Laitram, LLC

Warren E Cancienne, Jr

Ronald H Burch

Mark E Sutton

Soumitra Sengupta

Somsak S Rodboon

Bernard Bretagnolle

David W Bogle

Terral A Ridgell

Eric W Morales

Steven P Matherne

James D Arthur

Bryan M Dillenkoffer

Frank B Henry

A conveyor belt and belt modules with plug-in accessories, such as sideguards. The accessories have plugs that plug into sockets in the belt or individual belt modules. Lugs and mounting slots and tabs and detents on the plugs and sockets help guide, register, and lock the accessories in place. The plugs and sockets allow the accessories to be locked and unlocked by twisting the plugs in the sockets.

Conveyor belts and modules with twist-lock accessories

A belt splicer () for butt-welding conveyor belts with longitudinal walls and methods for splicing belts. The belt splicer () has bridges supporting belt clamps () above clamp jaws (). The bridges are attached at opposite ends to the corresponding jaws. Slots () along intermediate spans of the bridges allow the belt clamps to be adjustable positioned along the bridges. Adjacent belt clamps can be positioned with a space between them to accommodate the walls.

Bridge splicer and method of splicing conveyor belts

Apparatus and method for automatically subdividing carcasses, especially fish bodies, into individual slab sections. A preferred embodiment of the cutting apparatus includes a feed mechanism and a cutting mechanism coordinated by computer. The feed mechanism comprises a motor-driven carriage that rides upon rails. Between the rails is a feed track formed by parallel guides having angled facing surfaces defining a channel to accommodate a fish body aligned along the channel. A retainer on the carriage secures the head end of the fish body so that it can be advanced along the channel by the carriage without a change in orientation. The cutting mechanism includes a reciprocating blade that is advanced in a direction to define a cutting plane intersecting the path the fish body takes as it is transported by the carriage beyond the end of the feed track. Holding blocks at the end of the feed track clamp the fish body securely in position for cutting. The blade slices through the stationary fish body to sever a slab section from one end with minimal kerf loss and shredding. A slab holder is inserted in the peripheral girth of the severed slab section before both are conveyed off. The process is repeated until the fish body is subdivided into a predetermined number of slab sections with each of the severed slab sections held by its own holder in the same relative location so that the general orientation of the severed slab can be determined in downstream processing by reference to the holder.

Slabbing apparatus and method

A computer-controlled robot cutting system for making angled or beveled cuts along a preselected path in a workpiece having a generally planar cutting surface. A cutting knife, such as a high-intensity fluid jet, is pivotably mounted in a support frame having two pairs of arcuate guides disposed at right angles to each other for motor-driven rotation of the cutting knife about orthogonal axes. The centers of curvature of both guides lie on a critical plane containing a pivot point about which the cutting knife pivots. An opposing workpiece gantry with horizontal and vertical slides for motor-driven translation of the workpiece along two axes also includes means for holding the workpiece such that its surface to be cut faces the cutting knife and lies in the critical plane. The workpiece is thus translated to define the cutting path on the obverse surface, while the cutting knife is pivoted to define the entry angle of the cut along the cutting path. Four motion controllers under computer control coordinate the motors driving each axis of rotation or translation. Because the obverse cutting surface of the workpiece is maintained in the critical plane containing the pivot point, pivoting of the knife does not change its entry point in the cutting surface, thereby simplifying motion control algorithms. Furthermore, because the cutting knife is pivoted and the workpiece is translated, the relatively massive gearing and movable frame structures are distributed between the cutting knife section and the workpiece gantry, lowering the inertia and enabling the use of lighter-duty motors.

Robot cutting system

A fluid cutting system of improved configuration provides a high-velocity fluid that is rotated about a first axis (preferably a horizontal axis) on a moving trolley. The trolley is rotationally supported about a second axis (preferably vertical). The trolley travels upon a pair of arc-shaped tracks and is driven by a motor drive. The trolley has a pair of arc-shaped tracks that support the fluid jet nozzle. The fluid nozzle is thus rotatable about two axes, thereby emitting a high-pressure stream of fluid for adjustable cutting. A workpiece positioning frame has a fish section holder that can be elevated or moved laterally with respect to the cutting system.

Fluid jet cutting knife apparatus

An imaging system includes a method and apparatus for use in processing fish body sections that have been transversely cut. The system uses a frame with a pair of shrouds, each having an interior space that contains an illumination system for illuminating the fish section. A pair of video cameras housed respectively within the shrouds scan opposed flat sides of the fish section to produce images of the respective sides. Screens move behind the fish section in sequential fashion as each camera scans the fish section.

Growing community of inventors

River Ridge, LA, United States of America

Warren E Cancienne, Jr