In order to automatically correct the transverse position, rotational position and, if necessary, the folded position of articles, an actual position may be determined as far upstream as possible, preferably already on a portioning belt of a discharge conveyor unit, and depending on this, a change in position towards a target position may be carried out with a belt of the discharge conveyor unit, which preferably follows downstream. The aim is to make the discharge conveyor unit as short as possible and with as few conveyors as possible, in particular preferably with only three belts, of which a weighing belt or the portioning belt may be used as a detection belt, and the next belt may be used as a displacement belt, regardless of whether it is arranged in the second or third position.

An apparatus 10 for removing the skin of poultry pieces at a skinning station 12 includes an infeed conveyor 14 for transporting or feeding poultry pieces to the skinning station 12. The infeed conveyor 14 includes an endless belt 16 that is trained around an end roller 18 at the downstream end of the infeed conveyor. A pinch block 20 is configured with a concave pinch surface 22 having curvature closely following the curvature of the endless belt 16 trained around the end roller 18 to define a narrow gap 24 therebetween for capturing the skin of the poultry piece and forcing the skin through the gap 24, thereby pulling the skin away from the underlying flesh of the poultry piece. A transfer roller 26 assists in transferring the skinned poultry piece to an outfeed conveyor 28. A hold down structure 30 is provided for applying downward pressure on the poultry piece as the poultry piece is carried by the infeed conveyor 14 towards the skinning station 12, while the poultry skin is being removed, and also while the skinned poultry piece is being transferred to the outfeed conveyor 28.

A load handling device for operating in a farming system, and an associated method of using the farming system to produce a crop are provided. The floor of the farming system includes a network of tracks based on a grid system. The load handling device includes: a first set of wheels, and a second set of wheels; and a support for receiving a growing tray, wherein the support pad can be raised and or lowered in a vertical direction to lift and lower a received growing tray. The method includes: preparing growing trays; depositing a growing tray in a growing booth; retrieving a growing tray from a growing booth; arranging growing trays in growing aisles according to life-cycle phase of the crop; controlling the environment using a hood; harvesting a crop; and/or transferring a harvested crop from the farming system to an integrated second system.

Food process-line coating apparatus for coating a stream of food product in a food process line are provided with the improvement of a permanently-installed internal cleaning-fluid circuit and a plurality cleaning-fluid distribution devices. The cleaning-fluid distribution devices are any of a rotary spray head, a spherical spray nozzle, a rotary frame or a tubular (cylindrical) rotary manifold. The rotary spray head optionally has a multitude of flat spray nozzles mounted along the arms. The spherical spray nozzle might be mounted on a columnar base, and a plurality of those might stand like pickets and aimed a laterally-extending target, like a conveyor belt's nose roller. The rotary frame might have a spaced pair of parallel manifold tubes that rotate about a common axis. The tubular (cylindrical) rotary manifold preferably has a multitude of ports or nozzles distributed at spaced locations on its outer sidewall.

The present invention relates to a belt conveyor with a weighing device for a dough line, comprising a conveyor device, comprising a frame, at least two rollers supported by the frame, a conveyor belt, arranged movable in a length direction of the belt around the at least two rollers and a slot, extending in a width direction of the conveyor belt, and arranged adjacent to an inwardly facing part of the conveyor belt, and a weighing device, comprising a housing fitting the slot; and being movable into and removable from the slot at least one weighing unit, carried by the housing and arranged with a weighing surface thereof facing outwardly for weighing a weight exercised on the weighing surface.

An automated order fulfillment system is disclosed having different temperature zones and robots and containers capable of and/or configured to work in these different temperature zones.

A cartridge for food delivery apparatus is disclosed. The cartridge is for storing and conveying items. The cartridge includes a housing and an outer looped element affixed at least partially in a main cavity of the housing. A movable inner looped element is mounted on rotatable rollers. A plurality of panels defines a plurality of movable chambers between the outer looped element and the movable inner looped element. Each of the plurality of movable chambers is defined by a space between a first panel and an adjacent panel of the plurality of panels. A first movable door partially defining the outer looped element covers a first opening providing access to at one of the chambers. A second movable door is on the outer looped element and allows items to exit the cartridge. Generally, the cartridge enables the on-demand delivery of food items having a generally planar shape or surface.

An apparatus for conveying an object in a conveying direction includes a conveyor comprised of a plurality of modular links adapted for interconnecting to form a chain. At least one of the links comprises a rounded upper portion forming an apical region for contacting and supporting the article for conveyance along at least a forward run in the conveying direction. The at least one link further including a forwardly projecting portion associated with a first transverse connector forming a part of the upper portion and a rearwardly projecting portion associated with a second transverse connector forming part of the upper portion. The first and second connectors may be staggered in the conveying direction and a direction transverse to the conveying direction. Further aspects pertain to a link with an apical engaging structure, and a sprocket with a removable tooth.

A system and a method for automatic transfer of carcass parts suspended from a first carrier to being suspended from a second carrier. The carcass parts may be a half carcass that may have been eviscerated and cleaned. The first carrier may be an industry standard gambrel or a single carrier or a Marel DeboFlex carrier, for example a Euro Carrier. The second carrier may be a single carrier, for example a Euro Carrier, or a Marel DeboFlex carrier.

In order to be able to shingle articles individual slices or partial portions of slices shingled in a longitudinal direction in a transverse direction relative to the running direction of conveyor units on which these articles are transported, the two conveyor units, on each of which one of the two articles is fully supported, are not brought to overlap in order to achieve the transverse shingling, but one of the articles is transported on its conveyor unit with a lateral overhang to the other conveyor unit, and the other article placed there on the edge side with such a height difference that the two articles can finally overlap and be placed on top of each other. However, the two conveyor units only have to be guided closely next to each other for this purpose without overlapping themselves. This simplifies the design of the overlapping unit and reduces its overall height.