Patent ID: 7607388

Claim:
A feeding device for safely feeding fruit to a fruit handling machine, comprising: a powered chain conveyor driven intermittently and in synchronism with internal, fruit grasping mechanisms present in the fruit handling machine; a plurality of cups to support manually-deposited fruit and maintain a correct orientation of the deposited fruit, each cup comprising a plate upon which plate the fruit is deposited, height-adjustable supports that integrally connect said cups to the chain conveyor; a main housing which covers, on all sides, both the chain conveyor and the fruit supporting cups, said main housing being located outside the fruit handling machine; a second housing, covering a final, upper part of the chain conveyor, and leaving uncovered only the plate of the cup on which the fruit is deposited; proximity sensors controlling a stepwise advancement of the chain conveyor each time a fruit is seized and taken away from one of the plates; a supporting structure supporting the conveyor, the supporting structure being fixable to the fruit handling machine; a covering frame positioned for covering the fruit which are fed by the conveyor and for preventing an operator's hands from touching internal mechanisms of the fruit handling machine, wherein, each cup and deposited fruit is displaced, and provided at a required instant, within the fruit handling machine, at a position where the fruit handling machine grasps the fruit in order to process the grasped fruit.