US2688993A

US2688993A - Pimiento coring machine having a rotatable coring head, including an annular series of reciprocal rotatable coring tubes

Info

Publication number: US2688993A
Application number: US190778A
Authority: US
Inventors: White Earl
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1950-10-18
Filing date: 1950-10-18
Publication date: 1954-09-14
Anticipated expiration: 1971-09-14

Description

Sept. 14, 1954 E w 2,688,993

PIMIENTO CORING MACHINE HAVING A ROTATABLE CORING HEAD, INCLUDING AN ANNULAR SERIES OF RECIPROCAL ROTATABLE CORING TUBES Filed Oct. 18, 1950 4 SheqtS-Sheet l M a BI 53 N -1 8 g3; E SE la a IINVENTOR Earl White ATTORNEYS E. WHITE Sept. 14, 1954 PIMIENTO CORING MACHINE HAVING A ROTATABLE CORING 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 18, 1950 Earl White y, a w 7////////// 7 7//////////////////// v Q\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ OW ATTORNEYS Sept. 14, i954 E. WHITE 2,688,993 PIMIENTO CORING MACHINE HAVING A ROTATABLE CORING HEAD. INCLUDING AN ANNULAR SERIES OF RECIPROGAL ROTATABLE CORING TUBES I 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Oct. 18. 1950 INVENTOR Fa 1 2 White ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 14, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PIMIENTO CORING MACHINE HAVING A B- TATABLE CORING HEAD, INCLUDING AN ANNULAR SERIES RECIPR OCAL RO- 9 Claims.

Generically this invention relates to an automatic machine for removing the cores from fruits or vegetables, but is more particularly directed to such a machine for removing the cores from and otherwise operating upon pimiento peppers, and the like.

The manner and means heretofore in use for removing the cores of peppers has proven not only comparatively slow and laborious but otherwise unsatisfactory, and, therefore, one of the principal objects of this invention is the provision of an automatic pepper coring and finishing machine capable of not only rapidly removing the cores, but also eiiecting the removal of other portions in a finishing operation.

Another important object of this invention is the provision of a pepper coring machine comprising a rotatable head including an annular series of reciprocal rotatable coring tubes, an endless conveyor chain having pepper bearing cups adapted to pass beneath the rotatable head for effecting removal of the core from each pepper as it passes thereunder, and additional novel means in connection with the respective cups for removing the bloom end of the pepper and atsubstantially the same time a coring tube is removing the core from the opposite end thereof.

A further important object of this invention is the provision of a rotatable head including an annular series of reciprocatory rotatable coring tubes, and an endless conveyor chain structure including a plurality of pepper carrying cups adapted to travel thereunder in operative relatlon with said tubes, and additional novel means in advance of the tubes for removing the stem portions of the peppers so that the pods will not be tilted or out of position as they pass, under the coring tubes.

A further important object of, this invention is the provision of a coring machine of this character provided with a series of rotatable coring tubes including means operable within each tube and adapted when the tube has reached its insertible coring limit withinthe pepper to grippingly engage and hold the core during withdrawal of the tube and core from the pepper, and means then p-redeterminably operable to release said core holding means to permit discharge of the core from the tube.

An important object of this invention is the provision of a pepper or the like coring machine of this character comprising a rotatable annular series of coring tubes, each tube including pivotally mounted fingers extending therein operable tube.

to grippingly engage the core of a pepper within the tube as it is separated from the pepper and to hold it until'the tube has reached a predetermined position in its rotary travel, the fingers then being operable to their initial open position, and at which time the core is ejected from the Another important object of this invention is the provision of a pepper coring machine of this character comprising a rotatable annular series of coring tubes, each tube being independently rotatable, core engaging means within the tubes, means adapted to actuate said engaging means into gripping contact with the core as it is separated from the pepper, and. to hold it until the tube has advanced to a predetermined position,

then operable topermit release of said gripping I means, and additionally operable" to expel said core from the tube.

