Patents by Inventor Thorir Finnsson

Thorir Finnsson has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11883975
    Abstract: This invention relates to a cutting apparatus for cutting food items conveyed on a conveyor including at least one conveyor belt. A cutter is arranged above a gap extending across the at least one conveyor belt. The cutter is positioned in relation to the gap such that the cutting path of the cutter extends through the food items and the gap and below the surface level of the at least one conveyor belt. The cutter is adapted to be connected to a control mechanism for operating crosswise movement of the cutter along the gap. The gap is formed between adjacent elongated supporting means such as rollers with a fixed internal arrangement, where the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter is adapted to be connected to a control mechanism for operating back and forth movement of the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter parallel to the conveying direction while maintaining the internal arrangement of the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter fixed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: MAREL ICELAND EHF
    Inventor: Thorir Finnsson
  • Publication number: 20230263175
    Abstract: A system for placing ice into boxes containing food products and the system includes: a control unit, an ice in-feed device, an ice distribution device configured for receiving ice from the ice in-feed device and for distributing the received ice into the open upper side of the boxes while the boxes pass the ice distribution device. The ice distribution device has an ice width adjuster device for interacting with the received ice prior to distributing the received ice into the open upper side of the boxes while the boxes pass the ice distribution device. The ice width adjuster device is controlled by the control unit using at least one characteristic parameter relating to the boxes including the width of the boxes as a control command in adjusting the width of the width adjuster device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2021
    Publication date: August 24, 2023
    Inventors: Thorir FINNSSON, Jón Vidar SIGURGEIRSSON
  • Publication number: 20220289416
    Abstract: A system is provided for placing food items into containers such that the containers fulfil at least one criterion. The system has handling devices arranged along a conveyor belt of a conveyor system and a control unit connected to a position tracker for controlling the handling devices using position data from the position tracker.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2020
    Publication date: September 15, 2022
    Inventors: Thorir FINNSSON, Hordur GARDARSSON
  • Patent number: 11051522
    Abstract: This invention relates to a cutting system for cutting food products while the food products are conveyed by a conveyor. An arc-shaped system and a cutting means are provided, where the cutting means is adapted to be connected to the arc-shaped system. The arc-shaped system is adapted to be positioned above a surface area of the conveyor on which said food products are resting during the cutting such that the center of the arc-shaped system is around the surface area. A control unit operates the position of the cutting means within the arc-shaped system based on image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: MAREL ICELAND EHF
    Inventors: Thorir Finnsson, Kristjan Hallvardsson
  • Publication number: 20200282585
    Abstract: This invention relates to a cutting apparatus for cutting food items conveyed on a conveyor including at least one conveyor belt. A cutter is arranged above a gap extending across the at least one conveyor belt. The cutter is positioned in relation to the gap such that the cutting path of the cutter extends through the food items and the gap and below the surface level of the at least one conveyor belt. The cutter is adapted to be connected to a control mechanism for operating crosswise movement of the cutter along the gap. The gap is formed between adjacent elongated supporting means such as rollers with a fixed internal arrangement, where the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter is adapted to be connected to a control mechanism for operating back and forth movement of the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter parallel to the conveying direction while maintaining the internal arrangement of the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter fixed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2020
    Publication date: September 10, 2020
    Inventor: Thorir FINNSSON
  • Patent number: 10750753
    Abstract: A flowline system for processing food products includes a feeding conveyor is provided for conveying the food products to be processed, a plurality of workstations are arranged along the feeding conveyor, a diverter associated with each of the plurality of workstations for diverting food products from the feeding conveyor to the workstations, and a takeaway conveyor assembly. Each workstation comprises a release mechanism configured to receive a food product after being processed and to transfer the processed food product onto the takeaway conveyor assembly, and where a control unit is provided to allocate a slot length on the takeaway conveyor assembly in accordance to a length of the processed food product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: MAREL ICELAND EHF
    Inventor: Thorir Finnsson
  • Patent number: 10555539
    Abstract: A cutting device for cutting a food product that is conveyed by a conveyor means. The cutting device includes a first cutting blade and a moving mechanism attached to the first cutting blade for moving the first cutting blade sideways in either direction across the conveyor means, and a control unit. The first cutting blade is adapted to cut at least one incision in the product from one side of the product. The control unit is adapted to control the first cutting blade and the moving mechanism based on image data of the food product, and includes utilizing the image data in instructing the moving mechanism to adjust the position of the first cutting blade across the conveyor means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: MAREL ICELAND EHF
    Inventor: Thorir Finnsson
  • Publication number: 20190357554
    Abstract: A flowline system for processing food products includes a feeding conveyor provided for conveying the food products to be processed, a plurality of workstations are arranged along the feeding conveyor, a diverting means are associated with each of the plurality of workstations for diverting food products from the feeding conveyor to the workstations, and a takeaway conveyor assembly is provided. Each workstation comprises a release mechanism configured to receive a food product after being processed and to transfer the processed food product onto the takeaway conveyor assembly. A control unit is provided to allocate a slot length on the takeaway conveyor assembly in accordance to a length of the processed food product.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2017
    Publication date: November 28, 2019
    Inventor: Thorir FINNSSON
  • Publication number: 20190327985
    Abstract: This invention relates to a cutting system for cutting food products while the food products are conveyed by a conveyor. An arc-shaped system and a cutting means are provided, where the cutting means is adapted to be connected to the arc-shaped system. The arc-shaped system is adapted to be positioned above a surface area of the conveyor on which said food products are resting during the cutting such that the center of the arc-shaped system is around the surface area. A control unit operates the position of the cutting means within the arc-shaped system based on image data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2019
