METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DEPLOYING AND RETRACTING A TARPAULIN FOR COLLECTING SMALL FRUIT, AND HARVESTING MACHINES USING SAME

摘要

The invention relates to a device for collecting small fruit detached from fruit trees, which includes a tarpaulin (18) having a distal end and a proximal end that is attached to a winding shaft supported by a bearing structure (14) and coupled to a motor for rotating same, and means for deploying and retracting said tarpaulin, and which is characterised in that said means include at least one and preferably a plurality of bands (5), provided with bending and shape memory capacity, having one end that is connected to a winding drum that is also supported by the bearing structure with an axis parallel to the axis of the tarpaulin and onto which said bands are wound, the other end being connected to the distal end of said tarpaulin; thus, during the unwinding thereof, the bands adopt a straight configuration that has a certain rigidity and push the distal edge of the tarpaulin, separating same from the shaft thereof, deploying said tarpaulin above the ground.

主权项

1. Method for harvesting small fruit detached from fruit trees or bushes, by means of a soft tarpaulin deployed above the ground, under the fruit-bearing branches of said trees or bushes to be harvested, and winding itself around a rotary shaft coupled to a motorization ensuring its rewinding, this tarpaulin including a proximal end fastened to said rotary shaft and a distal end, characterized in that the deployment of the tarpaulin is obtained by means of at least one and preferably a plurality of bands with a capacity of bending and shape memory, wound around one or several winding drums with a rotational axis parallel or essentially parallel to the rotational axis of the winding shaft of the tarpaulin, and the distal end of which is connected to the distal end of said tarpaulin, the deployed part of the bands acquiring automatically, as they deploy, a straight form and a property of rigidity thanks to which their distal end is able to exert a thrust on the distal end of the tarpaulin and to move said distal end in the direction of the outside of the bearing structure, while ensuring the deployment of said tarpaulin.