Terpa Poultry B.v.

Kurt O Schouenborg

A procedure and apparatus is provided for the examination of eggs to determine the presence of cracks or holes in the egg shell through the examination of the resiliency of the shell. This procedure and apparatus are characterized by the subjection of the egg to an examination cycle which consists in exercising intermittent pressure on at least a section of the egg shell by a movably mounted probe to create a series of in principle elastic deformations, where each subsequent deformation in the series is caused by the shell's action on the probe as a reaction to the immediately preceding deformation. This is done through subjecting the probe, from its original position at a distance from the shell, to a continuous force directed at the egg's shell, forcing the probe down to strike against the shell, and this results in an elastic deformation of same, whereupon the resilience of the egg shell causes it to return to its original shape, throwing back the probe, whereafter the probe, again as a result of the continuous force, is brought to strike against the shell once more before again being thrown back. This action is repeated several times, with decreasing oscillations, so that the probe's action seen as a whole is a bouncing movement against the egg shell. This movement is in principle observed as a decreasing oscillation, in connection with which the amplitude and duration of each of the probe's oscillations is measured, preferably electrically, and the number of oscillations from which the amplitude and duration exceed preset parameter values is counted and registered electronically, whereupon the above cycle is repeated a given number of times (n), and distributed evenly around the egg's axis of symmetry. The lowest registered number of ocilllations from the (n) examination cycles is registered against an empirical parameter.

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Roedovre, Denmark

Kurt O Schouenborg