JPH0466550B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention is directed to a fruit holder provided on a conveyor, in which harvested fruit is placed on a holder of a fruit holder provided on a conveyor. The fruit is conveyed by being set so as to protrude from the receiving seat to the underside of the fruit holder, and the stem of the fruit is cut to a predetermined length using a cutter provided on the underside of the movement path of the fruit holder. This invention relates to improvements in a device for cutting the stems of dried fruits.

[Prior Art] In the conventional fruit stem cutting device described above, the cutter disposed on the lower side of the movement locus of the fruit pedestal is placed very close to the bottom surface of the fruit pedestal. It has a structure in which the fixed blade, which is fixedly supported on the frame, is a disc-shaped rotating blade.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-mentioned conventional fruit stem cutting device, the cutting position of the fruit stem is located far away from the base end position of the fruit stem, so that it is difficult to cut the fruit stem after the cutting process. For fruits of varieties where the length of the stem remaining is long and the length of the stem remaining is extremely short, it is necessary to hold each fruit one by one and use pinching, pinching, etc. to remove the fruit near the base of the stem. There is a problem in that finishing cutting must be performed from the beginning.

The present invention was made in order to solve this problem that has arisen with conventional means, and an object of the present invention is to provide a new means that can cut the stems into short lengths so as to eliminate the need for finishing cuts.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the present invention, as a means for achieving this object, the fruit holder provided on the conveyor is placed on the lower side of the movement trajectory along the movement trajectory. A support member that moves in synchronization with the moving speed of the pedestal is provided, and the support member has a protruding end that supports a nipper in a posture in which a cut-out portion that opens and closes is located upward, and the nipper an extensible mechanism for moving the nipper forward and backward with respect to the fruit holder, and an extrusion mechanism that operates the extensible mechanism so that the notched part of the nipper fits into the seat of the fruit holder; The present invention proposes a fruit stem cutting device characterized in that an operating mechanism for opening and closing the cutting section is disposed near the movement locus of the support member.

[Example] Next, an example of implementation will be described in detail according to the drawings regarding an example implemented in a fruit stalk cutting and bag removal device that cuts the fruit stalk and removes the bag placed over the fruit. explain.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a machine frame of a fruit stem cutting and bag removal apparatus A, which is formed to be long in the front-rear direction (left-right direction in FIG. 1).

A is a conveyor mounted on the machine frame 1 long in the front and back direction so that the conveyance stroke extends from the front end to the rear end of the machine frame 1, and is endlessly mounted on both left and right ends of the machine frame 1 by sprockets 10... Pairs of transport chains 11 (Fig. 2) that can be stretched so as to rotate are installed so as to face each other on the left and right, and a large number of fruit trays 2 are passed between the pair of transport chains 11 on the left and right. A reduction gear mechanism 13 that connects a transmission wheel 12 provided on the shaft of a sprocket 10 located on the rear end side of the machine frame 1 (the right end side in FIG. 1) to the output shaft of the motor M. The transmission wheel 14 provided on the output shaft of 11.11
The chain guide 15 installed on the machine frame 1 to support the
It is supported by 15.

The aforementioned fruit pedestal 2 installed on the conveyor a
As shown in FIG. 2, this is formed by pasting a resilient material 21 made of soft polyurethane on the upper surface side of a plastic conveyance plate 20 that spans between the left and right conveyance chains 11. At the position where the fruit B is placed, there is a perforated seat 22 that allows the stem of the fruit B to protrude to the lower surface side of the fruit holder 2.
is formed.

The fruit B is placed on the trays 22 of the fruit trays 2 of the conveyor a by an operator at the beginning of the conveyance stroke of the conveyor a (the right end in FIG. 1).
Holding fruit B with stem b in your hand,
This is done by setting the fruit on the seat 22 of the fruit holder 2 in such a state that the stem part of the fruit protrudes downward from the seat 22 of the fruit holder 2.

Referring again to FIG. 1, reference numeral 3 indicates a left-right direction adjustment for correcting the horizontally inclined posture of the stalk of the fruit B that is set on the seat 22 of the fruit tray 2 and conveyed. This device for correcting the posture of the fruit stem includes a pair of correcting belts disposed symmetrically on both sides of the locus of movement of the center point of the seat 22 in plan view.

