Method of and apparatus for sorting and bundling flowers

The invention relates to a method of sorting and bundling flowers, comprising hanging the flowers separately in individual flower supporting members circulating in a first closed path; as they are traversing the path, designating the flowers as to at least one characteristic, such as stem length; depending on the designated characteristic, transferring the flowers to second flower supporting members circulating in a second path; grouping the flowers into groups of a limited number of flowers; and collecting and bundling a series of groups into a bunch. The individual flower supporting members are moved adjacent a transfer point from a transport position into a transfer position in a tract substantially perpendicular to the first path, while during transfer the second flower supporting members are held stationary and oriented in the direction of movement of the individual flower supporting members. The invention further relates to apparatus for applying this method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a method of, and apparatus for, sorting and 
bundling flowers. In the prior art, the method has the following steps: 
hanging the flowers separately in individual flower supporting members 
moving in a first closed path; 
as they are traversing said path, the flowers are selected as to at least 
one characteristic, such as stem length; 
depending on the characteristic, transferring the selected flowers to 
receiving flower supporting members moving in a second path; 
grouping the flowers into groups of a limited number of flowers; and 
collecting and bundling a series of groups into a bunch. 
Sorting flowers as to a given characteristic, for example, stem length, and 
subsequently bundling flowers having the same characteristic is difficult 
to mechanize, especially as flowers are tender products which are apt to 
become damaged. One especially critical operation is the transfer of the 
flowers from a flower carrying support member moving in a first closed 
path to a flower receiving support member moving in a second path. The 
number of transfers per flower should be minimized and during each 
transfer the movements of a flower carrying member and a flower receiving 
member must be well attuned to each other as regards both velocity and 
direction. A further important point is that during grouping the flower 
heads must not bear upon each other, as this may easily cause them to 
break off. 
The problems outlined above are aggravated even further with increasing 
handling speeds. 
Netherlands patent application 7310250 discloses a flower sorting apparatus 
in which flowers of a given stem length are transferred from a first 
conveyor to an intermediate conveyor associated with a particular stem 
length, and subsequently to a flower group supporting member which 
occupies an inclined position relative to the horizontal plane. In the 
first conveyor, the flowers are supported by horizontal, L-shaped flower 
supporting members which in the transfer position make a pivoting movement 
whereby the flower traverses a circular path terminating in an individual 
flower receiving member of the intermediate conveyor, which during 
transfer is driven by the L-shaped flower supporting member. Slotted 
openings in flower supporting member and flower receiving member are in 
alignment with each other. It is difficult for these slotted openings to 
be well aligned, which is a condition for flower transfer free from 
damage. The L-shaped flower supporting members occupy a lot of space in 
the first conveyor, so that the number of flower supporting members per 
unit length is very limited. To achieve a reasonable operating speed at 
all, the first conveyor would have to be driven at a high velocity. This, 
however, makes it considerably more difficult to place flowers in the 
flower supporting members of the conveyor. 
From the intermediate conveyor, the flowers slide into an inclined flower 
group supporting member, whereby the flower heads are pushed against each 
other. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an 
apparatus in which the number of operations during sorting is reduced, and 
each operation is better adapted to the tender product, while yet a high 
speed of operation is achieved. For this purpose, the method according to 
this invention is characterized in that first individual flower supporting 
members are moved in a first path from positions where the members are in 
a transport condition to a transfer position adjacent a transfer point in 
a second path which is substantially perpendicular to the direction of 
movement of said first path. During transfer of flowers, second flower 
supporting members are held stationary in the second path, as opposed to 
the prior art, and are oriented in the direction of movement of the first 
flower supporting members. 
By virtue of the second flower supporting members being moved 
perpendicularly to the direction of movement of the first path to the 
transfer point, more first flower supporting members can be provided in 
the first conveyor per unit length, as a result of which the capacity can 
be considerably increased. Also, the first flower supporting members need 
not be moved to its transfer position exactly at the moment when they are 
opposite to the second flower supporting members, since this movement may 
already be performed and, hence, a more gradual movement is achieved. The 
orientation of the second flower supporting member makes it possible for 
the second flower supporting member to be formed as a group of supporting 
members adapted to receive, successively, a predetermined number of 
flowers. As a consequence, the prior art intermediate conveyor can be 
eliminated, the routing of the flowers is simplified, and the number of 
transfers is reduced to one. 
