Patent GB-1303878-A (GB)
IPC: A22C21/04
Filed: 1970-06-04
Abstract: 1303878 Scalding poultry FOOD EQUIPMENT Inc 4 June 1970 [10 June 1969] 27018/ 70 Heading A2U In apparatus for scalding poultry or other animals by directing a high temperature supersaturated steam spray against the sides of the animals, the animals are carried by an overhead conveyer through a housing 14 which extends at an upward inclination and which has walls shaped and disposed to prevent heat build-up in the area of the conveyer while providing an area of greatest heat build-up in the vicinity of the animals. As shown, fowl F to be defeathered are suspended from pivoted shackles 20 on an overhead conveyer 10 which traverses, in turn, a prewetting station 12, an inlet side of a rectangular chamber 30 where the fowl are given initial treatment with steam and hot water, a U-shaped chamber formed by the inclined housing 14, an outlet side of the rectangular chamber 30 where a final steam and hot water treatment are given, and thence to conventional plucking machines 16, 18. In the prewetting station, the fowl are sprayed with hot water only from a series of fixed nozzles 24a, 24b fitted to conduits 22a, 22b. In an alternative prewetting station (Figs. 14-17, not shown) which is described and claimed in specification No. 34028/71, the series of nozzles are oscillated. The fowl enter the inlet side of the rectangular chamber 30 via pairs of doors (87a, 87b, Fig. 6, not shown) which retain heat within both the chamber 30 and the housing 14, similar doors being provided on the outlet side of the chamber 30. Steam spray conduits 32a, 32b, 58a, 58b are respectively provided in the inlet and outlet sides of the chamber 30 and are mounted on laterally movable bases 34a, 34b such that the spacing between each pair of conduits can be adjusted to suit the fowl or other animals being treated. Within the housing 14 there are provided the sets of fixed steam spray nozzles 38, 40, 52 and 54, of which the nozzles 40, 54 are mounted on opposite sides of a central partition wall 42 and in close proximity to the backs of fowl F, this being ensured by guiding the shackles 20 to prevent rotation of the fowl. The remaining nozzles, indicated by the numeral 76 in Fig. 7, are distributed over the walls of the housing so as to ensure 'that all parts of the fowl are adequately steamed, but that the breasts are not heated to a temperature which would cause discolouration, this being ensured by the provision of hot water conduits 46, 48, 56 from orifices along the lengths of which the hot water issues and descends over the fowl. The shaping of the walls of the housing 14 at 100a, 100b, 102a, 102b prevents heat build-up in the area of the conveyer 10 and ensures the desired amount of heat build-up in the vicinity of the fowl or other animals. Preferably, as shown, the housing 14 is constructed as two half housings each composed of one cylindrical side wall, one straight side wall which is adapted to abut the corresponding side wall of the other half to form the partition, and top and bottom walls, the walls being of metal welded together and each wall being composed of an outer skin and an inner skin between which conduits 70 of rectangular section are welded, the nozzles 76 being provided on the conduits 70 and projecting through apertures in the inner skin. The outer and inner skins are preferably of stainless steel. In alternative embodiments of the housing (Figs. 12, 13 not shown) the cylindrical walls are replaced by pairs of flat walls. The steam used for the steam nozzles is preferably supersaturated by adding water, through a hose 132 to pressurised steam supplied by a pipe 120 via a regulator valve 130. Temperature and pressure of the steam is monitored on a console 86.