Patent ID: 8146380

Claim:
A rocker chiller comprising: an elongated tank including a curved bottom portion configured to hold heat-exchanging liquid at a liquid level in said tank and for receiving carcasses in the heat-exchanging liquid in said tank, a baffle assembly extending along the length of said tank, said baffle assembly including a drive shaft above said curved bottom portion of said tank, and a baffle extending downwardly from said drive shaft toward said bottom portion of said tank and including a distal edge adjacent said bottom wall of said tank, said baffle and sized, shaped and positioned to sweep closely adjacent the facing curved bottom portion of said tank, power means connected to said baffle assembly for oscillating said baffle side to side in an arc along said curved bottom portion of said tank, said baffle defining openings therethrough, said openings in said baffle being sized and shaped to pass the heat-exchanging liquid through said openings from one side to the other side of said baffle in directions opposite to the directions of the oscillations of said baffle and for said baffle to retard the movement of at least some of the carcasses from one side to the other side of said baffle as said baffle oscillates; the configuration of said baffle selected from the group consisting of, at least one elongated baffle slat positioned between said drive shaft and said distal edge defining said openings between said baffle slat and said drive shaft and between said baffle slat and said distal edge, a plurality of elongated baffle slats positioned between said drive shaft and said distal edge and defining openings between said baffle slats, a plurality of elongated parallel spaced bars extending radially from said drive shaft and defining said openings between said spaced bars, a perforated sheet with the perforations of said sheet forming said openings, and a plurality of horizontally extending parallel spaced bars positioned between said drive shaft and said distal edge and defining said baffle openings between said spaced bars.