Patent ID: 8122854

Claim:
A fowl-loading vehicle comprising: a chassis; wheels or tracks for supporting the chassis relative to the ground; a pick-up conveyor belt configured to pick up fowl from the ground; a storage conveyor belt configured to receive the fowl from the pick-up conveyor belt and which is movable in a same direction as the pick-up conveyor belt, a belt support structure which is configured to support the pick-up conveyor belt and the storage conveyor belt, wherein said belt support structure is pivotably hinged to the chassis at rear of the vehicle; a device for raising said belt support structure, whereby the end of the vehicle at which the fowl are loaded can be near ground for a foul loading operation and can be selectively elevated for a fowl unloading operation; means for reversing direction of movement of the conveyor belts during unloading of the fowl, so as to convey the fowl in a direction opposite to a pick-up direction whereby the fowl are both loaded and unloaded at a same end of the vehicle, a driving station which is fixed to a plate, said plate being at a height sufficient for allowing fowl to be conveyed by said belts under the plate, wherein said driving station is connected to the belt support structure so that said height remains unchanged during loading and unloading of the vehicle; and a gate arranged at a front side of the vehicle, wherein said gate is configured to remain open during the fowl loading operation; to remain closed at the end of the fowl loading operation until an operator is able to unload the fowl collected inside containers, whereby fowl are collected and stored both on said storage conveyor belt and on said pick-up conveyor belt before said fowl are unloaded; and to remain open during a fowl unloading operation.