Machine for picking up and collecting apples or pears from the ground

摘要

870,968. Fruit gathering. MORRIS, L. P. March 30, 1960 [April 2, 1959], No. 11216/59. Class 6(3). A machine for picking up fruit from the ground, particularly fruit which is to be used for cider production, comprises a chassis 10 mounted at its rear end on a spiked roller 11, and at its forward end on ground wheels 12. Fruit which is impaled on the spiked roller is transferred to a detachable collecting receptacle 16 over two sets of rods 13, 14 extending forwardly and downwardly from the upper periphery of the roller 11, in the region of which they are sheathed in sleeves of rubber or a plastics material. The rods of each set alternate with each other, and those of the set 14 are mounted in a frame 27 pivoted to the chassis at 29 and having a rearward extension 30 which engages projections 31 on one end face of the roller. By this means, the rods 14 are vibrated relative to the rods 13 as the machine is moved forward, thereby dislodging foreign matter from the fruit, said foreign matter being deposited in a container 33 below the bars. Members 19 serve to deflect fruit out of the path of the wheels 12. The machine may either be hand-propelled or motor-driven.