De-vining melons

Claim 2

Apparatus for de-vining fruit, melons or the like comprising a frame, a longitudinal infeed conveyor; a de-viner assembly comprising a de-viner conveyor for the fruit running longitudinally forwardly from beneath the delivery end of said infeed conveyor, laterally spaced, longitudinally extending vine removal rollers disposed at each side of and with the major portion thereof disposed beneath the conveying reach of said de-viner conveyor, a vine pinch roller extending along the upper side of each vine removal roller and spaced from the associated side of said de-viner conveyor, means for resiliently urging said pinch and removal rollers together, and means for rotating each pair of vine removal and pinch rollers in opposite directions so that they pull vines laterally away from fruit or the like advancing on the de-viner conveyor.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least two of said de-viner assemblies are mounted side by side; the vine pinch rollers being disposed along their respective vine removal rollers in positions wherein the tangency planes of the paired rollers intersect along a line that is above a Plane through the axes of the vine removal rollers for minimizing wrap around of the vines.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said vine removal rollers are formed of an elastomer and have a Shore durometer of about 70 on Scale A, and the pinch rollers have a durometer of about 30.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said rollers have a peripheral speed of about 550 ft./min.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said de-viner conveyor is a belt conveyor and has a linear speed of about 88 ft./min.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said conveyors are endless belts having side lips adjacent the vine removal rollers.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said vine removal rollers are cantilever mounted on the frame at their crop-receiving ends.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 2, comprising swivel mounting means for said vine removal rollers.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said roller drive means comprises universal joint shafts at the crop-receiving ends of the rollers.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said infeed conveyor has an ascending run section and a delivery run section extending downwardly from the ascending run section, means for pivotally mounting said conveyor sections on the frame at their juncture, and means for pivotally mounting said de-viner assembly on the frame below the delivery section of said infeed conveyor.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 10, comprising means for supporting the delivery end of the delivery section of said infeed conveyor on said pivotally mounted de-viner assembly for maintaining a constant drop as the angle of inclination of the de-viner assembly is varied.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said infeed conveyor sections are pivotally mounted on said frame along the same axis.

Claim 14

Apparatus for de-vining fruit, melons or the like comprising a main frame, a longitudinal infeed conveyor on said main frame; a de-viner assembly on said main frame comprising a sub-frame, a de-viner conveyor for the fruit running longitudinally forwardly from beneath the delivery end of said infeed conveyor, laterally spaced, longitudinally extending vine removal rollers on said sub-frame and disposed at each side of and beneath the conveying reach of said de-viner conveyor, a vine pinch roller extending along each vine removal roller and spaced from the associated side of said conveyor, means mounting said vine pinch rollers on said sub-frame and disposed at each side of and beneath the conveying reach of said de-viner conveyor, means mounting said vine pinch rollers on said sub-frame for resiliently accommodating limited separation of the pinch rollers from the vine removal rollers upon the passage of vines between the pinch and removal rollers, and means for rotating each pair of vine removal and pinch rollers in opposite directions so that they pull vines laterally away from fruit or the like advancing on the de-viner conveyor.

Claim 15

Apparatus for de-vining fruit, melons or the like comprising a main frame, a longitudinal infeed conveyor on said main frame; a de-viner assembly on said main frame comprising a sub-frame, a de-viner conveyor for the fruit running longitudinally forwardly from beneath the delivery end of said infeed conveyor, laterally spaced, longitudinally extending vine removal rollers on said sub-frame and disposed at each side of and beneath the conveying reach of said de-viner conveyor, a vine pinch roller extending along each vine removal roller and spaced from the associated side of said conveyor, means mounting said vine pinch rollers on said sub-frame and disposed at each side of and beneath the conveying reach of said de-viner conveyor, means mounting said vine pinch rollers on said sub-frame for resiliently accommodating limited separation of the pinch rollers from the vine removal rollers upon the passage of vines between the pinch and removal rollers, and means for rotating each pair of vine removal and pinch rollers in opposite directions so that they pull vines laterally away from fruit or the like advancing on the de-viner conveyor.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 13, wherein at least two of said de-viner assemblies are mounted side by side on said sub-frame; said vine pinch roller mounting means comprising resiliently retracted swivel posts on said subframe having arms for mounting the vine pinch rollers.

Claim 17

The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said arms for adjacent vine pinch rollers form unitary cross bars with said swivel posts.

Claim 18

The apparatus of claim 15, wherein one end of each vine pinch roller is mounted for limited axial sliding motion.

Claim 19

Apparatus for de-vining fruit, melons or the like comprising a frame, a longitudinal infeed conveyor; a de-viner assembly running longitudinally forwardly from beneath the delivery end of said infeed conveyor and comprising laterally spaced, longitudinally extending vine removal rollers, a vine pinch roller extending along each vine removal roller, means for rotating said rollers so that they pull vines away from fruit or the like advancing on the assembly, said infeed conveyor having an ascending run section and a delivery run section extEnding downwardly from the ascending run section, means for pivotally mounting said conveyor sections on the frame at their juncture, and means for pivotally mounting said de-viner assembly on the frame below the delivery section of said infeed conveyor.

Claim 20

Apparatus for de-vining fruit, melons or the like comprising a frame, a longitudinal infeed conveyor; a de-viner assembly running longitudinally forwardly from beneath the delivery end of said infeed conveyor and comprising laterally spaced, longitudinally extending vine removal rollers, a vine pinch roller extending along each vine removal roller, means for rotating said rollers so that they pull vines away from fruit or the like advancing on the assembly, said infeed conveyor having an ascending run section and a delivery run section extEnding downwardly from the ascending run section, means for pivotally mounting said conveyor sections on the frame at their juncture, and means for pivotally mounting said de-viner assembly on the frame below the delivery section of said infeed conveyor.

Claim 21

The apparatus of claim 17, comprising means for supporting the delivery end of the delivery section of said infeed conveyor on said pivotally mounted de-viner assembly for maintaining a constant drop as the angle of inclination of the de-viner assembly is varied.

Claim 22

The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said infeed conveyor sections are pivotally mounted on said frame along the same axis.