JP2002186332A - Fruit picking tool - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fruit picking tool easy to cope with fruits having different sizes and able to increase the versatility in the fruit picking work. SOLUTION: The fruit picking tool is provided with a tubular pipe rod 10 having opened tip end 11, a shaft 15 inserted into the pipe rod 10 in a state slidable in axial direction and relatively rotatable around the axis, a tubular gripper 20 fixed to the base end 16 of the shaft 15 in a state slidable in axial direction and rotatable around the axis relative to the pipe rod 10 simultaneously with the motion of the shaft 15, a finger part 30 having fingers 31 each supported at the tip end of the shaft 15 in a state enabling the opening of an end 32, closed by the forward motion of the pipe rod 10 to hold a fruit, frictionally engaged with the tip opening 11 of the pipe rod 10 and rotatable together with the pipe rod 10 relative to the shaft 15 and the gripper 20, and a spring 50 mounted in the gripper 20 and forcing the pipe rod 10 in the protruding direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fruit collecting tool for collecting fruits such as apples, pears, persimmons, tangerines and cherries from below.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this kind of fruit collecting tool,
For example, one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-23418 is known. As shown in FIG. 5, the conventional fruit collecting tool S is mainly for collecting relatively large fruits F such as apples and pears, and is provided rotatably with respect to the tubular gripper 1. At the tip of the tubular pipe rod 2, a pair of openable / closable holding bodies 3 for holding fruits is provided.
The pair of holding bodies 3 are formed in a cup shape at the closed position and hold the fruit. One holding body 3 is fixed, and the other holding body 3 is rotatably provided at the tip of the pipe rod 2, and a wire 4 passed through the pipe rod 2 is connected to the base of the pipe rod 2. The other holding body 3 is opened and closed by being pulled or loosened by the operation lever 5 provided at the end, and the holding and release of the fruit F are performed.

[0003]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional fruit collecting tool, the pair of holding bodies 3 are formed in a cup shape at the closed position. The size of the fruit F to be held is limited, and the fruit F
There was a problem that it was difficult to cope with the size of. That is,
First, in the case of fruits F of the same kind, for example, apples, it is good if the sizes of the fruits F are the same, but if there are various sizes, it is not possible to cope with this difference in size. Also,
When the type of the fruit F is different, for example, even if an attempt is made to collect cherries whose fruit is extremely smaller than that of an apple, the size of the cherries is extremely different, and it is impossible to cope at all. The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and provides a fruit collecting tool which can easily cope with different sizes of fruits and can increase the versatility of fruit collecting. The purpose is to:

[0004]

A fruit picking tool according to the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems comprises a tubular pipe rod having an opening at the end thereof, and a pipe rod which is axially movable relative to the pipe rod. A shaft whose base end protrudes from the base end of the pipe rod and whose front end is located inside the end opening of the pipe rod, the base end of the pipe rod, and the shaft And a tubular gripper which is fixed to the proximal end of the shaft and is movable relative to the pipe rod in the axial direction and rotatable relative to the pipe rod, and a distal end of the shaft. The one end is rotatably supported by the part, and the other end is expanded and protrudes from the tip opening of the pipe rod and is urged in the expanding direction, and is contracted and closed by the advancement movement of the pipe rod. And holding the pipe rod A finger portion having two or more fingers that are frictionally engaged with the distal end opening and are rotatable with respect to the shaft and the gripper together with the pipe rod, and urge the pipe rod in a protruding direction provided in the gripper. The structure includes a spring.

