Grape picking head and drive therefor

A harvester with a picking head including

• (a) a support frame,
• (b) at least two oscillation arms each pivotally connected to the support frame on a respective pivot axis, whereby to allow oscillation about the respective pivot,
• (c) at least one of said oscillation arms being pivotally connected with a respective picking support, whereby the respective picking support is driven by at least one oscillation arm to oscillate in a picking direction,
• (d) said picking support being adapted to carry selected ones of picking rods and fingers for contacting a plant to be harvested,
• (e) an oscillation means mounted on the oscillation arm to impart an oscillating moment on the oscillation arm, said oscillation means being connected solely with at least one oscillation arm,
• (f) the picking head being rotatable drum, said drum supporting a plurality of picking fingers extending radially therefrom for effecting picking of fruit from vines when in use,
• (g) said drum being rotatably supported between two oscillation arms, said oscillation means being connected to at least one of said oscillation arms, to axially oscillate said drum;
• and,
• (h) the support frame including an upright post and the oscillation arms extend substantially on either side of the upright post, said picking head being supported on one side of the upright post, and the oscillation means being supported on an opposite side of the upright post to provide a counter balancing.

A harvester with a picking head including

• (a) a support frame,
• (b) at least two oscillation arms pivotally connected to the support frame on a respective pivot axis, whereby to allow oscillation about the respective pivot,
• (c) at least one of said oscillation arms being pivotally connected with a respective picking support, whereby the respective picking support is driven by at least one oscillation arm to oscillate in a picking direction,
• (d) said picking support being adapted to carry selected ones of picking rods and fingers for contacting a plant to be harvested,
• (e) an oscillation means mounted on the oscillation arm to impart an oscillating moment on the oscillation arm, said oscillation means being connected solely with at least one oscillation arm,
• (f) the picking head being rotatable drum, said drum supporting a plurality of picking fingers extending radially therefrom for effecting picking of fruit from vines when in use,
• (g) said drum being rotatably supported between two oscillation arms, said oscillation means being connected to at least one of said oscillation arms, to axially oscillate said drum;
• and,
• (h) the supporting frame being an upright post and the oscillation arms extending substantially greater to one side of the upright post, said picking head and said oscillation means being supported on the one side of the upright post, there being provided a biasing means to bias the oscillation arms to a resting position;
• and,
• (i) the biasing means being a counterweight supported on at least one of said oscillation arms on a second side of the post opposite the first.