Patent ID: 7465224

Claim:
An apparatus for removing the feathers from a wing tip of a segmented wing portion comprising: a frame having a powered drive mechanism mounted thereon; an uppermost pinch roller including an upper left roller and upper right roller each rotateably engaged to the drive mechanism operable to drive each of the upper left and upper right rollers inwardly and oppositely with respect to the other and each of the upper left and upper right rollers having upper left and upper right helical threads respectively where each of the upper left and upper right threads spirally advance from an upper start end to a upper exit end distal with respect to the upper start end for advancing a segmented wing portion from the upper start end to the upper exit end and along a upper line of engagement between the upper left and upper right rollers and capturing any feathers; and a lower pinch roller aligned vertically below the uppermost pinch roller, said lower pinch roller including a lower left roller and a lower right roller each rotateably engaged to the drive mechanism operable to drive each of the lower left and lower right rollers inwardly and oppositely with respect to the other and each of the lower left and lower right rollers having lower left and lower right helical threads respectively where each of said lower left and lower right threads advance from a lower start end to a lower exit end distal with respect to the lower start end for advancing the segmented wing portion from the lower start end to the lower exit end and along a lower line of engagement between lower left and lower right rollers and capturing any feathers, where the lower start end and the lower exit end are vertically aligned beneath the upper exit end and the upper start end respectively.