Patent ID: 9681679
Date: 2017-06-20
CPC Classifications: A01D,A23N,B07B

Claim:
1. A sorting table apparatus for separating fruit from foreign objects, the sorting table apparatus comprising: a frame having a longitudinal axis extending along a direction of travel of the fruit; a set of rollers rotatably mounted on said frame, each roller of said set of rollers comprising a shaft having ends and an axis orthogonal of the longitudinal axis of said frame, each roller having couplings shaped so as to define gaps adapted to allow the fruits or the foreign objects to pass therethrough, said set of rollers having a first roller and a last roller, all of the rollers of said set of rollers other than said last roller being slidingly mounted along the longitudinal axis of said frame; an actuator and a transmission connected to said set of rollers so as to rotate the rollers of said set of rollers around the axis thereof so that the fruit travels forward on the rollers; an adjustment mechanism adapted to adjust a distance between the axis of the rollers, said adjustment mechanism comprising a kinematic mechanism that connects the shafts of the rollers, said kinematic mechanism having a pair of levers hinged at each end of the shaft, wherein the ends of each lever of said pair of levers are hinged to ends of the levers of an adjacent shaft, said adjustment mechanism comprising a linear actuator connected to said first lever so as to move said first roller such that the rollers translate with respect to said last roller, said last roller being fixed in translation; and at least one cam having a metal plate hinged at a pin coaxially to said last roller, said at least one cam having slots in an oblique position with respect to a horizontal axis that slidingly houses pins applied to the ends of the shafts of some of the rollers, said slots having a decreasing length from said first roller towards said last roller.