Eccentric-mass vibrator for machines adapted to the mechanical harvesting of olives and fruits in general

Claim 1

A vibrator for use in machines for harvesting fruits and more particularly olives, of the type in which gripping means grasp the trunk or the branches of a tree, comprising a casing, means attaching the gripping means to the casing, said casing being provided with at leasT three superposed compartments, a first shaft mounted for rotation in one of the outer compartments, a second shaft mounted for rotation in the other of the outer compartments and being in axial alignment with the first shaft, a mass supported by each of said first and second shafts, with its center of gravity eccentric with respect to the axis of its shaft, the masses supported by said first and second shafts being equal, a third shaft arranged in parallelism to and spaced from the first and second shafts mounted for rotation in the innermost compartment, a mass supported by said third shaft and having its center of gravity eccentric with respect to the axis of the third shaft, the plane of rotation of the center of gravity of the mass supported by said third shaft being equidistant from the planes of rotation of the centers of gravity of the masses supported by the first and second shafts, the axes of the first, second, and third shafts being parallel to and equidistant from the plane bisecting the gripping means and the trunk or branch longitudinally and lying in a plane normal to said bisecting plane, the mass supported by said third shaft being equal to the sum of the masses supported by the first and second shafts, the eccentricities of the centers of gravity of all three masses being equal, complemental toothed gear means on said first and third shafts and said second and third shafts operative to rotate said first and second shafts in one direction at the same time, at the same speed and said third shaft in the opposite direction at the same speed, and angularly relating the centers of gravity of the masses such that the centers of gravity of the masses supported by said first and second shafts and the axes of said first and second shafts are always coplanar, and such that at one point in the rotation of said three masses, the centers of gravity of said three masses and the axes of said three shafts are all coplanar, said masses rotating in three different planes originating two unbalancing torques, which being equal and of opposite sign, balance one another and do not produce any detrimental effects on the branch grasped by the gripping means.