An Improved Method of, and Crate for, Packing Rabbits and Hares for Refrigeration and Transport.
Year: 1898

page_text: An Improved Method of, and Crate for, Packing Rabbits and Hares
for Refrigeration and Transport.
We, JOHN BERNARD ZANDER, of Nos. 624 and 626 Bourke Street, Melbourne,
in the Colony of Victoria, Produce Exporter, and JOHN COOKE, of No. 529, Collins
Street, Melbourne, aforesaid, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:―
Hitherto it has been usual to pack rabbits and hares in trays or crates by placing
them in a crouching position with their hind legs doubled back and supported by
Icops or lengths of wire or bars across the loins and under the thighs.
There are several objections to these means of packing for retrigeration and
transport, one being the danger of the air spaces between the rows of rabbits or
hares being closed by the loose bellies of the rabbits projecting into such spaces.
Again no proper provision was made for causing the circulation of cold air around
those parts of the carcases which required most refrigeration consequently a certain
proportion of rabbits in each shipment was liable to turn bad.
Now this invention has been devised in order to remedy these defects and at the
same time enable a greater number of rabbits to be packed in a given sized crate
than is practicable where they are refrigerated and packed in the ordinary manner
thus minimising space and effecting a considerable saving of freight.
The invention will be readily understood on reference to the accompanying
drawings in which,
Figure 1 is a perspective view of one of our improved crates showing it partially
filled with rabbits as they would be packed for refrigeration.
Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section thereof on line 2-2 Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a perspective view showing a trough or tray used according to this
invention for freezing extra pairs of rabbits into the desired shape to fit into the
space maintained between the rows of rabbits in the crate.

page_text: A represents the skeleton framing or body of the crate constructed after the style
of the ordinary crates used for exporting rabbits, but which is according to this
invention formed with openings B at each end. These openings are made in said
ends in such a position as that their upper corners are in a line with the junction
of the thighs and loins of the carcases and said openings are by preference made
triangular in shape as shown and they are adapted to receive a hollow perforated
supporter and spreader C extending from end to end of the crate.
In packing a crate according to this invention the rabbits are placed in a row
along the bottom with their hind legs doubled back as in a crouching position, and
the hollow perforated supporter and spreader C is then passed through the open-
ings B in the ends of the crates so that one of its edges bears against the thighs
and loins of the rabbits and so retains them in the desired position. A second
row of rabbits is then packed over spreader C in a corresponding position to the
first row so that the bellies of each row are opposite to each other after which the
outside battens of the crate are nailed on in the ordinary way.
The crate is now ready for the refrigerating chamber and it will be readily
understood that the spreader C passing between the two rows of rabbits will keep
the rabbits apart, and as said spreader is perforated it allows a perfect circulation
of cold air to those parts of the rabbits which most require it, and maintains a
clear passage from end to end of the crate, which passage cannot be obstructed or
blocked by any of the loose parts of the rabbits projecting into it, as is often the
case at present.
In addition to the two rows of rabbits in the crate an extra pair of rabbits are
pressed into a trough or tray D corresponding in shape and size to the spreader C,
as illustrated in Figure 3, and are then frozen so that they will retain the desired
shape. The spreaders C and troughs or trays D are preferably made of galvanized
iron. After refrigeration the spreaders in the crates are removed and the corres-
pondingly shaped troughs or trays in which the extra pairs of rabbits have been
frozen are then slid into the spaces between the rows together with the rabbits con-
tained in them after which said troughs are removed leaving said rabbits in position
within the crate.
In this way twenty six rabbits may be packed for transport in a crate which
when packed in the ordinary way would only hold twenty four thereby effecting a
saving of freight.
These advantages are obtained without increasing the cost of manufacture of the
crates.
We are aware of Letters Patent No. 11753 %, granted to John Westwood and
Letters Patent No. 7338 97, granted to A. F. Spooner, (Alfred Hart and George
Edward Andrew), and we do not claim anything described and claimed in the
specification of either of these patents.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:-
1. The herein described method of packing rabbits and hares for refrigeration
and transport consisting in placing them in two rows in a crate with a V or other
suitably shaped hollow perforated supporter and spreaders between them, separately
freezing other rabbits in a tray corresponding in size and shape to said spreader
and subsequently inserting said other rabbits in the spaces maintained between
the rows by said spreader substantially as and for the purposes herein described
and explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. An improved crate for packing rabbits and hares for refrigeration and trans-
port having openings (such as B) formed in its ends in a line with the junction of
the loins and thighs of the carcases to receive a V or other shaped hollow perforated
supporter and spreader (such as C) extending from end to end of the crates between

page_text: the rows of rabbits therein substantially as and for the purposes herein described
and explained and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this Sixth day of October One thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight.
T D
ANDED