A further important object of this invention is the provision of a coring machine of this character including a coring tube structure comprising novel means for operating the tube in pepper injecting and core separating direction, means within said tube for gripping the core as it is separated from the pepper, and reciprocal cam means for actuating said gripping means to hold the core as the tube is withdrawn, said cam means operating to release the gripping means at the proper time, and then operating as a plunger to eject the core.

Another important object of this invention is the Provision of a pepper coring machine comprising an endless chain conveyor having a series of cups operatively connected therewith, each cup adapted to contain a pepper or the like to be cored, a coring mechanism comprising a rotatable series of reciprocal coring tubes, and means in connection with said conveyor structure operable to effect vertical adjustment thereof to position the same in operative relation with respect to the coring tubes in accordance with peppers of different heighths.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several figures, of which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved coring machine.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front end elevation, showing the cored article removing depending chain portion at the rear end of the machine.

the driving gear arrangement with the drive shafts and parts in elevation.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the coring tube cam rods with its finger'control rod, and frame section mounting therefor.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged elevational'view of one,

of the coring tubes and core engaging finger mounting. i

Fig. 8 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through the conveyor chain and track, taken on Mounted on and secured to the frame plate or structure t are the upright supporting standards 6 and i, the end standard 6 being further secured by a brace is anchored by a bolt or like fastening means t. Suitably journaled in said standards 6 and l is a drive shaft IE), on one end of which is Also mounted Mounted suitably secured bevel gear 1!. thereon is a drive sprocket wheel 12.

rearwardly from sprocket i2 is a motor l3 (Figs@ 1 and 2), having a drive sprocket. M connected to sprocket 52 by sprocket chain I5. Member ll extends beyond the frame member 2 to which it is secured by brace I6; as desired.

Extending through top member 4 and supported in thrust bearing H, the base l3 .of which is supported by base member '5, is the main drive shaft It} which extends through the coring head structure A. Theupper end of said shaft l9 extends above frame member 4 and is journaled in bearing 20, and suitably mounted on and secured to the upper end of said shaft is a bevel gear 2! and meshing with bevel gear H on motor drive shaft l0.

Within the frame structure 22 formed by the j circular series of frame members 23 and connected bythe rib members 24 is an upper cam track 26 and a lower cam track 2'7, mounted on.

and suitably secured to rods 25 which extend through the to frame member 4 and are supportingly secured by nuts 28. Reciprocally mounted in each of the frame members 23 is a coring tube supporting cam rod 28.

Mounted on a pin 38 at the top of each rod 29 (in the present instance six) is a cam roller 3| off-set with respect to the said rod and adapted to travel in the upper eccentric or cam track 26 for a purpose directly more fully appearing.

Likewise, a finger control and core ejecting rod 32 is mounted within rod 29 and at its upper end is formed with a lateral extension 33 adapted to project through registering slots 34 formed in rod 2d and its frame section 23 and on the end of which is mounted a cam roller 35 adapted to travel in the lower cam track or eccentric 2'! to,

effect relative reciprocation of the finger control rod 32 with respect to that of its rod 29. Mounted on each of the coring tube cam rods 29 flush with the shoulder 36 of the reduced end 31 is a fixed coring tube head plate 38. Extending through opposite sides of head plate 38 are depending rods 39 adjustably secured by nuts 40' and mounted on said rods seating is a hold-down bar or plate M, and mounted on said bolts and seating on said bar are compression springs t2, the upper ends of said springs seating in the lower ends of the tubes 2,3, and the upper end of said tubes seating against the plate 33. The resiliently mounted hold-down plate i! is adapted to prevent upward movement of the peppers incident to the withdrawal of the coring tubes following their coring action and contributes to maintaining the peppers in proper position during the coring operation.

