Apparatus for aligning and uniformly orienting fish

An apparatus for aligning and uniformly orienting fish includes a shuffle feed device for aligning and discharging fish in a single line and a conveyor having a longitudinal upper run positioned for receiving and conveying aligned and discharged fish in a single line, in which fish are orientated in the longitudinal plane of the conveyor. A sensor including an upper photocell and a lower photocell is positioned at a downstream end of the conveyor such that, in operation, the sensor distinguishes between head-end-first and tail-end-first orientations of fish passing the sensor based upon the sequence of activation of the photocells. Fish passing the sensor are uniformly oriented in the same orientation by control of the sensor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to apparati and processes for aligning fish, 
such as cod, and orienting them in the same orientation in single file. 
Fish usually arrive at the factory in kits of 60 which comprise fish of 
various sizes and weights, and it is necessary to grade them either by 
length or weight before further processing. At the present time, the 
alignment and feeding of fish to a grading system is carried out manually, 
an operation which is slow and tiring and results in a feed rate of only 
about 30 fish/minute. 
Shuffle feed apparati are well known for the handling of fruit and 
vegetable products to control the feed rate to a processing station. They 
utilize parallel-positioned feed members which are reciprocated back and 
forth in opposite directions in a wave action to align articles received 
in bulk random form in a single file order along their leading edges. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, the present invention provides an apparatus for aligning and 
uniformly orienting fish comprising a shuffle feed device for aligning and 
discharging fish in a single line, a conveyor having a longitudinal upper 
run positioned for receiving and conveying aligned and discharged fish in 
a single line in which the fish are oriented in the longitudinal plane of 
the conveyor, a sensor comprising an upper photocell and a lower photocell 
positioned at a downstream end of the conveyor such that, in operation, 
the sensor distinguishes between head-end-first and tail-end-first 
orientations of the fish passing the sensor based upon the sequence of 
activation of the photocells, and means controllable by the sensor for 
uniformly orienting fish passing the sensor in the same head-end-first or 
tail-end-first orientation. 
The present invention also provides a process for uniformly aligning and 
orienting fish in the same orientation and in single file, which comprises 
shuffle feeding fish contained in a hopper over an edge of the hopper to 
discharge the fish from the hopper, conveying and aligning the fish in 
single lengthwise files, detecting the orientation of the fish and, based 
upon their detected orientation, uniformly orienting the fish in a line in 
the same head-end-first or tail-end-first orientation. 
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The shuffle feed device for use in the apparatus of the present invention 
is advantageously provided with specially designed feed ledge faces for 
carrying fish and is conveniently mounted in a hopper adapted to contain 
the fish. 
As described in more detail below in connection with the description of the 
drawing Figures, the shuffle feed apparatus is embodied within a hopper 
interior to have a plurality of adjacent longitudinally extending 
reciprocal elements, each of which extend to an upper ledge face for 
supporting fish and form a step-wise configuration ascending towards the 
hopper rim, the fish being discharged over the hopper rim by an uppermost 
support ledge positioned adjacent the rim. Each ledge face has a 
lengthwise arcuate concave surface and a widthwise bevel for holding the 
fish. 
A conveyor for receiving the discharged fish may be conveniently positioned 
adjacent a leading edge of the shuffle feed device and may be, for 
instance, a V-shaped belt. Advantageously, the conveyor juxtaposed to the 
sensor is an acceleration belt positioned downstream of the V-shaped 
receiving conveyor for receiving the discharged fish to space the fish one 
from another prior to passing the sensor. 
As described in more detail below, each fish lies on its side as it is 
transported past the orientation sensor to enable determining whether a 
head end or tail end first passes the sensor. The sensor advantageously 
comprises two photocells positioned one above the other so that the 
sequence of activation of the upper photocell and the lower photocell 
provides for distinguishing between head-end-first and tail-end-first 
orientations of the passing fish. If the fish passes the sensor with the 
head end orientated first, then the upper and lower photocells are 
activated almost simultaneously, whereas if the fish passes the sensor 
tail end oriented first the lower photocell is activated well before the 
upper photocell. A control device records the time difference of detection 
and activates the means to orient the fish accordingly. 
