Poultry Gizzard Processing System

This invention relates to improvements in poultry processing methods and equipment of the type which cut open or "split" gizzards and remove the outer covering or "skin" from the gizzards. Poultry gizzards that have been extracted from chickens or other poultry with gut and stomach still attached thereto usually are moved through a processing path, and while moving through the path the gut and stomach are removed from the gizzards and the gizzards are split and loose material removed therefrom, and the gizzards are subsequently peeled.

In the past, gizzards have been removed from poultry and processed separately, as by removing the gut and stomach from the gizzards by hand, cutting the gizzards, and urging the outer skin or peeling of the gizzards into spiral peeler rolls so as to strip the outer covering from the gizzards. Some of the prior art documents that disclose gizzard processing equipment are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,159,872, 3,406,425, 3,411,828, 4,057,875 and 4,073,040 of C. J. Hill and 4,074,390 of P. Meyn. The various equipment that has been used in the past takes advantage of the size and density of the gizzard in comparison to the gut and stomach attached thereto, by supporting the gizzard and allowing the entrails to be suspended therefrom, and then moving the supported gizzard through the various processing steps where the entrails are removed, the gizzards split, cleaned and peeled.

While the prior gizzard processing equipment has been successful to some extent, the gizzards are not always oriented correctly as they move through the equipment, resulting in the entrails not being properly cut from the gizzards and the gizzards not being split at the proper location on the gizzards. Also, the differences in size, shape and texture of gizzards being processed by the prior art equipment appear to cause malfunctions in the equipment, resulting in improperly processed gizzards.

Briefly described, the present invention comprises a method and apparatus for processing poultry gizzards wherein the gizzards are moved in sequence along a processing path, and as they move along the path, the gizzards are oriented with the portions thereof to which the entrails are attached facing downwardly with the entrails suspended therebelow, and the connection between the entrails and the gizzards are cut and the entrails fall away from the gizzards. The gizzards are carried without reorienting the gizzards to a subsequent cutting station where the gizzards are split in the area thereof to which the entrails were attached, and the cut-apart portions of the gizzards are then spread further apart and a water spray is used to wash the loose matter from the gizzards. The gizzards are then moved to a peeler where they are automatically urged into successive contact with pairs of peeler rolls so that the outer covering or "skin" is peeled from the gizzards.

A rotary drum with a spiral tread is located adjacent a parallel rotary support bar, and the gizzards are first placed on the drum and support bar. The rotation of the drum and its spiral tread tend to urge the gizzards in sequence along the processing path and the smaller, less dense entrails tend to pass through the slot between the rotary drum and rotary support bar. The weight of the entrails and the motion of the rotary drum and the rotary support bar tend to orient the gizzards so that the portions thereof to which the entrails are attached become oriented downwardly. When the gizzards reach the end of the rotary drum, the gizzards pass from the rotary drum support onto a stationary support bar, and the rotary support bar extends beyond the rotary drum on parallel to the stationary support bar to continue to support the gizzards and forms a continuation of the slot through which the entrails are suspended. A chain conveyor has its lower flight movable into contact with the gizzards supported on the support bars to continue the movement of the gizzards without reorientation thereof along the processing path, whereupon a horizontal disc cutter extending over the support bars severs the entrails from the lower portions of the gizzards, and a vertical cutting disc protruding upwardly between the support bars cuts into and splits the gizzards. The gizzards then move from the vertical cutting disc onto a support rail where the cut-apart portions straddle the support rail, and the cut-apart portions then move over a pair of cleaning wheels which also straddle the support rail. The cleaning wheels rotate with a tangential velocity which is greater than the linear velocity of the gizzards and include spiral treads which tend to urge the cut-apart portions of the gizzards away from each other, and water jets directed into the gizzards tend to wash the loose particles from the gizzards. The gizzards are then moved to the peeling mechanism where the skin is removed from the gizzards.

Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus which expediently and reliably removes entrails from poultry gizzards, splits the gizzards at the area thereof to which the entrails were attached, removes the loose particles from within the gizzards and peels the gizzards.

Another object of this invention is to provide a reliable and rapidly operating apparatus for processing poultry gizzards.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method for properly orienting poultry gizzards and then maintaining the proper orientation of the poultry gizzards in a gizzard processing system so that the entrails attached to the gizzards can be removed and the gizzards can be properly split and cleaned.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of the gizzard processing apparatus, with parts removed therefrom for clarity.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the poultry processing apparatus, showing the peeler mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a detail perspective illustration of portions of the rotary drum, rotary support bar, stationary support bar and the chain conveyor.

FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 are progressive schematic illustrations of the gizzard processing equipment and the manner in which the gizzards are processed.

Referring now in more detail to the drawings, in which like numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 illustrates the poultry gizzard processing apparatus 10 which includes a support framework 11 comprising upright support legs 12a, 12b, 12c and 12d and horizontally extending side beams 14a and 14b, lower side beams 15a and 15b, end braces 16a, 16b and lower end braces 17a and 17b. The poultry gizzard processing apparatus 10 includes an infeed section 19, a processing section 20 and a peeling section 21. The infeed section 19 includes a rotary drum 22 which includes a cylindrical outer surface 24, recessed end walls 25, 26 (FIG. 3), and a spiral thread 28 is imposed on the cylindrical surface. A series of longitudinally extending ribs 29 of the same size and shape as the spiral thread extend between the spiral thread sections, so that the tread of the rotary drum comprises a continuous spiral thread with the joining ribs. A rectilinear rotary support bar 30 is positioned in side-by-side, parallel relationship with respect to rotary drum 22, and extends substantially the entire length of the processing apparatus 10. Infeed tray 31 is mounted on framework 11 and includes support flange 32, upwardly inclined section 34, and downwardly inclined feed section 35 which has a lower edge 36 (FIG. 4) positioned over rotary support bar 30 at such a position so as to guide poultry gizzards 38 toward the slot 39 between support bar 30 and rotary drum 22.

Electric motor 40 is mounted on support plate 41 which is hingedly mounted at one of its ends to framework 11, and its sprocket 42 drives driving chain 44 and sprocket 45. Sprocket 45 is connected to the end of rectilinear rotary support bar 30, and driving gear 46 is mounted to rotary support bar 30 and meshes with the driven gear 48 on the axle 49 of rotary drum 22. Support bar 30 and the axle 49 of rotary drum 22 are both mounted on suitable bearings at their opposite ends, such as bearing 50 of support bar 30 and bearing 51 of rotary drum 22. When motor 40 is energized, rotary support bar 30 will be driven in the direction indicated by arrow 52 while rotary drum 22 will be driven in the opposite direction indicated by arrow 54. Thus, when a poultry gizzard 38 is dropped in the area between the downwardly inclined feed section 35 of infeed tray 31 and rotary drum 22 (FIG. 4), the gizzards will be supported by the rotary drum 22 and support bar 30 and the stomach, gut and other entrails 37 will tend to move through the slot 39 between the rotary drum 22 and support bar 30, and be suspended beneath the larger, more dense gizzard 38. When the longitudinal ribs 29 of the tread of the rotary drum pass downwardly adjacent the gizzards 38, the gizzards 38 tend to be vibrated or bounced in their positions on infeed tray 31 and the suspended entrails pulled downwardly, causing the gizzards to be oriented so that the portions thereof to which the entrails are connected are located beneath the gizzards and the entrails are suspended directly therebelow. Also, the rotation of both the rotary drum and rotary support bar in downward directions tends to keep the gizzards from rolling as they are moved along the processing path. Thus, by the time the spiral thread 28 urges each gizzard to the delivery end 55 of the rotary drum 22, the gizzards will be oriented properly for transfer to processing section 20.

The rectilinear support bar 30 extends on beyond the delivery end 55 of drum 22, and the surface of the portion thereof which extends beyond the rotary drum has a spiral thread 56 imposed thereon. Thus, the gizzards reaching the delivery end 55 of rotary drum 22 will continue their movement through the gizzard processing apparatus. A stationary support bar 58 is located in side-by-side, parallel relationship with respect to rectilinear support bar 30 and forms a slot 59 which is a continuation of slot 39. Additional upper stationary guide bars 60 and 61 are located over and parallel to rectilinear support bar 30 and stationary support bar 58. These elements extend from the delivery end 55 of end feed section 19 and extend on through processing section 20.