Suitably mounted on the reduced end ti of each of the cam rods 29 and rotatably mounted on ball bearings M, is a coring tube gear 65 adapted to mesh with the large gear l'a. Said gear is formed with a hub portion ll projecting within the upper end of the coring tube 43 and is fixedly secured thereto by screws or other fastening means The lower end of said tube extends through and beyond the holddown bar il. It will be noted that the head A is mounted on and splined or otherwise attached to the main drive shaft It, and as it is rotated clockwise by said shaft, the coring tube assemblies B will be rotated about the large gear at; and, since the coring tube gears 45 are in mesh with said large gear, the respective tubesdt will'be rotated about their axes as they are rotated by the movement of said head about its axis and travel around and reciprocally over the face of said large gear 45. The coring tubes lt (Figs. 3 and 7) are formed with cutting edges d8.

It is important that irrespective of whether the peppers or other articles are in a firm or soft state, that the cores be removed cleanly and without damage to the article being cored, and, therefore, it is necessary that the large gear be rotated clockwise which causesthe coring tubes it to rotate anti-clockwise at a substantially rapid speed and in a direction opposite to that of said head A. The speed of said coring tubes may be varied by changing the speed of the large gear if desired in accordance with different articles being'cored.

Each of the coring tubes 58 is formed ad acent its upper end with diametrically opposed slots at, and is formed adjacent the lower edge of each slot with a pair of ears St. A pair of coreengaging fingers C is mounted in each tube and formed with an arcuate pro} cticn engageable between ears 5! and rotatably mounted on a pin or bolt 53 extending through the registering openings of the ears 5! and projectings Each finger is formed with a widened head as projecting upwardly and outwardly from the projection 52 and upwardly and downwardly, intersecting with the cam faces 55 which extend at an angle upwardly and inwardly from a point adjacent the pivotal post 53. Said heads 5d of the fingers normally project upwardly beyond the tubes it and substantially at their widened portions, they are formed with arcuate slots 56 in which is mounted i a coil spring 5! which normally maintains the fingers in substantially overlying contact with the inner wall surface of the tube The cam finger control rod 32 extends downwardly through the coring tube gear 55 to a point substantially intermediate the pivot bolts 53 and substantially at the lower ends of the cam faces 55. Suitably mounted on the end of said rod is the fingeroperating annular cam and core plunger head 58. Said head 53 is of a greater diameter than the normal distance between the upper ends of the ing to the shape of the peppers.

cam faces 55, so that in operation, as the tube is projected into the pepper D during the coring operation the rod 32 is raised by the cam roller 35 reaching a predetermined point in its cam track 21 causing cam head 58 to engage the cam surfaces 55 spreading the heads 54 against the action of the spring 51, and moving the fingers C to thepositions shown in dash lines as at 59, to grippingly engage and hold the core until the tube has reached a predetermined point in its conveyed travel or on the far side of the rotary head A, whereupon the cam rod 32'is moved with its plunger head 58 downwardly, permitting the fingers by the action of the spring 3! to assume their initial expanded positions and the plunger head at the same time moving downwardly expelling the core from the tube as will hereinafter be more fully explained.

Referring more particularly to the endless pepper conveyor E and associated parts it will be noted that a pair of parallel spaced tracks $0 is adapted to support the traveling conveyor E.

Each of the said tracks comprises a pair of spaced angle members 61, the vertical portions 62 of which are spaced apart to house and permit the free travel of the conveyor chain E, and the horizontal aligned portions 63 of which are adapted to be supported by the frame standards 64 interconnecting said members El and frame members 65 which are suitably connected at one end to the standards 3 and in their other ends with the rear frame posts 66, the standards 84, frame members 65, and end posts 66 may be connected by suitable cross members 61, as desired. The posts 66 are further connected by a cross member 68 on which is suitably mounted central of its length, the rear end vertically disposed sprocket 69 journaled on axle 10.

