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. 26, 1996
Filed:
Mar. 22, 1996
Frederick J Cimperman, Dublin, CA (US);
Klaus Silbermann, Sunol, CA (US);
Ashlock Company, a Division of Vistan Corporation, San Leandro, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus for pitting articles such as prunes or dates. Each article is loaded between jaws of a chuck assembly which translates between stations along a process path. At a pitting turret, a pitting rubber moves below the chuck assembly, and the chuck assembly and rubber translate together until a pitting knife engages the article and ejects a pit therefrom. The chuck assembly then translates the pitted article to a station where the pitted article is discharged. Preferably, a relatively large number of chuck assemblies are provided, each having a fixed jaw fixedly attached to a chain and a sliding jaw slidably mounted to the fixed portion. A relatively small number of pitting rubbers and one pitting knife for each rubber are mounted to the pitting turret. Preferably, the apparatus includes a cam track (for guiding each sliding jaw) having a portion whose radius varies sinusoidally with position around a feed unit, a portion around the pitting turret for opening and then closing each chuck assembly, and an adjustable portion which can be adjusted to vary the initial maximum spacing between the fixed and sliding jaw of each chuck assembly.