Fruit picker

Claim 2

In a fruit picker, the combination of a picker head adapted to be supported by a movable boom, said head including a front basket with an open top, a rotatable auger mounted across the open top of the basket, power means for rotating said auger, a clamshell-type comb mounted on the basket for cooperation with said auger, said comb including upper and lower comb members movable toward and away from each other between an open position and a closed position wherein they complementally surround the front and top of said auger, and power means for opening and closing said comb members.

Claim 3

The device as defined in claim 1 wherein said picker head also includes a boom-supported rear portion, said front basket being projectable forwardly and retractable rearwardly relative to said rear portion, and power means for projecting and retracting the basket relative to the rear portion of said head.

Claim 4

The device as defined in claim 1 together with means for pre-adjusting the position of said comb members relative to each other and to said auger.

Claim 5

In a fruit picker, the combination of a picker head including a boom supported rear portion and a front basket projectable and retractable relative to said rear portion, a first reciprocating fluid motor for projecting and retracting said basket, a source of pressurized fluid, a basket-extend solenoid valve for admitting fluid to one end of said first reciprocating fluid motor to project said basket, and a basket-retract solenoid valve for admitting fluid to the opposite end of said first reciprocating fluid motor to retract said basket, a rotatable auger provided on the basket, a rotary fluid motor for rotating said auger in one direction, an auger-start solenoid valve for selectively admitting and cutting off pressurized fluid to and from said rotary fluid motor to selectively power said auger in one direction and remove power from auger, a clamshell-type comb having two sets of pivotally mounted teeth openable and closable around said auger, a second reciprocating fluid motor for opening and closing said teeth, a teeth-open solenoid valve for supplying fluid to one end of said second reciprocating motor to open said teeth, and a teeth-close solenoid valve for applying fluid to the other end of said second reciprocating motor to close said teeth, a source of electric power, a normally closed electric circuit including said teeth-open solenoid valve, a pair of normally-closed relay contacts and said source of electric power for energizing said teeth-open solenoid valve, a normally open comb-close circuit including a normally open teeth-close switch, a pair of normally-open relay contacts, said teeth-close solenoid valve, and said power source, a relay coil in circuit with said normally open teeth-close switch and said power source, said relay coil when energized by the normal closing of said teeth-close switch functioning to shift said normally-closed relay contacts to open position and to shift said normally-open relay contacts to closed position, basket-extend and retract circuits including said source of power, a double throw switch means for sensing the fully open and fully closed position of said teeth, a head-extend and retract switch having a movable contact normally biased to a neutral open position and a pair of opposite fixed contacts alternately engageable with said movable contact, one fixed contact of said extend-retract switch being in circuit with said basket-extend solenoid and the other fixed contact being in circuit with said basket-retract solenoid, and an auger-start circuit including said source of electric power, an auger on-off switch, a normally-open teeth position sensing switch having means for closing said teeth position sensing switch only when said teeth are closed, and said auger-start solenoid valve, said auger-start circuit being interrelated with said teeth-closed circuit by reason of said teeth position sensing switch so that said auger-start solenoid valve can only be energized when said comb teeth are closed, and said basket-extend and retract circuit being interrelated with said teeth closed circuit by reason of said double throw switch means for sensing the fully open and fully closed position of said comb teeth so that said basket-extend and basket-retract solenoid valves can only be energized when said teeth are fully open or fully closed.

Claim 6

In a fruit picker, the combination of a picker head including a boom supported rear portion and a front basket projectable and retractable relative to said rear portion, a first reciprocating fluid motor for projecting and retracting said basket, a source of pressurized fluid, a basket-extend solenoid valve for admitting fluid to one end of said first reciprocating fluid motor to project said basket, and a basket-retract solenoid valve for admitting fluid to the opposite end of said first reciprocating fluid motor to retract said basket, a rotatable auger provided on the basket, a rotary fluid motor for rotating said auger in one direction, an auger-start solenoid valve for selectively admitting and cutting off pressurized fluid to and from said rotary fluid motor to selectively power said auger in one direction and remove power from auger, a clamshell-type comb having two sets of pivotally mounted teeth openable and closable around said auger, a second reciprocating fluid motor for opening and closing said teeth, a teeth-open solenoid valve for supplying fluid to one end of said second reciprocating motor to open said teeth, and a teeth-close solenoid valve for applying fluid to the other end of said second reciprocating motor to close said teeth, a source of electric power, a normally closed electric circuit including said teeth-open solenoid valve, a pair of normally-closed relay contacts and said source of electric power for energizing said teeth-open solenoid valve, a normally open comb-close circuit including a normally open teeth-close switch, a pair of normally-open relay contacts, said teeth-close solenoid valve, and said power source, a relay coil in circuit with said normally open teeth-close switch and said power source, said relay coil when energized by the normal closing of said teeth-close switch functioning to shift said normally-closed relay contacts to open position and to shift said normally-open relay contacts to closed position, basket-extend and retract circuits including said source of power, a double throw switch means for sensing the fully open and fully closed position of said teeth, a head-extend and retract switch having a movable contact normally biased to a neutral open position and a pair of opposite fixed contacts alternately engageable with said movable contact, one fixed contact of said extend-retract switch being in circuit with said basket-extend solenoid and the other fixed contact being in circuit with said basket-retract solenoid, and an auger-start circuit including said source of electric power, an auger on-off switch, a normally-open teeth position sensing switch having means for closing said teeth position sensing switch only when said teeth are closed, and said auger-start solenoid valve, said auger-start circuit being interrelated with said teeth-closed circuit by reason of said teeth position sensing switch so that said auger-start solenoid valve can only be energized when said comb teeth are closed, and said basket-extend and retract circuit being interrelated with said teeth closed circuit by reason of said double throw switch means for sensing the fully open and fully closed position of said comb teeth so that said basket-extend and basket-retract solenoid valves can only be energized when said teeth are fully open or fully closed.

