US 4,790,127 AGranted

Berry harvester

OwnerElton N. Nason, Laurence R. Grantinventors

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Abstract

A berry picker, especially for blueberries, is equipped with a plurality of picking units forming at least one row of picking units in a picking head movably carried by a mobile support chassis. Each picking unit has its own picking conveyor carrying a plurality of picking combs. Each picking conveyor is supported by its own picking frame. All the picking frames are carried by a mounting frame or carriage floatingly mounted on the mobile support chassis. Each picking frame is movably supported by the floating mounting frame or carriage for automatically lifting each picking frame individually by a respective first power lifter in response to an obstacle signal representing the ground condition. The ground condition signal is sensed by a ground sensor provided individually for each picking unit. The floating movement of the mounting frame is accomplished by separate second power lifters in response to further sensors or in response to a manual operator control. By staggering and overlapping the picking units of one row with the picking units of another row, strips of unpicked areas are avoided.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A berry picking apparatus, comprising picking head means for picking berries, mobile support means for operatively carrying said picking head means, said mobile support means being movable in a travel direction, said picking head means comprising a plurality of individual picking units arranged in a row extending substantially perpendicularly to said travel direction, each picking unit comprising a picking frame, two spaced chain guide tracks forming part of said picking frame, a pair of endless chains riding along said chain guide tracks, a plurality of picking combs each including a plurality of picking teeth for picking berries, pivot means individually securing each picking comb with its ends to said endless chains so that said picking combs ride along with said pair of endless chains, chain drive means including drive sprocket means arranged in each picking frame for driving said endless chains carrying said picking combs, mounting means for movably and individually mounting each picking frame to said mobile support means, first power lifting means arranged between each picking frame and said mounting means for individually lifting each of said picking frames, ground condition sensor means operatively and separately connected to each picking frame of each picking unit for providing an obstacle representing signal, said ground condition sensor means comprising for each picking unit at least one ground engaging wheel, see-sawing lever means for securing the respective ground engaging wheel to the corresponding picking frame, said see-sawing lever means having two ends, first journal means pivotally securing said see-sawing lever means to the respective picking frame intermediate said ends to form two rocker lever arms, second journal means journalling said ground engaging wheel to one of said lever arms, and signal transmitting means pivoted to the other of said lever arms and connected to said first power lifting means for transmitting said obstacle representing signal to said first power lifting means for activating said first power lifting means and individually lifting the respective picking unit out of the way of an obstacle independently of any lifting of any other picking unit by its respective first power lifting means for permitting any other not lifted picking unit to continue picking berries.

A berry picking apparatus, comprising picking head means for picking berries, mobile support means for operatively carrying said picking head means, said mobile support means being movable in a travel direction, said picking head means comprising a plurality of individual picking units arranged in a row extending substantially perpendicularly to said travel direction, each picking unit comprising a picking frame, endless guide track means forming part of said picking frame, endless drive transmission means riding along said guide track means, a plurality of picking combs each including a plurality of picking teeth for picking berries, pivot means individually securing each picking comb to the respective endless drive transmission means so that said picking combs ride along with said endless drive transmission means, drive means arranged for driving said endless drive transmission means with said picking combs to perform a picking operation, mounting means for movably mounting said picking head means to said mobile support means, power lifting means arrange between each picking frame and said mounting means for individually lifting each of said picking frames independently of any other of said picking frames, ground condition sensor means operatively connected to each picking frame for providing an obstacle representing signal, and signal transmitting means operatively arranged between said ground condition sensor means and said power lifting means for transmitting said obstacle representing signal to said power lifting means for activating said power lifting means and individually lifting the respective picking unit out of the way of an obstacle while permitting any other not lifted picking unit to continue picking berries, and wherein said endless guide track means comprise a lower turnaround section, an upper turnaround section and two elongated substantially straight guide track sections between said lower and upper turnaround sections, and a ramp section downstream of said upper turnaround section as viewed in a movement direction of said endless drive transmission means, said ramp section causing said endless drive transmission means to lift said picking combs for facilitating berry removal from said picking combs by gravity.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.