The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 29, 1977
Filed:
May. 04, 1976
Thomas S Bettencourt, Isleton, CA (US);
Lowell K Marshall, Sacramento, CA (US);
The Regents of the University of California, Berkeley, CA (US);
Abstract
Tomatoes are mechanically harvested by moving a mechanical harvester through a row of growing tomato plants, severing the plants below ground, and picking up the severed plants along with loose tomatoes and some dirt clods, while returning loose dirt to the ground. The severed tomato plants are separated from the loose tomatoes and dirt clods and are shaken to remove the tomatoes from the plants. These tomatoes are recovered and conveyed forwardly past sorters. In the meantime the originally loose tomatoes and clods are passed rearwardly countercurrently to the mainstream of tomatoes, by the sorters for recovery of good loose tomatoes. Preferably, the pickup is made at about 15% slower than the ground speed of the harvester, while the separation between plants and the clods and loose tomatoes is made at the ground speed and the separated plants are carried away from that separation step at a speed about 15% greater than the ground speed of the harvester.