Mounted at the front end of the machine, as directly more fully explained, is a horizontally disposed sprocket H, and adapted to travel in said tracks 60 and over sprockets H and 69 is an endless conveyor chain E comprising semi-universally interconnected links I2 and 73. Mounted on said chain E are a plurality of cone-shaped pepper carrying cups M substantially conform- Each of said cups is formed, in the present instance, with an integral base portion I5, adapted to seat on the upper face of a link as shown in Fig. 4, and connected to the links by screws or other suitable fastening means 16, the base and link being formed with registering bores H and i8, respectively, in which is journaled shaft 19 on the upper end of which is suitably mounted and secured a rotatable burr member or thelike 80 having a toothed or roughened surface 8| adapted to remove the flower end of the pepper D when the latter is being carried by the cup M as will be directly more fully explained. The lower end of said shaft '19 projects beyond the chain E and on which is suitably mounted a pulley 82 formed with a concave surface 83. In order not to create a Vacuum by the placing of thepeppers in the cups 14, said cups are formed with a series of spaced openings 14. Also the cup base 15 is formed with integral wing portions 15' extending at right angles thereto and constituting stabilizing conveyor and cup supporting members adapted for slidable travel over the dual track surfaces of members 63 as will be apparent. I

Mounted on the posts 66 are the bearings 84 in which is journaled a shaft 85 and mounted on the. shaft are the sprockets 86 in alignment with the tracks 60 over which'is adapted to travel the endless chain E, said chain extending downwardly from said sprockets and over rear sprocket 69 so as to effect the removal of the cored peppers as will directly more fully appear.

The tracks 8!] terminate at their front ends at a point short of the standards 2 and are supported on cross bar 81 suitably interconnecting the vertical members 88, which latter are also connected by the cross bar 89. Said vertical members 88 are seated on and secured to braces 90, said braces extending upwardly and rear warclly and suitably connected at their upper ends to the track members SI of tracks, 60, or by a cross member interconnecting said tracks, if desired. Said endless chain E extends forwardly beyond members 88 and the end of tracks 5!) and around sprocket ll, having vertical slidable connection with its tubular shaft, the axis of which is coincident with that of the axis of the vertical drive shaft i9, and said sprocket is rotatably supported by a cradle structure 91 including arms 92 pivotally connected thereto as at 93, the rear ends of said arms extending over cross bar 89 and under cross bar 8'! to which they are suitably connected. The arms 88 are provided with rack teeth Si l adapted to mesh with pinions 95 mounted on shaft 95 journaled in bearings 9i suitably mounted on and connected to angle bars 98 mounted on and connected to frame standards 2 and 3. Splined or otherwise mounted at the free end of shaft 96 is a crank handle 99, and bars 98 are connected to frame members 2 and 3 by bolts I68 or other suitable fastening means.

It will be noted that the above front and track supporting structure is operable by actuation of the handle 99 to effect slight vertical adjustment of the front portion of track til, conveyor chain E, cradle structure 9! and sprocket H, in acc0rdance with different sized peppers, so that the coring tubes 48 can effect the decoring of the peppers as they reach coring position. ,7 Thus it will be noted that the sprocket 'll and the tracks are adapted to normally support the chain E in a plane to permit the cups with the peppers .D therein to pass beneath the coring tube 48 and hold-down plate 4| so that said peppers will be positioned in underlying operative relation with respect to said rotating coring tubes, Figs. 1 and 2. Therefore it was necessary to provide for the vertical adjustment of the forward portion of cup carrying conveyor chain E to compensate for peppers extending different heighths above the cups.

Suitably mounted on the cradle structure 9! below the sprocket I! of the conveyor chain E, and correspondingly curved at the front (Fig. 2) is a rubber covered or roughened surface rod member 83, extending rearwardly at the right (Fig. l), and adapted to engage over the pulleys 32 and rotatably actuate the burrs to remove the bloom ends of the peppers D as they immediately approach the coring tube mechanism or cor-- ing head assembly. It will be apparent that being mounted on said cradle structure, said rod will atall times be operatively positioned with respect to the pulleys 82.

