Method of selective pitting for fruits of the drupe type
AssigneeCalifornia Processing Machinery
InventorKonrad E. Meissner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus and methods are described for pitting fruit of the drupe type, in which fruit having sound pits are torque pitted and fruit having split pits are spoon pitted. A coring spoon is spaced from the pit gripping portion of the fruit bisecting blades with spoon pitting being accomplished by moving the blades and coring spoon through the fruit and between the halves of the split pit to move the fruit gripping portions of the blade away from the split pit and bring the coring spoon adjacent the pit for cutting a core, including the split pit, from the fruit.
Claims11
A method of pitting fruits of the drupe type at a single pitting station, some having sound pits and some having partially or completely split pits and presented randomly in succession to said station, comprising the steps of
- supporting each whole fruit as said station with its suture substantially in a predetermined plane;
- substantially bisecting the body of said fruit in said plane and, at the same time, moving opposed pit-gripping means through the body of said fruit in said plane toward the edges of said pit;
- sensing if said pit is sound or split by sensing whether said movement of said pit-gripping means is arrested by gripping engagement of said pit at a first position or continues past the pit-gripping position to a second position;
- upon said pit-gripping means engaging and gripping the edges of a sound pit, holding the same against rotation and rotating the halves of said fruit body relative to said pit-gripping means about an axis extending transversely to said plane and extending through said pit to shear said fruit body halves from the held sound pit;
- and
- upon sensing the presence of a split pit, shifting said pit gripping means away from said pit and said second position and through said fruit body to a third position remote from said pit to bring a coring spoon spaced from said pit-gripping means into a position in said plane which is adjacent said split pit, and then rotating said coring spoon about an axis extending through said split pit without rotation of said fruit halves such that said coring spoon rotation describes a complete body of revolution and cuts a core, including said split pit, corresponding to such body of revolution from said fruit halves.
A method of pitting fruits of the drupe type at a single pitting station, certain of which fruits have sound pits and others of which have split pits, comprising the steps of
- presenting each of said certain fruit to said station with the suture of said fruit substantially in a predetermined plane;
- substantially bisecting each said certain fruit body in said plane by two opposed cutting edges in said plane, one movable toward the other and so moving said one edge until the pit is firmly gripped against rotation between said edges;
- moving fruit body gripping means toward one another and into gripping engagement with the opposite outer sides of said certain fruit body along an axis normal to said plane and extending through said pit;
- rotating said body gripping means relative to said gripped pit about said axis, whereby said body of said certain fruit will be sheared from said gripped pit;
- then,
- moving said cutting edges and said body gripping means away from said pit and said body sides, whereby the body halves and the pit are allowed to drop by gravity from the body gripping means and the cutting edges;
- presenting each of said other fruit to said station, irrespective of the order of presentation, with the suture of said other fruit substantially in said plane;
- moving said fruit body gripping means toward one another and into gripping engagement with the two opposite outer sides of said other fruit body;
- while
- substantially bisecting each said other fruit in said plane by two cutting edges in said plane, moving one said cutting edge toward the other to a position between the halves of the split pit;
- shifting said cutting edges away from said split pit and through said fruit body to a position remote from said split pit to bring a coring spoon spaced from said cutting edges into a position in said plane adjacent said split pit;
- rotating said coring spoon about an axis in said plane and extending through said split pit without rotation of said fruit halves such that said coring spoon rotation describes a complete body of revolution and cuts a core, including said split pit, corresponding to said body of revolution from said fruit halves;
- moving said body gripping means away from said body sides, whereby the body halves and the core are allowed to drop by gravity from the body gripping means and the coring spoon;
- and then,
- shifting and moving apart said cutting edges back to a position to receive additional fruit presented to said pitting station.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.