Apparatus for feeding fish to a fish processing machine

An apparatus for feeding fish into a fish processing machine, whereby the amount of fish fed into said apparatus at least equals to the maximum capacity of the processing machine. The fish are delivered head first and with the abdomen in a certain direction from orientation means (1-14) to an accelerator (17, 18) and therefrom at a speed of about 3 to 8 m/s into a synchronizer comprising e.g. a roll (19) and an outer guide (20). A fish (21) is caught in a gap between the roll (19) and the guide (20), provided said gap is empty. Whenever a pocket (16) of a feeding belt (15) of the processing machine goes past the roll (19), a waiting fish (24) is thrown therein at a high rate, whereas a fish (21) caught in said gap is immediately advanced to the position thus left empty by the previous waiting fish (24). As long as a fish (21) remains in the said gap it deflects subsequent fishes ( 22) into a pass-by chute (23). In this way the fish themselves ensure an even flow of individual fishes to the conveyor belt (15).

The present invention relates to an apparatus for feeding fish to a fish 
processing machine, which apparatus comprises means for orientation of the 
head and the abdomen of the fish in a desired direction. 
Machines which orientate the fish so that they are fed head first into a 
processing machine have been known for a long time. Furthermore, machines 
which turn the fish to be processed so that the side thereof faces in a 
certain direction are known. E.g. the FI Patent Application No. 811371; 
the DE Patent Specification Nos. 1,293,417, 1,454,085, 1,679,060 and 
3,229,502; the NO Patent Specification Nos. 5504 and 28,191; the SE Patent 
Nos. 324,045 and 340,342 and the U.S. Patent Specification Nos. 3,514,811 
and 4,399,588 are mainly concerned with said functions, i.e. feeding the 
fish head first and the abdominal side thereof facing in a certain 
direction. 
In order to provided a fully automatic method of feeding fish into a 
processing machine, it is, further, necessary that the fish are fed into 
the receiving pockets of said machine one by one and at a proper rate. 
E.g. the NO Patent Specification Nos. 74,699, 75,934 and 107,895; the SE 
Patent Specification No. 386,357 and the U.S. Patent No. 3,561,041 are 
concerned with this problem. A disadvantage of these and other 
commercially available feeding apparatuses is that they are slow and 
therefore several parallel feeds are required in order to obtain a 
capacity of filling three to six pockets per second, which generally 
corresponds to the processing speed. Accordingly, plenty of room is 
required. If the feeder includes a spike which pierces through the fish 
(DE Patent Specification No. 1,579,590, SE Patent Specification No. 
313,899), the fish may be damaged. A tube or a narrow chute for 
orientation limits the size of the fish to be processed (e.g. DE Patent 
Specification Nos. 1,293,416 and 1,579,590 and SE Patent Specification No. 
313,899). On the other hand, if the chute is larger, there is the risk 
that the fish turn so that the abdomen thereof faces in the wrong 
direction. (NO Patent Specification No. 81,039). 
The object of the present invention is to provide a new apparatus for 
feeding the fish into the receiving pocket of a feed bed of a fish 
processing machine, processing speed of which may vary within wide limits. 
The apparatus according to the invention is mainly characterized in that 
between the fish orientation means and the fish processing machine is 
arranged a feed synchronizing means adapted to the speed of the fish 
processing machine, the receiving end of the feed synchronizing means 
being dimensioned to be temporarily blocked by received fish so that a 
subsequent fish, arriving too early with respect to the feed rate of the 
processing machine, is deflected past the feed synchronizer means. 
The invention is based on the utilization of the aerodynamic shape of the 
fish. The fish is "shot" into the synchronizer, whereby it is fixed 
between the surface of e.g. a roll and a guide plate, and is further 
"shot" from the feeding apparatus into the receiving pockets. The feeding 
rate can be as high as 8 m/s which represents capacity increase in 
comparison to earlier machines. The feeding apparatus can simultaneously 
act as a kind of intermediate storage, which further reduces the required 
space.

