| 摘要 |
The invention is a method and apparatus for sorting flowers on the basis of stem length. Flowers of random stem lengths are arranged on a first conveyor with their stems aligned in substantially vertical parallel relation. A series of stem length detectors sense various stem lengths whereupon all flowers of similar length are transferred to a corresponding one of a series of storage conveyors. When a desired quantity of similar sized flowers are stored in the storage conveyor, they are transferred by a transfer conveyor to a terminal conveyor where they are grouped for tying and wrapping. Any number of preselected lengths may be grouped but the extremes in stem length are selected first, e.g. the longest, proceeding to the opposite extreme so that the stem length detectors operate like a sieve.
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