Patent Application
20110258978
A rake for use as a thinning device, and specifically a pole-mounted head for the selective removal of immature fruits, such as cherries, from trees or bushes.
Growers of fruits are increasingly relying on mechanical thinning devices to reduce their reliance on manual intensive labor methods and systems. However, most mechanical systems rely on expensive and cumbersome machinery, and additionally require skilled laborers to operate, repair and maintain such systems. However, in many modern, higher density growing operations, large tractors cannot navigate within the orchard or grove.
Pre-harvest fruit thinning is one agricultural practice that is universally performed manually, and essentially unchanged over time. One non-manual alternative to manual thinning is the use of chemical thinning agents. While initially regarded as safe and effective, chemical thinners are no longer in favor with most growers and orchardists. Chemical thinners were widely employed with certain but often unpredictable results, and most importantly, their use raised consumer concern about the potential residual effects of these thinning agents, as introduced into the food chain. Forced to revert to time tested manual thinning methods, growers and orchardists could still benefit from an aid to better accomplish the thinning of fruits.
Fruit trees often produce or ‘set’ more fruits than the tree can support or fully develop. Fruits in excessive numbers compete with one another for nutrients and typically end up undersized in full maturity at harvest. This competition for nutrients also adds stress on the tree, making it susceptible to pests, disease and thought damage. Leaving too much fruit on a tree can also lead to limb breakage and semi-annual cycles of fruit bearing for the tree.
Newer varieties of cherries ‘self-pollinate’ without the aid of a pollinator variety interspersed within the orchard. Stella, Sweet Stella, Sandra Rose, Santina, Lapins, Skeena, Sonata, and Staccato are all examples of self pollinating sweet cherry varieties. Self-pollination often results in the heavy ‘setting’ of cherries, and often ‘over-setting.’ Some form of thinning is required with over-setting to achieve an adequately large fruit size.
The thinning of fruits increases the size of remaining fruits, with minimal reduction in tree vigor, which is vital in producing an ultimately harvested fruit that must meet minimum size requirements for primum pricing. Especially in view of mounting costs and seasonal labor shortages, there is a significant need for a fruit thinning method and device that is efficient, cost effective and relatively simple to operate, especially when compared to heavy, automated machinery systems.
The following is a disclosure of the present invention that will be understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Reference characters included in the above drawings indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, as discussed herein. The description herein illustrates one preferred embodiment of the invention, in one form, and the description herein is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner. It should be understood that the above listed figures are not necessarily to scale and that the embodiments are sometimes illustrated by fragmentary views, graphic symbols, diagrammatic or schematic representations, and phantom lines. Details that are not necessary for an understanding of the present invention by one skilled in the technology of the invention, or render other details difficult to perceive, may have been omitted.
The invention provides a fruit thinning device, mountable to the end of a pole. The fruit thinning device 10 is shown in
As shown in
The terms “approximately” or “approximate” are employed herein throughout, including this detailed description and the attached claims, with the understanding that is denotes a level of exactness as typical for the skill and precision of the applicable field of endeavor.
Preferably, for the multiple of tines 22, approximately twenty tines are evenly spaced around and radially project from the outer hub perimeter 23, of the hub 15. Also preferably, the hub is approximately two inches in diameter, and each tine 22′ is approximately one-eighth inch in thickness and approximately two inches in length, from a tine base 26 to a tine tip 27, as shown in
Additionally, as shown in
The above described embodiments include features considered critical to the proper operation of the fruit thinning device 10, especially for a most preferred fruit 32, which are a sweet variety of cherries 32′, as shown in
In a preferred method of using the fruit thinning device 10, it is inserted into a concentration or ‘cluster’ 38 of immature fruit 32, and preferably from an angle that can access the cluster, such as just below the cluster, as shown in
As the head 12 is rotated by the user 35, the plucked fruit 32 releases from the grip of the times 22 and the fruit falls out, to the ground below. The tines are thereby cleared for re-use as they are further rotated, re-positioned and re-inserted into a cluster 38, to again engage, twist, rake and pluck additional fruit from the branch 40.
The pole 20 of the fruit thinning device 10 is preferably light in weight, and most preferably be a conventional PVC pipe material of approximately ten feet in length, and with approximately a one and one-quarter inch outside diameter. However, other pole lengths and diameters may be selected as alternatives, based upon the needs of the user, and the size or height of the branches 40 of the trees or bushes requiring thinning by the device.
The user 35 may stand on the ground, below the tree and access the fruit 35 to be thinned with the long pole 20, or the user can use a personal lift to access larger trees with higher limbs that may be difficult to reach, even with the pole, or obscured from sight at ground level. The cluster 38 of immature fruit can be accessed for thinning with the device 10 from any convenient angle. The fruit thinning device of the present invention is much faster and efficient than hand thinning, and substantially eliminates the need for ladders, as typically employed, thereby greatly increasing the speed and safety of fruit thinning operations.
The fruit thinning device 10, is especially suited for the swift thinning of unripe cherries 32′, by the above described twisting and raking motion of the tines 22′ of the device along the fruit laden branches 40. Along with the cherries, a debris 33, which can include leaves and stems, are entrained and removed by action of the tines. The tines may become clogged with fruit and debris, but the head 12 can be rotated, as shown in
Additionally, to aid in the removal of fruit 32 caught within the tines 22 of the device 10, a cap 48 is preferably place on the proximal end 37 of the pole 20, as shown in
The feature of the pie-slice shaped, triangular space 30 between the tines 22′ of the device 10, with the apex 33 of the triangular space near the hub 15, as shown in
In compliance with the statutes, the invention has been described in language more or less specific as to structural features and process steps. While this invention is susceptible to embodiment in different forms, the specification illustrates preferred embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention, and the disclosure is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described. Those with ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other embodiments and variations of the invention are possible, which employ the same inventive concepts as described above. Therefore, the invention is not to be limited except by the following claims, as appropriately interpreted in accordance with the doctrine of equivalents.
