Apparatus for harvesting vegetable heads

Claim 1

An apparatus for harvesting non-colinear vegetable heads, which comprises - (a) a frame, (b) sensing means mounted on said frame, laterally movable to engage the non-colinear vegetable heads, for distinguishing mature heads by size in a row of heads to be harvested, said means including a head-engaging unit comprising a pair of parallel pivotable arms with counter-rotating rollers about 30-40 centimeters in diameter with an outer perimeter of pliable material about 2-3 centimeters thick mounted to move laterally away from each other, said movement being resisted by a mutual tension means, guide means for maintaining said arms parallel, and an electrical mechanism including a selector potentiometer cooperative with said head-engaging unit and a reference potentiometer cooperative with said head-engaging unit and said selector potentiometer for distinguishing mature heads by size in a row of heads to be harvested, (c) means mounted on said frame responsive to said sensing means for cutting the mature heads including a horizontal knife blade rotatable 180° for each head cut, and (d) means for lifting cut heads from the cutting area including a pair of counter-rotated lifting belts, said means leaving uncut heads intact.

Claim 2

An apparatus for harvesting non-colinear vegetable heads, which comprises - (a) a frame, (b) sensing means mounted on said frame, laterally movable to engage the non-colinear vegetable heads, for distinguishing mature heads by size in a row of heads to be harvested, said means including a head-engaging unit comprising a pair of parallel pivotable arms with counter-rotating rollers about 30-40 centimeters in diameter with an outer perimeter of pliable material about 2-3 centimeters thick mounted to move laterally away from each other, said movement being resisted by a mutual tension means, guide means for maintaining said arms parallel, and an electrical mechanism including a selector potentiometer cooperative with said head-engaging unit and a reference potentiometer cooperative with said head-engaging unit and said selector potentiometer for distinguishing mature heads by size in a row of heads to be harvested, (c) means mounted on said frame responsive to said sensing means for cutting the mature heads including a horizontal knife blade rotatable 180° for each head cut, and (d) means for lifting cut heads from the cutting area including a pair of counter-rotated lifting belts, said means leaving uncut heads intact.