Patent ID: 8196508

Claim:
A pitting machine for removing pit material from fruit pieces, the pitting machine comprising: a conveyor comprising a plurality of conveyor links, wherein each conveyor link of a plurality of conveyor links comprises a set of wells for accepting a fruit piece, wherein each well is contiguous with a needle aperture of sufficient size to accept passage of a pitting needle through the respective well and through a corresponding needle aperture, and wherein the conveyor continuously operates at a relatively constant speed; and a punching head comprising a matrix of pitting needles positioned near the conveyor, the punching head and a corresponding portion of the conveyor forming a fruit pitting area, wherein the punching head is capable of intermittently aligning with the corresponding portion of the conveyor as the conveyor advances, wherein the punching head intermittently punches the matrix of pitting needles through the wells and through corresponding needle apertures of the wells of the corresponding portion of the conveyor as the conveyor advances, the punching of the matrix of pitting needles thereby attempting to remove pit material from fruit pieces which reside in respective wells of the corresponding plurality of conveyor links, wherein intermittent punching of the punching head and motion of the punching head are synchronized with motion of the conveyor in the pitting area such that the pitting needles pass through any fruit pieces in respective wells of the corresponding plurality of conveyor links as the conveyor operates, wherein the punching head travels in sync with the corresponding portion of the conveyor, and wherein one or more alignment pins engage each of the plurality of conveyor links corresponding to the said corresponding portion of the conveyor and corresponding to each row of the matrix of pitting needles prior to any tip of a pitting needle passing into a respective needle aperture of a respective well.