The front vertical frame standards 2 are interconnected in approximate alignment with the shaft 96 by the cross angle bars NH, and the frame standards 3 are connected in alignment with bars iill by angle bar Hi2. Mounted on the bars Hi! and B2 are the angle bars I03 mounted adjacent the vertical standards 88 and brace structure 9?]. A bracket or frame structure 194 is suitably mounted on standard 3 or other supporting means and mounted for vertical adjust- '7 ment thereon is a small motor I05 connected thereto by base I85. Said motor is connected to a source of power and on the drive shaft I85 of which is mounted a saw Ifi'I or the like in vertical alignment with the right hand track and conveyor feeding line of cups I4 (looking from the front end in the direction of the arrows 28) and in operative relation above the feeding line of peppers D to remove the stems therefrom in advance of the coring action of the tubes 413 rotatably carried by the coring head A. The motor IDS is adjustable on base I05 or the saw It? may be vertically adjustable on its shaft Ice in ac cordance with the heighth of the particular pep pers being cored.

Following the coring operation the cored peppers are delivered from the coring head by the left hand line of cups and during its vertical descent from the sprocket 86 the cored peppers being discharged by gravity or dumped out of the said cups onto a conveyor or into a suitable container (not shown). In being removed from the cups the peppers usually leave fragments thereof adhering to their interior walls, and, therefore, to prevent additional adherence when a succeeding pepper is placed in a cup and its normal heighth increased so that the saw It? will cut into said pepper, a spray mechanism I68 shown in Fig. 1, is provided and positioned in alignment with the vertically ascending return line of empty cups, so as to direct a strong water spray into said cups to insure non-stickable and clean interiors to receive the succeeding peppers for cording as in the first instance.

The driving arrangement will now be described. The main drive is from motor I3 through chain I5 to shaft I0, beveled gear II, beveled gear '2I and main drive shaft is to coring head A, revolving said head clockwise as shown in Fig. 2. The remaining driving and gear arrangement from shaft I9 is shown on Fig. 5, which includes the main drive shaft I9 on which is mounted the drive gear H39, and an auxiliary or idler shaft I I3 with its lower end supported in thrust bearing I I I seating on the frame base 5 and its upper end journaled in bearing I I2 suitably secured to members If. Mounted on shaft III are the gears H3, H4 and H5. The gear I09 meshes with gear H3 driving shaft H anti-clockwise and through gear H4 drives gear lit and the hollow tubular shaft I ll on which it is mounted,

clockwise. Said shaft I I! is adapted to drive the large gear 46. Gear H5 on shaft HII meshes with gear H8 secured to the lower end of the hollow tubular shaft I I9, which loosely telescopes shaft H1, and is adapted to drive clockwise the conveyor drive sprocket ll. Suitably secured to the sprocket II is a hollow drive sleeve portion I26 into which the upper end of shaft portion IIS extends. The telescoping end of shaft H9 is formed with diametrically opposed slots through which extend pins or the like I2I, carried by sleeve portion I20, and by means of which construction the vertical adjustment of sprocket II and conveyor E is permitted. If desired the sleeve can be slotted and the pins carried by shaft H9. Said large gear 46 may be mounted on the upper face of a ball bearing structure and the lower face fixedly attached to shaft l9, whereby said gear is rotatably supported and the enlarged portion I22 of shaft I I1 is connected at its upper end to the under surface of said gear 46 which gear is rotated by the shaft H1, said enlarged portion I22 constituting a housing for said bearing.

