make correct shackle engagement difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The leg bending mechanism performs preliminary action by bending the legs at the hock joint before the legs are inserted into the shackle. This ensures the digits are drawn together and positioned optimally for engagement, making the insertion process reliable while maintaining ease of operation through automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state of the legs by bending them at the hock joint, which alters the position of the digits from a spread-out state to a drawn-together state. This parameter change (leg angle and digit position) facilitates correct shackle engagement while maintaining operational simplicity.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If closed-loop shackles are used, then entanglement during plucking is reduced, but the feet must be passed through openings which is difficult when digits are spread out
Solution Approach 1:
The leg bending mechanism performs preliminary action by bending the legs and drawing the digits together before insertion into the closed-loop shackle. This pre-positioning allows the compacted feet to be easily passed through the shackle openings, maintaining ease of operation while preserving the advantage of reduced entanglement provided by closed-loop shackles.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach minimizes the risk of incorrect engagement and entanglement, enhances the reliability of the suspension process, and reduces the risk of leg injuries and fractures, thereby improving the efficiency and quality of bird processing.
Implementation Method 1
When bending the leg at the hock joint so that the foot comes nearer to the breast of the bird, the digits of the foot automatically bend and come closer together due to the pull on muscles and tendons, thus causing a clenching of the foot.
Implementation Method 2
An even tighter clenching may, however, be achieved by extending the knee joint between the drumstick and the thigh.
Implementation Method 3
When the body of the bird is allowed to hang freely from the engagement member, the digits will have come together and the foot will be clenching.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
A method of suspending a bird from a shackle according to the invention comprises the following sequence of steps: I) bending at least one leg at the hock joint so that the foot comes nearer to the breast of the bird,II) inserting the leg in the shackle,III) releasing the leg at least partially. The bending may be achieved by arranging an engagement member at the breast side of the leg to hinder a movement of the hock joint towards the breast of the bird and using a carrier for forcing the foot towards the breast. The engagement member and/or carrier may be adapted to yield.