4, for the fruit B with the bag C and the fruit stem b whose posture has been corrected by the stem posture correction device 3, only the mouth part of the bag C is cut, leaving the fruit stem b. The bag cutting device includes a fruit stem holding and conveying device 4a that grasps the fruit stem b along with the mouth part of the bag C using a chuck 41 and conveys it in the moving direction of the fruit holder 2 in synchronization with the fruit holder 2; It consists of a pair of bag cutters 4b arranged on the left and right at an interval through which the stalk b of the fruit B passes, on both the left and right sides of the locus of movement of the stalk transported by the stalk holding and conveying device 4a. and,
When the chucks 41 of the fruit stalk holding and conveying device 4a are grasping and conveying the fruit B, the chucks 41 of the fruit stalk holding and conveying device 4a gradually move downward from the movement trajectory of the fruit pedestal 2, and move away from the bag cutter 4b. The opening part c cut out from the main body of the bag C is pulled out from the stem b of the fruit B.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a stem posture correction device for correcting the front-to-back deviation of the posture of the stem b of the fruit B which has been exposed due to the opening c of the bag C being cut off by the bag cutting device 4; An endless chain 50 is stretched over the machine frame 1 so as to be positioned below the movement trajectory of the center point of the seat 22 of the fruit holder 2 and rotate along the movement trajectory, and the outer circumferential side of the chain 50 is is provided with a clamping device 51 consisting of a pair of clamping pieces that face each other in the rotational direction of the chain 50 and are closed back and forth at predetermined positions.
The pair of clamping pieces act to correct the stalk b to a vertical posture in side view by clamping the stalk b from the front and back along the vertical clamping surfaces.

D is a stalk cutting device that cuts the stalk b whose posture has been corrected by the stalk posture correcting device 5;
As shown in FIG. 2, there is a support member 6 disposed on the lower side of the movement locus of the fruit pedestal 2, a nipper 7 supported on the protruding end of the support member 6, and a nipper 7 supported on the side of the fruit holder 2. It consists of a telescoping mechanism d provided on the support member 6 for extrusion, an extrusion mechanism e that operates the telescoping mechanism d, and an operating mechanism f that opens and closes the cut-out portion 7a of the nipper 7.

The support member 6 has a chain 60 stretched below the movement trajectory of the fruit pedestal 2 so as to rotate endlessly along the movement trajectory, as shown in FIG. The chain 60 is attached to the lug piece 61 provided on the link plate via a bracket 62 as shown in FIG.
, the fruit pedestal 2 is moved along the movement trajectory of the fruit pedestal 2 at a moving speed synchronized with that of the fruit pedestal 2.

Further, the expansion mechanism d includes a shaft cylindrical portion 63 with the axial direction as the projection direction, and a shaft rod portion 64 that is slidably fitted into the shaft cylindrical portion 63 at an intermediate portion in the protruding direction of the support member 6. It is constructed so that it can expand and contract by sliding them.

The extrusion mechanism e that expands and contracts the extensible mechanism d has the above-mentioned shaft cylinder section 63 that slides in the projecting direction with respect to the shaft rod section 64 fixed to the bracket 62 side.
A shaft rod 65 extending horizontally across the rotational direction of the chain 60 is integrally connected, and rollers 66 are rotatably supported at the left and right ends of the shaft rod 65, respectively. are supported on rail surfaces 67a of guide rails 67 provided along the chain 60 on both left and right sides of the chain 60, and the shaft rods 6
A spring 68 is provided between the guide rail 67 and the bracket 62 to draw the shaft cylindrical portion 63 toward the bracket 62, and a protruding portion 67b is provided at a predetermined position on the rail surface 67a of the guide rail 67 as shown in FIG. When the roller 66 rides on the protrusion 67b, the shaft cylindrical part 63 is pushed out against the bias of the spring 68, and when the roller 66 comes off the protrusion 67b, the spring 68 is unloaded. The restoring operation is performed depending on the force.

Further, the nipper 7 has a pair of cutting blades 70 and 71 on the left and right that constitute the cutout portion 7a, and is integrally connected to the cutting blades 70 and 71 so as to provide opening and closing operations to the cutting blades 70 and 71, respectively. The left and right arm portions 7 are formed of
3.74, and the left and right arm parts 73.
74, the pair of left and right cutting blades 70 and 71, which are integrally connected to the ends of the arm portions 73 and 74, are closed together and perform a cutting action. There is no change, but the left and right arm parts 73 and 74
Using the fulcrum shaft 72 for opening and closing rotation as a connecting shaft, it is supported at the upper end of the support arm 6 with the cut-out part 7a located at the front in the moving direction and the left and right arm parts 73 and 74 at the rear. By bending the upper end side of the support member 6, a cutout portion 7a formed of a pair of cutting blades 70 and 71 on the left and right sides is formed.
is positioned upward and supported. In addition, the left and right arm portions 73 and 7 of the nipper 7
A spring 75 is provided on the proximal end side of the fulcrum shaft 72 of No. 4, which acts in a direction to expand them.

