Destemmer arrangement
AssigneeCNH Industrial France SAS
InventorGuillaume Supiot
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A destemmer rotor includes a cylindrical shaft and a plurality of destemmer fingers (20) attached to the shaft, the fingers comprising a base and a portion extending outward from the base. At least one finger is configured to be inserted in a radial direction in a cavity provided in the shaft, the base of the finger comprising a pin inserted radially through the base and configured to: clamp the base into the cavity when the pin is inserted down to a first depth, the pin comprising an end portion and a mid portion, wherein the end portion is configured to force a plurality of clamping legs at the lower end of the base to be clamped in a clamping portion of the cavity when the pin is inserted down to said first depth; and remove the clamping force when the pin is inserted down to a second depth.
Claims14
A destemmer rotor for destemming bunches of grapes or similar fruit when the rotor is rotatably mounted in a destemming arrangement, the rotor comprising a cylindrical shaft and a plurality of destemming fingers attached to the shaft and extending away from the shaft in multiple adjacent planes perpendicular to the shaft, the fingers comprising a base and a portion extending outward from the base, wherein at least one finger is releasably attached to the shaft by an attachment mechanism comprising:
- a cavity in the cylindrical surface of the shaft, configured to receive the base of the at least one finger by radial insertion in said cavity, the cavity comprising a clamping portion and an end portion directly below the clamping portion,
- a through-opening extending through the base of the at least one finger, the through-opening extending between an inlet section and an exit section of said through-opening, said through-opening being oriented radially relative to the shaft when the base of the at least one finger is inserted in the cavity
- at least two clamping legs at the lower end of the base and arranged around the exit section of the through-opening, the at least two clamping legs together fitting loosely in the clamping portion of the cavity when no force is exerted on said at least two clamping legs,
- a pin that is insertable in said through-opening the pin having a first pin portion, a second pin portion, and a third pin portion wherein the second pin portion is narrower than the first and third pin portions, and wherein the pin is configured to:
- clamp the base of the at least one finger into the cavity when the pin is inserted down to a first depth with the third pin portion entering first into said through-opening, said third pin portion being configured to push the at least two clamping legs apart, thereby forcing the at least two clamping legs to be clamped in the clamping portion of the cavity by a clamping force, when the pin is inserted down to said first depth,
- remove the clamping force when the pin is inserted further down to a second depth, thereby pushing the third pin portion into the end portion of the cavity and bringing the second pin portion of the pin between the clamping legs, wherein at least some of the at least two clamping legs are elastically bendable so that bringing the second pin portion of the pin between the at least two clamping legs removes the clamping force.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.