The apparatus disclosed in Netherlands patent application 7310250 has the 
following elements: 
a first conveyor including an array of first individual flower supporting 
members arranged to be brought from a transport position into a transfer 
position; 
a designation station for designating flowers carried by said first 
conveyor as to at least one characteristic, such as stem length; 
a series of second conveyors disposed next to the path of movement of said 
first conveyor, and having an array of second flower supporting members to 
which at least one flower can be transferred from a first flower 
supporting member placed in the transfer position; 
means for grouping a limited number of equally designated flowers in a 
slotted bifurcated flower supporting member. 
According to the present invention, this apparatus is adapted for 
application of the method described above by virtue of the fact that the 
individual flower first supporting members of the first conveyor are 
arranged to be shifted from a transport position to a transfer position in 
a straight line substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement 
of the first conveyor, while during transfer the second flower supporting 
members are in a stationary position with a flower receiving slot oriented 
according to the direction of movement of the first flower supporting 
members. 
In this apparatus, each flower supporting member of the first conveyor is 
preferably mounted for axial sliding movement in a carrier including a 
spring-loaded catch mechanism for holding the flower supporting member in 
an extended transfer position, with the catch mechanism being arranged to 
be unlocked by means of a cam arranged in its path of movement. 
In this way, a flower can be positioned in a second flower supporting 
member at an exactly determined place. This is of particular importance if 
the second flower supporting member are arranged to receive more than one 
flower. By virtue of that arrangement, the flower heads are not pushed 
against each other. 
It is noted that U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,709 discloses a flower sorting 
apparatus comprising a first conveyor including flower carrying members 
and associated stem length detectors, a series of intermediate conveyors 
arranged perpendicularly to the direction of movement of the first 
conveyor for receiving flowers of a given stem length, a transfer conveyor 
for transferring flowers from the intermediate conveyors to a terminal 
conveyor, which is equipped with flower supporting members for receiving a 
group of flowers. The flower receiving members of both the intermediate 
conveyors and the terminal conveyor are provided with slots oriented in 
the direction of movement of the first conveyor and the transfer conveyor, 
respectively. The flower carrying members of the first conveyor are 
provided with pivoting camming discs which in the transfer position 
describe a circular path under the direction of a controllable cam 
follower. The flower carrying members proper are mounted on the camming 
discs by means of a parallel guide. The number of camming discs per unit 
length of the conveyors is small. The transfer conveyor is equipped with 
similar camming discs, which during the transfer operation have to follow 
a complicated track. The number of operations to which the flowers are 
subjected in that apparatus is considerably larger than in the apparatus 
according to the present invention, while the apparatus itself is highly 
complicated.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The apparatus for sorting and bundling flowers comprises a first conveyor 
1, into which flowers 2 are hung by hand. For this purpose, conveyor 1 
includes fork-shaped or bifurcated individual flower first supporting 
members 3 mounted for axial sliding movement in carriers 4, which carriers 
are fixedly connected to conveyor 1. The first flower supporting members 3 
are maintained in a transport position in carriers 4 by means of a tension 
spring 5. The direction of movement of conveyor 1 is indicated by an arrow 
P in FIG. 1. 
Arranged alongside the path traversed by the first flower supporting 
members 3 is a wetting member 40 in the form of a sprayer, sponge or the 
like, to wet the members and thereby prevent damage to the flowers 2 
during their handling. 
During their passage of the closed path through conveyor 1 in the direction 
indicated by arrow P, the flowers 2 (see FIG. 2) pass a measuring station 
6 (see FIGS. 1 and 3) which includes a series of photocells 7 arranged at 
different levels with light sources 7' placed in opposition thereto. 
Photocells 7 are connected to a computer (not shown) with a memory in 
which the measured stem length of a flower 2 is stored, coupled with the 
serial number (not shown in the drawings) of carrier 4. As further shown 
by FIG. 1, the apparatus includes a series of second conveyors 10, each 
provided with a plurality of groupwise arranged bifurcated second flower 
supporting members 11 capable of supporting a limited number of grouped 
flowers 2. Conveyors 10, only one of which is shown, are arranged in 
closely-spaced interrelationship alongside the path traversed by conveyor 
1. 
