| 摘要 |
A lightweight harvester for a vine crop such as tomatoes planted in spaced-apart parallel rows on seed beds separated by depressed furrows. The harvester has a frame mounted on aligned, longitudinally spaced-apart flotation wheels which are positioned so that they ride on top of the seed bed during harvesting operations. The frame mounts vine pickup, handling and fruit separating mechanisms and includes a knife, aligned with the flotation wheels, for severing the vines from their roots forward of the wheels so that the wheels ride over a relatively smooth seed bed. An outrigger is secured to the frame, extends laterally therefrom and at its outer end mounts a stabilizing wheel which is spaced from the flotation wheels so that it rides in a furrow during harvesting operations. The axis of the stabilizing wheel can be raised or lowered to maintain the harvester in a laterally horizontal inclination when the ground slopes transversely to the seed beds. The outrigger is removable and the frame and equipment mounted thereon have an overall cross-section of no more than about 7 foot in height and width so that the harvester can be placed inside standard 8 foot by 8 foot shipping containers for shipment and ocean transportation.
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