Fruit testing device

A device for measuring a compressibility characteristic of a test object comprising:

• (a) a gravity assisted measuring station comprising:
• (i) a riser;
• (ii) a sampling arm associated with said riser;
• (iii) a sensor element associated with said sampling arm;
• (iv) a paddle associated with said sensor element;
• (b) a turntable having a plurality of shallow sample wells located on an upper surface of said turntable;
• wherein said sample wells are each configured to receive and hold one test object in a stationary position with respect to said sample well;
• and wherein said sample wells are positioned radially equidistant about a center axis of rotation of said turntable;
• and
• wherein said turntable is rotationally indexable and operates to position at least one test object held within a sample well under at least on measuring station;
• (c) a drive mechanism
• wherein said sampling arm is attached to said riser in a manner that enables said sampling arm to move vertically upward in synchronicity with an upward movement of said riser;
• wherein said sampling arm is attached to said riser in a manner that enables said sampling arm to decouple its downward movement from a downward vertical movement of said riser following an instance of first contact of said sensor element or said paddle with a test object to be measured by said sensor element;
• wherein said turntable is rotationally indexable with respect to the position of said measuring station;
• wherein said drive mechanism operates to index said turntable to a position corresponding to said measuring station and which operates to raise and lower said riser during a measurement operation;
• wherein said riser consists of (i) a unit slide and (ii) a cam follower assembly;
• wherein said unit slide operates to raise and lower said sampling arm associated with said riser;
• wherein an upper portion of said sampling arm supports at least one sensor element oriented in a downward sensing position;
• wherein said sampling arm is attached to an upper portion of said unit slide;
• wherein a lower portion of said unit slide is connected to a cam follower assembly;
• wherein said cam follower assembly is attached to a lower portion of said unit slide and operates to raise and lower said unit slide;
• wherein said cam follower assembly raises said unit slide in a first upward vertical direction to a maximum height corresponding to a top of cam position and then further operates to lower said unit slide in a second downward vertical direction to an intermediate measuring position corresponding to a test position that operates to bring said sensor element into contact with a test object positioned on said turntable in order to measure said compressibility characteristic of said test object, and then further operates to allow said paddle associated with said sensor element to compress said test object by means of gravitational force until said unit slide achieves a lowermost final position as determined by a degree of compression of said test object as measured between an initial uncompressed state and a final compressed state;
• wherein said cam follower assembly consists of (i) a cam follower plate that is attached to a lower portion of one or a plurality of said risers;
• (ii) a cam follower;
• and (iii) a cam follower shaft;
• wherein said cam follower has a proximal side that is attached to said cam follower plate and an opposite distal side that is attached to said cam follower shaft;
• wherein said cam follower operates to convert the rotational motion of a three dimensional cylindrical cam into a linear vertical motion with a first maximum vertical position corresponding to said top of cam position and to a second intermediate lower vertical position corresponding to said start of test position sequentially during one rotation of said three dimensional cylindrical cam;
• wherein said three dimensional cylindrical cam has a grooved cam surface featuring a continuous cam channel located on said three dimensional cylindrical cam's outer surface of rotation that couples with said cam follower;
• wherein said cam follower is attached to the can follower shaft and guides said cam follower shaft during rotation of the three dimensional cylindrical cam about a vertically oriented axis of rotation of said three dimensional cylindrical cam;
• and wherein said drive mechanism operates to drive the rotation of a Geneva turntable indexing wheel that comprises a plurality of Geneva drive indents and a plurality of Geneva blocking stop indents;
• wherein said Geneva drive indents are configured to engage a Geneva driving pin located on the Geneva drive pulley that operates to rotationally index said turntable between a loading position and a first measuring position;
• wherein said loading position is selected from a position located immediately adjacent to said first measuring position located under a first measuring station;
• and wherein said first measuring position corresponds to a first set of one or plurality of positions that correspond to positions of sample wells located on an upper surface of said turntable with test objects present that are aligned with and located immediately under one or a plurality of measuring stations when said turntable is rotated into said first measuring position;
• wherein said Geneva drive indents are configured so as to decouple from said Geneva driving pin and prevent a further rotation of said turntable during a first measurement cycle;
• and
• wherein said Geneva drive indents further operate to engage said Geneva driving pin to index said turntable to a second and subsequent plurality of measuring positions wherein an additional one or plurality of test objects present are then subsequently aligned with and located immediately under said measuring stations during said second and said subsequent measurement operations;
• wherein said Geneva driving pin on said Geneva drive pulley is configured to engage with a first Geneva drive indent at a first position and which operates to rotationally index said turntable to a second position whereby the Geneva driving pin decouples from said first Geneva drive indent, and remains decoupled until said Geneva drive pulley is rotated to a third position whereby the Geneva driving pin couples with a second and adjacent Geneva drive indent, corresponding to an end of a first measurement operation;
• and wherein said Geneva driving pulley operates to rotate said three dimensional cylindrical cam one complete rotation about its axis during any one of said measurement operations;
• wherein said three dimensional cylindrical cam operates to drive said cam follower along said cam follower groove located on said grooved cam surface of said three dimensional cylindrical cam;
• wherein said drive mechanism drives a rotation of a Geneva blocking disc;
• wherein said drive mechanism is coupled to said Geneva turntable indexing wheel by means of said Geneva drive pulley driven by a keyed drive shaft;
• wherein said Geneva blocking disc mates with said Geneva blocking stop indents when they are brought into rotational alignment and which operates to prevent a rotation of said turntable during any one of said measurement operations;
• and
• wherein said Geneva blocking disc is located at the proximal end of said keyed drive shaft and is in a plane coincident to a plane passing through the Geneva turntable indexing wheel and perpendicular to a vertical axis passing through the long axis of said keyed drive shaft.

