Embodiments of the present invention pertain to a plant trimming machine. Plants are placed in a tumbler. As the tumbler rotates, leaves are sucked through the tumbler by a vacuum assembly and cut by at least one rotatable blade adjacent to the tumbler. The tumbler and blade are housed in separate cartridges so that they can be easily removed and inserted. Thereby, it is relatively easy to clean and replace a tumbler or blade with minimal downtime to the machine.

In a food conveyor system configured to drive a conveyor belt in one direction to direct food material for further processing and drive the conveyor belt in a reverse direction upon the sensing of metal in the food material, the conveyor belt is cleaned by one or more belt cleaners including scrapers which are automatically angularly repositioned upon the changing of the drive direction of the conveyor belt, with the angular movement being limited to acute angles relative to the vertical. The belt cleaners are mounted through linkage assemblies for ease of cleaning and replacement. The food conveyor system also employs one or more chute members for directing the food material, with the one or more chute members being mounted through a quick release connection employing keyhole slots upon flexing of the chute member(s).

Example systems and methods for automated delivery of a food and/or beverage from a kitchen may be directed to a first vertically extending elevator configured to transport a payload to and from the kitchen. The payload may include a food and/or a beverage. Example systems also may include a laterally extending conveyor configured to transport the payload laterally from the first elevator to a second elevator. The second elevator is configured to transport the payload from the conveyor to a customer delivery window.

This disclosure concerns methods for processing and grading food articles including x-raying the food articles a first time and taking a 3D image of the food articles.

A slaughtered pig part processing plant including a plurality of pig part processing stations and a conveyor supporting via respective couplings a plurality of spaced apart clamp structures, the conveyor advancing the couplings with a respective clamp structure in a machine direction (T) from a first station for introducing a pig part between jaws of a clamp structure, towards a last station for removing the bone of the processed pig part from the clamp structure, wherein in the clamp structures being connected to the conveyor so as to allow for a turning movement of the clamp structures about a vertical axis (D), the processing plant including elongated guiding elements engaging the clamp structures or the couplings as they are advanced in the machine direction (T), for bringing about the turning movement about the vertical axis (D).

The invention relates to a method of handling food products, in which at least one respective product is placed onto a carrier that has a base and a tab pivotable relative to the base about a kink line, the carrier together with the product disposed thereon is fed to a pick-up region that is disposed in a working region of a transfer device, and the carrier together with the product disposed thereon is picked up by the transfer device, is then fed by means of the transfer device to an insertion region of a packaging machine, and is inserted there with a downward movement of the transfer device into a package component, wherein the carrier is moved past a folding contour, which is arranged in the insertion region, during the downward movement and in so doing, on the one hand, the tab is pivoted relative to the base by cooperation with the folding contour and, on the other hand, the carrier is secured against lifting by a holding device of the transfer device that is effective at or in the region of the kink line.

Methods and apparatuses to activate, modify, and sanitize the surfaces of granular, powdered, or seed material placed in a continuous flow of a low-temperature, reduced-pressure gas plasma. Said plasma may be created with radio-frequency power, using capacitive-inductive, or a combination of both types of discharge. The plasma is generated at pressures in the 0.01 to 10 Torr range. RF frequency ranges from 0.2 to 220 MHz, and correspond to a plasma density between about n.sub.e×10.sup.8−n.sub.e×10.sup.12 or 0.001 to 0.4 W/cm.sup.3. Inserts and electrodes may be temperature controlled to control process conditions. RF discharge may be pulsed or modulated by different frequency in order to stimulate energy exchange between gas plasma and process material. The apparatuses may be grounded, biased and mechanically activated (e.g., vibration, rotation, etc.).

A selective transplanter is provided for transplanting seedlings from a tray to seedling planting apparatus. The tray includes a plurality of cells for holding plugs of growing medium containing seedlings. The transplanter is arranged to eject plugs from the cells of the tray to a conveyor which conveys the plugs to the seedling planting apparatus. The transplanter is arranged to remove plugs that do not contain germinated seedlings from the conveyor at a removal position before they are transferred to the seedling planting apparatus. A seedling retention roller engages with plant material of the seedlings projecting from the plugs at the removal position before the plugs are transferred to the seedling planting apparatus, preventing removal of plugs containing seedlings with projecting plant material. The transplanter provides the advantage that the plugs containing seedlings can be planted in rows in a field without dud plugs being planted, leaving the rows substantially gap free.

A full floor sweep system having a skeletonized head section to facilitate removal of grain from a grain bin. The sweep system having an elongated body extending a length between an inward end and an outward end and having a leading side and a trailing side. The elongated body is connected to a pivot point at the center of the grain bin and is configured to rotate around the pivot point. An agitator is connected to the outward end of the elongated body and is configured to agitate grain as the elongated body rotates around the pivot point. The agitator includes an impeller that is connected to a shaft that extends through the elongated body. A scraper is positioned at the outward end of the elongated body and is configured to move grain into the path of the elongated body.

A bale stacker and method of using a bale stacker for consolidating a plurality of bales into a bale stack. The bale stacker including a bale stacker chassis supported for translational motion over a surface and one or more: of a bale lift, a bale receiving platform disposed over the bale stacker chassis to receive bales released from the bale lift, a bale transfer table disposing a plurality of bales in bale stack, a bale stack bed having at least one fork movable to abut a bale stack on said bale stack bed, a bale shuffler operable to engage the bale stack to align the bales in the bale stack, and a bale stack push of operable to engage the bale stack disposed on said bale stack bed in primarily vertical orientation to push a plurality of bale stacks off from the bale stack bed.