Fruit picking apparatus

Details Fruit picking apparatus Fruit picking apparatus

1974-08-09

1976-05-04

Kinsey, Russell R.

Harvesters

Fruit gatherer

A01D 4624

Patent

active

039539601

ABSTRACT:
An apparatus for removing fruit, particularly citrus fruit, from a tree comprises a composite picker roll containing a plurality of axially spaced apart segment wheels. Each segment wheel has a plurality of resilient, arcuate pressure members for engaging the fruit being picked. The roll is mounted within a housing and coupled to a hydraulic motor for rotation. A plurality of free floating fingers, resiliently mounted to the housing, is positioned parallel to the roll and in juxtaposition to each other. The fingers are aligned one-to-one below the roll segment wheels and are spaced apart therefrom to form channels through which fruit is conveyed. During picking, the resilient pressure members of the roller segment wheels, cooperating with the free floating, resilient fingers, provide multiplanar rotation of the fruit to efficiently snap the fruit from the tree branch without tearing the skin of the fruit and without breaking the branches or disturbing delicate blossoms on the branches. Then the picked fruit is gently rolled along the channels to a canvas transfer bag for subsequent deposit into a receptacle. The gentle rolling of the fruit between adjacent pairs of fingers and roll segments distributes the picking forces at four points and thus prevents bruising the fruit; and, due to the resiliency of the fingers and segments, the size of the channels automatically adjusts to a range of sizes of fruit. The size of the channels is roughly adjustable by the operator by means of the adjustable springs and guide rods supporting the fingers. An idler roller mounted to the housing below the fingers further protects the branches and the delicate blossoms of the tree from being damaged by the rotating roll during harvesting.

REFERENCES:
patent: 2616236 (1952-11-01), Hartley
patent: 2715809 (1955-08-01), Buell
patent: 3138912 (1964-06-01), Mays et al.
patent: 3530654 (1970-09-01), Staats, Sr. et al.
patent: 3613868 (1971-10-01), Rickerd

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