Produce harvesting device
AssigneeTokuiten Inc.
InventorsHiroki Mori, Shota Nonoyama, Ryusuke Nishikawa, Fumio Okuno
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A produce harvesting device includes a cylindrical member; a rotating member that forms a through-hole member; and a rotation driving unit that drives the rotating member to rotate about a virtual axis. The rotating member is configured to: when the rotating member comes into contact with the fruit or vegetable while rotating, twist the fruit or vegetable relative to a stem of the fruit or vegetable; when the rotating member comes into contact with the fruit or vegetable moving toward the rear side, deform toward the rear side to increase the through-hole member in size; and reduce the through-hole member in size by returning back to an original shape of the rotating member.
Claims12
A produce harvesting device, comprising:
- a cylindrical member that defines a guide passage therein through which a tomato passes toward a rear side, the cylindrical member guiding the tomato toward a hose that is connected to the cylindrical member and defines a suction passage therein for air that is in communication with the guide passage;
- a rotating member that radially extends from an inner circumferential surface or a front side of the cylindrical member into the guide passage and forms a through-hole member that allows the tomato to pass through from the front side to the rear side;
- and
- a rotation driving unit that is configured to drive the rotating member to rotate about a virtual axis that extends in a direction along the guide passage, wherein
- the rotating member is configured to:
- when the rotating member comes into contact with the tomato while rotating, twist the tomato relative to a stem of the tomato;
- when the rotating member comes into contact with the tomato moving toward the rear side, deform toward the rear side to increase the through-hole member in size when the rotating member is viewed in a direction along the virtual axis;
- and
- reduce the through-hole member in size by returning back to an original shape of the rotating member, wherein
- the rotating member includes a plurality of movable pieces and three or more slits between the plurality of movable pieces, the three or more slits each extending radially outward from a center of the rotating member to form at least a portion of the through-hole member, and
- inner ends of the three or more slits are connected to a single connecting point or to a single through hole that passes through the rotating member from the front side to the rear side.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.