While the operation of the device would appear to be clear from the above description, it might be well to further state, that the peppers or other articles D to be cored are manually placed in the cups of the conveyor moving feeding line in advance of the stem cutter Ill'I which severe the stems, and as the cup carrying the article approaches the coring mechanism the fixed rod 83 engages and effects rotation of pulley 82, rotating burr 8B removing the lower end of the article, or bloom end if it is a pimiento pepper. As each succeeding cup begins its arcuate travel in consonance with that of the registering coring tube, said tube is impelled downwardly by the action of its cam, rod roller in cam track or eccentric 26, and begins its coring movement into the article and which completes its downward coring limit as it reaches the center point of its arcuate travel at the front of the machine (Fig. 2), and at which point it begins its receding movement by the action of its ascending cam roller in upper track 2e, and at the same time the cam roller 35 on cam rod 32 moving upwardly in lower cam track 2'I causes the cam-plunger head 58 to engage the cam faces 55, moving fingers 0 into core holding position as at 59. During the further arcuate travel of the coring head A and tube 58, and just before said tube begins its movement out of alignment with the cored article and the de livery conveyor line, said core is completely removed from the pepper or like cored article, and as it reaches complete disalignment, the cam plunger head is moved downwardly out of engagement with cam faces 55 expelling the core, by reason of the descending'travel of cam roller 35, and the fingers C are returned to their normal expanded position (Fig. 3) by the action of spring 5?, and the plunger head 58 is returned to its normal inoperative position (Fig. 3), where it remains until the coring tube has rotatably moved with the coring head to begin another coring cycle. Following the complete removal of the core, as above described, the cored articles are carried by the conveyor to the descending line at the far side (Fig. 1), and gravitationally removed or dumped onto a traveling conveyor or into a receptacle (not shown). cups move up the ascending portion of the feeding conveyor line they are subjected by the spray device I08 (Fig. 1) to a strong water spray which removes any remaining fragments of the cored articles and thoroughly cleanses the interiors of the cups for the repeated reception of articles to be cored as in the first instance.

While the construction and operation of the present invention has been designed more particularly for the coring of pimiento peppers, it is equally adapted to the coring of other articles, and it will be apparent that I have provided a coring machine embodying a compact rotatable coring head including a series of vertically reciprocatory and rotatable coring tubes, simplified operating means therefor, including means for effecting rotation of said head and tubes in one direction, and additionally operating said respec tive tubes in an opposite direction, and additional features operable in a continuous operating cycle to effect the removal of the projecting stems and the bloom end, in the case of peppers, thereby eliminating manual steps, and not only reducing operating costs but increasing the cored output, said coring machine comprising comparatively few parts, readily assembled, manufacturable at a reasonable cost, and efiicient for the purposes intended.

As the empty- 9 Although in practice I have found that the form of my invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings and referred to in the above description as the preferred embodiment, is the most efficient and practical, yet realizing that v conditions concurrent with the adoptionof my invention will necessarily vary, I desire to emphasize that various minor changes in details of construction, proportion and arrangement of parts, may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from or sacrificing any of the principles of this invention.

Having thus described my invention, What I desire protected by Letters Patent is as set fort in the following claims:

1. A pepper or the like coring machine comprising an endless conveyor including a series of pepper carrying cups, each cup adapted to contain a pepper with the bloom end down, means in connection with the respective cups adapted to remove the bloom end of the pepper carried by the cup, said means comprising a rotary burr at the bottom of each cup, each cup being substantially shaped to embracingly receive the bloom end of a pepper, a coring device positioned adjacent to and above the cups and adapted to penetrate the pepper within each of the cups for decoring purposes, the said coring device including a resiliently mounted hold-down element engaging the pepper as the pepper approaches the coring device, and means adapted to actuate said bloom end removing burr while the pepper is engaged by the hold-down element and as it is approaching the coring device.

2. A machine for coring peppers and the like comprising an endless conveyor including a series of pepper carrying cups, each cup adapted to embracingly contain a pepper with the stem exposed and to bring the pepper into operative relation with respect toa coring device, a cutting device adap-ted to remove the stems from the peppers, a burr device positioned in the bottom of each cup adapted to remove the bloom end of the pepper, frictionally-operated means for rotatively operating said burr device as it approaches the coring device, said coring device including resiliently mounted hold-down means for engaging the pepper, a rotary coring cutter positioned adjacent to and above the peppers contained in the cups, and means for downwardly actuating the coring cutter for causing it to enter the pepper within each cup for decoring purposes, means for actuating the conveyor to successively position each cup in operative relation with respect to said cutting device for the stems to remove successive stems in advance of the decoring device and to position the cup into operative relation with respect to the burr operating means to remove said bloom end as the cup approaches the coring device, the said hold-down means engaging the pepper as the burr device operates on the bloom end of the pepper as each pepper and cup approaches the rotary coring cutter but prior to engagement of each pepper with the said rotary coring cutter.

