The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 17, 2003
Filed:
Nov. 13, 2000
Joseph C. Mooney, Lula, GA (US);
Gainco Inc., Gainesville, GA (US);
Abstract
A system for weighing and sorting poultry parts based upon the weight of the poultry parts is disclosed. An infeed conveyor module receives delivers poultry parts to a scale module and also produces a part position signal to a control module. The scale module diverts successive poultry parts to successive ones of a plurality of scale units where the parts are statically weighed and weight signals are transmitted to the control module. The weighed parts are successively discharged from the scale units to a sorter module where the parts are sorted according to their weights. The sorter module comprises a conveyor that carries parts away from the scale module and sweeper elements that sweep parts off of lateral edges of the conveyor into appropriate receptacles depending on the part weight. The sweeper elements can move in either direction along a loop path adjacent the conveyor as determined by the control module to sweep the parts from the conveyor.