JPH0154974B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 57-140021
The present invention relates to a cutter that can be suitably used in a fruit-harvesting robot hand installed in a fruit-harvesting device as previously proposed by the present applicant.

In this type of robot hand, it is necessary to provide a cutter with a blade member for cutting the fruit stalk after capturing the fruit, but the structure of the drive mechanism of the blade member and the location thereof When designing such devices, there were various requirements such as the need to prevent the overall size and weight of the hand from increasing, and also to be able to reliably and effectively cut the fruit stem. is extremely difficult.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cutter having a structure that can meet such requirements.

In order to achieve this object, the characteristic structure of the cutter for cutting the fruit stalk of the fruit harvesting device according to the present invention is that a blade portion is formed on the inner peripheral side of a pair of semicircular or nearly semicircular blade members; A pinion is attached to one end side of each, and the pair of blade members are
The fruit catching portion is pivotally supported around the axis of the pinion, and can be freely switched between a substantially circular arrangement state and an intersecting state by pushing and pulling one rack that engages with the pinion at the same time. This is what is being done.

Due to this characteristic configuration, the following effects are exhibited. Since two blade members can be driven simultaneously by pushing and pulling one rack gear, the device configuration can be simplified. Also, since the two semicircular blade members can intersect accurately at the center of the circle,
No matter where the fruit is introduced into the hand, it is possible to reliably and effectively cut the fruit stem with the two blade members pulling it close to the center of the catching part.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the fruit harvesting device has a flexible arm 2 attached to a movable main body (not shown), and a fruit capturing hand 3 attached to the tip of the arm 2 through a joint 1 so as to be able to change direction freely. It is composed of In this fruit catching hand 3, one open opening of a hollow cylindrical catching part 4 is formed as a fruit introduction port 5,
A chute 6 for conveying picked fruit to a storage section (not shown) is connected to the other open opening. The fruit introduction port 5 of the hand 3 is provided with a contact sensor 13 for controlling the hand 3 to enter the fruit into the introduction port 5, and for cutting the stem of the fruit introduced into the trapping section 4. A cutter 7 is provided for this purpose. The cutter 7 operates when a sensor (not shown) provided inside the trapping section 4 detects that the fruit has been correctly introduced into the trapping section, and cuts the stem of the fruit. The fruit stem is cut at the center of the introduction port 5 so as not to damage the fruit when cutting the fruit stem.

That is, the structure of this cutter 7 is, as shown in FIG. 2, a pair of semicircular blade members 9 having a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the introduction port 5 of the trapping part 4 and having a blade part 8 inside the semicircular shape. Axial centers X fixed on the periphery of the capturing part 4, respectively;
It is rotatably supported around X. There is one rack 1 at the pivotally supported location of each blade member 9.
A pinion 10 is formed which meshes with the rack 1.
1, so that the respective blade members 9, 9 eventually intersect with each other at the center of the inlet 5.
Rotating motion at the same time. In other words, the pair of blade members 9, 9 are configured to be switchable between a substantially circular arrangement state and an intersecting state. The rack 11
The reciprocating movement of the is configured to be performed by an air cylinder 12 that is interlocked with the base end thereof.
Incidentally, as shown by the dotted line in the figure, the final intersection portion of the blade portions 8, 8 may be formed into a V-shaped concave shape, for example.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of a cutter for cutting fruit stalks of a fruit harvesting device according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the entire fruit harvesting device, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the cutter portion. 8...Blade portion, 9...Blade member, 10...Pinion, 11...Rack.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Blade portions 8, 8 are formed on the inner circumferential side of a pair of blade members 9, 9 having a semicircular or nearly semicircular shape, and a pinion 10,
10 is attached, and the pair of blade members 9, 9 are pivotally supported on the fruit catching part 4 around the axes of the pinions 10, 10, and the pinion 1
A cutter for cutting fruit stalks of a fruit harvesting device, which is configured to be able to switch freely between a substantially circular arrangement state and an intersecting state by pushing and pulling one rack 11 that engages with 0 and 10 at the same time.