Pitting apparatus with box cam; wiping blade, or separating assembly

Abstract

A fruit pitting apparatus including at least one of a box cam assembly for driving pitting knives relative to holders containing fruit, an active separating assembly which improves the efficiency of separation of the pitted fruit flesh from the holders after pitting, and a wiping blade positioned to wipe pits from the holders after pitting. The holders can be driven continuously during the pitting operation, or they can be driven intermittently so as to be stationary during pitting and to translate before and after pitting. The separating assembly preferably includes actively driven cam tracks within the knife driving assembly which vary the force with which the holders grip the fruit during and after pitting, especially when the holders are driven intermittently. The box cam assembly includes a box cam, a drive assembly for rotating the box cam, a pivot unit which undergoes reciprocating pivoting motion in response to the rotating box cam, a set of one or more shafts (to which pitting knives can be mounted) which reciprocate longitudinally in response to the reciprocating pivoting motion of the pivot unit, and preferably also a subassembly for causing the shafts to undergo reciprocating motion in directions perpendicular to their longitudinal axes.