New Holland North America, Inc.

New Holland Braud S.a.

Daniel Henri Le Neve

Jean-Paul Marcel Martin

Luc Camiel Dupon

Jean-Louis Vigneau

Nathalie Gorretta

Dominique Clanet

Jean-Francedillaois Bonicel

A method and apparatus for harvesting fruit determines the proportion of fruit in a mixture of products containing fruit and bodies foreign to the fruit by capturing at least one initial image of a surface of the mixture to be examined. The device then assigns to each image pixel of one of two extreme grey levels according to the initial grey level of the pixel relative to a set threshold and then records the number of pixels of at least one extreme grey level to determine a area ratio between areas occupied by fruit and foreign bodies in the image. The invention has particular application to the harvesting of fruit, berries and the like produced on trees or bushes grown in rows to use the calculated proportion of fruit to adapt at least one of the functioning parameters of the machine.

Method and apparatus for harvesting crop material

A machine for harvesting fruits, berries and the like, from fruit trees and bushes planted in rows, the machine comprising a straddling chassis capable of moving across a field, a shaker assembly mounted on the chassis and including at least one pair of elongated shaker members which extend generally in the longitudinal direction of the machine and which are spaced transversely from one another and situated respectively on opposite sides of the central fore-and-aft axis of the machine so as to define an active shaking zone. Each shaker member is formed by a rod of flexible material. The machine further comprises a control mechanism operatively connected to the rods to drive them synchronously with a reciprocating motion in a direction extending transversely relative to said fore-and-aft axis. Each rod comprises an internal cavity in the form of a cylindrical bore extending the full length of the rod in a manner such that the weight of the rod is reduced considerably while having only little influence on the rigidity of the rod whereby the resonance frequency of the rod is increased.

Shaker members for grape harvester

Growing community of inventors

Challans, France

Daniel Henri Le Neve