Picker assembly for potato planter
AssigneeTerraMarc Industries, Inc.
InventorPatrick M. Cronin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pick assembly for picking potatoes from a supply in a potato planter and moving them to a discharge position includes an arm that supports a plurality of picks that will engage the potatoes. The arm is mounted on a rotating wheel, and the picks are held in the arm with gently tapered bores in the arm and mating gently tapered conical surfaces on the pick that seat together when the pick is installed in the arm. The picks are maintained under axial compression loads to force the mating tapered surfaces together during use.
Claims11
A pick for picking up individual pieces of vegetable material wherein a pick arm is moved through a supply of pieces of vegetable material to cause picks mounted thereon to spear a piece of vegetable material and carry it along a path of movement, the improvement comprising a mounting for the pick to a pick arm, the improvement including an axially elongated cone-shaped mounting head portion on the pick at a mounting end of the pick, and of axial length to extend into a mating cone-shaped bore in a pick arm and seat along a majority of the axial length of such bore.
A mounting for a pick used for engaging vegetable pieces in a planter and moving the vegetable pieces to a desired location comprising an elongated pick having a mounting head, a shank having a length extending from the mounting head to a sharpened end, the mounting head having a base end forming a diameter for a cone having an exterior surface conically tapered throughout its axial length, and the conical tapered surface length being at least from the base end tapering inwardly toward a central axis of the shank and of the conically tapered surface and being at least one half of the diameter of the base.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.