The operating mechanism f for cutting the cutout portion 7a of the nipper 7 is attached to the rail surface 67a of the guide rail 67 at both left and right portions of the locus of movement of the left and right arm portions 73 and 74 of the nipper 7. FIG. 4 shows the guides 80 and 80 coming into contact with the outer surfaces of the left and right arms 73 and 74 of the nipper 7 at the timing position when the nipper 7 is pushed up by riding on the provided protrusion 67b. as,
The left and right arm portions 73 and 74 of the nipper 7 are connected to the guides 80 and 80 by arranging them so that the width of the gap gradually narrows toward the front and fixedly supporting the machine frame 1 using a stay 81. By being compressed in contact with the cutout portion 7a
are closed together.

Furthermore, the cutout portion 7a of the nipper 7 has an upper surface shape when the left and right cutting blades 70 and 71 are closed together, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 when viewed from the side and from the front. They are each formed into a hemispherical shape having an arc shape when viewed, so that when the nipper 7 is pushed out by the expansion/contraction mechanism d, the cutout portion 7a is pushed up and the seat 22 of the fruit holder 2 is pushed up.
It is designed so that it will not cause any damage even if it comes into contact with the bottom surface of the fruit B when it is inserted into the fruit B.

In Fig. 1, 9 blows away the bag C covering the outer surface of the fruit B with the stem b cut off by blowing pressure air into the opening where the mouth part c has been cut. This is a pressure air type bag removal device.

[Effects of the Invention] The fruit stem cutting device according to the present invention configured as described above is disposed on the lower surface side of the movement locus of the fruit pedestal 2 of the conveyor a, and the fruit stem cutting device according to the present invention configured as described above is arranged on the lower surface side of the movement trajectory of the fruit pedestal 2 of the conveyor a, and The cutout part 7a of the nipper 7, which moves in the moving direction of the fruit holder 2 at a speed synchronized with the fruit holder 2, fits into the seat 22 of the fruit holder 2 at a predetermined position and is set in the seat 22. Since the fruit stem b of the fruit B that is present is cut off, the fruit stem b can be cut short from the root, making it unnecessary to finish cutting the fruit stem b.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway schematic side view of an embodiment of the device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the main parts of the same device, FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional side view of the main parts of the same device, and FIG.
The figure is a plan view of the main parts of the same device. Explanation of drawing symbols, A... Stem cutting and bag removing device, B...
Fruit, C... Bag, D... Stem cutting device, a... Conveyor, b... Fruit stem, c... Mouth part, d... Expanding mechanism, e...
Extrusion mechanism, f... Actuation mechanism, 1... Machine frame, 10... Sprocket, 11... Conveyance chain, 12... Transmission wheel, 1
3... Reduction mechanism, 14... Transmission wheel, 15... Chain guide, 2... Fruit pedestal, 20... Conveyance plate, 21...
Bullet material, 22... catch seat, 3... peduncle posture correction device,
4... Bag cutting device, 4a... Fruit stem holding and conveying device, 4
b... bag cutter, 41... chuck, 5... fruit stem posture correction device, 50... chain, 51... clamping device, 6...
Support member, 60... Chain, 61... Lug piece, 62...
Bracket, 63... Shaft tube part, 64... Shaft rod part, 65
...Axis rod, 66...Roller, 67...Guide rail, 67
a...Rail surface, 67b...Protrusion, 68...Spring, 7
...Nitsupa, 7a... Cutting part, 70, 71... Cutting blade, 72... Fulcrum shaft, 73, 74... Arm part, 75
...Spring, 80...Guide, 81...Stay, 9...Bag removing device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A support member 6 that moves in synchronization with the moving speed of the fruit holder 2 along the movement trajectory on the lower surface side of the movement trajectory of the fruit holder 2 installed on the conveyor a.
The supporting member 6 has a protruding end portion thereof supporting a nipper 7 with a cutout portion 7a that opens and closes positioned upward, and the nipper 7 is moved forward and backward relative to the fruit holder 2. and an extrusion mechanism e that operates the telescopic mechanism d so that the notched part 7a of the nipper 7 fits into the seat 22 of the fruit holder 2, A fruit stem cutting device characterized in that an operating mechanism f for opening and closing the cutting portion 7a is disposed near the movement locus of the support member 6.