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:
Sep. 06, 2005
Filed:
Mar. 07, 2003
Michael L. Suter, Lakeland, FL (US);
Eitan Zehavi, Kiriat Tivon, IL;
David Chiel, Afula Ilit, IL;
FMC Technologies, Inc., Chicago, IL (US);
Abstract
A fruit harvester may include a vehicle, a telescoping boom, a shaker head connected to the distal end of the telescoping boom for vibrating a tree to shake fruit from the tree. A boom positioning assembly is provided for connecting the boom to the vehicle. The boom positioning assembly may include a vertical guide mounted to the vehicle, a hinge joint assembly movable vertically along the vertical guide and connected to the proximal end of the telescoping boom to permit pivotal movement of the telescoping boom in both elevational and azimuthal directions. The boom positioning assembly may also include a vertical actuator for moving the hinge joint assembly vertically along the at least one vertical guide, and an elevational actuator for pivotally moving the telescoping boom in the elevational direction. The vertical guide may be pivotally mounted to the vehicle, and a tilt actuator may be provided for tilting the vertical guide relative to the vehicle.