Harvesters – Motorized harvester – Having driven means for handling or treating crop
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-01
2001-01-16
Pezzuto, Robert E. (Department: 3671)
Harvesters
Motorized harvester
Having driven means for handling or treating crop
C056S164000, C056S327100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06173559
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a harvester for leafy vegetables and a process for harvesting leafy vegetables.
2. Description of the Related Art
Harvesting young or early growth leafy vegetables presents particular problems not found when harvesting other vegetables. By “leafy vegetables” it is meant that family of specialty lettuces and other leafy greens which, when mixed together for sale and consumption are sometimes referred to as “spring mix,” “mixed greens,” or “baby greens.” For example, this includes lettuces, such as green romaine, red romaine, sierra, lola rosa, tango, green leaf, red leaf, little gem, red butter, read oak, red perella and green perella. It also includes greens such as arugula, maxine, red mustard, green mustard, spinach, tat tai, red chard and red russian kale. If such leafy vegetables are grown under certain conditions, the harvested produce can be certified as organically grown.
Harvesters are known for cutting some vegetables such as spinach, cabbage, watercress and the like. Recently, consumer demand has required harvesting a variety of lettuces at an early stage of growth while the leaves are small and close to the ground.
This has presented challenges unmet by mechanical harvesters and consequently all young leafy vegetables has been largely by hand.
One problem in mechanically harvesting leafy vegetables is that the plants are very small when harvested. This means that the leafy vegetables must be grown in rows or beds which are prepared to be as flat as possible. The widths of the beds are also dimensionally controlled as much as possible. A typical bed is either 40 inches or 42 inches wide, as measured from the center of furrows on either side of the bed. Separating each of the beds are furrows which allow the passage of the wheels of farm equipment used to cultivate, plant, maintain, and harvest the leafy vegetables. With such small plants, a harvester must be able to maintain the cutting mechanism approximately ¼ inch off the surface of the bed.
Another problem is that the leafy vegetables are very tender. They are easily bruised by conventional harvesters. Bruised or damaged leafy vegetables are not saleable and must be discarded, reducing yield.
One conventional harvester uses a sickle cutter formed at the bottom of a double belted conveyer system. The bottom belt is made of a metal mesh and the top conveyer is made of a flexible material with “fingers” formed in layers on the flexible belt. The fingers hold the cut leafy vegetables in contact with the lower conveyer as the cut produce is conveyed up the conveyer to the discharge area. This is necessary so that wind, for example, does not blow the cut leafy vegetables off of the conveyer.
This arrangement has several deficiencies. First, the fingers, while flexible, tend to damage or bruise the delicate leafy vegetables, thereby reducing yield. The fingers tend to break and the entire conveyer must be removed and replaced with a new or repaired one. This is both expensive and time consuming. Also, the presence of the upper fingered belt makes it difficult to inspect and clean the area between the two conveyer belts.
Another problem occurs because of the trend towards the use of double size rows or beds in addition to standard size beds. The width of these beds is 80 inches, or double the width of a conventional 40 inch bed. Eighty inch beds eliminate every other furrow in comparison with a field of 40 inch beds. This increases the area of cultivatable land, and hence yield, up to 50% to 80%. No known harvester is presently available which can harvester 40 inch, 42 inch and 80 inch beds.
It is very important that when the “spring mix” is ultimately shipped to customers and consumers that it be clean and completely free of sticks, weeds, or other debris. Also, any bruised or damaged leafs must be eliminated. Cotyledon, the poorly formed embryonic underleaves, must also be eliminated. When harvesting leafy vegetables manually this can largely be done when the plants are selected and cut by the field worker. Existing harvesting techniques introduce undesirable amounts of debris and unwanted materials with the harvested leafy vegetables.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a harvester for leafy vegetables is provided which is capable of use with beds of 40 and 42 inches, as well as double size rows of 80 inches. This is accomplished by separating the two front wheels and the two back wheels by somewhat more than the distance of an 80 inch bed, so each pair of wheels run in every other furrow. A conveyer/cutter assembly is designed to exceed the width of a single row, i.e, 36 inches. The conveyer/cutter assembly is located on one side of the centerline of the harvester, the centerline running lengthwise midway between the front pair of wheels and the back pair of wheels. The operator station and engine are located on the other side of he centerline.
Cutting 40 or 42 inch beds is done conventionally, with the harvester cutting a full bed as the harvester passes along each bed. To cut an 80 inch bed, the harvester makes a first pass in one direction along a bed, cutting half the width of the bed. The harvester then makes a second pass in the opposite direction to cut the remaining half width.
In accordance with the present invention, damage to the freshly cut leafy vegetables is reduced by eliminating the upper conveyer belt. A single conveyer belt is used with periodic cleats which hold the cut leafy vegetables as they are conveyed upwardly to the discharge area. Yield is increased because there are no fingers to damage the freshly cut leafy vegetables. To keep the wind from blowing the leafy vegetables away an enclosure, such as a hood, is provided which surrounds the conveyer belt. The hood is hingedly mounted to permit easy access to the conveyer belt.
A reel is mounted at the bottom of the conveyer belt. It is provided with brushes or fingers. The reel serves two purposes. The first is to engage the plants being cut to provide a slight amount of pressure against them as they engage the cutter assembly. This results in a better and cleaner cut. Secondly, they “brush” the cut leafy vegetables onto the conveyer for transportation up to the discharge area.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an improved method of harvesting and processing leafy vegetables is described. After the harvester of the present invention cuts the leafy vegetables, the produce is kept and transported in baskets, often referred to as “totes.” Before the harvested leafy vegetables are washed, dried, mixed, weighed and packaged in a processing facility, they are transported to a shaker/cleaner, typically towed near the field where harvesting takes place. The totes are manually unloaded onto an input conveyer.
They are then discharged onto a conveyer made of a metal mesh. The mesh allows debris and other unwanted material to fall therethrough. To increase the fall-out of unwanted debris, the mesh is shaken or oscillated as it carries the leafy vegetable harvest to a discharge chute. The shaker/cleaner is adapted to have workers on either side of the mesh conveyer to manually pick out debris and unwanted materials.
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paten
Kováacs ÁArpáad Fáabiáan
Pezzuto Robert E.
Wigert, Jr. J. William
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