Fruit gripping means in a torque pitter

Claim 1

IN A TORQUE TYPE PITTER HAVING A PLURALITY OF ADJACENT PAIRS OF PEACH GRIPPING PADS SUPPORTED IN AN ANNULAR ROW DISPOSED IN A COMMON PLANE ABOUT THE AXIS OF SAID ROW FOR MOVEMENT IN SIMILAR ARCUATE PATHS TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID AXIS INTO AND AWAY FROM GRIPPING ENGAGEMENT WITH THE CONVEX OUTER SURFACE OF A PEACH POSITIONED ON SAID AXIS, EACH PAD BEING ELONGATED CIRCUMFERENTIALLY OF SAID ROW AND FORMED WITH A CONCAVELY EXTENDING PEACH ENGAGING SURFACE GENERALLY FACING SAID AXIS AND EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF EACH PAD, THE IMPROVEMENT THAT COMPRISES: (A) THE SAID PEACH ENGAGING SURFACE OF EACH PAD BEING OF SUBSTANTIAL WIDTH RELATIVE TO THE LENGTH THEREOF AND THE PEACH ENGAGING SURFACE THEREOF BEING CONVEXLY CURVED TRANSVERSELY OF SAID LENGTH AND FORMED WITH A PLURALITY OF RELATIVELY WIDELY SPACED, CONVEXLY EXTENDING RINS DISPOSED TRANSVERSELY OF THE LENGTH OF EACH PAD; (B) THE OUTER SURFACES OF SAID RIBS BEING CONVEX TRANSVERSELY OF THEIR LENGTHS, AND THE SURFACES BETWEEN ADJACENT PAIRS OF RIBS BEING CONCAVE CONTINUATIONS OF THE SAID CONVEXLY CURVED OUTER SURFACES OF SAID RIBS.