When a fruit is to be collected using this fruit collecting tool, first, the gripper is grasped with one hand, the pipe rod is grasped with the other hand, and the finger portion is brought close to the fruit to be collected. The pipe rod is pulled toward the proximal end of the gripper against the urging force of the spring. As a result, the finger portion is gradually opened from the tip end opening of the pipe rod and expands. Then, when the degree of spread is about the size of the fruit to be collected, in this state, the fruit is put into the finger of the finger part, and in this state, the pull of the pipe rod is loosened, and the pipe is further removed. The rod is moved forward. As a result, the pipe rod protrudes toward the tip of the finger,
The finger at the finger portion is contracted and closed by the end opening of the pipe rod, and the finger portion grips the fruit. In addition, the distal end opening of the pipe rod frictionally engages with the outside of the finger of the finger portion. Next, the pipe rod is rotated left and right while holding the gripper. As a result, the finger portion frictionally engages with the opening at the tip of the pipe rod, so that the finger rotates together with the pipe rod relative to the shaft and the gripper.
Therefore, the fruit is also rotated left and right by the finger, and the handle of the fruit is twisted, so that the fruit is peeled from the trunk. Then, the sampling tool is lowered, and the pipe rod is pulled toward the base end of the gripper against the urging force of the spring in the same manner as described above to expand the finger portion, loosen the grip of the fruit, and take out the fruit. In this way, fruits are sequentially collected. In this case, the degree of expansion of the fingers can be reduced as much as possible from the maximum open state of the fingers by the opening of the end of the pipe rod, so that fruits of any size can be easily grasped. Can be easily coped with even if the sizes are different. And
If necessary, a rotating shaft is provided on one of the tip of the shaft and one end of the finger, and a rotating bearing is provided on the other. The rotation of the finger portion can be reliably performed, and the fruit can be more easily collected.

Further, if necessary, a rod fixed to the tip of the shaft coaxially with the shaft and facing the finger of the finger portion, and a fruit provided at the tip of the rod and gripped by the finger portion are supported. And a supporting body that performs the operation. Since the fruit can be supported by the bearing body in addition to being gripped by the finger, it is possible to prevent the fruit from falling off the finger portion easily and stably. In this case, a female screw portion coaxial with the axis of the shaft is provided at the tip of the shaft, and a male screw portion is formed on the rod,
It is effective that the rod is screwed and attached to the female screw portion and locked by a lock nut screwed into the male screw portion of the rod. By adjusting the screwing position of the rod with the female screw portion in advance and adjusting the bearing position of the support body, it is possible to smoothly grip the finger portion and support the support body according to the size of the fruit. Can be.

[0007] If necessary, a spring member for urging the finger of the finger portion in the expanding direction is provided. The fingers can be positively expanded, the responsiveness of the expansion can be improved, and the fingers can be immediately expanded. Further, if necessary, a spring member for urging the finger of the finger portion in the expanding direction is provided, and the spring member is wound around the rod and supported by the winding portion. A spring rod extending along each finger and pressing the finger in the expanding direction. The finger can be positively expanded, the responsiveness of the expansion can be improved, and the finger can be immediately expanded, and the spring member can be formed with a simple structure. Further, if necessary, the finger portion is formed of an elongated plate-like spring material bent and formed in a substantially V-shape so as to include a pair of fingers, and the pair of fingers themselves is formed by the spring material. Is provided with an urging force for expanding the opening. The fingers can be positively expanded, the responsiveness of the expansion can be improved, and the fingers can be immediately expanded. In particular, when used in combination with the above spring member, the finger can be expanded by its own urging force and the urging force of the spring member. Can be.

[0008]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a fruit collecting tool according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in the fruit collecting tool S according to the embodiment for collecting the fruit F, reference numeral 10 denotes a tubular pipe rod having a tip opening 11, which can be gripped and held by hand. It is formed in size. For example, the outer diameter is about 30 mm,
The length is formed to be about 1 to 2 m. Reference numeral 15 denotes a tubular shaft having a diameter smaller than that of the pipe rod 10 and having the same length as the pipe rod 10. The shaft 15 is inserted into the pipe rod 10 so as to be relatively movable in the axial direction and relatively rotatable about the axis, and has a base end 16 protruding from the base end 12 of the pipe rod 10 and a tip end 17 of the pipe rod 10. It is located inside the tip opening 11. Reference numeral 20 denotes a tubular gripper having a larger diameter than the pipe rod 10. The gripper 20 is fixed to the base end 16 of the shaft 15 by inserting the base end 12 of the pipe rod 10 and the base end 16 of the shaft 15, and cooperates with the shaft 15 in the axial direction with respect to the pipe rod 10. Are formed to be relatively movable and relatively rotatable. Reference numeral 21 denotes a welded portion for fixing the base end 22 of the gripper 20 and the base end 16 of the shaft 15. The gripper 20 is formed, for example, to have a length of about 30 to 40 cm.

