Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 1/16/12

The U.S Patent and Trademark Office has granted Cargill a patent for an animal hide processing system for meat processing facilities developed by Ronn Houtz.

The invention includes automated processes and systems for curing, grading, measuring, folding and stacking animal hides prior to delivering the hides to a tannery.

The control system includes a grading station interface, a measuring system interface, a stacking station interface and a microprocessor.

The control system is adapted to receive the hide grades and measurements, compare the grades and or measurements with a predetermined protocol and to selectively deposit the hides at one of the stacking sites based on the comparison.

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