Upper framework 62 is mounted over framework 11 and supports conveyor chain assembly 64 in processing section 20. Stationary upright support stanchions 65 and 66 are mounted on framework 11, and bearings 68 and 69 which are mounted thereto at their upper ends rotatably support main axle 70. Upper framework 62 includes inclined support rails 71 and 72 which are mounted with their bearings 74 and 75 on main axle 70. Horizontal support rails 76 and 78 are attached to the lower ends of inclined support rails 71 and 72 and upright frames 79 and 80 are mounted to horizontal support rails 76 and 78 and to inclined support rails 71 and 72. Drive sprocket 81 is keyed to main axle 70 and conveyor chain 82 is driven by drive sprocket 81 about driven sprockets 84, 85, 86 and 87. Driven sprocket 84 is mounted on axle 89 which is supported by upright frame 80, driven sprocket 85 is mounted on axle 90 which is mounted at its ends on upright frame 79, driven sprocket 86 is mounted on axle 91 which is supported by its bearings on horizontal support rails 76 and 78, and driven sprocket 87 is mounted on its axle 92 which is held by its bearings on horizontal support rails 76 and 78. Thus, conveyor chain 82 forms a horizontal lower flight 94 between driven sprockets 86 and 87 and an inclined lower flight 95 between driven sprocket 87 and drive sprocket 81.

It will be noted that one end of the entire conveyor chain assembly 64 is supported by main axle 70, while the other end is supported on the inverted U-shaped frame section 96 of framework 11, by the adjustable crew 98 extending through the end of the horizontal support rails 76 and 78 and bearing against inverted U-shaped frame section 96. With this arrangement the height of the horizontal lower flight 94 and inclined lower flight 95 of the conveyor chain assembly 64 can be adjusted by turning the screw 98.

The distal end of rectilinear support bar 30 which is remote from its driving motor 40 is mounted in bearing 99, and a sprocket 100 is mounted on its end for driving chain 101. Chain 101 extends to gear box 102, and the output sprocket 104 of gear box drive driving chain 105. Driving chain 105 is connected by means of its upper sprocket 106 to main axle 70. Thus, motor 40 drives both rectilinear support bar 30 as well as conveyor chain assembly 64, and the direction of movement of the conveyor chain assembly is indicated arrows 108.

Horizontal cutting disc 109 (FIGS. 1 and 6) is located at the entrance to processing section 20 and extends across stationary support bar 58 and rectilinear support bar 30, beneath guide bars 60 and 61. Disc 109 is connected to and rotatable with the drive shaft of motor 110, and motor 110 is mounted to pivotal support 111. Vertical support axle 112 is mounted to framework 11 and the pivotal support 111 is mounted thereon and pivots thereabout. Slide rod 114 extends through slide block 115 and is connected to pivotal support 111 by means of bracket 118. Coil compression spring 116 abuts slide block 115 and urges the pivotal support 111, motor 110 and horizontal cutting disc 109 toward stationary support bar 58 and rectilinear support bar 30 so as to be in position to properly cut away the entrails 37 of the gizzards 38; however, if a hard obstruction passes through the system, the horizontal cutting disc 109 can move against the bias of spring 116 to move away from the processing path.

Vertical cutting disc 120 (FIGS. 1 and 7) is positioned along the processing path and is mounted on the rotary drive shaft of motor 121. Motor 121 is mounted in a manner similar to the mounting of motor 110, so that the motor and its vertical cutting disc 120 are biased toward but can be moved away from the processing path. Vertical cutting disc 120 extends upwardly between stationary support bar 58 and rectilinear rotary support bar 30, to cut upwardly into the gizzards 38 as the gizzards are moved along the processing path. As illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, recesses 122 and 124 are formed in stationary support bar 58 in the vicinity of cutting discs 109 and 120. The recess 122 is beneath horizontal cutting disc 109 and functions to enlarge the area of slot 59 beneath the cutting disc, so that the entrails cut by cutting disc 109 are free to fall from the gizzards 38. Thus, slot 59 is temporarily enlarged beneath the cutting disc 109, and when the gizzards 38 pass over the cutting discs 109, the gizzards will be placed back on the rectilinear support bar 30 and stationary support bar 58 where the dimensions of slot 59 were the same as they were prior to the gizzards passing up onto the cutting disc 109.

With respect to the recess 124 of the stationary support bar 58, the vertical cutting disc 120 extends up through the enlarged slot area.

Support rail 125 is inclined upwardly from the upper edge surface of vertical cutting disc 120 and extends substantially parallel to the inclined lower flight 95 of conveyor chain assembly 64. Support rail 125 is bifurcated and its lower end portions are mounted about vertical cutting disc 120 (FIG. 8). When the vertical cutting disc 120 cuts into or "splits" a gizzard 38, the cut apart portions 126 and 128 move on opposite sides of support rail 124, so that the gizzard is mounted on and straddles the support rail and tends to follow the support rail as it is moved by the conveyor chain assembly 64 on through the processing section 20.