Reference numeral 30 denotes a finger portion having two or more (a pair in the embodiment) fingers 31 for gripping the fruit. The finger portion 30 is formed of an elongated plate-shaped spring material bent substantially in a V-shape so as to include the pair of fingers 31, and a biasing force for expanding the fingers 31 to the pair of fingers 31 themselves by the spring material. Has been granted. The finger portion 30 is rotatably supported at the tip end portion 17 of the shaft 15 by a bent portion made of a spring material, and the other end portion 33 is expanded from the tip end opening 11 of the pipe rod 10. And is urged in the expanding direction by its own urging force and the urging force of a spring member 40 described later. The other end 33 of the finger 31 is bent inward. A rod 35 is coaxially fixed to the tip 17 of the shaft 15 and coaxial with the shaft 15 and faces the finger 31 of the finger 30. A disc 36 is provided at the tip of the rod 35 and supports a fruit F gripped by the finger 30. It is a support body. As shown in detail in FIG. 3, a top 37 is fixedly welded to the distal end portion 17 of the shaft 15, and a female thread 37a coaxial with the axis of the shaft 15 is provided on the top 37, while a male thread 35a is provided on the rod 35. The rod 35 is screwed and attached to the female screw portion 37a, and is locked by a lock nut 38 screwed to the male screw portion 35a of the rod 35.

More specifically, a rod 35 as a rotating shaft is provided at one of the tip 17 of the shaft 15 and one end 32 of the finger 30 (the tip 17 of the shaft 15 in the embodiment). The rod 3 is attached to one of the other ends (in the embodiment, one end 32 of the finger 30).
5 is provided, and an end portion 32 of the finger portion 30 is supported by a lock nut 38 so that the distal end portion 1 of the shaft 15 can be inserted.
The one end 32 of the finger 30 is rotatably supported by the finger 7. Reference numeral 39 denotes a stopper fixed to the rod 35 above the one end 32 of the finger portion 30 and formed of a double nut for preventing the one end 32 of the finger portion 30 from coming off. As a result, the finger portion 30 is contracted and closed by the advance movement of the pipe rod 10 to grip the fruit, and
The shaft 11 and the gripper 20 are configured to be rotatable with the pipe rod 10 by frictionally engaging with the front end opening 11 of the cylinder.

Reference numeral 40 denotes a spring member for urging the finger 31 of the finger portion 30 in the expanding direction. This spring member 40
3, is formed by bending a spring wire, and is wound around a rod 35 and supported, and extends from the wound portion 41 along each finger 31. A spring rod 42 for pressing the finger 31 in the expanding direction. Reference numeral 50 denotes a coil spring provided inside the gripper 20. The spring 50 is interposed between the welded portion 21 and the end face of the pipe rod 10 by being pressed and shrunk, and biases the pipe rod 10 in the protruding direction to cause the pipe rod 10 to protrude.
The finger 31 of the finger unit 30 is contracted and closed in the direction in which the other ends 33 of the fingers 31 abut against each other by the tip opening 11 of the finger unit 30. Then, when the pipe rod 10 is pulled toward the base end 22 of the gripper 20 against the urging force of the spring 50, the finger portion 30 is gradually released from the distal end opening 11 of the pipe rod 10, and its own The fruit F can be gripped by being expanded by the urging force and the urging force of the spring member 40.

Therefore, when the fruit F is collected by using the fruit collecting tool S according to this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, first, the gripper 20 is grasped with one hand and the other hand is used. The pipe rod 10 is gripped, the finger portion 30 is brought close to the fruit F to be collected, and the pipe rod 10 is
The gripper 20 is pulled toward the proximal end side against the urging force of zero.
As a result, the finger portion 30 is gradually opened from the distal end opening 11 of the pipe rod 10, and is expanded by its own urging force and the urging force of the spring member 40. In this case, since the finger 31 is expanded by the urging force of both the urging force of the finger 31 and the urging force of the spring member 40, the responsiveness is good and the expanded state can be achieved immediately.

