Pitting apparatus with box cam; wiping blade, or separating assembly

A fruit pitting apparatus, including:

• a frame;
• holders having pockets dimensioned to hold soft fruit, each of the pockets being configured to be movable between an open configuration and a closed configuration;
• a pitting knife assembly mounted to the frame and including a knife set and a knife drive assembly, wherein the knife set includes one or more pitting knives and the knife drive assembly is coupled to the knife set and configured to drive the knife set along a pitting path relative to each of the holders;
• a holder drive assembly coupled to the holders and configured to translate the holders intermittently around a closed loop such that each of the holders passes the pitting knife assembly while translating intermittently around the loop, and each of the holders is stationary relative to the frame each time the knife set performs a pitting operation on fruit in said each of the holders;
• an active assembly positioned to engage the holders as the holders pass the pitting knife assembly, and configured to cause the pockets of each of the holders to be in the closed configuration during the pitting operation and to move the pockets of said each of the holders from the closed configuration to the open configuration after the pitting operation thereby improving efficiency of separation of pitted fruit flesh from the holders after said pitting operation.

A fruit pitting apparatus, including:

• a frame;
• holders having pockets dimensioned to hold soft fruit, each of the pockets being configured to exert variable gripping force on a specimen of fruit held thereby;
• a pitting knife assembly mounted to the frame and including a knife set and a knife drive assembly, wherein the knife set includes at least one pitting knife and the knife drive assembly is coupled to the knife set and configured to drive the knife set along a pitting path relative to each of the holders;
• a holder drive assembly coupled to the holders and configured to translate the holders intermittently around a closed loop such that each of the holders passes the pitting knife assembly while translating intermittently around the loop, and each of the holders is stationary relative to the frame each time the knife set performs a pitting operation on fruit in said each of the holders;
• an active assembly positioned to engage the holders as the holders pass the pitting knife assembly, and configured to move relative to the holders so as to vary the gripping force exerted by the pockets on specimens of fruit held in said holders during and after the pitting operation, thereby improving efficiency of separation of pitted fruit flesh from the holders after said pitting operation.