A pair of cleaning wheels 129 and 130 also straddle support rail 125 and are mounted on a common axle 131 which extends perpendicular to support rail 125 and the path of movement of the gizzards. The surfaces or treads of the cleaning wheels 129 and 130 are formed with spiral threads 132, and the threads are angled so that the portions of the threads adjacent the support rail 125 lead those portions positioned away from the support rail. When the gizzards 38 are moved along rail 125 so that the gizzards engage the cleaning wheels 129 and 130, the cut apart portions 126 and 128 of the gizzards tend to ride up onto and over the cleaning wheels 129 and 130, and the surface velocity of the cleaning wheels 129 and 130 is greater than the linear velocity of the gizzards 38, so that the spiral threads 132 of the cleaning wheels tend to urge the cut apart portions 125 and 126 of the gizzards further apart, to spread the gizzards open. Water nozzles 134 are directed upwardly so as to direct a flow of water into the cut apart and spread apart portions 125 and 126 of the gizzards 38 to remove the loose matter from inside the gizzards. The axle 131 of cleaning wheels 129 and 130 is suspended from the inclined support rails 71 and 72, and driven sprocket 135 is connected by driving chain 136 to driving sprocket 138, and driving sprocket 138 is mounted on the end of axle 89 of idler sprocket 84. Thus, the movement of conveyor chain assembly 64 causes the cleaning wheels 129 and 130 to rotate in the direction as indicated by arrow 139.

Lower guide rods 140 and 141 extend from the surfaces of cleaning wheels 129 and 130 on up the incline of guide rail 125 and tend to maintain the spread apart portions 126 and 128 of the gizzards 37 spread as the additional water nozzles 134 spray streams of water into the opened portions of the gizzards. Upper guide rods 143 and 144 also extend parallel to the processing path but are located above the path of gizzards 37. When the conveyor chain begins to move around drive sprocket 81, the gizzards are pulled from the teeth of the conveyor chain by the upper guide rods 143 and 144 and the momentum of the gizzards along the processing path carries the gizzards (FIG. 11) off the ends of the guide rods. An additional center guide rod 145 extends from the upper edge of guide rail 124 (FIG. 2) so as to guide the center portion of the cut gizzards toward the peeling section 21.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, peeling section 21 comprises a tray 148 which includes side walls 149 and 150 and inclined bottom wall sections 151, 152, 153 and 154. A first pair of spiral threaded peeler rolls 155 and 156 are located in the upper portion of tray 148 and a second pair of peeler rolls 158 and 159 are located at a lower position in tray 148. Each pair of peeler rolls 155, 156 and 158, 159 are driven by end sprockets 160, 161, and the spiral threads on each pair of peeler rolls engage each other so as to cause the peeler rolls to rotate in opposite directions of rotation, with the upper surfaces of the peeler rolls rotating downwardly in between the pairs of peeler rolls. The spiral threads 162 and 163 of the upper pair of peeler rolls 155 and 156 are angled so that those gizzards received on the peeler rolls 155 and 156 are urged by the threads in the direction indicated by arrow 165. An upwardly extending protrusion or dam 166 is located on one side of tray 148, and the dam together with the bottom wall section 151 guides the gizzards downwardly toward the peeler rolls 155 and 156. The slot 168 between dam 166 and side wall 149 forms a passage for the gizzards between first pair of peeler rolls 155 and 156 to the second pair of peeler rolls 158 and 159.

A second pair of peeler rolls 158 and 159 have their spiral threads 169 and 170 angled in the opposite direction from the spiral threads 162 and 163 of the peeler rolls, so as to urge the gizzards to move in the direction indicated by arrow 171. The lower dam 172 together with the bottom wall section 152 tend to guide the gizzards onto the upper surfaces of peeler rolls 158 and 159, and the passage 174 at the end of dam 172 permits the gizzards to move down bottom wall section 153 after the gizzards have passed over the peeler rolls 169 and 170.