The individual first flower supporting members 3 can be moved outwards, 
relative to carrier 4, into the transfer position by means of a switch 8 
and a guide 9. Switch 8 is operated by the above-noted computer to deliver 
a flower 2 to a predetermined one of conveyors 10, e.g. based on stem 
length. When the switch 8 is placed in the position shown in solid lines 
in FIG. 1, the fork of the first supporting member 3 with the flower 2 
therein will be moved outwards of carrier 4 until the flower 2 is in the 
plane of the dotted line 15 in FIG. 1. The first flower supporting member 
3 is held in that extended transfer position of plane 15 by a catch 
mechanism 52 provided in carrier 4, which prevents spring 5 from 
retracting the first flower supporting member 3 back into carrier 4 to the 
transport position. As can be seen from FIG. 1, line 15 coincides with the 
axis of the fork-shaped slot of the second flower supporting member 11, so 
that with continued movement of conveyor 1 and, hence, carrier 4 and 
supporting member 3, flower 2 will automatically move into a corresponding 
slot of one of the forks of second support member 11, i.e. the fork 
positioned at line 15. Flower 2 can be delivered to the slot of the fork 
of member 11 at different places by means of a mechanism which comprises a 
camshaft 21 (also see FIG. 4) controlled by a rotary magnet (rotary 
stepping motor or solenoid,) 20. Camshaft 21 (see FIG. 4) is provided with 
a camset having as many cams as there are flower receiving positions in 
the slot of a fork of member 11. Carrier 4 with the flower supporting 
member 3 in the extended transfer position will continue to move along 
line 15 until the catch mechanism 52 (also see FIG. 4) provided on carrier 
4 strikes a cam of camshaft 21. The catch mechanism 52 will then be lifted 
out of its locked position, i.e. positioned against the retraction action 
of tension spring 5, and subsequently the flower supporting member 3 is 
rapidly withdrawn back into carrier 4 and away from line 15. When the slot 
fork of member 11 is empty, the rearmost cam of camshaft 21 will be placed 
in the path of the catch mechanism 52, and the flower 2 will be delivered 
in the rearmost position of the fork of member 11. Subsequently, the 
adjacent cam will be moved into the path of a catch mechanism 52, so that 
the next flower 2 will be placed next to the earlier transferred flower in 
the slot fork of member 11. This system is known from U.S. Pat. No. 
3,220,154. As soon as the slot fork of member 11 is fully filled with 
flowers--five in the present illustration--the chain of the second 
conveyor 10 from which member is suspended is moved by a small increment 
to move a next member 11 in the path of line 15. When four members 11 of a 
group are filled with flowers, as shown by FIG. 1, conveyor 10 can be 
moved a greater distance to create a space between successive groups of 
members 11, which are needed to bundle the flowers present in a group of 
members 11. The bundling device, generally, 44 is shown schematically in 
FIG. 1, as it is known in practice and commercially available in the 
Netherlands, for example, from the firm of " Cycklop International". 
The direction of movement of conveyors 10 is perpendicular to that of 
conveyor 1, with conveyors 10 circulating in the vertical plane and 
conveyor 1 in the horizontal plane located approximately at the level of 
the median plane F of conveyor 10 (see FIG. 2). In the transfer point or 
place between conveyors 1 and 10, one second flower supporting member 11 
of conveyor 10, secured to a mounting yoke 13 (see FIG. 2), is in the 
median plane F of said conveyor, which creates sufficient space for such 
transfer. This transfer is facilitated when the tines of the forks of the 
first conveyor or the ends 42, 43 (see FIG. 1) of the forks of member 11 
are given a V-shaped configuration, with the leading tine being optionally 
shorter than the other tine. 
When the flowers have been bundled, they are cut to a uniform size by means 
of a sawing device or cutter 41, shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1. Before 
the cutting operation, as shown in FIG. 5, some forks of members 11 are 
lowered a little relatively to the adjacent forks of members 11 of a group 
by means of a guide track 14, along which rollers 15 run, which are 
connected to members 11 (see FIG. 5). It is thus achieved that the flowers 
of each bunch are in virtually co-planar relationship after bundling, i.e. 
after removing from the conveyor. 
After the bundling and cutting operations, the flowers are moved out of the 
conveyor bunch by bunch by means of a shift plate 30 (see FIG. 2) operated 
by a pneumatic cylinder 33. As they are shifted out, the bunch of flowers 
is raised somewhat by means of a lift table 32 operable by the pneumatic 
cylinder 33, to prevent the flowers from sliding or chafing over the upper 
surfaces of the bifurcated flower supporting members 11.