Fruit and nut windrower

Claim 1

A fruit and nut windrower adapted for coupling to a prime mover to gather fruit and nuts on the ground and dispose the same into a windrow, the combination comprising: a frame structure adapted for coupling to the prime mover; a subframe mounted on said frame structure; a ground-engageable conveyor coupled to said subframe and disposed laterally to the forward direction of travel of the prime mover for engaging fruit and nuts on the ground and conveying the same toward an end thereof to form a windrow, said conveyor being coupled to said subframe by means including a pair of generally horizontally extending link structures pivotally connected to said subframe and extending forwardly therefrom into pivotal connection with said conveyor, said conveyor being disposed forwardly of said subframe and shiftable along the ground between a first position extended away from said frame structure and a second position retracted toward said frame structure, said link structure being arranged to maintain said conveyor in parallelism in said first and second positions; deflector means on said conveyor engageable with ground obstructions to shift said conveyor toward said second position to permit said conveyor to clear the obstructions; spring means operative between said subframe and said conveyor for shifting said conveyor toward said first position after said conveyor has cleared the obstructions; and stop means operative between said subframe and said link structures for positively limiting the movement of said conveyor toward its first position.