[0013] The fruit F whose degree of spreading is to be collected is
In this state, the fruit F is put into the finger 31 of the finger unit 30, the tension of the pipe rod 10 is relaxed, and the pipe rod 10 is moved forward. As a result, the pipe rod 10 protrudes toward the distal end side of the finger 31, the finger 31 of the finger part 30 is closed and closed by the distal end opening 11 of the pipe rod 10, and the finger part 30 grips the fruit F. Further, the distal end opening 11 of the pipe rod 10 frictionally engages with the outside of the finger 31 of the finger portion 30. In this case, the fruit F is supported by the support body 36 in addition to being held by the finger 31, so that the fruit F is stable and easily prevented from falling off the finger portion 30. Further, the screwing position of the rod 35 with the female screw portion 37a is adjusted in advance to
By adjusting the position of the support, the grip of the finger portion 30 and the support of the support body 36 can be smoothly performed according to the size of the fruit F.

Next, the pipe rod 10 is rotated right and left while holding the gripper 20. Thereby, the finger portion 3
0 frictionally engages with the tip end opening 11 of the pipe rod 10 and the shaft 15 and the gripper 20
Rotate against. Therefore, the fruit F is also rotated right and left by the finger 31 and the handle of the fruit F is twisted, so that the fruit F is peeled off from the trunk. In this case, the fruit F is held by the finger 31 and the support 36
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the finger portion 30 from easily falling off the finger portion 30 with good stability. Then, the collection tool S is lowered, and the pipe rod 10 is pulled toward the base end of the gripper 20 against the urging force of the spring 50 in the same manner as described above to expand the finger portion 30 and loosen the grip of the fruit F. And take out the fruit F.

[0015] In this manner, the fruits F are sequentially collected. In this case, since the finger portion 30 expands from the contracted position at which the fingers 31 contact each other, it is possible to easily cope with the difference in the size of the fruit F.
That is, in the case of fruit F of the same kind, for example, apples, even if the size of fruit F is not uniform and has various sizes,
Alternatively, when the kind of fruit is different, for example, even if an attempt is made to collect a cherry whose fruit F is extremely smaller than an apple, the degree of expansion of the finger 31 is set to a state where the finger 31 is fully opened by the tip opening 11 of the pipe rod 10. Since the size of the fruit F can be made as small as possible, the fruit F of any size can be easily grasped. Therefore, versatility of fruit collection is increased.

In the above embodiment, a pair of fingers 31 of the finger portion 30 is provided. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and three or more fingers may be provided and may be changed as appropriate. In addition, as a material of each member, an appropriate material such as metal or plastic may be used. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the rod 15 is provided as the rotating shaft at the distal end portion 17 of the shaft 15, and the insertion hole 34 as the rotating bearing is provided at the one end 32 of the finger 30. The present invention is not limited to this. For example, one end 32 of the finger unit 30 is fixed to the rod 35, the rod 35 is used as the rotation shaft of the finger unit 30, and the top 37 is used as the shaft 1.
5, and may be configured in any manner. Further, a bearing may be used for the bearing portion.

[0017]

As described above, according to the fruit picking tool of the present invention, the finger of the finger portion which is urged in the expanding direction and grips the fruit is closed and closed by the opening at the end of the pipe rod. As a result, the degree of spreading of the finger can be reduced as much as possible from the size of the finger in the maximum open state, so that even if the size of the fruit differs, it can be easily grasped and handled, Versatility is increased. In addition, since the finger is rotatable with respect to the shaft and gripper together with the pipe rod, the fruit can be rotated left and right by the finger, twisting the pattern of the fruit, and removing the fruit, making it easy to collect the fruit Can be.
When the rotating shaft is provided on one of the tip of the shaft and one end of the finger, and the rotating bearing is provided on the other, the rotation can be reliably performed.