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Inventors: Thorir FINNSSON, Kristjan HALLVARDSSON
  • Publication number: 20180084793
    Abstract: A cutting device for cutting a food product that is conveyed by a conveyor means. The cutting device includes a first cutting blade and a moving mechanism attached to the first cutting blade for moving the first cutting blade sideways in either direction across the conveyor means, and a control unit. The first cutting blade is adapted to cut at least one incision in the product from one side of the product. The control unit is adapted to control the first cutting blade and the moving mechanism based on image data of the food product, and includes utilizing the image data in instructing the moving mechanism to adjust the position of the first cutting blade across the conveyor means.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2015
    Publication date: March 29, 2018
    Inventor: Thorir FINNSSON
  • Publication number: 20170135357
    Abstract: This invention relates to a cutting system for cutting food products while the food products are conveyed by a conveyor. An arc-shaped system and a cutting means are provided, where the cutting means is adapted to be connected to the arc-shaped system. The arc-shaped system is adapted to be positioned above a surface area of the conveyor on which said food products are resting during the cutting such that the center of the arc-shaped system is around the surface area. A control unit operates the position of the cutting means within the arc-shaped system based on image data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2015
    Publication date: May 18, 2017
    Inventors: Thorir FINNSSON, Kristjan HALLVARDSSON
  • Patent number: 9145268
    Abstract: This invention relates to a conveyor system and a method for producing a sequence of discrete food items from a plurality of incoming food objects including at least one food item conveyed by an in-feed conveyor including an in-feed conveyor belt such that the distance between adjacent food objects of said sequence of discrete food objects fulfills a pre-determined distance criterion. A first conveyor belt provided adapted to be placed adjacent to the in-feed conveyor belt and a second conveyor belt is provided adapted to be placed adjacent to the first conveyor belt. The adjacent ends of the first and second conveyors belts are operable connected together via a junction such that their internal position is fixed at all times. An imaging mechanism images the incoming objects so as to obtain image data including image data indicating the length of the incoming objects and distances between adjacent incoming objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: MAREL ICELAND EHF
    Inventors: Thorir Finnsson, Kristjan Hallvardsson
  • Publication number: 20150158676
    Abstract: This invention relates to a conveyor system and a method for producing a sequence of discrete food items from a plurality of incoming food objects including at least one food item conveyed by an in-feed conveyor including an in-feed conveyor belt such that the distance between adjacent food objects of said sequence of discrete food objects fulfils a pre-determined distance criterion. A first conveyor belt provided adapted to be placed adjacent to the in-feed conveyor belt and a second conveyor belt is provided adapted to be placed adjacent to the first conveyor belt. The adjacent ends of the first and second conveyors belts are operable connected together via a junction such that their internal position is fixed at all times. An imaging mechanism images the incoming objects so as to obtain image data including image data indicating the length of the incoming objects and distances between adjacent incoming objects.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2013
    Publication date: June 11, 2015
    Inventors: Thorir Finnsson, Kristjan Hallvardsson
  • Patent number: 9051068
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for delivering one or more items to a desired position on an item carrier, the apparatus comprising a drop conveyor comprising two conveyor sections that are laterally displaceable and controllable in order to enable dropping the one or more items at a desired position along the length of the drop conveyor, characterized in that the drop conveyor comprises guide means placed above the two conveyor sections, the guide means being laterally displaceable and controllable. The present invention further relates to a method of delivering one or more items to a desired position on an item carrier, the method comprising the steps of positioning the item carrier beneath a drop conveyor, transferring one or more items to the drop conveyor, positioning the items on the drop conveyor, adjusting side guides into contact with the items, and opening the drop conveyor so that the items are dropped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2015
    Assignee: MAREL HF
    Inventors: Adalsteinn Viglundsson, Thorir Finnsson, Sigurdur Skarphedinsson
  • Publication number: 20150033921
    Abstract: This invention relates to a cutting apparatus for cutting food items conveyed on a conveyor including at least one conveyor belt. A cutter is arranged above a gap extending across the at least one conveyor belt. The cutter is positioned in relation to the gap such that the cutting path of the cutter extends through the food items and the gap and below the surface level of the at least one conveyor belt. The cutter is adapted to be connected to a control mechanism for operating crosswise movement of the cutter along the gap. The gap is formed between adjacent elongated supporting means such as rollers with a fixed internal arrangement, where the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter is adapted to be connected to a control mechanism for operating back and forth movement of the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter parallel to the conveying direction while maintaining the internal arrangement of the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter fixed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2013
    Publication date: February 5, 2015
    Inventor: Thorir Finnsson
  • Publication number: 20120055760
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for delivering one or more items to a desired position on an item carrier, the apparatus comprising a drop conveyor comprising two conveyor sections that are laterally displaceable and controllable in order to enable dropping the one or more items at a desired position along the length of the drop conveyor, characterised in that the drop conveyor comprises guide means placed above the two conveyor sections, the guide means being laterally displaceable and controllable. The present invention further relates to a method of delivering one or more items to a desired position on an item carrier, the method comprising the steps of positioning the item carrier beneath a drop conveyor, transferring one or more items to the drop conveyor, positioning the items on the drop conveyor, adjusting side guides into contact with the items, and opening the drop conveyor so that the items are dropped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2010
    Publication date: March 8, 2012
    Applicant: MAREL HF
    Inventors: Adalsteinn Viglundsson, Thorir Finnsson, Sigurdur Skarphedinsson