Fruit gripper head assembly
AssigneeImdec S.R.L.
InventorsJesus A. Silvestrini, Jose E. Barbier, Juan C. Morsucci
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fruit gripper head assembly for use in a machine for pitting fruits of the drupe type includes a support structure receivable onto a pitting machine, a plurality of gripper arms spaced about the central axis of the assembly and mounted on the support structure for pivotal movement toward and away from the central axis, and fluid pressure operated actuating apparatus operatively connected to the gripper arm and to the support structure for urging pivotal movement of the arms toward the central axis upon introduction of pressurized fluid behind that actuating apparatus to provide for pivotal movement of the arms to grip fruit to be pitted.
Claims7
A fruit gripper head assembly for use in a machine for pitting fruits of the drupe type, said assembly having a central axis that extends through a fruit to a gripped thereby for pitting, said assembly comprising
- support means receivable onto a pitting machine and having an aperture therethrough for communication with a source of pressurized fluid;
- a plurality of gripper arms spaced about said central axis and radially outwardly therefrom with each said gripper arm being mounted to said support means by pivotal mounting means for pivotal movement generally toward and away from said central axis;
- and
- fluid pressure operated actuating means operatively connected to said gripper arms and to said support means for urging pivotal movement of said arms toward said central axis upon introduction of pressurized fluid through said aperture, said actuating means comprising
- an elastically deformable diaphragm mounted to said support means to form a fluid-tight chamber in communication with said aperture, said diaphragm having a plurality of portions each engaging one of said gripper arms for actuation thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.