Claim 7

In a fruit picker appartus, the combination of a movable base, a movable support boom movably mounted on said base, a fruit picker head, universal mounting means for supporting said picker head on the outer end of said boom, said picker head comprising a box like telescoping sectional fruit receptacle having a rear receptacle portion connected to said boom by said universal mounting means, and a front receptacle portion projectable forwardly and retractable rearwardly relative to said rear receptacle portion, motor operated fruit gathering means mounted on said front receptacle portion for picking fruit from a tree and depositing the fruit in said receptacle, a first power-operated motor means for swinging said picker head vertically relative to said boom, a second power-operated motor means for swinging said picker head horizontally relative to said boom, a third power-operated motor means for projecting and retracting said front portion of said picker head relative to said rear portion, and control means for separately controlling said first, second, and third power-operateD motor means to move said picker head independently of said boom whereby when said movable base and said boom are positioned so that the picker head is adjacent a fruit tree, said head may be moved vertically and horizontally relative to said boom and the front portion of said head may be projected into different portions of a tree and retracted from the tree without movement of the boom.

Claim 8

In a fruit picker appartus, the combination of a movable base, a movable support boom movably mounted on said base, a fruit picker head, universal mounting means for supporting said picker head on the outer end of said boom, said picker head comprising a box like telescoping sectional fruit receptacle having a rear receptacle portion connected to said boom by said universal mounting means, and a front receptacle portion projectable forwardly and retractable rearwardly relative to said rear receptacle portion, motor operated fruit gathering means mounted on said front receptacle portion for picking fruit from a tree and depositing the fruit in said receptacle, a first power-operated motor means for swinging said picker head vertically relative to said boom, a second power-operated motor means for swinging said picker head horizontally relative to said boom, a third power-operated motor means for projecting and retracting said front portion of said picker head relative to said rear portion, and control means for separately controlling said first, second, and third power-operateD motor means to move said picker head independently of said boom whereby when said movable base and said boom are positioned so that the picker head is adjacent a fruit tree, said head may be moved vertically and horizontally relative to said boom and the front portion of said head may be projected into different portions of a tree and retracted from the tree without movement of the boom.

Claim 9

The apparatus set forth in claim 5 wherein said universal mounting means includes a first pivot joint about which said head may swing in a horizontal plane, and a second pivot joint about which said head may tilt in a vertical plane.

Claim 10

The apparatus set forth in claim 5 wherein said rear portion of said picker head has an openable dump bottom, and power means for opening and closing said dump bottom.

Claim 11

The apparatus set forth in claim 5 together with a self-leveling operator''s seat pivotally mounted on said picker head, and means mounting said control means in front of said operators seat.

Claim 12

In a fruit picker apparatus, the combination of a movable supporting boom having a supported end and an outer end, a picker head, a universal type joint mounting said picker head on said boom at said outer end for tilting movement of the head in a vertical plane and swinging movement thereof in a horizontal plane, first power means for tilting the head, second power means for swinging the head, power driven fruit gathering means mounted on said head, a self-leveling operator''s seat pivotally supported by said picker head, and manually operated controls located at said seat for actuating said fruit gathering means and said first and second power means.

Claim 13

In a fruit picker apparatus, the combination of a movable supporting boom having a supported end and an outer end, a picker head, a universal type joint mounting said picker head on said boom at said outer end for tilting movement of the head in a vertical plane and swinging movement thereof in a horizontal plane, first power means for tilting the head, second power means for swinging the head, power driven fruit gathering means mounted on said head, a self-leveling operator''s seat pivotally supported by said picker head, and manually operated controls located at said seat for actuating said fruit gathering means and said first and second power means.

Claim 14

The device as defined in claim 9 wherein said picker head includes a rear portion attached to said boom by said universal type joint and a front basket projectable forwardly and retractable rearwardly relative to said rear portion, said fruit gathering means being provided on said basket, and said operator''s seat being supported by and disposed at one side of said rear portion of the head.

Claim 15

The device as defined in claim 9 together with a horizontal fulcrum projecting laterally from said picker head, said operator''s seat being swingably suspended from said fulcrum, whereby to attain its self-leveling characteristics.

Claim 16

The device as defined in claim 11 together with an adjustable friction brake provided on said fulcrum to prevent free swinging movement of said seat.

Claim 17

In a fruit picker, the combination of a picker head including a boom-supported rear portion and a front basket projectable and retractable relative to said rear portion, power means for projecting and retracting said basket, a rotatable auger provided on the basket, power means for rotating said auger, a clamshell-type comb openable and closable around said auger, means for opening and closing said comb, and inter-related control means for both said power means for permitting projection and retraction of said basket only when said comb is fully opened or closed.

Claim 18

In a fruit picker, the combination of a picker head including a boom-supported rear portion and a front basket projectable and retractable relative to said rear portion, power means for projecting and retracting said basket, a rotatable auger provided on the basket, power means for rotating said auger, a clamshell-type comb openable and closable around said auger, means for opening and closing said comb, and inter-related control means for both said power means for permitting projection and retraction of said basket only when said comb is fully opened or closed.

Claim 19

The device as defined in claim 13 wherein said inter-related control means is further characterized in that rotation of said auger can occur only when said comb is closed.