3. A machine for coring vegetables, and the like, certain of which have upwardly projecting stems, said machine comprising a coring mechanism, an endless conveyor including a series of cups disposed adjacent to the coring mechanism and positioned beneath the same, each cup being substantially shaped to embracingly receive the bloom end of an articleto be cored with its stem exposed and means for actuatingsaid conveyor to successively bring an article to be cored into 10 operative relation with respect to said coring mechanism, a rotary burr device at the bottom of each cup, and means adjacent to the coring mechanism adapted to effect rotation of said burr device to remove the lower end of the article as it immediately approaches said coring mechanism, the said coring mechanism including a resiliently mounted hold-down plate engaging the article, and a rotary coring cutter havingits operative cutting edge approximately axially disposed relative to the hold-down plate and projecting for a short distance therethrough, the hold-down plate engaging the article while the burr device is acting thereon immediately preceding engagement of the article and the coring cutter.

4. A pepper coring machine comprising in combination, an endless conveyor, a series of peppercarrying cup operatively connected with the conveyor for receiving peppers with their bloom ends downward, the said cups being shaped to embracingly hold the bloom ends of the peppers, coring mechanism for the peppers disposed adjacent' to and above the said, cups, the coring mechanism comprising a rotatable coring head including a plurality of vertical reciprocable coring devices, means for imparting rotary movement to the said devices independently to that of the said head, the said coring devices including rotary coring tubes adapted to enter successively the peppers to be cored for removing the cores therefrom, hold-down means engaging the peppers immediately in advance of the coring tubes, resilient mountings for the hold-down means, means positioned interiorly of the coring tubes for separating the cores cut from the pepper by the coring tubes, means operable when the said coring devices have moved to predetermined points in their conveying travel to expel the cores, the said means including vertically reciprocable actuating instrumentalities for the coreseparating means, vertically spaced cam tracks in the coring head, and operating means operatively engaging the cam tracks and the said instrumentalities for reciprocating the latter responsively to actuation of the coring tubes.

5. A pepper coring machine comprising an endless conveyor including a series of peppercarrying cups, each cup being adapted to receive a pepper with the bloom end down, means in.

each cup adapted to remove the bloom end of the pepper carried by the cup, the said means comprising a rotary burr at the bottom of each cup, each cup being substantially shaped to embracingly receive the bloom end of a pepper, a coring device adapted to penetrate the pepper Within each of the cups for decoring purposes, the said coring device also including hold-down means for engaging each pepper at its top in advance of but adjacent to its reaching the coring device, common drive means for the coring device and for the endless conveyor, rotary actuating means on each cup for the burr contained therein, and a guide track adjacent to the coring device but somewhat in advance thereof for frictionally engaging and rotating the actuating means for the burr as each pepper approaches the coring device, thereby removing the bloom end of each pepper immediately in advance of the coring device.

6. A machine for coring peppers comprising an endless conveyor including a series of peppercarrying cups, each cup having a shape approximating the bloom end portion of the peppers and beingadaptedto embracingly containa pep- 11 per with the stem of the'pepper exposed and the bloom end down,. coring mechanism positioned adjacent to and above the said cups, means for bringing each of the peppers into operative relation with the coring mechanism, cutting means adapted to remove the stems from the peppers, a burr device positioned at the bottom of each cup for removing the bloom end of the successively position each cup in operative relation with the stem-removing cutting means in advance of the decoring means, and track means for frictionally engaging the burr operating device on each cup for removing the bloom end from the peppers as each cup approaches the decoring means.

