Harvesters – Fruit gatherer
Patent
1997-06-16
1999-03-09
Melius, Terry Lee
Harvesters
Fruit gatherer
563271, A01D 4624
Patent
active
058785620
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is concerned with apparatus for picking fruit. For convenience, the invention will be described primarily with reference to an apparatus for picking mangoes but it will be understood that the apparatus can be equally used to pick other fruits and indeed can be used to retrieve other items from an elevated position.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In mango plantations, mangoes are conventionally picked by a person armed with a long stick with a knife on its end who reaches up and cuts each mango from the tree. To alleviate the need for another person to catch the mango, the picker works from a trampoline on which the mango lands. The mango bounces from the trampoline into a water tank. In the water tank any sap on the mango is washed off before it can mark the skin of the mango.
While a mango which lands squarely on the trampoline will clearly suffer less bruising than a mango dropped onto the ground there is still some degree of bruising of the fruit. Furthermore, it is not always easy to direct where the mango falls with enough precision to ensure it lands on the trampoline and some mangoes may fall a long distance into the quite shallow water tank and land heavily on its bottom or even land on the ground adjacent the trampoline. It is also likely that not all of the mangoes which land on the trampoline will bounce directly into the water tank; some may bounce onto the ground and others may come to rest on the trampoline. In the former case substantial bruising will occur and in the latter case (unless the picker stops picking and bends over to pick up the mango and throw it into the water tank) the mango will suffer sap burns which reduce its value. The present invention provides a technique of picking fruit such as mangoes which minimises damage to the fruit.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for use in fruit picking comprising a mobile support structure, a conduit supported by the mobile support structure and having an inlet section for entry of fruit, an outlet section for discharge of fruit and a fluid inlet for entry of fluid, a fluid supply means for directing fluid through the fluid inlet down an inner surface of the conduit along which fruit moves, a recovering area for receipt of fruit discharged through the outlet section and a retarding means in the conduit to retard motion of fruit travelling through the conduit under the action of gravity.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of picking fruit including the steps of picking the fruit, placing the fruit in a conduit means which has a liquid running from its inlet to its outlet end, allowing the fruit to move under the action of gravity along the conduit means to its outlet end with liquid beneath the fruit and collecting fruit, the method also including using a retarding means to retard the movement of fruit along the conduit.
Preferably, the outlet from said conduit means is to a tank containing the liquid.
The fruit generally drops a small distance into the tank which is deep enough that the fruit will not hit the bottom. Alternatively, the outlet from said conduit means may be at the surface of the liquid in the tank or may be submerged in which case the liquid may back up into said conduit means.
The liquid is preferably water or an aqueous solution such as a detergent solution Reference made hereinafter to water will be understood to include aqueous solutions
Advantageously, the water is recycled through the apparatus.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, water is supplied to the tank from a water reservoir and is drawn from the tank into a pipe which joins said conduit means adjacent the inlet for the fruit to supply water thereto. The water supplied to said conduit means thereafter runs along said conduit means and is returned to the tank.
Advantageously, the pipe runs from the tank at one end of the tank and the solution reservoir is at the other end, Water from said co
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