Further, when a support for supporting the fruit gripped by the finger portion via the rod is provided at the tip of the shaft, the fruit can be supported by the support in addition to gripping the fruit with the finger. It is possible to prevent the finger from easily falling off the finger portion with good stability. In this case, when a male screw portion is formed on the rod and screwed and attached to the female screw portion at the tip of the shaft, the screwing position of the rod with respect to the female screw portion is adjusted in advance, and the support body is adjusted. By adjusting the support position, it is possible to smoothly hold the finger portion and support the support body in accordance with the size of the fruit.

Further, when a spring member for urging the finger of the finger portion in the expanding direction is provided, the finger can be positively expanded, the response to the expansion can be improved, and the finger can be instantaneously expanded. Can be expanded. In this case, if the spring member is constituted by a winding portion wound around the rod and supported, and a spring bar extending along each finger from the winding portion and pressing the finger in the expanding direction, a simple structure is obtained. A spring member can be created. Further, when the finger portion is formed of an elongated plate-shaped spring material bent and formed in a substantially V shape so as to include a pair of fingers, and a biasing force for expanding the pair of fingers themselves is applied by the spring material. In this case, the fingers can be positively expanded, the responsiveness of the expansion can be improved, and the fingers can be immediately expanded. In particular, when the finger is used in combination with the above spring member, the finger can be expanded by its own urging force and the urging force of the spring member. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a fruit collecting tool according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a fruit collecting tool according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing the fruit collecting tool according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a use process of the fruit collecting tool according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional fruit collecting tool.

[Explanation of symbols]

 S Fruit collection tool F Fruit 10 Pipe rod 11 Tip opening 12 Base end 15 Shaft 16 Base end 17 Tip 20 Gripper 21 Welded part 22 Base end 30 Finger part 31 Finger 32 One end 33 Other end 34 Insertion hole (rotation) Bearing part) 35 Rod (rotating shaft part) 35a Male thread part 36 Support body 37 Frame 37a Female thread part 38 Lock nut 40 Spring member 41 Winding part 42 Spring rod 50 Coil spring

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A tubular pipe rod having an opening at a distal end, and inserted through the pipe rod so as to be relatively movable in an axial direction and relatively rotatable around an axis, and that a base end thereof is located closer to a base end of the pipe rod. A shaft whose protruding distal end is located inside the distal end opening of the pipe rod, a proximal end of the pipe rod and a proximal end of the shaft are inserted and fixed to the proximal end of the shaft, and are cooperated with the shaft. A tubular gripper that is relatively movable and relatively rotatable in the axial direction with respect to the pipe rod, and one end is rotatably supported at the distal end of the shaft, and the other end is formed from the distal end opening of the pipe rod. It is expanded and protruded and urged in the expanding direction, and is contracted and closed by the advancing movement of the pipe rod to grip the fruit and frictionally engage with the tip opening of the pipe rod together with the pipe rod. The above shaft and gripper A finger part having two or more fingers rotatable with respect to the gripper; and a spring mounted on the gripper and biasing the pipe rod in a protruding direction. 2. The harvesting for fruits according to claim 1, wherein a rotating shaft is provided at one of the tip of the shaft and one end of the finger, and a rotating bearing is provided at the other. Utensils. 3. A rod which is coaxially fixed to the tip of the shaft and faces the finger of the finger, and a support provided at the tip of the rod and supporting a fruit gripped by the finger. The fruit collecting tool according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: 4. An end portion of the shaft is provided with a female screw portion coaxial with the axis of the shaft, a male screw portion is formed on the rod, and the rod is screwed and attached to the female screw portion. 4. The fruit collecting tool according to claim 3, wherein the tool is locked with a lock nut screwed into the male screw portion of the fruit. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a spring member for urging the fingers of the finger portion in the expanding direction.
5. The tool for collecting fruits according to 2, 3, or 4. 6. A spring member for urging the finger of the finger portion in the expanding direction, the spring member being wound around the rod and supported, and The fruit picking tool according to claim 3 or 4, further comprising a spring rod extending along the finger and pressing the finger in the expanding direction. 7. The finger portion is formed of an elongated plate-shaped spring material bent and formed in a substantially V-shape so as to include a pair of fingers, and the fingers are spread on the pair of fingers themselves by the spring material. The fruit collecting tool according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, wherein an urging force for opening is provided.