The oscillating presser bars 175 and 176 each are positioned over one of the pairs of peeler rolls 155, 156 or 158, 159. The presser bars 175 and 176 are both rigidly connected to shaft 178, and shaft 178 is mounted in bearings 179 and 180. One of the peeler rolls 155, 156 has an extension 181, and cam 182 protrudes at a right angle from extension 181. Crank 184 is rigidly connected at one end to shaft 178 and its other end is pivotally connected to crank link 185. Crank link 185 is also pivotally connected to cam 182. Thus, the rotation of the peeler rolls 155 and 156 causes presser bars 175 and 176 to oscillate as indicated by arrows 186, causing any gizzards present on the peeler rolls 155, 156, or 158, 159 to be alternately pressed into the threads of the peeler rolls, causing the threads to more firmly grip the peeling of the gizzards, thereby removing the peeling from the gizzards.

After the gizzards have passed over the pairs of peeler rolls, they move down to the lower horizontal bottom wall section 154 of the tray 148, where they can be inspected by a worker. A third pair of peeler rolls 188 and 189 are located adjacent bottom wall section 154, and the worker can place a gizzard located in bottom wall section 154 against the teeth of the peeler rolls 188, 189 to remove any peeling or skin remaining on the gizzards.

Drive motor 190 is connected to gear box 191, and the output sprocket 192 of gear box 191 drives the continuous drive chain 194. Drive chain 194 extends about the sprockets 160, 161 and 187 of the pairs of peeler rolls, thereby driving all the peeler rolls from one power source.

When the poultry gizzard processing apparatus 10 is placed in operation, gizzards with entrails attached thereto are dropped between the downwardly inclined section 35 of the infeed tray 31 and the rotary drum 22. The gizzards then become supported by the rotary drum 22 and by the rectilinear rotary support bar 30, and partially by the lower edge portion 36 of the infeed tray 31. The rotation of rotary drum 22 together with the spiral configuration of the threads 28 on the rotary drum tend to urge the gizzards along the length of the infeed section 19, and the gizzards become oriented so that their attached entrails 37 tend to hang therebeneath downwardly through the slot 39 formed between the rotary drum 22 and the rectilinear support bar 30, with the portion of the gizzards to which the entrails are connected becoming oriented downwardly.

When the gizzards reach the end of rotary drum 22, they move onto the spiral threaded portion of the rectilinear rotary support bar 30 and onto the stationary support bar 38. The rotation of the rectilinear support bar 30 causes its threads to tend to carry the gizzards on through the processing section 20, and the conveyor chain moves down into engagement with the gizzards (FIGS. 3 and 5) so that the combined movement of the conveyor chain together with the rotation of the spiral threaded rectilinear support bar 30 causes the gizzards to move from the rotary drum without reorientation.

When the gizzards reach the horizontal cutting disc 109, the disc cuts beneath the gizzards 38 so that the entrails 37 which are attached thereto are cut away from the gizzards. The enlarged recessed portion 122 beneath the cutting disc 109 assures that the entrails will be free to fall downwardly away from the gizzards.

After the gizzards have passed over the cutting disc 109, they continue to be moved by the lower horizontal flight 94 of the conveyor chain and the spiral threads of the rectilinear support bar 30 toward vertical cutting disc 120. The vertical cutting disc 120 (FIG. 7) extends upwardly between stationary support bar 58 and rectilinear support bar 30 in the vicinity of recess 124 so as to cut upwardly into the gizzards 38 to "split" the gizzards. The lower flight 94 of the conveyor chain continues to grasp each gizzard and hold the gizzards as they are being cut.

After the gizzards have been cut they move from the vertical cutting disc 120 onto support rail 125 and begin to move up the inclined portion of the processing path (FIG. 8). The cut apart portions 126 and 128 move up onto rotating cleaning wheels 129 and 130 and the spiral treads of the cleaning wheels which move at a faster velocity than the gizzards 38 tend to pull the cut apart portions 126 and 128 further apart. The water nozzles 134 spray water up into the cut apart portions of the gizzards (FIG. 9). As the gizzards move off the upper portions of cleaning wheels 129 and 130, guide rods 140 and 141 which extends from the upper portions of the cleaning wheels tend to hold the cut apart portions of the gizzards apart while other water nozzles 134 direct cleaning water up into the cut apart gizzards (FIG. 10). The gizzards then pass off the ends of guide rods 140, 141, 143, 144 and 145 into peeling section 21 where the gizzards are urged down into engagement with the peeling rolls and the covering or "skin" of the gizzards is removed therefrom.

While this invention has been described in detail with particular reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention as described hereinbefore and as defined in the appended claims.