Apparatus for unloading large fish from a boat hold

Abstract

An apparatus for unloading fish from a hold of a boat adjacent an unloading site has a carriage movable horizontally at the site along the boat, an articulated arm, and an endless conveyor extending along the arm. This arm has a rigid inner section having an inner end pivoted about a horizontal inner axis on the carriage and an outer end, a pivot defining an outer horizontal axis at the inner-section outer end, and a rigid outer section having an inner end pivoted on the inner-section outer end at the pivot and an outer end. An inner actuator braced between the carriage and the inner section can pivot the arm on the carriage about the inner axis and an outer actuator braced between the arm sections can pivot the outer section about the outer axis on the inner section. The conveyor extends along the arm from the inner-section inner end to the outer-section outer end and has a carry stretch on one side of the sections and a return stretch on an opposite side of the sections. A multiplicity of holders spaced along the conveyor each include a pair of separate laterally spaced buckets defining a central gap. Support wheels on the arm engage the belt in the gap between the buckets.