Patent ID: 9474288
Filing Date: 2016-10-25
CPC Classification: A22C

Claim Text:
1. An apparatus for automatically hanging live birds onto an overhead shackle system, comprising: a series of bird hanging shackles; an overhead I-beam rail for supporting and guiding said shackles; a horizontal conveyor for conveying said live birds adjacent said shackles; first shackle orienting means for causing said shackles to be displaced from a vertical orientation relative to said horizontal conveyor means to a horizontal orientation, wherein said shackles lie in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of said horizontal conveyor; second shackle orienting means for causing said shackles to be displaced from said horizontal orientation back to a vertical orientation, wherein at least one leg of the live birds is captured by said shackle as said shackle moves from said horizontal orientation to said vertical orientation, and the birds hang in a head-down position, and wherein said horizontal conveyor comprises a plurality of recesses formed therein for successively receiving said shackles in the horizontal orientation.