Vegetable banding apparatus

Abstract

Bundles of vegetables such as broccoli, and the like, are banded by apparatus (10) comprising an expander assembly (18) having a plurality of arms (86, 86', 86") which swing toward and away from one another about axes perpendicular to a phase of an associated segment in order to expand and contract an elastic band (E) placed on the arms when retracted and permit a worker to place a bundle to be banded within an expanded band. A plurality of expander assemblies (18) can be mounted on a continuous conveyor (14, 14') formed by a plurality of planar segments (16) articulated to one another and each supporting a respective expander assembly. Banded bundles are removed from conveyor (14, 14') by an extractor arrangement (30) including a pair of opposed belts (32, 32') provided with flexible fingers (34) which engage the banded bundles in a protective manner in order to remove them from an associated expander assembly (18). Structure (1010) is disclosed for trimming banded bundles prior to removal from an associated expander assembly (18).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.