Produce harvesting device
AssigneeTokuiten Inc.
InventorsHiroki Mori, Shota Nonoyama, Yuta Mizukami, Taro Tako, Rintaro Konno
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A produce harvesting device includes a cylindrical member that defines a guide passage therein through which a fruit or vegetable passes toward a rear side; an annular member that radially extends from an inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical member into the guide passage and defines a through hole that passes through the annular member from a front side to the rear side; a plurality of protrusions that radially protrudes into the guide passage; and a rotation driving unit that drives the plurality of protrusions to rotate about a virtual axis that extends in a direction along the guide passage.
Claims14
A produce harvesting device, comprising:
- a cylindrical member that defines a guide passage therein through which a fruit or vegetable passes toward a rear side, the cylindrical member guiding the fruit or vegetable toward a hose that is connected to the cylindrical member and defines a suction passage for air therein in communication with the guide passage;
- an annular member that radially extends from an inner circumferential surface of the cylindrical member into the guide passage and defines a through hole that passes through the annular member from a front side to the rear side;
- a plurality of protrusions that radially protrudes into the guide passage, the plurality of protrusions being located in front of the annular member;
- and
- a rotation driving unit that is configured to drive the plurality of protrusions to coaxially revolve around a single virtual axis that extends in a direction along the guide passage, wherein
- the rotation driving unit is further configured to rotate the plurality of protrusions to radially guide the fruit or vegetable toward the single virtual axis of the guide passage of the cylindrical member, and
- the annular member is further configured to:
- be deformed toward the rear side to enlarge the through hole when the fruit or vegetable moving toward the rear side comes into contact with the annular member;
- and
- reduce the through hole in size by returning back to an original shape of the annular member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.