Patent ID: 6952914

Claim:
A deflector structure for collecting and guiding harvested tree-fruit, the deflector being coupled to a boom harvester mounted on a vehicle, the boom harvester including a telescopic boom extending away from the vehicle, and comprising a mobile portion with a free end terminated by a clamp configured for movement in longitudinal and in vertical translation towards and along a trunk of a tree with foliage, and the deflector comprising: a deflector structure for extension under the tree foliage, wherein: the deflector is coupled away from the vehicle in cantilever above the free end of the mobile portion, in slaved longitudinal and vertical translation with the clamp, for extension on opposite sides and proximate the trunk; the deflector structure is configured to sustain flexible elastic deformation in collision with an obstacle, and for resilient elastic recovery of deflector structure shape after collision; and an array of ribs coupled in equally spaced-apart aligned parallel distribution forming a slanted deflector surface, wherein each one of the ribs out of the array of ribs is flexibly coupled to permit separate deflection of each one rib in elastic deformation; wherein the deflector further comprises a length and a width, and a backbone and at least one longeron coupled in spaced apart longitudinal parallel alignment along the length of the deflector to each one rib out of the array of ribs crossing the width of the deflector, each rib comprising: a rib structure built as a truss configured for elastic deformation, the at least one longeron and the rib structure being constructed out of elastically flexible plastic material for elastic deformation during collision with an obstacle, and for elastic recovery of rib structure and longeron shape after collision.