7. A coring machine for removing cores from peppers or the like, which comprises, in combina tion, a machine frame, a rotatable coring head carried by the frame and including, an annular series of coring tubes, an endless conveyor chain mounted on the machine frame, a plurality ofv pepper-receiving cups mounted on the endless conveyor chain for embracingly receiving peppers to be cored by the coring head, the said chains and cups thereon being arranged to pass beneath the head, means for vertically reciprocating the coring tubes for causing themto enter the pepper being cored, means for rotating the coring tubes during their penetration thereof into the pepper, a plurality of core-gripping fingers extending into the coring tube, cam means pivotally mounting the fingers on the coring tube, a cam rod connected to the coring tube and carrying the said tube, a finger control and core-ejecting rod mounted within the cam rod, means on the said control rod for predeterminedly operating the fingers first to close. them to grip the core,-and then after a predetermined interval to open the fingers to release the core, means mounted on the machine frame for actuating the cam rod and the finger-control and core-ejecting rod, the said means including upper and lower cam tracks, rollers on the said cam rod and finger-control and core-ejecting rod disposed to operate in the said cam tracks responsively to rotation of the coring head, and driving means on the machine frame for operating the coring head and the endless conveyor chain.

8. A pepper coring machine comprising in combination, an endless conveyor, a series of peppercarrying cups operatively connected with the conveyor for receiving peppers with their bloom ends downward, the said cups being shaped to embracingly hold the bloom ends of the peppers, a machine frame, a vertical main drive shaft mounted in said frame, coring mechanism for the peppers disposed adjacent to and above the said cups carried by said shaft, the coring mechanism comprising a rotatable coring head including a plurality of vertical reciprocable coring devices, means for imparting rotary movement to the said devices independently to that of the said head, the said coring devices including rotary coring tubes adapted to enter successively the peppers to be cored for removing the cores therefrom, hold-down means engaging the peppers immediately in advance of the coring tubes, resilient-mountings for the hold-down means, means positioned interiorly of the coring tubes for separating the consent from the pepper by the coring tubes, said means including interiorly of each tube a pair of core gripping fingers pivotally attached to said tube adjacent their upper ends and formed with cam heads extending exteriorly of the tube, said cam heads being embraced by a resilient member normally retaining the fingers expanded against the tube wall, a member vertically reciprocal in said tubeand coacting with said cam heads to bring the fingers into gripping relation with the core upon its separation from the peppers, said vertical reciprocal member being further operable to expel the core when the said coring devices have moved to predetermined points in their rotary travel, vertically spaced cam tracks in connection with said coring head, and operating meansv in connection with said vertical reciprocal coring devices engaging said cam tracks for reciprocating said reciprocal coring devices.

9. A coring machine for removing cores from peppers or the like, which comprises, in combination, a machine frame, a main vertical drive shaft rotatably mounted in the frame, suitably mounted on and attached to said drive shaft spaced from its upper end is an annular series of interconnected frame members forming a rotatable coring head, fixedly suspended from said machine frame are upper and lower tracks, said lower track being within the coring head, reciprocally mounted in each frame member of said series is a cam rod carrying at its upper end a cam roller adapted to supportingly travel in said upper track, said rod carrying at its lower end a rotatable coring tube, an endless conveyor mounted on the machine frame, a plurality of pepper receiving cups mounted on the endless conveyor for embracingly receiving peppers to be cored, the conveyor and cups thereon being arranged to pass beneath the head, means for rotating said head to effect rotary travel of said cam rods with respect to said track to effect vertical reciprocation of the coring tubes causing them to enter the respective peppers being cored, additional means for rotating the coring tubes during penetration thereof into the peppers as they pass beneath said coring head, a pair of core gripping fingers extending into each coring tube,

cam means pivotally mounting the fingers on the coring tube, a finger control and a core-ejecting rod mounted within the cam rod and carrying a cam roller mounted for engagement with said lower track, means on the said control rod for predeterminedly operating the fingers first to close them to grip the core, and then after a pre determined interval to open the fingers to release the core, and driving means on the machine frame for operating the coring head and the endless conveyor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS