Poultry head pulling apparatus

In the processing of poultry, the heads are separately and individually pulled downwardly along a vertical path during continuous advancement to automatically separate the heads from the necks at the jaw bone and at the base of the skull, salvaging all of the edible neck skin, while at the same time, removing certain inedible organs from within the body by pulling the same straight down through the vertical neck without separation of the head from either the esophagus or the trachea.

Poultry processing procedures require minimization of hand labor and the 
time required for placing the birds in condition for marketing. All waste 
and by-products must be fully and quickly removed in a sanitary manner 
while preserving as much of the edible portions of the bird as possible. 
One difficult task is to separate the head from the neck without waste of 
a considerable amount of the edible neck skin. Also, it is quite 
advantageous, in the same operation, to automatically remove as many of 
the internal organs and other inedibles as possible while the head is 
being separated from the neck. 
Such advantages in time and labor are accomplished through use of our 
present invention by virtue of the fact that each bird is handled 
individually as a continuous series of birds is advanced rapidly and 
uninterruptedly through use of an overhead conveyor. In so doing, all 
parts of each bird are so oriented and held that the head is separated 
from the vertebra and from the neck skin closely adjacent the skull. 
Additionally, the head is acted upon in a manner to cause it to pull a 
portion of the alimentary canal through the neck, bringing with it the 
esophagus, the trachea, the crop and all parts contained within the head 
itself. 
We consider our machine to be novel and an improvement over and above all 
prior attempts to accomplish our purposes, including the suggestions of 
the following U.S. Letters Patent with which we are aware: Nos. 
Cunningham 1,389,784 
Fortne 2,632,200 
Fosdick 2,793,393 
O'Donnell 2,828,506 
Van Dolah 2,846,720 
O'Donnell 2,854,690 
Boykin 2,874,402 
Zebarth 2,924,846 
Steck 2,926,383 
Zebarth 2,993,228 
Reeves 3,017,660 
Hooley 3,271,815 
Hooley 3,277,514 
Barbour 3,514,809 
Van Mil 3,737,948 
Verbakel 3,956,794

In FIG. 1 of the drawings an arcuate section 16 of an overhead conveyor is 
shown supporting a wheeled trolley 18 on its rail 20, driven by a sprocket 
wheel 22 that is rotatable about an upright axis 24. The trolleys 18 are 
interconnected by a chain 26 and each trolley 18 suspends a shackle 28 for 
suspending a bird 30 (FIGS. 9-14) by its legs 32 in a head down position, 
the shackles 28 sliding around a guide 34 disposed in an arcuate path 
comparable to the configuration of the rail section 20 and concentric to 
the axis 24. 
A rotor 36 (FIGS. 1-4) beneath the guide 34, driven by, and therefore, 
timed with the wheel 22, is supported for rotation about the axis 24 and 
has an upper, circular disc 38 and a lower angular ring 40, interconnected 
by upright rods 42 (FIG. 4) arranged in pairs (FIGS. 2, 3, 5 and 11) with 
each pair supporting a vertically reciprocable, double sleeve block 44 
(FIGS. 1-3, 5 and 9-11). 
Each block 44 has an inner roller 46 which travels between a pair of 
vertically spaced and vertically aligned, continuous, stationary tracks 48 
and 50 sloped within the roller 36 such that the lower track 48 raises the 
rollers 46 during approximately one-half the revolution of the roller 36 
and the upper track 50 thereupon lowers the rollers 46 to, in turn, raise 
and lower the blocks 44 on the rods 42. 
Each block 44 has an outer, V-shaped loop 52, for capturing the heads 54 of 
the birds 30 (FIGS. 9-11) provided with a bight 56 and a pair of legs 58 
and 60 that extend downwardly and outwardly from the bight 56 and diverge 
as their lower ends are approached (FIG. 6). The legs 58 and 60 also slope 
outwardly and downwardly (FIG. 7) and the lower end of the leg 58 
terminates in an outwardly extending, horizontal arm 62 (FIG. 7) which is 
essentially radial to the axis 24 (FIG. 2). 
Each block 44 has an outer plate 64 provided with an extension 66, normal 
thereto and radial to the axis 24, which carries the bight 56 at its outer 
end as well as an abutment 68 for pinching the esophagus 71 of the bird 30 
(FIG. 8) against the roof of the birds mouth. The abutment 68, angled much 
the same as the legs 58 and 60, extends between the latter from the 
extension 66, and therefore, the bight 56, but a short distance (FIGS. 6 
and 7). 
An arcuate, horizontal guide 70 for the body 72 of the bird 30, having 
outer end flares 74 and 76 (FIG. 2), is disposed to engage the bird's 
backs 78 adjacent their necks 80 (FIGS. 9-14). An arcuate guide 82, lower 
than the guide 70, has an outer end flare 84, terminating in an opposite 
end 86, sloping downwardly as the end 86 is approached and disposed to 
engage the back of the heads 54 (FIGS. 9-12). A standard 88 above each 
block 44 is carried by a bracket 90 secured to the disc 38 and is provided 
with an outwardly extending leg separator 92 on its upper end, together 
with a short pusher prong 94. The lower end of each standard 88 has a pair 
of spaced, outwardly diverging, neck receiving fingers 96 and 98 provided 
with downwardly inclined terminals between the guides 70 and 82 and above 
the loops 52. 
OPERATION 
The overhead conveyor advances the uninterrupted train of pendulously 
suspended birds 30 to the flares 74 and 84 (FIG. 2) which operate to urge 
the necks 80 into the loops 52 and between the fingers 96 and 98, bringing 
the legs 32 into straddling relationship to the separators 92. The guides 
70 and 82 hold the birds 30 pressed inwardly toward the axis 24 as the 
prongs 94, the fingers 96 and the arms 62 cause the backs 78 to slide 
along the guide 70 and the heads 54 to slide along the guide 82, avoiding 
any tendency of pile up of the birds 30 as the legs 32 are pulled along by 
the conveyor section 16. The birds 30 continue to be vertically suspended 
and equally spaced until they exit at the flare 76 after traveling some 
180.degree.. 
The head tilting guide 82 operates at the outset (FIG. 9) to orient the 
heads 54 such as to point the beaks inwardly toward the axis 24, and the 
guide 70 operates to orient the shoulders of the birds 30 into overlying 
engagement with the fingers 96 and 98, holding the birds 30 against 
descent. 
Shortly after such initial orientation of the birds 30, as depicted in FIG. 
9, the rollers 46 will have moved to a position in engagement with the 
guide 50 therebelow (FIG. 10), causing the blocks 44 to descend along the 
rods 42, thereby causing the loops 52 to move downwardly away from the 
fingers 96 and 98, stretching the necks 80. 
This results in the throats of the birds at the larynx, and adjacent the 
heads 54, to become pressed tightly against the abutment 68 because of the 
cooperating action of the guide 82 which slopes downwardly toward the end 
86 such that the heads 54 become engaged with the guide 82 adjacent the 
combs (FIGS. 10-12). 
As the blocks 44 continue to descend toward the position shown in FIG. 12 
the throats of the birds 30 are progressively gripped more tightly between 
the throat traversing abutment 68 and the guide 82, pinching the esophagus 
71 tightly against the roof of the mouth such that the head 54 will not 
separate from the esophagus 71 and neither the larynx nor the other parts 
(broadly designated 100 in FIG. 8) will be pulled from within the head 54. 
At the same time, the neck skin will become so taut and thin at the head 54 
and adjacent the base of the skull as to lose its strength against tear 
and rupture, whereby, during continued advancement toward the position 
shown in FIG. 13, the neck skin will fracture and break away from the head 
36 at the base of the skull and at the jaw bone, leaving all of the edible 
portions of the neck 80 attached to the body 72 as shown in FIGS. 13 and 
14. Moreover, the action will cause the head 54 to break away from the 
vertebra at the skull. 
The grip of the abutment 68 and the guide 82 on the esophagus 71 and the 
engagement of the legs 58 and 60 with the head 54 will loosen the 
esophagus 71, as well as the crop 102 and the trachea 104 within the body 
72, causing the esophagus 71 to break away between the crop 102 and the 
lungs 106 and the trachea 104 to break away from the lungs 106. 
As movement continues from the position shown in FIG. 13 to the position 
shown in FIG. 14, such inedibles as the crop 102, the trachea 104, the 
pharnyx and the esophagus 71 will be pulled from within the body 72, 
leaving the lungs 106, the gizzard 108, the proventriculus 110, the 
intestines (not shown) and a portion 112 of the alimentary canal all 
within the body 72 for subsequent removal as additional eviscerating steps 
take place after the birds 30 move beyond the flare 76. 
Notable in FIG. 14 is that the rollers 46 move to a position in overlying 
engagement with the track 48 such that the latter raises the blocks 44 
from adjacent the ring 40 to a position adjacent the disc 38 (FIG. 9) as 
the roller 36 moves the blocks 44 from the zone of the flare 76 to the 
zone of the flares 74 and 84 (FIG. 2).