Adjustable aligner cup assembly for peach pitter
AssigneeAtlas Pacific Engineering Company
InventorsWilliam R. Wright, David R. Laydon, Jr., Barry Spencer Roof
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An adjustable peach aligner cup assembly 20 is provided for use in an automatic peach aligning and pitting mechanism. An adjustable alignment ring has first and second movable segments 51,52. Segments 51,52 are moved away from each other to align large peaches and are moved toward each other to align small peaches. An actuator 61,62 causes the segments 51,52 to move. An optional sensor 80 is provided which allows the segments 51,52 on a specific aligner cup assembly 20 to be adjusted on a peach-to-peach basis to align a specific peach.
Claims24
In an automatic peach aligning and pitting mechanism wherein a plurality of aligner cup assemblies is provided for transporting peaches through the alignment and pitting processes, and each of said assemblies has an alignment ring for contacting a peach, and wherein each of said alignment rings is utilized together with an agitator to cause said peach to rotate until the suture line of said peach is aligned for pitting, the improvement characterized by:
- an adjustable alignment ring means carried by each of said aligner cup assemblies for aligning peaches of different sizes and having one or more movable segments, and
- actuator means for causing said one or more movable segments to move.
An automatic peach aligning and pitting mechanism wherein a plurality of aligner cup assemblies is provided for transporting peaches through the alignment and pitting processes, and each of said assemblies has an alignment ring for contacting a peach, and wherein each of said alignment rings is utilized together with an agitator to cause said peach to rotate until the suture line of said peach is aligned for pitting, characterized by:
- an adjustable alignment ring means carried by each of said aligner cup assemblies for aligning peaches of different sizes and having two or more movable segments,
- sensing means for sensing the size of peaches to be aligned by a specific aligner cup assembly, and
- actuator means for causing said two or more movable segments to move in response to said sensing means, whereby said two or more movable segments are positioned properly on said specific cup assembly to align said peaches.
An automatic peach aligning and pitting mechanism wherein a plurality of aligner cup assemblies is provided for transporting peaches through the alignment and pitting processes, and each of said assemblies has an alignment ring for contacting a peach, and wherein each of said alignment rings is utilized together with an agitator to cause said peach to rotate until the suture line of said peach is aligned for pitting, characterized by:
- an adjustable alignment ring means carried by each of said aligner cup assemblies for aligning peaches of different sizes on a peach-to-peach basis and having one or more movable segments,
- sensing means for sensing the size of a specific peach to be aligned by a specific aligner cup assembly, and
- actuator means for causing said two or more movable segments to move in response to said sensing means, whereby said two or more movable segments are positioned properly on said specific cup assembly to align said specific peach.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.