A method for measuring a compressibility characteristic of one or more test objects in a repeated series of steps defining a complete test cycle using a device comprising:

• (a) at least one gravity assisted measuring station comprising:
• (i) a riser;
• (ii) a sampling arm associated with said riser;
• (iii) at least one sensor element associated with said sampling arm;
• (iv) a paddle associated with said sensor element;
• wherein said sampling arm is attached to said riser in a manner that enables said sampling arm to move upward in synchronicity with an upward movement of said riser;
• and
• wherein said sampling arm is attached to said riser in a manner that enables the sampling arm to decouple its downward movement from a downward movement of said riser following an instance of first contact of said sensor element or said paddle with said test object to be measured by said sensor element;
• (b) a turntable;
• wherein said turntable has a plurality of sample wells and is rotationally indexable with respect to a position of said measuring station;
• and
• (c) a drive mechanism which operates to index said turntable to a position corresponding to said measuring station and which operates to raise and lower said riser;
• wherein said steps comprise:
• (A) enabling said drive mechanism to simultaneously raise said sampling arm to permit a loading of test objects to be measured in a first and subsequent plurality of sets of said sample wells located on an upper surface of said turntable;
• (B) enabling said drive mechanism to then lower said sampling arm by means of said risers in order to bring said sensor element with attached paddle into contact with a first test object for the purpose of measuring a degree of compression of a said first test object independently in a first measurement operation;
• (C) collecting electronic data generated by said sensor element during said first measurement operation;
• (D) enabling said drive mechanism to simultaneous raise said sampling arm and to rotationally index said turntable to a subsequent test position wherein a new test object in a second sample wells are located under said sampling arm;
• (E) repeating steps B, C and D in this order for each unmeasured test object to be tested, and repeating these steps until the last test object has been measured in a final measurement operation representing the end of a complete test cycle;
• and
• (F) enabling said drive mechanism to raise said sampling arm and rotationally index said turntable to a final position wherein all the test objects can be removed from their respective sample wells on said turntable.