Rotary shackle with yieldable lock

摘要

The poultry support shackle (14) includes a trolley assembly (18) that moves along a conveyor track (12) and a bird hanger (20) that is rotatably mounted to the body (22) of the trolley. Ball detents (72) are threadedly received in the turning gear (70) and engage the detents (76) of the facing surface (34) of the clevis (26) of the trolley assembly, functioning to yieldably maintain the hanger (20) in a fixed predetermined relative rotary position with respect to the trolley assembly (18). In those instances where the bird (15) is to be passed through a processing machine and external forces are applied to the bird and therefore to the bird hanger, additional guide rails (16) are employed along the processing path so that the guide surfaces (80) of the turning gear move adjacent the facing guide surface (82) of the guide rail (16), thereby prohibiting rotary movement of the turning gear and the bird hanger. <IMAGE>