Patent ID: 9699969
Date: 2017-07-11
CPC Classifications: A01D

Claim:
1. A portable implement for the removal of hops from a bine, comprising: a generally horizontal bine transport carousel extending through and outwardly from the forward and rearward ends of the implement, said carousel including at least one bine clip; a shroud operatively associated with at least a portion of said bine transport carousel; a plurality of picking rakes arranged on stripper rollers forming a picking nip region therebetween for contacting the bine and separating the hops from the bine; a helical bine positioning member biasing the bine toward the center of the picking nip region; at least one inclined separating conveyor positioned below the picking nip region, said separating conveyor having a perforated belt surface with a negative pressure applied along at least a portion thereof; a hops conveyor located beneath said inclined conveyor to transport hops on a surface thereof toward the rear of the implement; a single blower simultaneously providing negative air pressure to the separating conveyor belt and positive pressure to an end of the hops conveyor to blow and further separate debris mixed with the hops as the hops falls from the hops conveyor; a tow bar for connecting the implement to a vehicle for transport; a source of mechanical power that is distributed to at least the conveyor belts, blower and stripper rollers; an additional source of power for operating at least one component of the implement separate from the power take-off; and at least two wheels associated with said implement for the purpose of transport.