US Patent 7572176 Overhead poultry conveying and counting system

A system and method of counting poultry carcasses conveyed by an overhead shackle conveying system. Poultry carcasses are suspended from shackles of an overhead conveying system and moved along a path of travel defined by the overhead conveying system. The carcasses are directed to engage a force detecting device. The force detecting device generates a signal, such as an electrical signal, when the impacted by a carcass, a magnitude of the electrical signal is proportional to a force of impact of the carcass on the force detecting device. The electrical signal is transmitted to a counter. The counter analyzes the electrical signal and increments a carcass count each time a force in a carcass identifying range is measured.