摘要 |
The present invention reorient wrongly orientated shellfish crustacean such as Nephrops norvegicus and small lobster along a channel in a downwardly inclined vibrating conveyor 12. Air is passed through jets or air knives 26 to cause the tails of the small lobster that face upwards on the conveyor to flip over. The conveyor is vibrated to cause the small lobster to rest on their shells and to assist in moving the small lobster along the conveyor. Turner blades, projections and guides (figs 4-6) along the channel may also be used to further assist orientation. Sometimes shellfish may become curled up due to rigor mortis, so a corrugated, flexible stationary straightening apparatus (fig 3) is used to contact and straighten curled articles moving on the conveyor. |