The means to uniformly orient the fish in the same orientation is 
advantageously provided by a pivotable reversible conveyor and two chutes 
positioned, respectively, for receiving fish from the downstream end or 
the upstream end of the conveyor when pivoted, i.e., inclined forwards or 
backwards. An additional conveyor is positioned for receiving fish from 
each of the chutes, thereby providing a uniformly oriented line of fish. 
The pivotable reversible conveyor is tiltable about an axis transverse to 
a line of the reversible directions of travel of the conveyor, the 
operation of the pivotable conveyor being discussed further below in 
connection with the description of the drawing Figures. 
Preferably, all the conveyors used in the invention are endless belts. 
The present invention is further described by way of example with reference 
to the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
Referring to the drawings, the apparatus of the invention includes a 
shuffle feed device 10, such as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, provided with 
specially designed feed members 11 in rows of four provided with specially 
shaped upper faces 12 adapted to accommodate fish in a hopper 13 for 
receiving fish 14 in a bulk random form. 
The illustrated shuffle feed device comprises a series of ascending 
adjacent rows, with top surface portions for holding fish, which 
reciprocate to alternately move fish from the top surface portion of a 
lower row to the top surface portion of a higher row, from a position 
within the hopper, below the hopper rim, to the highest row, where the 
fish are then discharged to a conveyor. The top of each row comprises a 
series of crests which separate adjacent concave arcs which define 
channels for holding fish. 
As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, positioned adjacent the hopper just below 
the row of upper feed members 11 is an endless conveyor belt 15 above 
which is a rotating brush 16. As illustrated in FIGS. 4a and 4b, 
downstream of the conveyor belt 15 is an acceleration belt 17 with a pair 
of photocells 18, 19 positioned at the downstream end. A pivotable 
reversible endless conveyor belt 20 with an upper run 21, pivoted at point 
22, is positioned downstream of the acceleration belt 17, and chutes 23 
and 24 slope forwards from the upstream and downstream ends respectively 
of the pivotable reversible belt 20, the lower ends of which lie above a 
conveyor belt 25. 
In operation, codfish 14 are fed into the hopper 13 in bulk random form. 
The feed members 11 of the shuffle feed apparatus 10 are reciprocated 
along paths parallel to each other in opposite directions, as indicated by 
the arrows, in a wave action so that the codfish are alternately pushed up 
the side of the next feed member by the face of the last and adjacent feed 
member so as to advance the codfish 14 on the upper faces 12 from where 
they are discharged in rows of four over the top edge of the hopper onto 
the conveyor 15, preferably a V-shaped belt. They are then transported 
beneath the rotating brush 16 which serves to separate and straighten them 
so as to align them in single file and then transport them to the 
acceleration belt 17 to space them from each other. As can be seen from 
FIGS. 4a, 4b, 5a and 5b, the sensor photocells are positioned at a 
downstream end of the acceleration belt. When the codfish travels head end 
first, photocells 18 and 19 are activated almost simultaneously and the 
time difference .DELTA..sub.1 is very short, whereas when the codfish 
travels tail end first, photocell 18 is activated much earlier than the 
photocell 19 and the time difference .DELTA..sub.2 is longer. These time 
differences are recorded by a control device (not shown) which activates 
the pivotable reversible endless conveyor belt 20 to pivot about pivot 22 
so that the upper run 21 tilts forwards or backwards according to the time 
difference. The operation to orient all the codfish head-end-first is as 
follows. If a codfish is travelling head-end-first past the photocells, 
because of the short time difference .DELTA..sub.1 recorded, the control 
device activates the pivotable belt 20 to pivot clockwise in the drawings 
so that the upper run 21 tilts forwards enabling the codfish 12 to fall 
off the downstream end onto the chute 24 along which it slides until it 
lands on the conveyor belt 25 still with its head end first. If a codfish 
is travelling tail-end-first past the photocells, because of the longer 
time difference .DELTA..sub.2 recorded, the control device activates the 
pivotable belt 20 to pivot anticlockwise (as shown in the drawings) so 
that the upper run 21 tilts backwards and in addition the conveying 
direction is reversed enabling the codfish 12 to fall off the upstream end 
head-end-first onto the chute 23 along which it slides until it lands on 
the conveyor belt 25 still with its head-end-first. 
The process continues to ensure that all the codfish are oriented 
head-end-first and they are then fed to a grading machine or for further 
processing.