Hop yard stringing apparatus and method
AssigneeHagoth Industries, LLC
InventorsSean G. Calvert, Justin D. Mack, Marvin R. Hair
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hop yard stringing system which includes: a trailer mounted worker platform; a measuring and cutting device which automatically measures and cuts bine support lines of desired length for attachment to overhead trellis lines; a plunger assembly on the back end of the trailer for staking the lower ends of the lines into the ground; a line transfer device which transfers the lower ends of the lines to the plunger assembly; an anchor forming assembly which forms staking anchors for the plunger assembly; a line tension monitoring system for the staked lines; and a GPS system which activates the plunger to stake the lines at predetermined GPS locations.
Claims15
An apparatus for stringing a hop yard comprising:
- a non-powered or powered vehicle;
- a worker platform structure on the non-powered or powered vehicle;
- and
- a line measuring and cutting assembly on the worker platform structure, the line measuring and cutting assembly comprising:
- a housing having an inlet opening for a stringing line and a discharge opening for the stringing line,
- a driven wheel or driven roller mounted in the housing and an idler wheel or idler roller mounted in the housing adjacent to the driven wheel or driven roller to form a pulling nip between the driven wheel or driven roller and the idler wheel or idler roller which receives and pulls the stringing line from the inlet opening and discharges the stringing line for delivery through the discharge opening,
- a length detecting or measuring device in the housing which measures, or detects, a predetermined length of the stringing line, and
- a cutting device positioned in the housing which cuts the stringing line discharged from the pulling nip when a segment of the stringing line of the predetermined length is discharged from the pulling nip.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.