Process for separating stones and clods from potatoes, and a potato digging and sorting machine

摘要

982,233. Root-crop harvesters. P. A. MARTINI. Feb, 23, 1961 [Feb. 24, 1960], No. 6420/60. Heading A1F. [Also in Division G1] Potatoes or other root crops are separated from stones and clods by first removing some of the stones, by virtue of their weight, by the use of rotating nylon brushes or rubber lobes, size sorting the remaining mixture by passage over a succession of graded sieves, and then, for each sorted size, passing the stones st and the potatoes ka in single file, by means of a rake r, down a plastic channel g and between electrodes e connected in a circuit which includes a relay to lower the flap kl in response to the capacitive effect of the passage between the electrodes of a stone, to permit the latter to drop into a receptacle b while potatoes proceed to receptacle t. The apparatus may be incorporated in a digging machine, the container t having a grate at its bottom through which the tractor exhaust is passed to dry the contents.