Patent ID: 7320280

Claim:
A fruit pitting machine comprising: a fruit loading area for loading fruit into the pitting machine; a fruit pitting area where pits are removed from the fruit; a fruit unloading area for unloading fruit from the pitting machine; a fruit vibration, selection, separation, and orientation apparatus; a closed loop conveyor belt that moves fruit from the fruit loading area through the fruit pitting area, towards the fruit unloading area, the closed loop conveyor belt comprising a plurality of fruit containers that alternatively close and open; and a punching head with a plurality of punches positioned over said closed loop conveyor belt in the fruit pitting area, said punching head being associated to actuating means in a way that one end of a vertical connecting rod is articulated to one end of said punching head, another end of said vertical connecting rod is connected to a crankshaft articulately connected to an eccentric, wherein another end of said punching head is articulately associated to one end of an oscillating post, another end of said oscillating post being articulated to a pivot axis, comprising said oscillating post, at some point between its ends, a projection on which an end of a horizontal connecting rod articulates, said eccentric being articulately connected to another end of said horizontal connecting rod, said actuating means being located externally to the machine, below said punching head, and providing a closed-loop curvilinear orbital movement of said punching head with respect to the conveyor belt, moving the punches through the fruit pitting area.