In FIG. 1, a buffer storage for fish is designated 1. Its bottom comprises 
two transport belts 2 and 3 which feed the fish, at a rather rough dosage, 
to an underlying apparatus 4 for orientation of the fish with respect to 
head and tail. A vibrating belt 5 with parallel chutes orientates the fish 
lengthwise, part of the fish moving directly head first between a roller, 
or a brush 6, and guide plate 7 to a conveyor belt 10, the rest of the 
fish passing first between a roller 8 and a guide plate 9 and therefrom 
head first to the roller 6 and plate 7. 
After the conveyor 10 follow two further roller (brush) and guide plate 
devices 11 and 12 wherefrom the fish enters head first in between two 
rollers or brushes 13 and 14 which, due to the generally triangular cross 
shape of the fish, orientate the abdomen of the fish in a certain 
direction. The working principles of each of the foregoing devices 1 to 14 
are well known as such, for which reason a more detailed description is 
considered unnecessary. 
The fish processing machine to be fed by the apparatus according to the 
present invention, such as e.g. a filleting machine, is in general 
designed to work at a certain rate and usually includes a conveyor belt or 
the like provided with pockets each intended to receive one fish 
orientated in a certain manner. In FIGS. 1 and 2 is shown only a minor 
part of this conveyor belt, reference numeral 15, with receiving pockets, 
16. 
The object of the invention is to provide an automatical feed of fish in 
synchronisation with the movement of the convenyor belt 15. The novel 
features by means of which the object is achieved relate to the 
arrangement after the abdomen orientation rollers 13 and 14 in FIG. 1, and 
these features will in the following be described mainly with reference to 
the schematical FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. 
The over-all capacity (rate) of the feed and orientation devices 1 to 14 
can with reasonable effort be brought to approximately match the capacity 
of the fish processing machine, but in earlier known apparatuses the 
problem has been to provide an even flow of individual fishes, in order to 
fill a sufficient number of receiving pockets 16, preferably all of them. 
An accelerating device, e.g. in the form of a roll or brush 17 with an 
outer guide 18, is provided after the abdomen orientation rolls 13 and 14. 
According to FIG. 2, the fish are thrown by the roll 17 onto the surface 
of an intermittently rotating roll 19 provided with an outer guide 20. As 
long as the roll 19 is stationary, or moves only slowly, the fish 21 
blocks the receiving opening between the roll surface and the outer guide 
20 and deflects oncoming fishes 22 into a return chute 23 leading e.g. 
back to the storage 1. As the conveyor 15 moves along, an empty pocket 16 
arrives at the roll 19 which then is actuated to feed therein a waiting 
fish 24 and to simultaneously forward the fish 21 to the waiting or ready 
position, whereby a new fish 25 will be fed in between the roll 19 and the 
guide 20. Reference numeral 26 indicates a guide out of contact with the 
roll 19, and numeral 27 indicated a guide to the conveyor 15, 16. 28 
indicates a detector for monitoring that a fish 24 is available for 
feeding to a receiving pocket 16, the pockets are monitored by a detector 
29. On the basis of the signals provided by the detectors 28 and 29, an 
actuator 30 brings about rotation of the roll 19. Suitable detector and 
actuator equipment are available. 
The alternative arrangement shown in FIG. 4 differs from the one of FIG. 2 
in that instead of the mere roll 19 there is a belt 31 driven by the roll 
19 and running around an additional roll 32. The guides 20a and 23a are, 
accordingly, slightly different. The embodiment of FIG. 4 is to some 
extent more flexible in that it can contain one or more additional fishes 
33 and thus can adapt to occasional slow-downs in the feed- 
and-orientation devices 1 to 14. Additional detectors similar to the one 
designated 28 may be provided to monitor said additional fishes 33 and the 
belt 31 can be made to move with less abrupt variations of speed than 
generally is the case for the mere roll 19 of FIG. 2. 
The idea of using the fish themselves to achieve a uniform and efficient 
feed to the fish processing machine remains basically the same in the 
embodiments of both FIG. 2 and FIG. 4. The guides 20 and 20a are 
preferably adjustable with respect to the roll 19 or the belt 31, for fish 
of various sizes. In the FIGS. 2 and 4 the guides 20 and 20a are shown in 
one piece but the receiving end may as well comprise a separate part 
preferably hinged and acted upon by a spring into a receiving position 
when the part is not in contact with a fish. An in-coming fish 21 pivots 
the part against the force of the spring to lie along the side of the fish 
21, and when the fish 21 has passed the spring returns the part to its 
receiving position. 
The surface of the rolls 17 and 19 and of the belt are of a material 
providing a greater friction with respect to the fish than between the 
fish and the respective outer guides 18, 20 and 20a which may be made of 
smooth metal. Rotating brushes may be used instead of the roll 17 and, in 
FIG. 2, the roll 19. 
The accelerating device 17, 18 may be of a different type and can in 
priciple be omitted altogether, provided that the orientation rolls or 
brushes 13 and 14 give the fish enough speed or perhaps are arranged 
higher upp than the synchronizer in order to use the free (guided) fall 
for further acceleration. 
The motors, e.g. eletrical motors for driving the various parts of the feed 
apparatus are schematically shown in FIG. 1 and are collectively 
designated 40. Apart from the roll 19, the drives may operate at 
essentially constant speed according to the capacity of the fish 
processing machine and, as earlier indicated, the longer the belt 31 is, 
in FIG. 4, the more continuously it may operate, especially if the 
accelerator 17, 18 would be replaced by a similar belt structure provided 
with detectors like the one designated 28 in FIG. 2; the speed of the belt 
31 could then be adjusted more smoothly in response to the signals of such 
detectors along the fish accelerator, together with the signals of the 
detectors monitoring the positions of the fishes 33 and 24 along the belt 
31. Such an arrangement would, on the other hand, require more space and a 
more complicated electronic regulating system. 
In order to achieve an effective wedge action between the receiving end of 
the guide 20 and the roll 19, or the guide 20a and the belt 31, the gap, 
when empty, is preferably slightly smaller than the head portion of the 
fish. Either the surface of the roll 19 and of the belt 31 is resiliently 
flexible, or at least the receiving end of the outer guide 20, 20a is of a 
resiliently flexible material. Alternatively or in addition, a flap of 
e.g. rubber may be provided to hang down from the receiving edge of the 
guide 20, 20a, preferably not quite into contact with the roll or belt 
surface. Such a flap is then be bent in under the guide by an incoming 
fish 21 and the edge of the flap is in contact with the fish until its 
tail has passed, thereby securing that a subsequent fish 22 is not 
received too close to the previous one.